Tag: 2015

  • Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Antoinette Sandbach – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Antoinette Sandbach on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) Connecting Cheshire and (b) other local authority partnerships provide timely and accurate advice to homes and businesses about when work will take place to connect them to superfast broadband.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    All local BDUK project are required to have project websites providing information to their residents of the roll out plans for their area. All projects include maps of their intervention areas and regular updates on progress. The majority of projects have seven digit postcode checkers on their site to provide greater localised information. Details for Cheshire’s broadband rollout can be found on the Connecting Cheshire postcode checker (http://www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/check-availability) and on deployment maps indicating broader timescales for upgrades (http://www.connectingcheshire.org.uk/connecting-cheshire-deployment-maps).

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  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the value of the domestic supply chain for the Protector programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    I refer the hon. Member to the written statement released by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence (Michael Fallon) on 12 October 2015,titledFuture Unmanned Air Systems Capability.

    The Government has taken an early decision in the Strategic Defence and Security Review to commit to the Protector programme. The programme is currently in its assessment phase, so detailed work is continuing to confirm a contract for the airframe and associated details, including date for the capability’s entry into service and acquisition and life support cost profile, following which the Ministry of Defence will be better placed to understand the implications for the UK workforce and supply chain.

  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the activities of the new UK-China joint research and innovation centre will be subject to oversight by (a) the Office for Nuclear Regulation and (b) her Department’s national nuclear stakeholder forum.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Joint Research and Innovation Centre (JRIC) is envisaged to be the subject of a commercial agreement between the National Nuclear Laboratory and the Chinese National Nuclear Corporation.

    These two organisations are still in the process of negotiating such an agreement and will need to consider details on the structures, funding, governance and accountability of the JRIC. As such, it is too early for Government to be able to comment on the outcomes of such a negotiation.

    We continue to maintain an interest in developments of these discussions and will work, where appropriate, with our counterparts in the Chinese government to ensure that outcomes are mutually beneficial to the research landscape of both nations.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to deter Russian forces from targeting non-IS targets in Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We continue to urge Russia, both in public and through diplomatic channels, to focus its efforts on ISIL targets. The EU Foreign Affairs Council on 12 October also called on Russia immediately to cease targeting the moderate opposition.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to encourage other nations in the Levant and Arabian peninsula to accept refugees from Syria.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response to the crisis in Syria, having committed over £1.1bn, which includes funding for regional countries to assist arriving refugees.

    The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), recently visited Lebanon and Jordan, where he paid tribute to the efforts of these countries in hosting Syrian refugees. Syria’s neighbours have been incredibly generous in welcoming huge numbers of refugees. There are now over four million Syrian refugees in the region, including over one million who fled Syria in 2014 alone. Turkey hosts the highest number of refugees, at over 2 million, followed by Lebanon at over 1 million and Jordan at over 628,000. The UK has allocated £559 million to support refugees in the region and vulnerable host communities to date, including £304 million in Lebanon and £193 million in Jordan. The Gulf States continue to contribute generously to humanitarian support for the Syria crisis, and there are large numbers of Syrians already in the Gulf.

  • Ms Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ms Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ms Margaret Ritchie on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to establish a database of people suffering from secondary breast cancer; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England is responsible for collecting cancer data to support national cancer registration in England, and recognises the importance of collecting data on recurrent breast cancer. At present pilot work in acute trusts has improved the reporting for breast cancer recurrence and metastasis totheNational CancerRegistration Service,but the data is not complete. Further work is being scoped by NHS England and Public Health England based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if Ministers or officials of his Department will meet Jeena International, Karma Nirvana and other organisations representing women who have been the victim of coerced sex-selective abortion to discuss the implications of his Department’s assessment of the evidence of termination of pregnancy on grounds of gender.

    Jane Ellison

    Officials are happy to meet with these organisations and have already offered to meet Jeena International.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for its policy of the potential link between the HPV Vaccine and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome; and what assessment he has made of the effect of such a link on the progress of the Government’s HPV vaccination programme.

    Jane Ellison

    The human papillomavirus (HPV) sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which advises the Department on immunisation matters, considered the safety of HPV vaccine when it met in June 2015. The sub-committee reviewed safety information provided by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), as well as reports in the media and literature investigating temporal associations of the HPV vaccine to a range of overlapping syndromes including postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS). The HPV sub-committee agreed that no available evidence supports a causative link between HPV vaccination and POTS or other overlapping syndromes. It strongly supported the continued use of the HPV vaccine to prevent infection with HPV and to protect adolescent girls from cervical and other HPV associated cancers. This position was agreed by the JCVI, which concluded it has no concerns about the safety of the HPV vaccine.

    As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety ofHPV vaccines will be kept under continual review.

  • Dr Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dr Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Matthew Offord on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many ePassport gates are in operation at (a) Heathrow, (b) Gatwick, (c) Luton and (d) Stansted airports.

    James Brokenshire

    ePassport Gates are in operation at many ports across the UK. At present there are (a) thirty five operating across Heathrow, (b) twenty at Gatwick, (c) ten at Luton, and (d) fifteen at Stansted.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department’s consultation, Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services, whether firefighters employed by police and crime commissioners will retain the right to take part in industrial action; and if he will make a statement.

    Greg Clark

    The Department for Communities and Local Government, the Home Office and the Department of Health led joint consultation ‘Enabling closer working between the Emergency Services’ has made clear that should Police and Crime Commissioners assume responsibility for fire and rescue services, the important distinction between operational policing and firefighting will be maintained. The consultation did not propose to change the current rules around industrial action.