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  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many alerts were issued by the National Border Targeting Centre to the regional offices of Border Force relating to flights of potential interest in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    The National Border Targeting Centre issue alerts to both police and Border Force officials at the UK border. The figures provided record those alerts raised for Immigration or Customs reasons at the Border, and do not include any police alerts.

    In 2013 Border Force implemented a quality assurance procedure of Border Force alerts which were being disseminated to the frontline. You will see that in 2012, alerts steadily dropped. Alert ratios reduced due to a more stringent alert framework being adopted by the agency. Alerts were of a higher quality and specifically directed to manage the threat to the Border depending on the priorities of the Border Control Strategy and threat assessment.

    Year Alert count

    2011 16,694

    2012 15,864

    2013 11,076

    2014 10,516

    2015 10,167

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that companies with which the Government contracts to provide housing or other services for asylum seekers (a) treat such people with care and respect and (b) avoid measures which may make asylum seekers a target for hate crime.

    James Brokenshire

    The general principles section of the statement of requirements within the COMPASS contract is clear: asylum seekers need to be managed with sensitivity, treated in a polite and courteous manner and their safety and security is of absolute importance and must not be jeopardised.

    I have asked for, and received assurances from, all accommodation providers that there are no further policies or practices that allow asylum seekers to be identified as such by the public.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2016 to Question 25491, how many prisoners returned to jail having broken their licence conditions were subsequently found to be carrying concealed drugs in each of the last five years.

    Andrew Selous

    Prisoners recalled to custody having breached the conditions of their licence will be arrested by the police and then taken to the nearest local prison for the area in which they were arrested.

    Once returned to a local prison, prisoners will be searched and risk assessed in line with the prison’s local policy for stopping contraband. Prisons deploy a comprehensive range of robust searching and security measures to detect items of contraband both at the point of entry to the prison and concealed within the prison.

    Prisoners found with drugs on entry to prison could receive a range of sanctions including days added to their sentence, or, in cases where the quantity of drug or packaging suggests possession with intent to supply, are referred to the police. All visitors or staff caught with drugs are referred to the police as supply is always suspected in these cases.

    Data on the number of prisoners who were found with drugs following licence recall could only be collated at disproportionate cost.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Government’s response of 5 November 2015 to the e-petition, We demand the British Government reschedule cannabis, and to section 1.5.23 of Management of Multiple Sclerosis in Adults, whether the NHS plans to prescribe Sativex for multiple sclerosis-induced spasticity.

    George Freeman

    Cannabis and its preparations are Class B controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Cannabis is also subject to international drug control under United Nations Conventions. In the United Kingdom, it is illegal to produce, possess, supply, import and export cannabis except under Home Office licence. Apart from the drug Sativex, which is derived from cannabis, the UK does not recognise herbal cannabis as having any medicinal use.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline on the management of multiple sclerosis in October 2014 that does not recommend Sativex, a cannabis-derived treatment, as a cost effective use of National Health Service resources. NICE’s guideline on multiple sclerosis is published at:

    https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg186/resources/multiple-sclerosis-management-of-multiple-sclerosis-in-primary-and-secondary-care-35109816059077

    “

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding his Department allocated to the Stroke/Act FAST campaign in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England took over all the public health campaigns formerly run by the Department on 1 April 2013, including Act FAST.

    In 2014-15, the media spend on the Act FAST campaign was £850,000. Spend in 2015/16 is provisional and will be available in full shortly.

    Spend on public health campaigns, over £25,000, are published routinely and available on gov.uk:

    www.gov.uk/government/collections/phe-spend-over-25000

    “

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff in his Department and non-departmental public bodies receive (a) home to work travel allowance, (b) a car allowance and (c) subsidised health insurance.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department and its non-Departmental public bodies (NDPBs) can confirm that the numbers of employees receiving: a) home to work travel allowance; b) a car allowance; and c) subsidised health insurance are as follows:

    Department of Health (DH) & NDPBs

    a) Home to Work Travel Allowance

    b) Car Allowance

    c) Subsidised Health Insurance

    DH

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Health Education England

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    NHS England

    Nil

    7

    Nil

    Monitor

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Care Quality Commission

    Nil

    1431

    Nil

    Health and Social Care Information Centre

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

    Nil

    11

    5

    Human Tissue Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Health Research Authority

    Nil

    Nil

    Nil

    Subsidised health insurance relates to optical and dental services that form part of the terms and conditions of employment by former employees of the Health Development Authority when they joined the NICE.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to raise awareness among parents of the six-week postnatal check.

    Jane Ellison

    All pregnant women are informed about the mandated six week post-natal check by health visitors at their ante-natal visit (around 28 weeks of pregnancy) and at the post-birth review by the health visitor (at 10-14 days following delivery). At this time there is also a general practitioner check for both mother and baby.

    Public Health England’s Start4Life Information Service for Parents provides help and advice to encourage new and expectant parents to develop behaviours that support a healthy pregnancy and healthy start for children, including the maintenance of parental health.

    This subscription email and text service sends an email to all new subscribed mothers when their baby is five weeks old to advise them that their six week post natal check is due. The email includes a link to further online content – text and video – explaining what the check will cover.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the waiting time for a non-urgent appointment with a GP in Mid Sussex constituency.

    Alistair Burt

    The information required is not collected centrally.

    NHS England advises that the latest GP Patient Survey for January 2016 on waiting times at general practitioner surgeries was conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of NHS England. That survey found that for patients served by the NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group, 59% feel that they do not wait too long, whereas 33% feel that they do wait too long. This compares nationally with 58% and 34% respectively.

    The full Ipsos MORI GP Patient Survey results for the NHS Horsham and Mid Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group can be found at:

    https://gp-patient.co.uk/slidepacks/January2016#N

    “

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of measures intended to curtail consumption of high sugar drinks on levels of consumption of drinks that require significant levels of added sugar to counteract their high acidity.

    Jane Ellison

    In its 2015 Carbohydrates and Health report the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition recommended that the consumption of sugary soft drinks should be minimised by children and adults. Such drinks do not need to contain added sugar; there are many alternatives on the market which contain artificial sweeteners instead.

    Public Health England’s (PHE) report Sugar reduction: The evidence for action (October 2015), outlined its assessment of a range of measures that could be implemented to reduce sugar intakes and improve diets overall. As part of their assessment of the evidence, PHE conducted an analysis of the impact on sugar intakes in adults and children of reducing the sugar content of eight food categories, including sugary soft drinks.

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

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with NHS trusts in England on costs of the practice of sourcing nurses from Northern Ireland to cover weekend shifts.

    Ben Gummer

    No discussions have taken place between my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and National Health Service trusts on the costs of sourcing nurses from Northern Ireland to cover weekend shifts.

    NHS organisations are best placed to decide how many staff they employ and how best to recruit those staff to meet services tailored to the needs of their patients and local communities, to deliver safe care.