Category: Speeches

Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme; and what steps he is taking to increase uptake of such screening among (a) men, (b) people living in deprived areas, (c) ethnic minorities and (d) all people.

Jane Ellison

The UK National Screening Committee recently consulted on the use of Faecal Immunochemical testing (FIT) as an alternative screen test for bowel cancer. Initial results of the FIT pilot, indicates that this test is more acceptable to the screened population with a significant increase in participation (10%). This is particularly marked amongst men and disadvantaged groups.

At the end of January 2015, 25 million faecal occult blood test kits had been sent out to men and women aged 60-74 to self-sample at home. Over 15 million kits have been returned by post to one of five regional laboratories (programme hubs). Over 21,000 cancers have been detected and over 122,000 patients have been managed for polyps, including polyp removal.

Public Health England (PHE) Screening held a national workshop engaging various organisations to discuss inequalities in accessing screening programmes.

The national workshop was attended by colleagues from local authorities, the Department of Health, PHE, National Health Service and cancer research UK. The day looked at current knowledge about the extent of inequitable access, what works to improve access for those in deprived and protected groups, how existing levers might best be used and by whom.

01/01/2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many requests for arms export licences to Saudi Arabia (a) have been made, (b) were rejected by the Export Control Organisation (ECO), (c) were granted by the ECO and (d) were revoked after being granted in each year since 2009-10.

Anna Soubry

a) The number of Saudi Arabian arms export licences submitted for processing, per calendar year since 2009, is as follows:

Year 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Number of Applications 118 148 143 158 161 167 203

b-d) Information on arms export licences are published as Official Statistics in the quarterly and annual reports on Strategic Export Controls. These reports contain detailed information on export licences issued, refused or revoked, by destination, including the overall value, type (e.g. Military, Other) and a summary of the items covered by these licences. They are available to view at GOV.UK.

The most recently published information covers the period until 30 June 2015. Information covering 1 July to 30 September 2015 will be published on 19 January 2016 and information covering 1 October to 31 December 2015 will be published on 19 April 2016.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effects of UK membership of the EU on policy areas in the remit of his Department.

Dominic Raab

The Prime Minister has made clear that the European Union needed to reform if it was to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in the UK, so we can get a better deal for our country and secure our future. We are confident that the right agreement can be reached.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people aged under 18 who have been (a) involved in gang violence and (b) a member of a gang in each year since 2010.

Karen Bradley

There are no centrally held estimates of the numbers of under 18s involved in gang violence or numbers of gang members and we cannot provide a breakdown for each year since 2010. However some police forces collect data locally. The Metropolitan Police Service, for example, state that there were 201 active gangs in London involving 3,628 gang members as of 1 January 2016.

01/01/2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the extent to which members of the armed forces work with trichloroethylene in the line of duty and the suitability of existing health and safety arrangements when this takes place.

Mark Lancaster

The assessment of exposure to hazardous chemicals, including Trichloroethylene, by Armed Forces personnel is covered by legislative requirements in the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). These require that the employer makes a suitable and sufficient assessment of exposure to employees, and that any exposure is prevented or adequately controlled. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) fully complies with these regulations, through risk assessments of exposure to hazardous substances being undertaken at local level by the Chain of Command. This includes an assessment of the suitability of arrangements to prevent or control exposure.

The MOD is also aware that after 21 April 2016, an authorisation will be needed for continued use of Trichloroethylene and has arrangements in place to ensure compliance.

01/01/2023
Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the House of Commons Commission
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Rt. hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34469, where the four portraits referred to in that Answer are located; and what proportion of all paintings and portraits in the Palace of Westminster those portraits represent.

Tom Brake

The four portraits are located in the following locations:
- The portraits of Diane Abbott and Paul Boateng hang in Portcullis House.
- The portrait of Dr Dadabhoy Naoroji is displayed in the corridor leading to the House of Commons Strangers Gallery.
- The portrait of Baroness Amos hangs in the corridor off Princes Chamber in the House of Lords.
There are approximately 310 painted portraits in the Parliamentary Art Collection.

The majority of the painted portraits in the Parliamentary Art Collection are historical ones depicting members of the Royal Family and Parliamentarians pre-1900, of whom few were of black, Asian, or minority ethnic (BAME) origin.

The Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of Art is committed to reflecting the diversity of the House today, and to recognising those who have influenced Parliament and contributed to its development in a notable way through the Parliamentary Art Collection. The Committee has agreed to give further consideration to the matter in the current Parliament.
01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is able to take to redistribute funding from clinical commissioning groups that are over their target allocation.

Alistair Burt

Responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations rests with NHS England rather than the Department, as set out in The Mandate. These decisions have been taken independently of Government, in order that such an important issue as funding is made objectively and free from perceived political considerations.

The funding allocated to all CCGs is based on the CCG allocations formula. This is based on advice provided by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA). ACRA is an independent committee and reports jointly to the Secretary of State for Health (in regard to public health allocations) and NHS England in regard to CCG and primary care allocations.

In regards to determining how quickly to move CCGs from their current allocation to the target allocation determined by the allocations formula, NHS England’s objective is to reduce the ‘distance from target’ so that areas furthest below their target allocation receive the biggest increases, and areas above their target consequently receive smaller increases. This difference in the size of increases is a judgement – it is important to ensure service stability for those areas above target, and that increases for under target areas are not so large that resources are not used efficiently. The approach also takes account of the distance from target in each area for primary care and specialised services so that the overall funding position for the area is taken into account.

NHS England recently published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/#

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01/01/2023

Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme were granted in each year from 2008 to 2016; and how many apprentices are currently on the NHS Low Income Scheme.

David Mowat

The table below shows the number of applications to the NHS Low Income Scheme, and the certificates which were granted, in each year from 2008 to 2016:

Year	HC1s Received	HC2s Issued	HC3s Issued
2007/08	422,652	240,288	140,501
2008/09	445,608	252,037	148,018
2009/10	431,129	243,350	142,135
2010/11	433,075	249,193	139,375
2011/12	422,591	246,808	134,276
2012/13	399,375	229,618	122,580
2013/14	389,324	225,275	120,391
2014/15	385,131	214,975	113,964
2015/16	383,487	225,239	112,414

A HC2 certificate entitles the person (and their family) to full remission of the charge, whereas a HC3 certificate provides partial remission and indicates how much of the charge the person must pay.

Figures for apprentices who hold NHS Low Income Scheme certificates are not available, as information on who is an apprentice is not collected.

The overall cost to administer the NHS Low Income Scheme in the last three financial years are set out below. These figures represent the direct costs of the NHS Low Income Scheme service in England, Scotland and Wales. The figures do not include overheads associated with the wider infrastructure of the NHS Business Services Authority:

Year	Cost (£)
2015/16	1,469,034
2014/15	1,566,587
2013/14	1,594,957

01/01/2023

David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences have been deported in the last year for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on the number of foreign national offenders that have been removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=uk-visas-and-immigration&publication_type=transparency-data.

Please note that the data is published on a quarterly basis. The link provides access to historical data for each quarter for the financial year 2015 / 2016

01/01/2023
Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Universal Credit (Work Allowance) Amendment Regulations 2015 (S.I., 2015, No. 1649) on work incentives for single parents in receipt of universal credit.

Priti Patel

Universal Credit (UC) has been designed to reduce poverty and ensure work pays. Once fully rolled out, up to 300,000 more people are likely to be in work as a result of the introduction of UC. The Government is also providing additional support for families by increasing childcare funding within UC from 70% to 85% of eligible costs, the introduction of Tax Free Childcare and the extension of free early years childcare for working parents from 15 hours to 30 hours.

01/01/2023