Category: Speeches

  • Graham Allen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Graham Allen – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of (a) 18 and (b) 19 year-olds in Northern Ireland were registered to vote on 30 June 2014; what the average number was of 18 and 19 year-olds in Northern Ireland so registered as a proportion of the mid-year population estimate made by the Office for National Statistics for 2014; and how that figure differs from (i) Electoral Commission and (ii) Cabinet Office estimates of the number of registered 18 and 19 year-olds in (A) Northern Ireland and (B) Great Britain in 2014.

    Mr Ben Wallace

    On 30 June 2014, the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland had (a) 19,361 18 year olds and (b) 20,746 19 year olds registered to vote. Drawing on the mid-year population estimate for 2014 published by the Office for National Statistics, this would represent 82.8% of 18-19 year olds in Northern Ireland.

    The Electoral Commission last assessed the completeness of the Northern Ireland electoral register in 2012 when survey sampling estimated that 51% of 18-19 year olds were registered to vote. An Electoral Commission report on the quality of the 2014 electoral registers in Great Britain assessed that 76% of 18-19 year olds were registered to vote.

    The Cabinet Office has not made a separate assessment of the number of 18 and 19 year olds registered in either Great Britain or Northern Ireland in this period.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the medicines optimisation programme’s principle of ensuring that the right patient gets the right choice of medicine, at the right time, is applied to people with inflammatory arthritis.

    Jane Ellison

    Quality standards (QS) are important in setting out to patients, the public, commissioners and providers what a high quality service should look like in a particular area of care. Whilst providers and commissioners must have regard to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) QS in planning and delivering services, however they are not mandatory.

    The QS for rheumatoid arthritis states that services should be commissioned from and coordinated across all relevant agencies encompassing the rheumatoid arthritis care pathway. A person-centred approach to provision of services is fundamental to delivering high-quality care to adults with rheumatoid arthritis. NHS England continues to champion their use with providers and commissioners.

    NHS England is working with patients, the pharmaceutical industry, royal colleges and others to encourage a range of improvements aimed at ensuring that all patients, including those with inflammatory arthritis, get the support they need to get the most from their medicines. The development of the four principles to support medicines optimisation offers a step change to the way we think about medicine use in the NHS. The four guiding patient-centred principles: aim to understand the patient’s experience; evidence-based choice of medicines; make medicines optimisation part of routine practice; ensure medicines use is as safe as possible are applicable to all patients, conditions and disease states.

    The medicines optimisation best practice guidance, published in May 2014 is available at:

    www.rpharms.com/promoting-pharmacy-pdfs/helping-patients-make-the-most-of-their-medicines.pdf.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether she has written to the European Commissioner for Trade on ending the minimum import price on Chinese solar panels.

    Andrea Leadsom

    My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the European Commissioner for Trade in November, requesting ending the minimum import price.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fines G4S has paid under any contract with his Department in each of the last five years; and for what reasons each such fine was imposed.

    Andrew Selous

    The Ministry of Justice holds a number of centrally and locally managed contracts with G4S and information on the total financial remedies imposed could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. However, the total for G4S run prisons, Young Offender’s Institutes (YOIs) and secure training centres (STC) were as follows:

    As I stated in the answer to PQ 22664, there have been two incidents in the last five years in which financial remedies were applied at Medway STC. In both cases, G4S failed to comply with operating procedures. In the same time period, there was one incident for which financial remedies were applied at Rainsbrook STC, for failing to comply with operating procedures.

    Financial remedies applied to private prisons, including HMP/YOI Parc since 2010 are set out in the attached table.

  • Alison McGovern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alison McGovern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department collects on sales of highly caffeinated drinks to children.

    Jane Ellison

    The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has advised us that the safety of caffeine has been reviewed by the European Food Safety Authority, which specified a level of caffeine for children and adolescents which does not raise safety concerns. For a 10-year-old child this is equivalent to the amount of caffeine in one 250 ml can of high caffeine drink.

    The FSA does not collect data on the sale of high caffeine drinks and has no plans to restrict the sale of these drinks to children. However, the FSA advises that children and other people who are sensitive to caffeine should consume caffeine only in moderation. High caffeine drinks must be labelled with an advisory statement that they are not recommended for children.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she has taken to increase public awareness of potential flood risk for home-buyers.

    Rory Stewart

    Maps showing flood risk are available on the Gov.uk website, allowing home buyers to check whether a property they are considering purchasing is at risk of flooding. Individuals can search by postcode and later this year the Environment Agency (EA) is introducing the ability to search by a specific address.

    The EA also share this flood risk data with companies that produce home buyers reports, and approximately 400,000 property reports are produced annually that include this data.

    Much of this data is already available as Open Data and several third party applications have already been developed that encourage public awareness. The EA is releasing more information by the end of June 2016, to encourage further growth and development of similar public awareness raising applications.

  • David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Lammy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Lammy on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children were refused NHS treatment on the basis of their immigration status in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016 to date.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not hold this information.

    National Health Service hospital treatment is free to those people who are ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, or those exempt from charge under the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended. Anyone else should present a European Health Insurance Card, S1 or S2 form or pay direct for their NHS care. Those who need care and treatment urgently will still receive it even if they are chargeable and cannot pay straight away.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much (a) Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and (b) Nottingham University Hospitals spent on agency nurses in the last three financial years.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not available centrally. Information about spending on agency nurses by Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust may be obtained from the Trust. As it is a foundation trust, we have written to Sean Lyons, Chair of the Trust, informing him of the hon. Member’s enquiry. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

    Information about spending on agency nurses by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust may be held locally by the Trust. The hon. Member may wish to approach them directly with this query.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40701, what estimate he has made of the number of housing association properties sold through right-to-buy which have been replaced since the launch of that policy.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the hon Member to my response of 29 June to Question UIN 40701.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-09-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to lay draft regulations on the conduct of the regional mayoral elections planned for May 2017.

    Andrew Percy

    An Order for the conduct of combined authority mayoral elections will be laid before Parliament after the Conference Recess.