Blog

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will include prostate cancer in the next Be Clear on Cancer awareness campaign; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Be Clear on Cancercampaigns are tested at a local and regional level, before a decision is taken on whether to run them nationally throughout England.

    Public Health England is actively considering potential local pilot activity specifically targeting prostate cancer within Black African-Caribbean men, due to their significantly increased risk of developing prostate cancer.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the same standard of care across the country for those diagnosed with prostate cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    To help reduce regional variations, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is increasingly incorporating information from accreditation and peer review programmes into its assessments of National Health Service trusts’ services, including the National Cancer Peer Review Programme. The CQC also intends to use data from the national clinical audit which is being developed for prostate cancer. In addition, national statistics on waiting times experienced by patients with suspected and diagnosed cancers continue to be collected, monitored and published in order to improve equity of access to cancer services and to contribute to an improvement in survival rates.

    The results of the latest national Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) from 2013 show that, whilst variations between trusts still exist, the overall range of variation for many indicators has narrowed. For example, in 2010 the proportion of patients saying that they had been given the name of a Clinical Nurse Specialist ranged from 92% in the highest performing trust to 59% in the poorest performing trust (33 points); by 2013 this had reduced to 97% to 76% (21 points).

    NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) will be doing a suite of work across all surveys to understand what the barriers are to implementing change and to showcase best practice where real improvements can be demonstrated.

    NHS England is working with NHS IQ to develop better ways of using the CPES data within the NHS in order to maximise the impact of the survey, to be able to work with successful and struggling organisations to spread best practice for example.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the Government has spent on prostate cancer research in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The following figures provide an annualised estimate of Government funding for prostate cancer research, provided by the National Cancer Research Institute Cancer Research Database 2009 to 2013.

    2009

    £

    2010

    £

    2011

    £

    2012

    £

    2013

    £

    Prostate Cancer

    7,895,544

    7,158,048

    7,095,581

    9,484,685

    8,276,039

    These figures include only direct spend on prostate cancer research, or spend which directly supports prostate cancer research; it does not include fundamental research that could have implications for prostate cancer in the longer term.

  • Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame M. Morris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame M. Morris on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects the Care Act 2014 Part 1 regulations to be laid before the House.

    Norman Lamb

    Subject to the Parliamentary timetable, we intend to lay the final regulations in October 2014 and publish the statutory guidance at the same time. We are committed to setting out the detail of secondary legislation and statutory guidance six months in advance of when most of Part 1 of the Care Act comes into force (April 2015), in order to give local authorities and their partners as much time as possible to plan for implementation.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with its counterparts in Northern Ireland ahead of the Global Dementia Legacy Event in London on 19 June 2014.

    Norman Lamb

    Senior officials from each of the devolved administrations are members of the Dementia Steering Group (International) and were involved and aware of plans for the UK Global Dementia Legacy event. They were also invited to attend the event. Ministers were not invited, senior officials were sent a formal invitation.

    There were no discussions between my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and his Ministerial counterparts. Senior officials in the Devolved Administrations were involved in discussions via their participation in the Dementia Steering Group (International).

    Ministers from across the United Kingdom signed up to the Blackfriars Consensus to prevent and delay dementia, which was announced at the UK Global Legacy event.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ivan Lewis – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Ministers from the devolved administrations were invited to attend the Global Dementia Legacy Event in London in June 2014.

    Norman Lamb

    Senior officials from each of the devolved administrations are members of the Dementia Steering Group (International) and were involved and aware of plans for the UK Global Dementia Legacy event. They were also invited to attend the event. Ministers were not invited, senior officials were sent a formal invitation.

    The Scottish Government hosted an international dementia event on 9 and 10 June, and officials from the Department attended.

    Ministers from across the United Kingdom signed up to the Blackfriars Consensus to prevent and delay dementia, which was announced at the UK Global Dementia Legacy event.

  • Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Richard Burden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2014, Official Report, column 710W, on Palestinians, what response Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office made on the issue of demolitions in East Jerusalem or the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

    Hugh Robertson

    Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office informed our officials that demolitions take place where building has occurred without a permit from the Israeli authorities. And that – as per the Oslo accords – Israel has planning authority over these areas. They also said that they therefore have the right to evict people and demolish structures, where they consider building to have taken place illegally under Israeli law.

  • Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Robert Flello – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Colombian counterpart seeking clarification of the actions being taken by the Colombian government to ensure the safety of land restitution claimants in that country.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    During my recent visit to Colombia from 25 to 27 June, I met two Deputy Ministers for Foreign Affairs and heads of the Colombian government’s major human rights agencies. This included the National Protection Unit: the Government body that coordinates the protection of at risk groups and individuals in Colombia. I set out HM Government concern about the reported rise in attacks against human rights defenders and cases of impunity for those responsible.

    Whilst in Bogotá, I also met representatives from six human rights organisations, including Oxfam and Christian Aid as well as Colombian non-governmental organisations (NGOs.)

  • Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the government of Indonesia on human rights in West Papua.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    In January 2014, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague) raised the situation in Papua and West Papua with the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Marty Natalegewa who made clear the determination of the Indonesian government to improve the human rights situation there.

    Most recently, in June 2014, our Ambassador to Jakarta raised Papua with Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Legal, Political and Security Affairs, who reconfirmed his government’s intention to increase autonomy for the region. Our Embassy staff also visit the provinces regularly, discussing our concerns with government officials, civil society leaders and human rights defenders. We remain concerned about reports of violence and human rights abuses, including limitations on free speech and limitations on access to the region by international non-governmental organisations, foreign journalists and diplomats.

  • David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    David Ward – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Ward on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress he has made in ensuring that Palestinian children are interrogated only in the presence of their parents and lawyers.

    Hugh Robertson

    The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Mr Grayling), raised the treatment of child detainees with the Israeli Supreme Court President during his visit to Israel in May.

    As a recent progress report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) indicates, Israel has taken some positive steps towards addressing the recommendations in UNICEF’s Children in Israeli Military Detention report. These include the introduction of legal obligations to inform the child’s parents of an arrest and grant them legal status to be represented in court, as well as to notify minors of their legal rights, and standard operating procedures on methods of restraint. We will continue to work, both through bilateral engagement and through the EU, to encourage Israel to take further positive steps.