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Tag: 2015

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will promulgate official advice to pregnant women not to drink alcohol.

    Jane Ellison

    The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) is overseeing a United Kingdom-wide review of all alcohol guidelines so that people can make informed choices about their drinking at all stages of their lives.

    The Guidelines Development Group, a group of independent experts, was tasked with developing lower-risk drinking guidelines for the UK CMOs to consider, including UK wide guidance for alcohol and pregnancy. We will be consulting on these shortly.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Lord West of Spithead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will confirm that stocks of air-launched weapons such as Brimstone used in Syria and Iraq will be maintained at planned levels at no cost to the agreed defence budget.

    Earl Howe

    I am withholding details of stock levels of air-launched weapons as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our Armed Forces and allies. However, the cost of replenishing weapons used for air strikes in Syria and Iraq will be met from the HM Treasury Special Reserve.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2015 to Question 227900, how much of the £250 million additional funding that was committed has been spent; and how many children and young people with mental health problems this funding has supported.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government will be making available £1.4 billion over the course of this Parliament to transform children and young people’s mental health. £173 million of this has been allocated in 2015-16.

    It is too early to quantify how many Children and Young People have benefited from this additional investment.

    A significant proportion of the additional funding is being allocated to clinical commissioning groups upon completion of the assurance of Local Transformation Plans which every area has produced on children and young people’s mental health. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues, from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. Plans are currently being assured by NHS England’s regional assurance teams. Funding is being released as individual plans receive a satisfactory assessment and expenditure will be monitored over the remainder of this financial year.

    In addition, the additional funding available this year will support continued improvement of existing services through the expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme. It will also strengthen the capacity and capability of workforce including providing training and improve data and information in order to deliver the vision set out in Future in Mind by 2020.

  • Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Masham of Ilton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Masham of Ilton on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of people in England entering treatment for drug misuse have left treatment drug-free in each year since 2010.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    A table which shows trend data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System for individuals completing treatment free of dependence for the years 2009-10 to 2014-15 is attached.

    For the first time in 2014-15, the annual report brought together information on people receiving specialist interventions for drugs and alcohol. Many people experience problems with both substances and receive interventions for both, and drugs and alcohol services are often commissioned together. The figures therefore include the substance group ‘non-opiate and alcohol’, as well as those seeking services for drug-only related dependency, to ensure all individuals leaving treatment drug-free are captured. This new methodology has been applied to the years prior to 2014-15 to ensure comparable figures.

    We have provided both the total numbers leaving treatment successfully free of dependence as well as the numbers that left successfully not using drugs or alcohol at the time of exit (which is a subset of the larger number), as some individuals may, for example, be occasionally drinking when they are discharged but it will have been judged by a clinician to be non-problematic and not dependent use and that therefore they no longer require treatment.

    Public Health England will continue to support local authorities to provide effective and efficient drug treatment services, by providing bespoke data to assist the joint strategic needs assessment and to show the effectiveness of the local treatment system, as well as value for money tools, topical briefings, advice on good practice and on the benefits of investing in alcohol and drug treatment. Across the country, councils have already begun to develop new ways to deliver public health, showing that it is possible to deliver better health for local people and also better value for the taxpayer.

    The evidence-base for the effectiveness of drug treatment is robust, with United Kingdom and international evidence showing that treatment provides value for money, improves public health and reduces crime.

    The Building Recovery strand of the Government’s Drug Strategy recognises the importance of non-medical interventions, such as recovery networks, employment, housing, family support and reduced re-offending, in helping people recover and to participate more fully in society. Every person in structured drug treatment has a personal care plan based on an assessment of their needs, which maps out the steps they will take towards recovery. It covers their drug use, health, social functioning, criminal involvement, housing, employment and any other barrier to recovery.

  • Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    Patrick Grady – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Scotland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether the Government plans to table amendments to the Scotland Bill in the House of Lords.

    David Mundell

    The Government tabled substantive amendments to the Scotland Bill at Report Stage of the Bill in the House of Commons. The Bill subsequently passed third reading without division. The Government’s amendments strengthened the Bill and put beyond doubt that the Smith Commission Agreement has been delivered in full. The Bill is now before the House of Lords where it will be scrutinised further.

  • Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on students of replacing maintenance grants with loans.

    Joseph Johnson

    The Government published an Equality Analysis on changes to student support on 3rd December. This can be found at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482110/bis-15-639-student-finance-equality-analysis.pdf

    “

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

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking in response to the finding of research by P. Zainotto et al, forecasting obesity to 2010, published in 2006, that around 97 per cent of obese children come from families where at least one parent is obese or overweight.

    Jane Ellison

    We know obesity rates in children are far too high and children in lower income groups are more likely to be obese than the rest of the population, but it is an issue across all groups.

    Tackling obesity, particularly in children, is one of our major priorities. Progress has been made in recent years, but we know we have much further to go. We will announce our plans for tackling childhood obesity in the new year.

  • Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Harriet Harman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has (a) made and (b) plans to make any payment to Shaker Aamer (i) in return for an undertaking that he will not pursue legal action against the Government and (ii) for any other reason.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The settlement of the Guantanamo civil claims announced by Her Majesty’s Government in November 2010 was subject to a legally binding confidentiality agreement. We will not comment further about the terms of the settlement or about who is party to it.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Kevin Brennan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees have been admitted to the UK since September 2015 in each region; and how many she plans to admit by the end of 2016.

    Richard Harrington

    We will not be giving a running commentary on numbers. The refugees that we are bringing to the United Kingdom are very vulnerable people. Our prime concern is their safety and protection as they arrive in this country. We believe that one way to protect their privacy and ensure their recovery and integration is to limit the amount of information about them that we make publicly available. We want to ensure the understandable public interest in the scheme is not based on a running commentary on the numbers that have arrived.

    Notwithstanding this, the Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The next set of figures will be in the quarterly release on 26 November 2015 and will cover the period July-September 2015.

    The programme is driven by need, and the number resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors. This includes the number of referrals we have received from UNHCR and the number of confirmed places we have received from local authorities that are suitable for the specific needs of those who have been accepted for resettlement. Rather than a monthly or yearly target we acknowledge that some months we will resettle more or less than others because it is based on the need in the region at that time and the progress of those people through the system. We cannot, therefore, state at this time how many confirmed places will be made available by the end of 2016.

  • Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to assist unemployed people over the age of 50 back in to work; and if he will make a statement.

    Priti Patel

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 November 2015 to Question UIN16531.