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Category: Speeches

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to sperm banks on the grounds for rejecting donors.

    Jane Ellison

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) issues guidance to licensed clinics, including sperm banks, on donor recruitment, assessment and screening in the HFEA Code of Practice. A copy of which is attached.

    The HFEA requires clinics to select donors on the basis of their age, health and medical history, provided on a questionnaire and through a personal interview performed by a qualified and trained healthcare professional. This assessment must include relevant factors that may assist in identifying and screening out persons whose donations could present a health risk to others, such as the possibility of transmitting diseases, (such as sexually transmitted infections) or health risks to themselves (e.g. the risks associated with the egg collection procedure or the psychological consequences of being a donor).

    Clinics should ensure that its procedures for recruiting donors are fair and non-discriminatory. The HFEA has never required or endorsed prohibiting people with dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders from becoming sperm donors. In relation to the recent press coverage about a particular centre, the HFEA has clarified its requirements for selecting donors with this centre, and has reviewed all the exemptions cited in the centre’s materials, to ensure that all future donors are treated fairly and in accordance with the law.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on meningitis vaccine stocks in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Vaccine prices are commercially confidential, and so we are unable to provide this information.

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has taken steps to provide national guidance to ensure that healthcare and wider staff in prisons are given adequate levels of training around blood-borne viruses as recommended by The Hepatitis C Trust’s recent report, The blood-borne virus opt-out testing policy for prisons in England: An analysis of need towards full implementation, published on 3 March 2016.

    Ben Gummer

    Implementation of opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) in all adult prisons in England in a shared priority for Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Offender Management Service as published in our second National Partnership Agreement for 2015-16.

    To support implementation, PHE and its partners, including The Hepatitis C Trust among other third sector organisations, have developed a broad range of range of resources to support prison healthcare teams. These include information leaflets and posters, testing algorithms, web-based and DVD resources which cover all aspects of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Hepatitis C and other BBVs to support prison healthcare teams in offering testing, managing both positive and negative results, providing advice on harm minimisation and supporting people into treatment.

  • Baroness Berridge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Berridge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Berridge on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to respond to anti-Ahmadiyya hate literature in the UK in the light of recent reports that leaflets endorsing the execution of Ahmadi Muslims were found in Stockwell Green mosque on 10 April.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Religiously motivated hate crime and hate speech has absolutely no place in British society. This Government is clear that everybody should be free to live their lives free from fear of attack simply because of what their beliefs are, and that tragic events such as the recent murder of Asad Shah in Glasgow will not be tolerated. We have a strong legal framework in place against discrimination on the basis of religion, and criminal penalties for offences such as racially or religiously aggravated assault and criminal damage. Those who perpetrate hate crimes of any kind will be punished with the full force of the law. This Government has done more than any other to tackle anti-Muslim hatred. As of 1 April 2016, police forces in England and Wales are disaggregating religious hate crime data to reveal the true scale and nature of the problem. The Government also plans to publish its new Hate Crime Action Plan in the summer, which will set out our approach to tacking all forms of hate crime, including Islamophobia. This will build on the success of ‘Challenge It, Report It, Stop It’, which was published in 2012 and updated subsequently in 2014.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps is he taking to make a career in general practice more attractive to medical graduates.

    Alistair Burt

    The ‘General Practice Forward View’, published by NHS England in April 2016, sets out actions to double growth in the general practitioner (GP) workforce. This includes work by Health Education England (HEE) to increase the number of medical school graduates choosing general practice. HEE is working with the Medical Schools Council, higher education institutions, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee to increase the profile of general practice in medical schools. A working group, chaired by Professor Valerie Wass OBE, will publish recommendations in summer 2016.

    HEE and the RCGP will continue to develop the current recruitment campaign to raise the profile of general practice as a career. The campaign showcases the variety of different opportunities and the flexibility of the specialty, as well as the central role that GPs play in the community and their patients’ care. HEE has recruited and trained 35 campaign ambassadors and advocates to support and promote national and regional activities including attendance at recruitment events and through social media.

