Tag: 2015

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

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of (a) changes in the number of cases of, and deaths from rotavirus (b) the number of rotavirus vaccinations given each year and (c) the cost of delivering that programme of vaccinations on an annual basis since the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in 2013.

    Jane Ellison

    The number of positive rotavirus laboratory reports each year since 2013 is shown in the table below. These data indicate that there has been a decrease of approximately 10,000 annual cases of rotavirus since the introduction of rotavirus immunisation in July 2013.

    Table 1: The number of positive rotavirus laboratory reports recorded annually since 2013.

    Year

    Number of positive rotavirus laboratory reports

    2013

    14,950

    2014

    4,447

    2015

    5,035*

    Source: PHE Second Generation Surveillance System (SGSS) laboratory reporting database

    Note: *Figure to end October 2015.

    Deaths from rotavirus in the United Kingdom are rare. However precise numbers of deaths are difficult to quantify accurately as mortality is usually low and reported simply as death due to gastrointestinal disease. It was previously estimated that there may have been up to three to four rotavirus associated deaths a year in England and Wales (Jit et al., 2007). Following a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert committee that advises the Government on immunisation, the rotavirus vaccine was introduced in July 2013. Since then, there have been no reported rotavirus-related deaths in the eligible cohort.

    Immunisation against rotavirus is offered as a two dose schedule to infants at two and three months of age. The table below indicates the number of rotavirus vaccinations given by year.

    Table 2: Number of general practitioner (GP) registered patients who received (a) a 1st dose and (b) a 2nd dose of rotavirus vaccine between six and 24 weeks of age.

    Year

    No. vaccinated with dose 1

    No. vaccinated with dose 2

    2013*

    not available

    not available

    2014

    531,068

    500,454

    2015 (up to September)

    428,591

    406,485

    Source: ImmForm

    Note: *Although the immunisation programme was launched in July 2013, January 2014 was the first complete month where all of 25 week old cohort would have been eligible from the programme start.

    In 2014/15 NHS incurred approximately £9 million delivering completed courses of rotavirus vaccination. This figure does not include the cost of the vaccine, which is procured centrally by Public Health England, and is commercially confidential.

  • Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has conducted research on the potential effect on the (a) rate of emigration and (b) number of pensioner returnees of unfreezing pensions.

    Justin Tomlinson

    At present DWP has not conducted any research into the behavioural impacts that the unfreezing of pensions may have on individuals’ migration decisions.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what average time her Department took to respond to freedom of information requests in each year since 2005.

    Karen Bradley

    The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. The available statistics on the timeliness of FOI requests received by the Home Office up to the second quarter of 2015 are published on the Ministry of Justice website at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.

  • Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Crisp – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Crisp on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to review the current visa categories and visa application processes to help foster international research collaborations, in particular in the health and science sectors.

    Lord Bates

    Our current immigration policies, categories and processes already explicitly take account of the needs of academics, scientists and researchers. We have consistently protected and enhanced the treatment of these roles in the immigration system, even whilst restricting migration in other spheres.

    In Tier 2, the skilled work route, we have given PhD level roles, which include academics, scientists and researchers, higher priority when allocating places within the annual limit and relaxed rules relating to recruitment and settlement. We have introduced the Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) route for world leaders in science, engineering, humanities, the arts and digital technology, and several universities and research organisations are making use of this route. The Tier 5 (Temporary Work) route contains provisions to enable sponsored researchers to participate in international research collaborations, and for overseas medical and dental post-graduates to undertake training in the UK.

    The immigration system also supports the health sector, with several health professions, including doctors in emergency medicine, included on the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). Nurses have been added to the SOL as a temporary measure, pending a full review of the evidence by the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

    We keep all immigration routes under review to ensure they are working effectively in line with the Government’s migration objectives. For the future, we have commissioned the MAC to advise on restricting Tier 2 to genuine skills shortages and jobs which require highly-specialised experts, but with sufficient flexibility to include high value roles and key public service workers. We await the MAC’s report with interest and will consider it carefully before making any significant changes.

  • Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Stewart Jackson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stewart Jackson on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the efficacy of removing the current policy of absent votes on demand in favour of the previous absent votes criteria for the purpose of preventing electoral fraud; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    In January 2014, the Electoral Commission published its review of electoral fraud in the UK, which followed research and wide public consultation on a number of proposals for reducing absent voting vulnerabilities, including reversing the current availability of postal voting on demand without a reason or attestation in Great Britain.

    While some respondents to the Commission’s consultation supported restricting the availability of postal voting on demand to address the risk of electoral fraud, others expressed concern that it would reduce convenience and could mean that some electors would be unable to vote. Respondents also suggested that restricting the availability of postal voting on demand would be disproportionate to the number and scale of proven cases of postal voting fraud.

