Category: Speeches

  • 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, if he will include take-home naloxone in the harm reduction strategy for the penal service; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The substance misuse element of the harm reduction strategy will align with national clinical guidance with regard to how naloxone and other medicines in the care pathway are considered for use, although specific medicines are unlikely to be named in the strategy.

    The commissioning of substance misuse treatment for prisoners is the responsibility of health and justice commissioning teams in ten of NHS England’s area teams, supported by a central health and justice team. The Government expects commissioners and providers of substance misuse services in prisons and in the community to work together closely in respect to prisoners being released from custody to ensure seamless transfers of care.

    Public Health England, the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have jointly published a factsheet[1] to explain October’s regulatory change with regard to naloxone and how the wider availability of naloxone affects relevant services. NHS England Area Teams will encourage providers to take account of this guidance.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/widening-the-availability-of-naloxone/widening-the-availability-of-naloxone

    “

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what funding his Department has provided to the BBC World Service in each year since 2010.

    Mr David Lidington

    In each year from 2010 the department provided the following funding to the BBC World Service: 2009/2010 – £268,043,000 2010/2011 – £268,523,000 2011/2012 – £255,200,000 2012/2013 – £244,200,000 2013/2014 – £238,480,000

  • Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sadiq Khan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sadiq Khan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) acute and (b) non-acute beds there were in each London hospital in each year since 2010.

    Jane Ellison

    Information on bed availability and occupancy is published every quarter.

    The attached table shows the average daily number of available (a) general and acute and (b) maternity, mental health and learning disability beds that were open overnight and open day only and under the care of a consultant in London trusts in each quarter since 2010.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Iran on the 15 per cent increase in its budget for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps; and what assessment he has made of the potential implications of that increase for regional security.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We remain concerned about Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) activity in the region, and most recently raised our concerns about regional security with Iran on 20 January in Tehran. The IRGC is a proscribed organisation by the EU, listed due to actions relating to Iran’s support for terrorism and human rights reasons.

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

    Table: The number of referrals entering treatment1 in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined2.

    Total number of referrals entering treatment3

    Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4

    Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)

    Organisation name

    NHS Warrington CCG

    3,265

    31

    28

    All North West CCGs combined

    123,445

    44

    24

    Notes:

    1In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

    2CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

    3In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

    4The mean was used as the average.

    5Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

    Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

    Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

    Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place a copy of his Department’s (a) civilian casualty review procedure and (b) standard operating procedure in the Library.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I am withholding publication of the UK Armed Forces’ Incident Reporting Standing Operating Procedure, which contains the civilian casualty review process, as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of our Armed Forces.

    The UK takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. Robust processes are in place to review reports of civilian casualties and to launch investigations where required.

  • Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what definition of lobbying” is used by the Department of Health in its grant application process.”

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department does not provide definitions of specific words used in the grant application processes, used by Voluntary Sector organisation. The Department policy clearly states that grants will not be awarded if there is any indication within the application that some or all of any funding awarded will be used to support political activities.

    Grants Hub issued award letters have a standard term in the award letter which reinforces that no aspect of the activity being funded by the Department should be party political in intention, use or presentation.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict, published in April 2016, if his Department will support the immediate establishment of an international, impartial investigation into reported international humanitarian law violations by all parties in the conflict.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government has been clear that we want to see thorough and conclusive investigations where allegations have been made against parties to the conflict in Yemen regarding international humanitarian law. The Saudi Arabian government has its own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail on how they investigate such incidents earlier this year and that any lessons learned would be acted upon. We note the announcement on 6 June of the UN Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, that the United Nations and the Saudi-led Coalition will jointly review the cases and numbers in the Children and Armed Conflict Report.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of Ofgem’s plans to introduce a Partial View in the Confidence Code Review 2016 on the proportion of the cheapest energy tariffs that will potentially be hidden from consumers using accredited price comparison websites.

    Jesse Norman

    It is vital that customers trust price comparison websites, as they offer real opportunities for improving competition and I expect price comparison websites to be clear to consumers when they are not providing a whole market tariff comparison.

    Ofgem are currently consulting on proposals to allow price comparison websites to only show those tariffs that consumers can switch to through the price comparison website as a default, but they must also provide quick and easy access to a webpage showing all tariffs available on the market. The consultation closes on 28 September and is available online at

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/08/whole_of_market_consultation.pdf

    “

  • Steven Paterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Steven Paterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steven Paterson on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost to his Department was of maintenance of facilities at (a) Prestwick, (b) RAF Benbecula, (c) RAF Buchan, (d) RAF Lossiemouth, (e) RAF Tain, (f) RRH Saxa Vord, (g) HMNB Clyde, (h) Redford Barracks, (i) Dreghorn Barracks, (j) Glencorse Barracks, (k) Fort George (l) Kinloss and (m) Leuchars in each of the last five years.

    Mark Lancaster

    Reliable information on maintenance costs is only held since financial year (FY) 2012-13 as shown in the following table:

    Financial Year

    2012-13 Total

    2013-14 Total

    2014-15 Total

    2015-16 Total to 31/10/2015

    HMS Gannet (Prestwick)

    Information not held

    £117,000

    £118,690

    £70,616

    RAF Benbecula

    £56,000

    £74,000

    £86,981

    £61,339

    RAF Buchan

    £81,000

    £106,000

    £116,784

    £76,931

    RAF Lossiemouth

    £1,683,000

    £1,731,000

    £1,618,861

    £1,288,955

    RAF Tain

    £11,000

    £20,000

    £11,667

    £0

    RRH Saxa Vord

    £43,000

    £51,000

    £86,445

    £79,373

    HMNB Clyde

    £122,000

    £132,000

    £77,000

    £14,000

    Redford Bks

    £694,000

    £724,000

    £585,831

    £279,097

    Dreghorn Bks

    £526,000

    £633,000

    £487,636

    £166,740

    Glencorse Bks

    £491,000

    £547,000

    £433,281

    £159,876

    Fort George

    £246,000

    £319,000

    £331,140

    £254,079

    Kinloss

    £1,050,000

    £1,118,000

    £1,254,464

    £936,217

    Leuchars

    Information not held

    Information not held

    £530,590

    £1,220,826