The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times she has (a) met and (b) corresponded with a minister of the Welsh Government on the draft Wales Bill in the last 12 months.
Karen Bradley
The Wales Office is the lead Government department on the draft Wales Bill, and is the primary point of contact with the Welsh Government on matters related to the draft Bill.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the matters within her Department’s responsibility in Schedule 1 of the draft Wales Bill have been designated as reserved.
Karen Bradley
The reservations listed in Schedule 1 to the draft Wales Bill reflect the Government’s view of where the Welsh devolution boundary lies following the devolution of further powers to the Assembly provided for in the draft Bill.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what process her Department identified the areas of policy within its responsibility proposed for reservation in Annex B of the publication Powers for a Purpose: Towards a lasting devolution settlement for Wales, published on 27 February 2015.
Karen Bradley
Annex B to the Powers for a Purpose Command Paper provided an illustrative list of the main areas in which reservations would be needed in a reserved powers model. The list described the Government’s emerging thinking as the new reserved powers model was being developed. The Government published its full proposals in the draft Wales Bill on 20 October.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government has paid out any financial compensation on national security directions made under sections 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 in the last 30 years.
Mr John Hayes
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has been briefed on the use of directions under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.
In accordance with section 94 subsection (6) of the Telecommunications Act 1984, money may be provided for the purpose of compensating for any losses that are sustained by reason of compliance with directions.
On 13 January 2015, the Prime Minister asked the Interception of Communications Commissioner to oversee directions issued under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act. The Commissioner will report on his findings, including on the statistics and wider information that can be published about the use of the power without damage to national security, in his next report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has provided the Intelligence and Security Committee with copies of any national security directions made under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.
Mr John Hayes
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has been briefed on the use of directions under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.
In accordance with section 94 subsection (6) of the Telecommunications Act 1984, money may be provided for the purpose of compensating for any losses that are sustained by reason of compliance with directions.
On 13 January 2015, the Prime Minister asked the Interception of Communications Commissioner to oversee directions issued under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act. The Commissioner will report on his findings, including on the statistics and wider information that can be published about the use of the power without damage to national security, in his next report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times action has been taken against a service provider for non-compliance with a warrant served under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 since 2001.
Mr John Hayes
The Government works closely with communication service providers to ensure they can give effect to warrants which help our security and intelligence and law enforcement agencies to disrupt, investigate and prosecute terrorists and criminals.
It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on relationships with companies regarding interception warrants or whether specific companies had failed to give effect to an interception warrant.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the most recent national security direction under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984 was made; and what the number of UK citizens was from whom data was collected under that direction.
Mr John Hayes
The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament has been briefed on the use of directions under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act 1984.
In accordance with section 94 subsection (6) of the Telecommunications Act 1984, money may be provided for the purpose of compensating for any losses that are sustained by reason of compliance with directions.
On 13 January 2015, the Prime Minister asked the Interception of Communications Commissioner to oversee directions issued under section 94 of the Telecommunications Act. The Commissioner will report on his findings, including on the statistics and wider information that can be published about the use of the power without damage to national security, in his next report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure to new medicines on the Cancer Drugs Fund list on patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia.
George Freeman
Neither the Department nor NHS England has made any such assessment. NHS England has advised that, although it is not considering new applications to the national Cancer Drugs Fund list at this time, there have been no new drugs launched for chronic myeloid leukaemia in the past 12 months.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce variations in the quality of at-home care given by carers’ agencies across the UK.
Alistair Burt
The Government is committed to improving the quality of adult social care. We have taken a number of recent steps to do so.
In October 2014, we introduced a tougher inspection system by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Following inspections, CQC now also awards each service a single quality rating, with providers rated as “Outstanding”, “Good”, “Requires Improvement” or “Inadequate”. Services rated “Inadequate” are being placed into Special Measures. They will have access to a range of resources to help them to improve, but if they fail to do so, they could face closure.
These new ratings and other information about the type and quality of care at every care home and homecare service in the country are now available on NHS Choices and the MyNHS Transparency website, making it much easier for people to compare the quality of services.
This year we introduced a Certificate of Fundamental Care, now known as the Care Certificate. This will help ensure that care workers can deliver a consistently high quality standard of care.
The Department is funding and working with a number of organisations including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Skills for Care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association on a range of projects to help adult social care organisations and staff improve the quality of care. These resources include new NICE Quality Standards and Guidelines which bring clarity to what excellence looks like in care and Commissioning for Better Outcomes – A Route Map* that sets out a series of commissioning standards that will
be used as part of local government sector-led improvement to drive best practices in local authority commissioning under their new duties in the Care Act 2015.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential for immune-oncology treatments to treat mesothelioma effectively.
George Freeman
A number of immuno-oncology treatments with the potential to treat mesothelioma are in development.
Most significant new drugs are referred to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) technology appraisal programme to assess their clinical and cost effectiveness. Decisions on the suitability of these drugs for NICE appraisal will be made through the established topic selection process.