    The Commission’s review concluded that restricting the availability of postal voting would remove the freedom for electors to choose a convenient and, for the vast majority, secure, method of voting and on balance did not support changing the availability of postal voting in Great Britain. At the May 2015 UK Parliamentary general election postal votes were issued to around 7.6 million electors in Great Britain, representing nearly 17% of the total electorate. At present, the Commission is aware of 22 cases of alleged electoral fraud at the May 2015 polls involving postal votes. The Commission continues to monitor data about cases of alleged postal voting fraud, and will keep its assessment of the impact of restricting the availability of postal voting under review in light of any new evidence which becomes available.

    The Commission’s review also considered whether there was a case for further restricting the availability of proxy voting by requiring all proxy applications to be attested; limiting proxy voting to a smaller range of categories of need, such as special category electors; or imposing further limits on the number of electors for whom an individual could be appointed to act as a proxy. Respondents to the Commission’s consultation expressed concern that such restrictions could have an impact on voter participation, especially for disabled voters or those outside the country at the time of the election for whom proxy voting might be the only way in which they are able to vote. On balance, the Commission did not support placing further restrictions on the availability of proxy voting.

  • Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Redfern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures University Technical Colleges are taking to increase choices for students, especially with regard to strengthening academic study with practical learning.

    Lord Nash

    University Technical Colleges (UTCs) specialise in subjects that need modern, technical, industry-standard equipment, such as engineering and digital technologies. Pupils integrate academic study with practical learning, studying core GCSEs within a high-quality technical and professional curriculum. UTCs work with local and national employers and higher education institutions to design and deliver a curriculum that, through technical projects and work experience, will provide pupils with the skills employers demand for their industries. The importance of involving employers in education is a key part of the government’s recently announced plans for ground-breaking reforms to technical and professional education.

  • Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Brake – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much of the welfare budget was spent on employment and support allowance, incapacity benefit and income support claimants or universal credit claims with sickness or disability elements in 2014-15.

    Priti Patel

    The benefit expenditure for 2014/15 is in the table below:

    Benefit 2014/15 expenditure £m
    Employment & Support Allowance 12,827
    Incapacity Benefit 245
    Income Support incapacity 389
    Severe Disablement Allowance 735
    Total 14,196

    Severe Disablement Allowance is a non-contributory version of Incapacity Benefit and is included here for completeness. Information on the sickness or disability element of Universal Credit is currently unavailable.

    Detailed information on benefit expenditure is available in our Benefit Expenditure tables which can be found at:
    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2015

    “

  • 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 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the build time for HMS Agamemnon and HMS Ajax will be shorter than that planned for HMS Anson.

    Earl Howe

    The build time for the Astute class submarines has reduced with every boat built to date. HMS Agamemnon and the yet to be named Boat 7 are both at a very early stage of construction. However, as published in the National Audit Office Major Projects Report 2015, their expected operational handover dates are May 2022 and March 2024 respectively.

  • Baroness Janke – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Janke – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Janke on 2015-11-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what process they followed in making appointments to the Local Government Pension Scheme Advisory Board.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Secretary of State is responsible for appointing members to the local government pension scheme’s advisory board. No more than 12 members in total may be appointed, divided equally between members representing scheme members and scheme employers in England and Wales.

    The list of appointments made by the Secretary of State is shown below. The appointments were made on the basis of nominations submitted by the Local Government Association on behalf of local authority employers and the three major local government trade unions. The 12 appointments shown below replaced the members of a shadow scheme advisory board established in July 2013.

    Local authority employer representatives

    Councillor Roger Phillips (Herefordshire County Council representing non-local authority employers)

    Emelda Nicholroy (Universities and Colleges Employers Association representing education employers).

    Councillor Michael Adams (London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham representing London councils).

    Councillor Keiran Quinn (Greater Manchester Pension Fund representing Metropolitan authorities)

    Councillor Denise Le Gal (Surrey County Council representing English local authorities)

    Councillor Mary Barnett (Torfaen Pension Fund representing Welsh local authorities)

    Scheme member representatives

    Jon Richards – UNISON

    Chris Tansley – UNISON

    Brian Strutton – GMB

    Gary Warwick – GMB

    Fiona Farmer – UNITE

    Dick Banks – UNITE

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2015-11-30.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of whether the discovery of a booby-trapped mass grave in northern Iraq is evidence of genocide against minorities such as Yazidis and Assyrian Christians.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of reports that mass graves have been discovered in northern Iraq, at least one of which was allegedly booby trapped by Daesh. We condemn in the strongest terms the targeting and persecution of Yezidis, Christians and other communities by this brutal terrorist organisation.

    We continue to urge the Government of Iraq to do all it can to ensure the security and rights of all communities in Iraq. We are working in Iraq to build consensus around the importance of freedom of religion or belief; and supporting practical projects on community dialogue with civil society and faith groups.

    The British Government believes that recognition of genocides should be a matter for international courts. It should be a legal, rather than political determination, decided by international judges after consideration of all the evidence available in the context of a credible international judicial process.