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Tag: 2014

  • Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Thomas Docherty – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thomas Docherty on 2015-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in other EU member states on proposals to amend EU treaties.

    Mr David Lidington

    I have already visited 24 Member States to discuss EU reform with my counterparts, most recently, Warsaw on 6 March. Leaders across Europe agree that the EU needs to change. We are setting out the case for Britain’s view of the reforms required to make the EU fit for purpose in the 21st Century. We have already made progress: the June European Council agreed that EU reform was necessary and that the UK’s concerns should be addressed.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent representations he has received from creditors of companies which go into insolvency about the Insolvency Act 1986.

    Jo Swinson

    I regularly receive representations from those who are owed monies by insolvent companies. Unfortunately it is the inevitable consequence of insolvency that some creditors will remain unpaid, but the Government is committed to making sure that we have the fairest possible insolvency regime for when things go wrong. Measures contained in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will benefit creditors by saving an estimated £20m per year from the cost of insolvency proceedings.

  • Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve McCabe – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-01-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department gives to local authorities and housing associations on emergency access to tower blocks and flats for emergency services.

    Stephen Williams

    Requirement B5 of the Building Regulations provides for adequate access for the fire and rescue service. My Department publishes Approved Document B which gives detailed guidance on compliance with this requirement and is available on the Planning Portal website.

    www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_AD_B2_2013.pdf

    Guidance on Fire Safety in Purpose Built Blocks of Flats produced by the Local Government Association, in conjunction with the housing and fire sectors, is available on the Government’s fire safety webpage. Advice on ensuring the provision and maintenance of fire fighting facilities, including, vehicle access for fire appliances, is included within this document.

    www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities/fire-safety-advice-documents

  • Shabana Mahmood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Shabana Mahmood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance (a) her Department and (b) Ofsted provides to Ofsted inspectors about the monitoring of school engagement with Prevent.

    Mr David Laws

    No guidance has been provided to Ofsted inspectors by the Department for Education about the monitoring of school engagement with Prevent as the training of inspectors is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector.

    Where relevant, Ofsted provides inspectors with appropriate briefing on the Prevent agenda and gives training to inspectors ahead of inspection.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many meetings (a) Chris Elliot and (b) members of his team have had with representatives from the meat importation sector during the investigation into criminality in the food chain.

    George Eustice

    The City of London Police, working with their counterparts across Europe, are taking forward complicated and far-reaching criminal investigations into the Europe-wide horsemeat fraud.

    During the course of his Review into the Integrity and Assurance of Food Supply Networks, Professor Elliott and his team carried out site visits, and met many industry stakeholders, regulators and consumers, including representatives from the meat importation sector.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the average salary gap is between women and men in his Department.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Salary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is determined by a range of factors including grade, performance, and length of time in employment. The latest data on average salaries of FCO staff by gender and grade are set out below and can be found in the FCO Diversity and Equality report, which was published in April 2014 and based on data for 2013. Full details can be found on page 12 of the report.

    Grade

    Average Female Pay

    Average Male Pay

    % Male Pay Exceeds Female Pay
    SMS 3&4 £118,470 £131,360 10.88%
    SMS 2 £88,471 £89,669 1.35%
    SMS 1 £67,030 £68,286 1.87%
    D7 £57,147 £58,195 1.83%
    D6 £47,204 £47,576 0.79%
    C5 £35,581 £36,233 1.83%
    C4 £28,753 £28,710 -0.15%
    B3 £24,690 £24,612 -0.32%
    A2 £20,700 £20,492 -1.00%
    A1 £18,156 £18,156 0.00%

    The pay gap between men and women at Senior Management Structure 3&4 is due to the relatively small number of women currently in those grades.

  • 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 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contractual arrangement is in place between the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Trust regarding (a) ownership of the Gamma Knife and (b) leases that HCA may have in relation to the property.

    Jane Ellison

    We are advised that three senior neurosurgery consultants are responsible for the Gamma Knife operation at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, along with one neuro interventional radiologist and two clinical oncologists. All are employed by Barts Health NHS Trust, and are overseen by the Clinical Director for Neurosciences and the Group Director for Emergency Care and Acute Medicine, both of whom are clinicians.