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet with Millom Without Parish Council to discuss options to ensure that the North West Coast Connection Project does not affect the landscape of the west of the Lake District National Park.

    Jesse Norman

    As my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State will be responsible for determining the application for consent for the proposed North West Coast Connection Project, it would not be appropriate for him to meet with Millom Without Parish Council to discuss the merits of the project.

    The application for this project is expected to be submitted by National Grid to the Planning Inspectorate in 2017. During the pre-application stage, the Parish Council and other interested parties can get involved in the consultation process. When the application is lodged, the Parish Council will be able to make representations on it. The Planning Inspectorate can provide advice about the planning process for the project and advice about the process in general is available on its website: https://infrastructure.planninginspectorate.gov.uk/application-process/the-process/

    “

  • Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Peter Kyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which budget will supply funding for the estimated running costs of the Institute of Apprenticeships.

    Robert Halfon

    The Institute for Apprenticeships will be funded by the Government using public funds. It is expected that part of its budget will be provided by funding freed up from savings across the Department.

  • Iain Stewart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Iain Stewart – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Stewart on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the names are of the in-patient mother and baby units specialising in caring for women during the perinatal period that were open in 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    Mother and Baby Units open in 2010:

    1. Newcastle Beadnell Ward, St George’s Park, Morpeth, Northumberland
    2. Leeds Mother and Baby Unit, Leeds Partnership Foundation Trust
    3. Manchester Anderson Ward, Wythenshawe Hospital
    4. Nottingham Perinatal Psychiatric Services, Perinatal Inpatient Unit
    5. Derby Mother and Baby Psychiatric Unit, Derby City General, Uttoxeter Rd, Derby
    6. Leicester Mother and Baby Unit, Brandon Unit, Leicester General Hospital (closed 2014)
    7. Stafford Brockington Mother and Baby Unit, St George’s Hospital Foundation
    8. Birmingham Mother and Baby Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital
    9. Welwyn Garden Thumbswood, Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, Howlands, Welwyn
    10. Hackney Mother and Baby Unit, Mermaid Ward, City and Hackney Centre for Mental Health, Homerton Hospital, Homerton Row
    11. North Middlesex Coombe Wood Perinatal Mental Health Unit, Coombe Wood Annexe, Park Royal Centre for Mental Health
    12. Beckenham Mother and Baby Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Rd, Beckenham, Kent
    13. Bristol New Horizon Mother and Baby Centre, Southmead Hospital
    14. Basingstoke Fairways House, Parklands Hospital (Moved to Winchester in 2013)
    15. The Eastbourne Clinic Mother and Baby Unit, Eastbourne, East Sussex (this unit was open in 2010 but not referenced in report closed 2014)
    16. Mother and Baby Unit, Godden Green Clinic, Godden Green, Sevenoaks, Kent (closed in 2010)
    17. York Mother and Baby Unit, Bootham Park Hospital (closed temporarily in 2010 and remained closed)

    Source: National Perinatal Mental Health Project Report 2010

    This information updates previous information submitted in relation to the number of mother and baby units open in 2010. Previous answers were drawn from the Specialised Mental Health Services (all ages) Definition No 22 (2009), which states that “there are 10 MBUs in England” but does not include a list of the 10 units.

    The updated answer is taken from the 2010 National Perinatal Mental Health Project Report. The Department recommends using the latter as the source of information on services in 2010 as this report provides more detail, specifying the name and location of the units.

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2015 to Question 13471, if he will assess the proposed standardised packaging of tobacco against the revised one in, two out framework criteria published by the Better Regulation Executive in its publication entitled, Better Regulation Framework Manual, published in March 2015.

    Jane Ellison

    Government policies, including standardised packaging of tobacco products, are assessed against the Better Regulation Framework in place at the time.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 11.10 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, how the £55 billion budget for High Speed 2 has been split between phase 1 and phase 2 of that project.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Spending Review 2015 set out a long-term budget of £55.7bn (2015 prices) for delivering HS2. Of this, approximately £27.2bn has been apportioned to Phase One and £28.5bn to Phase Two.