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Category: Speeches

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team has made on prosecuting and eliminating corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands in the last 12 months.

    James Duddridge

    The Special Investigation and Prosecution Team has completed its investigations following the findings of Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry that there was a high probability of systemic corruption in government and the legislature and among public officers in the Turks and Caicos Islands. As a result of those investigations, the trial of a number of individuals, including former Premier Michael Misick and several of his Cabinet Ministers, is expected to start this week.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what development and humanitarian support the Government has provided (a) bilaterally and (b) multilaterally to Burkina Faso in each of the last six years.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    Since 2010 DFID has provided over £16m of bilateral humanitarian and development funding to Burkina Faso. This includes humanitarian assistance to prevent and treat malnutrition and provide support to refugees from Mali, work with communities to end female genital mutilation, and support to improve regional trade in West Africa.

    Whilst DFID does not require multilateral organisations to give a breakdown of where they spent core funding from DFID, the imputed share of DFID’s core funding to multilaterals that went to Burkina Faso between 2010 and 2014 (the latest year for which we have data) was £159m in total, ranging from between £34m to £47m each year. This was spent by multilaterals including the EU, the UN organisations, and the World Bank on providing a range of humanitarian and development support to meet priority needs in Burkina Faso.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to ensure that oil price reductions are fully passed on to customers.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government believes that it is important that consumers get a fair deal and any falls in oil prices are passed on to lower prices for consumers. We have made this clear to energy providers.

    DECC continuously monitors pump prices, and publish average prices of petrol and diesel every Monday. Movements in pump prices are primarily driven by changes to crude oil prices; though pump prices are also influenced by a range of other factors, including refining capacity, stock levels, distribution costs and retail margins.

    Analysis by the Department has found that crude price changes are being reflected in pump prices and suggests that on average, at a national level, sustained crude price changes are fully passed through into pump prices within 6-7 weeks; though much of the change is passed through earlier.

  • Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Liz Saville Roberts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liz Saville Roberts on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to permit a future Welsh Government to apply directly to the EU Solidarity Fund using UK status as a member state.

    Mr David Gauke

    The current regulation states that an application for an EU Solidarity Fund grant must come from an EU member state government.

    The Treasury leads on negotiations relating to the EU’s seven-year budget, or ‘Multiannual Financial Framework’ (MFF). We can expect the rules governing the implementation of the Fund, including the application process, to be reviewed in the context of negotiations relating to the next MFF, which will take effect from 2021.

    The Devolved Administrations will be consulted in preparation for those negotiations.

  • Paul Maynard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Maynard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Maynard on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what specialist support is available for health visitors in diagnosing and referring children with cerebral palsy.

    Jane Ellison

    There are no plans to establish a national register of children with cerebral palsy. PACE, the charity which supports children and families affected by motor disorders such as cerebral palsy indicates that the current United Kingdom incidence rate of cerebral palsy is around one in 400 births and that approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with cerebral palsy every year.

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricula to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training to diagnose and provide care for children with cerebral palsy.

    Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the royal colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

    Employers are responsible for ensuring that staff receive appropriate development to continue to deliver safe and effective healthcare.

    The Health Visitor training programme is not a condition specific programme of training. Health Visitors are all qualified nurses and/or midwives with a broad range of clinical skills. They undertake an additional year of training to be a health visitor during which they specialise in child and family issues.

    Health Visitors can support families with a child with cerebral palsy in the management of the clinical aspects of the condition. They can also advise on links to other specialist services, resources and groups to support the needs of the family and the child.

    The Department has asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to prepare a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of cerebral palsy. It is expected to be published in January 2017.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-05-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they, the Pensions Regulator, or the Pension Protection Fund have in the last three years had discussions with BHS, Lady Green or Sir Philip Green concerning the deficit in the BHS pension fund and a scheme to reduce that deficit.

    Baroness Altmann

    The Pensions Regulator and the Pension Protection Fund are independent bodies and in carrying out their functions they may meet individuals involved with pension schemes.

    Ministers have engaged with a range of sponsoring employers of Defined Benefit pensions schemes as a matter of routine, including Sir Philip Green, as part of their normal considerations of the pensions landscape but oversight of the scheme funding regime for Defined Benefit schemes is a matter for the Pensions Regulator. It would not be appropriate for Ministers to intervene in individual cases or to discuss with the Regulator, the Pension Protection Fund or the scheme sponsor how a particular scheme’s pension deficit should be mitigated.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-06-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the government of Bahrain on recent travel bans imposed on Bahraini citizens.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    We are seeking to establish the facts around the apparent prevention of a group of human rights activists travelling to Geneva for the for the UN Human Rights Council. I raised this issue with my Bahraini counterpart, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa on 14 June 2016.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-09-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to make continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump technology available to diabetics on the NHS.

    Nicola Blackwood

    This Government is working hard to improve outcomes and quality of life for those already living with diabetes and those who will develop it in the coming years. One of our key goals in the mandate to the National Health Service is a measurable reduction in variation in the management and care of people with the condition within the lifetime of this Parliament. Funding has been secured through the spending review to help achieve this and NHS England is developing a programme to ensure that those clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) which need extra investment in this area, accompanied by sound plans for delivery, receive it.

    In addition, the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework will play a key role in delivering this as it contains two recognised evidence based measures of whether patients with diabetes are being supported to successfully manage their condition (achievement of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence treatment targets and participation in structured education programmes).

    Using data from the NHS Atlas of Variation, NHS Right Care is also working with CCGs and other local partners to make improvements in diabetes care and reduce variation by providing hands on practical support.

    Since 2009/10, there has been an almost 70% increase in the proportion of people newly diagnosed with diabetes recorded as being referred to structured education courses, designed to help them manage their condition in the long term. However, whilst we know that the data on take up needs improving, there is still much further to go in enabling people with diabetes to access these programmes.

    The Department, NHS England and Diabetes UK are working on ways to improve the take up of structured education including exploring how more diversity of provision might be delivered through digital and web based approaches. The Department recently held a seminar with key stakeholders to identify actions that would facilitate improved access.

    CCGs are primarily responsible for commissioning diabetes services to meet the requirements of their population. In doing so, CCGs need to ensure that the services they provide are fit for purpose, reflect the needs of the local population, are based on the available evidence, taking into account national guidelines. This should include consideration of access to continuous glucose monitoring for people with Type 1 diabetes who might benefit from it.

  • Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of nursing posts which are currently (a) vacant and (b) filled by temporary staff in (i) the North West and (ii) England.

    Ben Gummer

    The information is not collected by the Department.

  • Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that insurers cannot under-settle claims made in person following an increase in the small claims limit.

    Dominic Raab

    The Government will consult on the detail of the new reforms in due course, including any necessary safeguards. The consultation will be accompanied by an impact assessment.