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  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the effect of proposed reforms to the Cancer Drugs Fund on the provision in the NHS of (a) Avastin and (b) other drugs currently approved for off-licence use.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that Avastin is currently funded through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) for three indications, all of which are off-label. It is also in the process of reviewing and setting up a system for assessing off-label drug indications. Each of the three off-label indications for Avastin will remain funded within the CDF until they have been assessed through the new process.

    Clinicians can prescribe any treatment, including an unlicensed product or a product not licensed for a particular indication, which they consider the best available medicine to meet the individual clinical needs of their patient, subject to their primary care organisation agreeing to fund this treatment.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) produces Evidence Summaries which critically review the best available evidence for significant uses of unlicensed or off-label medicines. They help commissioners and clinicians to make evidence-based prioritisation, treatment and funding decisions where there are no clinically-appropriate licensed alternatives.

    Ensuring that patients get timely access to any new treatment, including off-label medicines in new indications, is complex and the Department is committed to working with stakeholders including NICE, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the General Medical Council, patient and professional groups, and charities to co-ordinate activities and set plans in place that will make this easier. This includes work to look at more systematic inclusion of off-label uses of drugs in the British National Formulary and development of case studies looking at re-purposed medicines and their pathways from research results into clinical practice.

    Alongside these, the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act will, in due course, provide the National Health Service with a newly created database which will provide a mechanism for collecting and sharing information on innovative treatments including off-label drugs and medicines in development. Now that the Act has received Royal Assent the work to implement its provisions can begin.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have spent on infraction proceedings in each of the last 10 years.

    Jane Ellison

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office on 11 May to Question 36288.

    “

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

    David Winnick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Winnick on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to reply to the letter of 4 April 2016 from the hon. Member for Walsall North regarding the Manor Hospital, Walsall.

    Ben Gummer

    I responded to the hon. Member’s letter of 4 April on 29 April.

  • Matt Warman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Matt Warman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matt Warman on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many bursaries have been offered (a) in total and (b) in each of the seven most hard to recruit areas as part of NHS England’s Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    The Targeted Enhanced Recruitment Scheme has been set up by Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England as a one year pilot scheme to support recruitment of general practitioner trainees in the 109 training places in England that have been hard to recruit to for the past three years.

    Recruitment is currently ongoing and 2016 fill rates will be published on the HEE website once recruitment has closed.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he expects the British High Commission in Barbados to respond to the email of 10 September 2015 from the right hon. Member for Leeds Central regarding Mr Rawlins.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials transferred the letter from the hon. Member for Leeds Central to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), part of the Home Office, on 18 September 2015. UKVI responded to the letter on 1 October 2015. All government departments endeavour to provide comprehensive responses to all correspondence from Members of this House. However, I understand that on this occasion the response did not satisfactorily address all of the issues raised in your letter. Officials at the Home Office have assured me that they will be providing a further reply to your letter, addressing these points, by the end of this week.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department and its agencies and non-departmental public bodies have spent on infraction proceedings in each of the last 10 years.

    Mr David Lidington

    I refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my Rt Hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office today to UIN: 36288.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with the Russian Ambassador on the health of Vladimir Bukovsky; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr David Lidington

    There have been no discussions between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Russian Ambassador about Mr Bukovsky’s health.

  • Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Naz Shah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naz Shah on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many people made contact with the Forced Marriage Unit in (a) 2013, (b) 2014 and (c) 2015.

    James Duddridge

    The Forced Marriage Unit is a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office Unit which was set up in January 2005 to lead on the Government’s forced marriage policy, outreach and casework. Statistics on the number of enquiries and cases dealt with by the Forced Marriage Unit via its public helpline and email inbox in 2013, 2014 and 2015 are published online here:

    https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage#statistics-on-forced-marriage-collected-by-fmu

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on voting in favour of referring as genocide the acts committed by Daesh in Iraq and Syria to the International Criminal Court in the event of another member of the UN Security Council proposing such a referral.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is not possible for the UN Security Council to refer Daesh itself to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Any referral would cover all potential crimes within a specified geographic area, rather than by a specified organisation or set of actors.

    We would consider carefully any suggestion from another member of the Security Council to refer the situation in Iraq and Syria to the ICC.

    However, we judge that a referral to the International Criminal Court by the UN Security Council is not practical at this time.

    When efforts were made to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We expect that any Security Council resolution at this time seeking to refer the situations in Iraq or Syria to the ICC would likewise be blocked.

    We continue to discuss with partners on the UN Security Council further ways to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes committed in Syria and Iraq are held to account and face justice.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help create consensus at the UN Security Council for a referral to the International Criminal Court of the acts committed by Daesh in Iraq and Syria as genocide.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is not possible to refer Daesh itself to the ICC. Any referral would cover all potential crimes within a specified geographic area, rather than by a specified organisation or set of actors.

    We judge that a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by the UN Security Council is not practical at this time. When efforts were made to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China.

    While we continue to draw the attention of the Security Council to the atrocities being committed in Iraq and Syria – on 4 May the Council held a session on the situation in Aleppo at the UK’s request – we expect that any Security Council resolution at this time seeking to refer the situations in Iraq or Syria to the ICC would likewise be blocked. Addition as per PQs 36262 and 35349.