Category: Speeches

Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis will be made available on the NHS to people who have (a) been raped and (b) had underage sex.

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.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 4 May 2016 to Question 35770, what technical and practical barriers will prevent the Electoral Commission implementing a registration look-up tool before the EU referendum.

John Penrose

As required by legislation, all applications to register to vote are assessed by Local Authority Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). There are around 360 EROs across the UK. EROs manage and maintain separate electoral registers for their areas on a variety of different software platforms. A national registration look-up tool would require access to all of these locally held and owned electoral registers, and, if it required the creation of a central national database, could require legislative changes and raise significant data protection concerns.

01/01/2023
Baroness Gould of Potternewton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Gould of Potternewton on 2016-06-29.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Department of Health’s Framework for Sexual Health Improvement in England, published in March 2013, what steps they have taken to ensure that local areas know of all professionals who are part of their sexual health workforce, and that those individuals have received appropriate training.

Lord Prior of Brampton

It is the responsibility of local authorities and clinical commissioning groups to commission appropriate services and for providers to ensure that their staff are appropriately trained to meet the needs of their local population.

The Government has also mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service in England. In doing so, HEE has a role in ensuring employers remain committed to continuing professional development and in developing the overall strategy for workforce skills and development in their areas.

01/01/2023
Baroness Hamwee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hamwee on 2016-09-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that children subject to immigration control are not separated from their family or guardian during the process unless there are safeguarding or welfare concerns.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

For immigration purposes children may only be separated from their parents where it is necessary and proportionate to do so and after having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the children’s welfare.

Decisions on family separations are taken in line with published guidance in the Home Office Enforcement Instructions and Guidance at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/removal-actions

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has made to manufacturers on minimising increases in the price of insulin for treating type 1 diabetes.

George Freeman

There have been no such representations or discussions. The prices of branded medicines are controlled by the 2014 Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme or under the statutory scheme established under the Health Service Branded Medicines (Control of Prices and Supply of Information) (No.2) Regulations 2008 and the Health Service Medicines (Information Relating to Sales of Branded Medicines etc.) Regulations 2007.

01/01/2023
Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of freezing local housing allowance on working families in privately-rented accommodation.

Justin Tomlinson

As Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation levels are close to zero, the impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance rates will have no impact in 2016/17 when compared to the counterfactual of uprating by CPI. (In future years, 30 per cent of the savings from the ‘freeze’ will be used to create further Targeted Affordability Funding to help those areas where rent increases are causing a shortage of affordable accommodation.)

01/01/2023
Kate Hoey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hoey on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Prime Minister, what representations he has received from (a) the hon. Member for Islington North and (b) the Labour Party on his renegotiation of the terms of UK membership of the EU (a) in general and (b) about the matters that should be taken into account in that process; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Cameron

I have not received any written representations from the Leader of the Opposition or from the Labour Party.

01/01/2023
Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions she has held with the Chief Electoral Officer on steps to ensure that the count of the Northern Ireland Assembly elections in May 2016 is carried out efficiently and is not subject to undue delays.

Mr Ben Wallace

The Northern Ireland Office is in regular contact with the Chief Electoral Officer. I am confident that he is taking all necessary steps to ensure the Northern Ireland Assembly elections, including the count, are delivered as efficiently as possible. Single Transferable Vote counts by their nature take longer than those in “first past the post” elections, and the Chief Electoral Officer’s primary consideration has to be the accuracy of the count. However, he has put in place a number of measures to improve the speed of the count, including testing for count staff and modifications to the process for verifying ballot papers.

01/01/2023
Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-02-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assurances HM Revenue and Customs obtains from its potential contractors and suppliers on the level of their compliance with UK tax obligations.

Mr David Gauke

Prior to engagement, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) require a new contractor or supplier to provide their tax details, and to agree to HMRC performing revenue compliance checks throughout the procurement process, using information from its own records and taking appropriate action where required in line with the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

Contracts for such engagements include clauses requiring that at all times the contractor or supplier shall comply with all statutes and regulations relating to direct or indirect taxes, and that failure to comply may constitute a material breach of the contract.

01/01/2023

Emily Thornberry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many new recruits who have joined the Army Reserve since 1 April 2015 have (a) started and (b) finished phase (i) one and (ii) two training.

Mr Julian Brazier

Both Reserve and Regular recruits undertake initial Phase 1 training in order to become effective soldiers and then proceed to Phase 2 training, where they receive the specific training they need to carry out their defined role. On successful completion of Phase 2, they join the Army Reserve Trained Strength.

For Reserve recruits, Phase 1 initial training consists of two components; Phase 1(A) is delivered as a single week long course or over four weekends. Phase 1(B) is a 15.5 day long course. Phase 2 role-specific training courses are delivered over one period not exceeding 16 days.

Army Reserve recruits are expected to commence Phase 1 training as soon as possible after enlistment. However, factors such as arranging time off work, exam attendance, family commitments, injury or medical clearance can delay a recruit from starting Phase 1 training. Some new soldier entrants are enlisted at risk whilst waiting to be declared medically fit. These entrants are described as Phase 0.

Army Reservists are required to attend at least one period of annual continuous training per year not exceeding 16 days. It is therefore expected that Army Reservists will complete Phase 1 during their first year of service and Phase 2 during their second year of service. Some Army Reservists however are able to complete Phase 1 and Phase 2 training during their first year of service, as demonstrated by the information in the table below concerning the 2015 entrants.

The figures in the table below are as at 1 January 2016 and have been rounded to the nearest 10.

	January-December 2015	April- December 2015
New Entrants to the FR20 Army Reserves	3,640	2,740
Phase 0/Phase 1 Trainee	2,700	2,250
Phase 2 Trainee (completed Phase 1)	500	280
On Trained FR20 Strength (completed Phase 2)	310	130
Left Army Reserves	140	70

01/01/2023