The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2015-11-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, when his Department plans to respond to the Eleventh Report from the Treasury Committee, Session 2014-15, Conduct and competition in SME lending, HC204.
Harriett Baldwin
The Government response, which was published on 21 December 2015, is available on gov.uk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the population were recorded as having HIV in (a) England and Wales and (b) each London borough in each year since 2010.
Jane Ellison
The proportion of the 15-59 year old population (standard reported population) recorded as having human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in England and Wales and across each of the London boroughs is shown in tables 1 and 2.
The number of males and females newly diagnosed with HIV in the United Kingdom and across each of the London boroughs is shown in tables 3 and 4.
The data to reflect this information can be found in the attachment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect of the market conditions affecting the Government’s decision to postpone the privatisation of Lloyds Bank on the proposed privatisation of the Green Investment Bank.
Anna Soubry
Decisions about these separate matters will be taken on their individual merits. Further information on the Government’s proposals for a sale of the Green Investment Bank (GIB) is provided in our November 2015 policy statement on the future of GIB and in the Government’s response to the Environmental Audit Committee’s report on the future of GIB. Both documents can be found on the GIB pages of the GOV.UK website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the supply of newly-qualified mathematics teachers in Stoke-on-Trent.
Nick Gibb
The Department for Education uses the Teacher Supply Model (TSM) to estimate the national requirements for the number of postgraduate Initial Teacher Training places to meet demand, including mathematics.
The 2016/17 version of the TSM, which was used to inform the 2016/17 ITT recruitment process, along with a user guide explaining the methodology in detail, is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-supply-model
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate the Government has made of the likely savings to the public purse of implementing the changes to financial support for people affected by HIV or hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products set out in the Government’s consultation.
Jane Ellison
The Government has been clear that there will be no saving to the public purse as a result of these changes. We are committing up to an additional £125 million to provide support to those affected by this tragedy over the course of this spending review period.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-04-25.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the stem cell research collaboration between British and Israeli scientists under the auspices of the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The effectiveness of the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX) comes firstly from its robust selection process. All projects are assessed during the selection process for their quality of science and contribution to the scientific community by a selection panel of leading researchers in their field from the UK and Israel, and also by an anonymous peer review process, that includes leading researchers around the world. During their implementation, projects are monitored via yearly narrative and financial reporting, in addition to reporting on Researchfish. The British Council is planning a comprehensive evaluation exercise this year, which is the programme’s 5th year.
In addition, the programme is being co-funded by leading health research organisations such as British Heart Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Society and Parkinson’s UK, who evaluate the projects before making their funding commitment and ensure their scientific excellence.
While the projects are too recent to be assessed for their impact on the Regenerative Medicine scientific field, so far a number of publications have emanated from the programme, including a ground-breaking article in Cell by Professor Yaqub Hanna in collaboration with Professor Azim Surani from The University of Cambridge. The article was assessed by the journal to be their number one paper last year. Articles by BIRAX grantees have also been published in Nature, Cell Biology, Frontiers in Immunology, Cancer Stem Cells and International Innovation.
The Programme is the only platform for bilateral cooperation between Israel and UK researchers in the field of regenerative medicine and stem cell research. Over 30 labs are involved in the projects, and hundreds of scientists are working on the Programme’s project. Over 1000 scientists took part in the bi-annual BIRAX conferences, with the recent conference which took place at the University of Oxford, this April being the largest.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2016-06-07.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 3 June (HL311), whether one of the ideologies they are directly challenging is Wahhabism.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Counter-Extremism Strategy set outs our approach to tackling extremist ideologies. We will challenge all those groups or individuals who vocally or actively oppose our fundamental values, who seek to promote, encourage and spread intolerance of individuals of different faith and beliefs. We are clear that this approach tackles all forms of extremism: violent and non violent, Islamist and neo-Nazi.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many people working for his Department on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.
David Mundell
The Scotland Office does not directly employ any staff. The Office is staffed by civil servants on assignment, loan and/or secondment basis predominantly from the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government. No people working for the Scotland Office who are (a) directly employed in the civil service are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, nor are on a zero hours contract.
No people working for the Scotland Office on an (b) agency basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation, nor are on a zero hours contract.
Information on workers on an (c) outsourced basis, paid less than the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation and their contractual hours can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-10-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that GP surgeries have the (a) resources and (b) training to provide a patient-friendly service, including appointments with a preferred GP in advance and at a time convenient to patients; and what rights patients have if GP surgeries do not meet such standards.
David Mowat
The Government is committed to improving access to general practitioner (GP) services as part of our plan for a seven day National Health Service, and has invested £175 million in the GP Access Fund to test improved and innovative access to GP services. Across the two waves of the Access Fund there are 57 schemes covering over 2,500 practices and 18 million patients, testing a wide variety of approaches that will ensure a patient-friendly services. These include opening 8am-8pm on weekdays and weekends; better use of telecare and health apps; more innovative ways to access services by video call, email or telephone; and developing more integrated services with a single point of contact to co-ordinate patient services.
GPs are contractually required to provide essential services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients within core hours. Under the NHS constitution, patients have the right to express a preference for using a particular doctor within their GP practice, and for the practice to try to comply. The 2015-16 (July 2016) GP Patient Survey found that 91% of patients who had a GP they preferred to see them at least some of the time, and 92.1% of patients who got an appointment found it was convenient. If a patient believes they are not receiving this standard of care they have the right to complain; any complaint made must be acknowledged within three working days and be properly investigated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-11-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the cost of locums to the NHS arising from the General Medical Council’s revalidation programme.
Ben Gummer
Medical revalidation is underpinned by structured appraisal processes that support a doctor’s professional development. Doctors will prepare for their appraisal during planned periods away from clinical practice, thus removing the need for additional locum cover in the National Health Service.