The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2016 to Question 31997, on employment: telephone services, if he will provide that data for financial years (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13 and (d) 2013-14.
Nick Boles
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to support the children and families of alcoholics.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) is engaged in a work programme which aims to reduce alcohol-related harm to individuals, families and society. PHE works closely with local authorities to support their work of assessing local alcohol-related need and commissioning services and support to meet that need, including identification and brief advice, alcohol treatment and helping ensure that young people’s substance misuse services target vulnerable young people.
PHE is producing a report on the harm alcohol causes to people other than the drinker, in collaboration with governments in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This report will look at the impact of alcohol on others, including the children of parents with alcohol problems. It is due to published this year.
PHE will also provide estimates of the number of children likely to be affected by their parents’ alcohol use and provide advice to national and local government on where action could have the greatest impact on improving life chances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were enrolled on the PROUD trial.
Jane Ellison
The PROUD trial was launched in 2012, coordinated by the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit and Public Health England (PHE). The number of people enrolled in the trial, was 544.
Based on evidence from the PROUD study, PHE has made an assessment that of the 100,000 men who have sex with men who attend genito-urinary medicine clinics annually, 8,000 can be identified as being at ‘high-risk’.
The Department has not yet made its own assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to conduct an annual review of the effect of the Tobacco Products Directive.
Jane Ellison
Comprehensive tobacco control measures act in concert. The Government monitors the impact of all tobacco control measures using a range of data sources, some of which are reported annually. The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 and The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Regulations 2015, which implement most elements of the Tobacco Products Directive in the United Kingdom, contain a review clause, with the first review of the operation of the legislation falling before 2021.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in a high-risk group for contracting HIV.
Jane Ellison
The PROUD trial was launched in 2012, coordinated by the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit and Public Health England (PHE). The number of people enrolled in the trial, was 544.
Based on evidence from the PROUD study, PHE has made an assessment that of the 100,000 men who have sex with men who attend genito-urinary medicine clinics annually, 8,000 can be identified as being at ‘high-risk’.
The Department has not yet made its own assessment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Royal College of Physician’s report, Nicotine without smoke: Tobacco harm reduction, published in April 2016.
Jane Ellison
The Department has and will continue to keep abreast of all evidence and consider it in developing policy. The report published by the Royal College of Physicians is consistent with the Government’s current policy that the best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking and quit for good, but we recognise that e-cigarettes have a role to play in helping some people to quit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he make representations to the Ethiopian government on establishing an independent inquiry into the reported use of excessive force during protests in the Oromia region in December 2015.
James Duddridge
The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and has repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in Oromia. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador did the same in a meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia, and we await the publication of its report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Ethiopian government on the killing of protestors in the Oromia region since December 2015.
James Duddridge
The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and has repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in Oromia. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador did the same in a meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia, and we await the publication of its report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33790, if he will raise with the UK’s European partners allowing Yazidi women in Iraq temporary residence in European countries to access medical and psychological support after rape and torture by Daesh.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
We remain extremely concerned by the barbarity and inhumanity which Daesh has shown towards all Iraq’s communities, and welcome European partners’ support to the humanitarian response
We understand the depth of feeling at the suffering which Yezidi women have experienced, and calls for them to be granted temporary residence. Our priority is providing assistance to Yezidi women, and other vulnerable Iraqis, within Iraq. We can help more people through providing aid in Iraq compared to bringing people to the UK.
Through the Department for International Development we have committed £79.5 million to the humanitarian effort to help those who have fled Daesh’s brutality in Iraq. This support is reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the country, including the most vulnerable groups, which includes Yezidis. UK aid has provided medicine, emergency kits, psychological support, clean water and improved sanitation, shelter and cash assistance. The UK is the largest donor to the Iraq Humanitarian Pooled Fund. This is providing life-saving maternal and child health-care, child protection services, and specialised support for escapees of Daesh terror.
All UK-funded aid is distributed on the basis of need, regardless of race, religion and ethnicity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-05-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33551, when he expects the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to report; what information he holds on the number of reported mass arrests, beatings and killing of protesters, journalists and opposition party leaders and members in (a) the Oromia region and (b) Ethiopia in the last two years; and if he will make a statement.
James Duddridge
The UK Government remains deeply concerned about the handling of demonstrations in Oromia and the reported deaths of a number of protestors, and has repeatedly made representations to the Ethiopian Government over the ongoing situation in Oromia. Justine Greening, the Secretary of State for International Development, raised our concerns with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 21 January, as did I, with the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros, at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 27 January. Our Ambassador did the same in a meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 26 April.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been appointed to look into the handling of the protests in Oromia, and we await the publication of its report. We will continue to urge the EHRC and the Government of Ethiopia to ensure that their report is credible, transparent and leads to concrete action.