The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to encourage more use of diesel vehicles.
Andrew Jones
The Government’s policy is to support measures to encourage cleaner, more sustainable vehicles and transport systems. Over £2 billion has been committed since 2011 to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles and green transport initiatives and to support local authorities to take action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of his Department’s officials resigned in each of the last 12 months.
Harriett Baldwin
A total of 85 officials resigned from the department during the last 12 months in which records are available, from February 2015 until January 2016.
The number of resignations for each of the 12 months can be viewed in the table below:
|
Month |
Resignation |
|
Feb-15 |
7 |
|
Mar-15 |
8 |
|
Apr-15 |
9 |
|
May-15 |
5 |
|
Jun-15 |
7 |
|
Jul-15 |
9 |
|
Aug-15 |
7 |
|
Sep-15 |
5 |
|
Oct-15 |
9 |
|
Nov-15 |
4 |
|
Dec-15 |
8 |
|
Jan-16 |
7 |
|
Grand Total |
85 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the criteria are for a person to be eligible to receive HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis on the NHS.
Jane Ellison
NHS England has recently announced that it would make available up to £2 million over two years to enable access for high risk individuals through early implementer test sites. NHS England will work with Public Health England and the Department to confirm the criteria for patient access and assessment of expressions of interest from local authority areas to confirm successful sites. The criteria which will be used to determine the locations of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Test Sites have not yet been established.
PrEP is an intervention in advance of sexual exposure, and therefore is not relevant for rape victims who may require post exposure prophylaxis after clinical assessment. With regard to those having underage sex, eligibility for treatment through test sites will depend on the clinical assessment of risk undertaken.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Stevens of Ludgate on 2016-05-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Prime Minister’s comments regarding the stability of peace in Europe if the UK leaves the EU, what steps they have taken to strengthen the armed forces.
Earl Howe
The Government believes that the UK should remain in a reformed EU. As the Prime Minister has said, our EU membership helps keep the UK safer and stronger. We have the largest defence budget in the EU and the second largest in NATO. In addition, we have committed to spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence over the course of this Parliament, and the Ministry of Defence’s budget will rise by 0.5 per cent above inflation every year to 2020-21. We are maintaining the size of the Army, and we are increasing the size of the Royal Navy, the RAF and the reserves.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-06-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Burmese government relaunches the Prisoner of Conscience Affairs Committee or establishes a new Committee with a mandate to review the cases of people charged or deprived of their liberty for the exercise of their human rights.
Mr Hugo Swire
The release of some 200 political prisoners during its first few weeks in office is a strong demonstration of the new Burmese Government’s commitment to reforming human rights and the rule of law in Burma. However, we remain concerned that arrests, detentions and sentencing of political activists could continue while the military retains control of the Home Ministry, Police and Courts.
Tackling the causes of political prisoners will require a thorough but longer-term process of legislative and judicial reform. Having an effective Political Prisoners Committee will be an important element of that process and is something we have consistently called for and will continue to do.
The Government has long campaigned on the issue of political prisoners in Burma. We have maintained pressure through bilateral and international actions such as the two annual UN resolutions on Burma in which we have played an instrumental part. I raised this issue directly with the then Minister for the Presidency, U Aung Min, during my visit to Burma in July 2015. We will work with the new Government to help it continue to make progress.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Foster on 2016-09-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed new junior doctors’ contract on ensuring safe working hours.
Mr Philip Dunne
The new contract includes stronger limits on working hours and patterns of work and a robust oversight mechanism to ensure that prompt action is taken if needed. This will be an integral part of how trusts meet their statutory obligations to keep staff and patients safe. Required action includes a review of work schedules to ensure safe working, payment for additional work done and fines where the limits in the contract are breached. There are no such protections under the current contract. For instance, at present, junior doctors can be asked to work up to 91 hours a week, up to seven night shifts in a row and every weekend under the current contract. The Guardian of Safe Working Hours will be tasked with ensuring that rotas reflect the hours that juniors work and they are within the new contractual limits.
These limits under the new contract are a maximum of 72 hours per week (compared to 91 currently), and the limit on average weekly hours will remain 48 hours (and be limited to 56 hours where a doctor opts out of the Working Time Regulations).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2015-11-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the accessibility of defibrillators for sports clubs.
Tracey Crouch
We take player safety in all sportsseriously, and it was one of the main themes of the recent sports strategy consultation.DCMS is considering the responses and the new strategy document will be published in due course.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that all parents with a child admitted to a neonatal unit have access to psychological and bereavement support.
Alistair Burt
The NHS locally is expected to ensure that appropriate facilities and services are in place to support parents following the illness or death of a newborn baby. NHS England’s Neonatal Critical Care Service Specification states that “the service will deliver the aim to improve both life expectancy and quality of life for newborn babies by:
– Delivering care in a family-centred way that seeks to minimise the physical and psychological impact of neonatal care on the baby and their family, for example by improving psychological outcomes and breastfeeding rates
– Providing an environment where parents are enabled to make informed decisions about treatment and become involved in the care of their baby / babies, thereby minimising the psychological trauma of premature or sick term babies.”
The MBRRACE-UK report on the confidential enquiry into term antepartum stillbirths, published on 19 November 2015, found a good standard of bereavement care documented as being given to parents immediately following birth. However, several areas for improvement were identified including the finding that there was wide variation in the availability of a specialist bereavement midwife, with only one third of case notes showing evidence of their involvement.
Following that report, and following a debate in the House of Commons on 2 November, (Official Report, columns 844-852) the Department is looking at the number of bereavement suites around the country and will engage with the NHS to reaffirm the importance of putting into practice existing guidance on bereavement including through mandated accountability processes.
Health Education England is working with partners to ensure that pre and post registration training in perinatal mental health is available to enable specialist staff to be available to every birthing unit by 2017.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the scenarios and charges in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 2008 were last reviewed to ascertain whether they should be updated.
Mike Penning
The current scenarios and charging regime in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicle Regulations dates from 2008, when a table of varying rates for different prescribed scenarios replaced the previous flat rate charge in place since 1989. The Government keeps these scenarios and charges under regular review. Currently, there are no plans to change this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of recent disruption due to flooding in Northern England on railway passengers.
Andrew Jones
The impact of the recent storms on the rail network across the North of England has clearly created difficulties for passengers, businesses and communities. Operators and Network Rail have worked together to implement and operate services so as to cause the minimum of disruption to customers.
I pay tribute to the efforts of Network Rail’s teams which are still working to repair the damage, and thank passengers for their patience while these works are going on. The Rt Hon Member will have noted that the line between Newcastle and Carlisle has now reopened, following repair of the serious damage between Prudhoe and Hexham.