    HCA employs one senior administrator, the Acting Chief Operating Officer for the Harley Street Clinic, along with the physicist and nursing staff and an administration co-ordinator who work in the Gamma Knife centre at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

    We are advised that HCA owns the Gamma Knife based at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and that HCA pays a rental fee to Barts Health NHS Trust.

    We understand that, as the Gamma Knife was purchased by HCA, St Bartholomew’s Hospital (then part of Barts and The London NHS Trust) incurred minimal set up costs for the establishment of the service in 2009. This included costs for associated building work to accommodate the facility.

    Gamma Knife surgery is funded by NHS England as the commissioner for all specialist services. We are advised that Barts Health NHS Trust receives approximately £9,200 per patient from NHS England and that HCA charges Barts Health £7,310 per patient treated by the Gamma Knife facility at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.

    If the hon. Member wishes to obtain further information about the Gamma Knife facility at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, he may wish to contact Barts Health NHS Trust directly.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2014, Official Report, column 310W, on diabetes, what information his Department collects centrally about diabetics.

    Jane Ellison

    The Health and Social Care information Centre (HSCIC) collects data on diabetes through the National Diabetes Audit Programme, the Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF), prescribing and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).

    The National Diabetes Audit (Adults) measures the effectiveness of diabetes healthcare against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Guidelines and NICE Quality Standards, in England and Wales.

    The National Diabetes Inpatient Audit collects information on the diabetes management that patients receive whilst in hospital and patients’ experience of the inpatient stay.

    The National Pregnancy in Diabetes Audit which measures the quality of pre-gestational diabetes care against NICE guideline based criteria and the outcomes of pre-gestational diabetic pregnancy.

    The National Diabetes Foot Care Audit collects data which enables all diabetes foot care services to measure their performance against NICE clinical guidelines and peer units, and to monitor adverse outcomes for people with diabetes who develop diabetic foot disease.

    The patient experience of diabetes services (pilot collection) measures the diabetes healthcare experiences of people with diabetes in England and Wales.

    The QOF collates information across a range of measures on people aged 17 or over who have a diagnosis of diabetes at general practice level.

    Data on prescriptions dispensed in the community in England is available for all drugs dispensed in England within the prescription cost analysis dataset which includes drugs used for diabetes. The HSCIC also produce a specific publication – Prescribing for Diabetes in England. The 2005-06 to 2013-14 data was released on 12 August 2014. Prescribing data is also available also available at clinical commissioning group and area team team level within iView. GP practice level prescribing data is also available via the HSCIC website at:

    www.hscic.gov.uk/gpprescribingdata

    Providers of NHS services in England are required to supply information on activity to the Secondary Uses Services (SUS) database via commissioning datasets. Each month an extract from the SUS database is taken and moved into the HES database which is then made available for analysis. It is possible, therefore, to report activity on admissions to hospital for patients with a diagnosis of diabetes.

    Like the majority of data collections for which the HSCIC is responsible, information collected focuses on activity that has taken place rather than where patients have missed appointments.

  • Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the changes in the number of procedures in the fundamental biological research category.

    Norman Baker

    The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 1.16 million procedures were conducted on animals with ‘Fundamental biological research’ as the primary purpose. This is a reduction of 11% over the figure for 2012. The change in the number of procedures carried out in this category, in any particular year, depends on many factors. These factors include: investment in fundamental biological research; strategic decisions taken by funding bodies; global economic trends; scientific innovation; and, the development and uptake of validated alternative technologies.

  • Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Yasmin Qureshi – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yasmin Qureshi on 2014-07-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what reports she has received of an increase in death rates in camps for the Rohingya following the expulsion of MSF and other agencies from Rakhine State, Burma.

    Lynne Featherstone

    There have been a number of deaths in Rohingya camps since March. We have not received any reports of an increase in the rate during this period but the situation remains of urgent concern. The Ministry of Health and NGOs have been providing some primary healthcare in the IDP camps, but there continue to be barriers to access, particularly to hospital level care for Rohingya, and this remains a key concern for us. We continue to advocate with all levels of government on this issue.