Tag: 2015

  • Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost is to the public purse of the contract to purchase the ASRAAM missiles from MBDA (UK) Ltd; and how many such missiles will be purchased as part of that contract.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The ASRAAM contract awarded to MBDA(UK) Limited is worth some £300 million (excluding VAT) and covers the development, qualification and manufacture of operational, telemetry, and training missiles. I am withholding details of the number of missiles ordered as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our Armed Forces and allies.

  • Stephen Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Phillips – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Phillips on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent illegal trade in ivory products.

    Rory Stewart

    The UK has played a leading role in galvanising international action to combat the illegal wildlife trade, including the illegal trade in ivory. We hosted the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in February 2014 and actively supported the Government of Botswana in its hosting of a follow-up Conference in Kasane in March 2015. The UK has also supported the Elephant Protection Initiative, of which nine African elephant range states are now members and which is designed to help them to secure and maintain healthy elephant populations.

    The UK is committed to maintaining the current global ban on any new international trade in ivory, established under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). In addition, the UK does not permit trade in raw ivory tusks of any age and we are pressing for this approach to be taken across the whole of the European Union.

    We have committed £13 million to support projects around the world to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. These projects seek to reduce demand, strengthen law enforcement and develop sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by illegal wildlife trade, principally through Defra’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. A second round of the Challenge Fund was launched on 5 August.

  • George Howarth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    George Howarth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average annual cost to the NHS of the effects of sight loss; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has made no recent estimate of the number of people with sight loss, the likely number who will have sight loss in the future, or of the costs in treating sight loss and eye health issues.

    Information on the number of patients who are blind or have sight loss is not collected centrally. However information is available on the number of people who are registered by local authorities as blind or partially sighted. At March 2014, the number of people on the register of blind people was 143,000 and on the register of partially sighted people 147,700.

    Registration as blind or partially sighted is voluntary so the numbers registered are likely to be an underestimate of the total number of people living with sight loss. Research funded by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, published in 20091, estimated there were almost 2 million people in the United Kingdom living with sight loss and that this number would double to 4 million by 2050.

    Information is collected centrally and published on NHS expenditure on `problems of vision’ across both primary and secondary care. In the latest year for which data has been published2 for both primary and secondary care, 2012/13, primary care trust expenditure was £2.3 billion. The Department expects NHS England to commission services for eye health to meet any increased demand, as it would in any other area of healthcare. The ‘Five Year Forward View’3 sets out the vision for how services may be organised going forward.

    1 http://www.rnib.org.uk/sites/default/files/FSUK_Report.pdf

    2 http://www.england.nhs.uk/resources/resources-for-ccgs/prog-budgeting/

    3 http://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/5yfv-web.pdf

    “

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to make the register of deaths of UK residents available online.

    Richard Harrington

    Under present legislation, the register of deaths in England and Wales contains details of all deaths which have taken place there, regardless of whether the deceased was a UK resident. Similar arrangements are in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Civil registration is a devolved matter.

    In England and Wales, information from the register of deaths is made available in the form of a certificate, on payment of the appropriate fee. Currently, there are no plans to change this process.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Laurence Robertson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the fine levels for offences related to section 168 of the Equality Act 2010.

    Andrew Selous

    The figures do not suggest that courts are finding their sentencing powers inadequate.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-09-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the noise impact of the Future Airspace Strategy on Windsor constituency.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government has not made such an assessment.

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) led Future Airspace Strategy provides a framework for how the UK’s airspace should be managed in the future. It is a CAA requirement that any proposer of an airspace change should consult with their local communities on how the implementation of the strategy will affect them.

  • Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lord Bradshaw – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradshaw on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether road safety targets are at present set for local authorities; and, if not, whether they have considered reinstating them.

    Baroness Kramer

    The Government has not set road safety targets for local authorities, and is not considering reinstating them. However, local authorities are free to set their own targets if they find this useful.

    The fact that the Government has not set a target does not mean that it does not consider road safety to be a high priority. The strategic framework includes forecasts of the casualty numbers that we might expect to see through to 2030 from the measures implemented by Government, and the actions of local authorities.

    While we believe that previous road safety targets have been useful we do not consider that over-arching national targets are necessary for road safety in Great Britain. This is because we do not believe that further persuasion is needed on the importance of road safety. We expect central and local government to continue to prioritise road safety and continue to seek improvements.

  • Lord Morrow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Morrow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Morrow on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, if the draft Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 are passed, any person created by the procedures provided for by that legislation will be followed-up in the way recommended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s Expert Panel on page 5 of their report, Scientific review of the safety and efficacy of methods to avoid mitochondrial disease through assisted conception: update, 2013.

    Earl Howe

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 will not come into force until 29 October 2015. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will consider how best to apply a monitoring framework to clinics awarded a licence to carry out mitochondrial donation treatment, against which it would inspect.

    The HFEA will announce its proposals for the regulation and monitoring of mitochondrial donation treatment cycles following the approval of regulations by Parliament.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2015-02-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much was spent on HIV-related information campaign advertising in 2014.

    Earl Howe

    The Department holds a contract with the Terrence Higgins Trust to deliver targeted HIV prevention programmes for those groups most at risk of HIV which in the United Kingdom is men who have sex with men (MSM) and black African communities. The current contract delivers the HIV Prevention England programme. In 2014-15 the value of this contract was £2.450 million and of this £550,000 was spent on social marketing activity including advertising.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 5 February 2015 to Question 223589, what the value was of the support provided by Network Rail to the National Task Force in each year since 2009-10.

    Claire Perry

    The Government, and Network Rail, to further their objective of supporting a safe, reliable and efficient rail network, engage with and support a broad range of stakeholders and initiatives across Government. These include the Technical Strategy Leadership Group; Rail Delivery Group Limited; the Planning Oversight Group; and the National Task Force.

    The Department provided the following funding towards the Technical Strategy Leadership Group’s strategic research programme through a grant to RSSB which facilitates the group:

    Year

    DfT grant towards TSLG’s research programme (£m)

    2010/11

    1.25

    2011/12

    1.75

    2012/13

    3

    2013/14

    3.5

    Network Rail does not provide direct financial support to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group.

    Network Rail, between 10th August 2012 and 31st March 2014, paid £240,000 to Rail Delivery Group Limited in membership fees. For the year April 2014 – March 2015, Network Rail has paid or is due to pay £1,568,509 in membership fees. The increased fees paid by Network Rail in the most recent year are as a result of the Group assuming responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry. Network Rail provides staff to Rail Delivery Group Limited, for which it is due to charge the group £261,312.

    The Planning Oversight Group is funded and supported by Rail Delivery Group Limited and does not receive direct financial support from the Department or Network Rail. The National Task Force does not have a budget, but those who attend are drawn from the various industry members.