The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Burrowes on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether a representative of HM Prisons Service sits on the Mental Health Task Force.
Alistair Burt
The Mental Health Task Force does not include a representative of HM Prison Service amongst its membership.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Natalie McGarry on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many notifications of claimant non-compliance have been received by decision makers in his Department relating to claims for employment and support allowance; and what proportion of those notifications have resulted in sanctions.
Priti Patel
The information as requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The information that is available, on the number of sanction referrals and adverse sanction decisions, in respect of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA), is published and available at:
https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/:
Guidance on how to extract the information required can be found at:
https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Getting-Started—SuperWEB2.html
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to promote the use of credit unions in the work of his Department; and if he will make a statement.
Mark Lancaster
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by my hon. Friend the Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Harriet Baldwin) on the 2 November 2015 to Question 13524.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Cartlidge on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made on tackling Crohn’s disease.
George Freeman
Information is not collected centrally on the number of people prescribed medicines or the medical condition being treated.
Some data is available for the administration of vedolizumab however this data does not correspond to patient numbers nor can it be linked to the treatment of specific diseases. Some information on cost is also available but this is the cost of the medicines at NHS list price and not necessarily the price that hospitals paid.
In guidance published in August 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advised that vedolizumab is the recommended treatment for adults with moderate to severe Crohn’s disease if a type of treatment called a tumour necrosis factor alpha inhibitor is not suitable or has not worked well enough. NICE also recommend vedolizumab as a possible treatment for adults with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis in separate guidance published on 5 June 2015.
In both cases, people should be able to have vedolizumab until it stops working, or surgery is needed, or for 12 months after starting it, whichever is shorter. Their condition should be assessed 12 months after they started taking vedolizumab. If they still have symptoms but it is clear that the treatment is helping, they can continue to have the drug. If they no longer have symptoms, treatment can be stopped, and later restarted if their symptoms return. Drugs recommended by NICE should be available on the NHS within three months of the technology appraisal guidance being issued.
NICE has set out best practice in the diagnosis, treatment care and support of patients with Crohn’s diseases and ulcerative colitis in its guidance Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People in October 2012, and Ulcerative Colitis Management in Adults, Children and Young People , published in June 2013. Treatment for both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is largely directed at symptom relief to improve quality of life, rather than cure. Management options include drug therapy, dietary and lifestyle advice and, in severe or chronic active disease, surgery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to impose restrictions on the free movement of camelids in the UK to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis.
George Eustice
The Tuberculosis (Deer and Camelid) (England) Order 2014 provides powers to restrict the movement of a camelid that shows clinical signs of bovine TB, tests positive to the disease or has been exposed to the infection. These powers may require the keeper to take reasonable steps to prevent the affected animal from coming into contact with any other farmed animal on the same premises or on adjoining premises and prevent the movement of camelids on to or off such premises except under a licence issued by an inspector. In addition, my Department has worked with the British Alpaca and Llama Societies on the design and promotion of a TB testing regime that includes voluntary routine surveillance. A call for views on control of bovine TB in non-bovine farmed animals, including camelids, is currently in progress and will run until 20 November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to promote commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt; and what plans his Department has to ensure that similar anniversaries are appropriately commemorated in the future.
Tracey Crouch
In the March 2015 budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that £1millionmwould be allocated for the commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt.The fund is administered by the Agincourt 600 charity,providing grants for events and Agincourt related educational projects. DCMS officials have been working closely with Agincourt 600 in the run up to this important anniversary.
TheGovernment and the Heritage Lottery Fundmade the decision towilldeliver a £10million mcontestable fund to ensure that similarhistoricanniversaries are appropriately commemorated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he made of the potential effect of the (a) provisions in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 on reducing costs associated with clinical negligence and (b) possibility of the NHS and NHS Litigation Authority causing unnecessary costs in clinical negligence cases before he made his decision to take forward proposals for a fixed-costs regime in clinical negligence.
Ben Gummer
We are planning to consult on the introduction of the fixed cost regime for clinical negligence claims where the damages awarded to claimants are less than £250,000. This forms part of our over-arching objective to minimise adverse incidents and provide an efficient, cost-effective approach to litigation. In doing this we are seeking to improve patient care by reducing the incidence of clinical negligence, improve customer care by ensuring the National Health Service is responsive to users; and ensure there is an appropriate and cost effective legal process in place for claimants and defendants.
In advance of this work a pre-consultation exercise was undertaken with a wide range of bodies representing the views of patients, lawyers, bar organisations, professional bodies, NHS organisations, private healthcare providers and Welsh interests. Issues raised by these organisations included: access to justice, impact of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; patient safety; and the avoidance of unnecessary costs in clinical negligence cases. These views will be rehearsed in the proposed consultation document and will inform decisions that are made following the consultation exercise. Respondents will have the opportunity to provide comments on the proposals, which we have been developing with the Civil Procedure Rules Committee.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many case workers in her Department received Keeping Children Safe Tier 3 training in 2014.
Karen Bradley
In 2014, 1,329 officials from Borders and Immigration casework and operational roles received Keeping Children Safe Tier 3 training.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what non-financial aid her Department has provided to the African Union in the last five years.
Grant Shapps
In the last five years DFID’s non-financial support to the African Union has included the following projects at the cost of some £7m: two independent audits of international funding for the AU’s “Shared Values” Joint Programme Arrangement; technical advice to the AU Commission on developing a results based Logical Framework approach; support for the AUC Leadership Assessment Centre; technical advice on setting up the AU Institute for Statistics; technical support for AU work on Regional Trade Facilitation; capacity support to the AU Department of Political Affairs; and technical support for AU election observation missions which has received the bulk of DFID funding.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-10-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) maximum and (b) average recorded waiting time was for an EU passport holder at customs at London Stansted airport on each day of September 2015; and if she will make a statement.
James Brokenshire
The maximum and average queuing times for EU passport holders at Stansted during the month of September 2015 are given in the attached table. Passenger waiting times at passport control are influenced by a number of factors. These include so called ‘flight bunching’, where a large number of flights arrive within a short period of time, and passengers using non-machine readable documents, which inevitably take longer for Border Force Officers to process. Such documents, which do not have a biometric reader and have a long history of being abused by imposters, need to be manually checked by Border Force Officers.
Border Force and Stansted Airport have jointly invested in 15 new generation E-Gates which are helping to reduce passenger waiting times. Both organisations continue to work together to further improve the passenger experience at Stansted.