Tag: 2015

  • Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Ben Howlett – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department provides to support efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation; and what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of that funding.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    DFID provides no bilateral aid to Brazil. As such, DFID does not provide any support to protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation. DFID does provide support to stop deforestation in other developing countries, such as Indonesia, Liberia, and the Central Africa region, and this is a key priority for UK climate finance.

    DFID’s relationship with Brazil focuses on working together in partnership to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development in other developing countries.

  • Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Matthew Offord – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to support people affected by the rocket attack on Camp Liberty, Baghdad, on 29 October 2015.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We strongly condemn the shameful attack against the civilian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq on 29 October. Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad raised the attack with the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office on 30 October and made clear the importance of an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident and ensuring that all those responsible are brought to justice.

    In all of our engagement with the Government of Iraq on this issue, including at Ministerial level and in our statements, we have emphasised the importance of the Iraqi Government doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty. We support the United Nations’ calls for more to be done to protect the residents.

  • Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect on claimants of the extension of time for personal independence payment reassessments referred to in the OBR forecasts of November 2015; and what steps he is taking to address the concerns of people on disability living allowance whose reassessments will take longer to process as a result.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Government is committed to delivering Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a safe and secure way, ensuring that we continue to roll it out to existing recipients of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) based on capacity, to ensure an effective and efficient service for claimants. Full PIP roll out started in July this year in a controlled way, allowing us to test, learn and improve the service before we ramp up at scale. From October, in line with previously published plans, we began the full rollout of PIP nationally. There are no delays in the claiming system and we are currently working at business as usual capacity. Existing DLA claimants are being kept informed about reassessment activity, including when or under what circumstances they may be invited to claim PIP, through a range of communication measures including information provided in the annual uprating letter or through information available on www.gov.uk.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made on the accelerated access review for drugs for rare cancers; by what date he plans for that review to be concluded; and if he will set a deadline by which arrangements must be in place for the assessment of new drugs.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review which was set up to look at speeding up access to innovative drugs including those for rare diseases, devices and diagnostics for National Health Service patients has been making strong progress since it was first announced in November 2014.

    The review which is independently chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor has been engaging stakeholders extensively over the summer to gather evidence on the big questions the review is considering, and has developed a number of emerging solutions.

    Sir Hugh published his interim report of the review on 27 October 2015. The report is high-level, direction-setting and grounded in evidence gathered through the review’s stakeholder engagement to date. The review is embarking on a second phase of engagement with stakeholders to further build the evidence, stress-test and refine the reports interim findings.

    The review will conclude with Sir Hugh making his final recommendations to Government by April 2016. The Government will thereafter consider how best to respond.

  • Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Lord Moynihan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether all governing bodies of sport will be eligible for financial support to ensure that their lead employees and senior volunteers with responsibility for implementing or overseeing governance arrangements within their governing boards can sit the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Sport Governance and Administration.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government expects the highest standards of governance from all our sports bodies in the UK and is working with UK Sport and Sport England to foster this. UK Sport and Sport England set standards that are a condition of funding, covering leadership, governance, financial management and administration, and also provide support and expertise to help national governing bodies to meet them where necessary. The recent triennial review recommended that UK Sport and Sport England should bring together both the governance requirements and the support arrangements for the next funding cycle.

    Ensuring that those responsible have the right skills is an important aspect of achieving high governance standards.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people are currently on an NHS referral to treatment waiting list.

    Jane Ellison

    The latest referral to treatment waiting times published by NHS England on 8 October 2015 shows there were just over 3.3 million people waiting to start consultant-led treatment at the end of August 2015.

    In 2013/14, there were 1.3 million more operations compared with 2009/10.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they give local authorities on (1) the minimum desirable frequency of waste collections for (a) recyclates, (b) food waste, and (c) other residual waste, and (2) the criteria that they should use when deciding such frequencies.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Decisions on collection arrangements and frequency are for each Local Authority to make, taking into account local circumstances including the practicalities, characteristics of the area, providing the service that local residents want, and the need to protect public health and the environment.

    Defra has funded the Waste and Resources Action Programme to provide advice and support to Local Authorities on good practice for waste and recycling, and to help Local Authorities promote their services more effectively and make them convenient. We are also encouraging greater harmonisation of waste collection and recycling services across different local authority areas.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the value of stationery that has been (a) lost and (b) stolen from her Department in each of the last five fiscal years; and what the cost was of replacing such stationery.

    Karen Bradley

    This information is not available.

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much of the £150 million funding made available for the regeneration of local authority housing estates has been made available to each of the successful schemes.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Shortlisted schemes are currently undergoing due diligence. Subject to this, we expect contracts to be signed in this financial year and the full £150 million to be committed. The final amount for each scheme is yet to be confirmed.

  • Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Hilary Benn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2015 to Question 12777, what assessment she has made of whether each party to the conflict is taking reasonable steps to allow access to Yemen’s ports for (a) fuel for civilian use and (b) other commercial and humanitarian goods.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK welcomes the improvement in access for commercial and humanitarian shipping to Yemen’s ports over the last two weeks. In October, a total of 60 ships of all types entered Yemeni ports, including grain ships, fuel tankers, and humanitarian ships. We will continue to work with the Coalition and the Government of Yemen to ensure this improvement is sustained.

    We will also continue to call on all parties to the conflict to safeguard key infrastructure, including airports, sea ports, fuel distribution sites and major access routes into Yemen; and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance.