UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2015

  • Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Alan Whitehead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Canadian Department of Natural Resources on the joint Statement of Co-operation with Canada on Carbon Capture and Storage.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Officials from the Department, as well as colleagues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, are in regular contact with their Canadian counterparts on this and other issues related to Carbon Capture and Storage.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many domestic customers (a) Scottish Power, (b) SSE, (c) E.on, (d) British Gas, (e) EDF, (f) Npower, (g) First Utility, (h) Ovo and (i) Cooperative Energy each have.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem publishes market share of energy suppliers based on monthly domestic customer numbers as part of its yearly Great Britain and Northern Ireland National Reports to the European Commission, most recently published in 2014. In this report smaller suppliers including First Utility, OVO and Co-operative Energy are grouped together as ‘Other Suppliers’.

    GB Domestic Energy Suppliers’ Market Share, December 2013

    Supplier

    Electricity Market Share

    Gas Market Share

    British Gas

    24%

    39%

    SSE

    18%

    15%

    E.on

    16%

    13%

    EDF

    13%

    9%

    Scottish Power

    12%

    9%

    RWE npower

    12%

    10%

    Other Suppliers

    5%

    5%

    First Utility, OVO and Co-operative Energy have released customer numbers on their websites. First Utility claim to have over 800,000 customers in July 2015, OVO claim to currently have 500,000 customers, while Co-operative Energy claim to have over 200,000 customers. The majority of these Customers will take both electricity and gas from their supplier.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what account his Department takes of the human rights situation and reports of persecution on the basis of religious belief in Iran in setting its policy on changes to sanctions imposed on that country.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We continue to urge Iran to abide by its international commitments to ensure all Iranians enjoy the rights and freedoms they are entitled to. There has been no real improvement in the human rights situation, and in some cases, the situation appears to have worsened. As such, we have designated over 80 Iranians responsible for human rights violations under EU sanctions.

  • David Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    David Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Morris on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that crustaceans being sold in UK retail or wholesale premises are not still alive and sealed in plastic bags.

    George Eustice

    There are no proposals to introduce controls on the packing of live crustaceans for purposes of animal welfare. The UK Sea Fish Industry Authority advises they should be handled carefully, stored at consistent temperatures, not allowed to dry out and never dropped. Lobsters should be kept cool and if wrapped, perforated material should be used.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Sturdy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on reforming of NICE’s procedure for appraisal of medicines.

    George Freeman

    We receive representations about the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) technology appraisal programme from hon. Members, members of the public, clinicians and the pharmaceutical industry.

    NICE is the independent body that provides guidance on the prevention and treatment of ill health and the promotion of good health and social care and is responsible for its own processes and methodology.

    NICE regularly reviews these and its internationally renowned technology appraisal programme has evolved constantly to meet new challenges. NICE has demonstrated its ability to adapt to changes in the health and care environment, and we expect it will continue to evolve in the future, in particular through the recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review which NICE is centrally involved in.

    Further guidance on NICE’s processes of technology appraisal is available at:

    www.nice.org.uk/article/pmg19/chapter/Foreword

  • Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his estimate is of the number of human rights activists and community leaders killed in Colombia during the first eight months of 2015.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The latest report from the NGO coalition ‘Somos Defensores’ recorded 51 murders of human rights defenders in the first nine months of 2015, compared to 55 for the whole of 2014 which indicates a worrying upward trend. Despite recent significant developments on the peace process we remain concerned by this increase in violence and threats against human rights defenders there. I again raised the issue of human rights with the Colombian Deputy Foreign Minister, Patti Londono, on 29 September. Officials in London met British NGOs on 9 November, to understand their concerns in greater detail.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal guidance exists on the role of social care providers in helping to formulate discharge procedures within NHS hospitals.

    Alistair Burt

    The Care Act 2014 requires the National Health Service to notify local authorities whenever a hospital patient is likely to have care and support needs once they are discharged from hospital. This requirement was part of the wide ranging consultation on the draft regulations and guidance for implementation of the Act. The Care and Support Statutory Guidance sets out these procedures in more detail; they are designed to ensure that local authorities and the NHS work together to ensure that people have the correct support on leaving hospital.

    In addition, NHS England’s guidance on Monthly Delayed Transfer of Care Situation Reports highlights the importance of the role of the multi-disciplinary team, including social workers, in determining patients’ on-going health and social care needs once they leave hospital.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence also recently published its guideline on transition between hospital inpatient settings and community or care homes for adults with social care needs. It aims to improve people’s experience of admission to, and discharge from, hospital by better coordination of health and social care services.

  • 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 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s aims are for the visit of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

    Mr Hugo Swire

    The Government was pleased to welcome Prime Minister Modi to the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Modi is the head of world’s largest democracy. The visit was a celebration of a rich, wide-ranging and mature relationship between our two countries, symbolised by 1.5 million Britons of Indian origin. We want to deepen our extensive trade and investment links further. We will also discuss how to enhance our defence and international security partnership to enable both our countries to address together the many common global threats we face.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Pakistan applied for asylum and requested certification under section (a) 94(1) and (b) 94(2) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 in each of the last three years.

    James Brokenshire

    The basis of an individual’s asylum claim is not recorded on Home Office systems. It is not therefore possible to differentiate Pakistani applicants claiming for reasons of religious persecution and discrimination from Pakistani applicants claiming for one or more other reasons in the Detained Fast Track (DFT) or the non-detained process.

    Certification under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 is not requested by an applicant. It is applied by the Secretary of State in circumstances where the applicant’s claim is refused and considered to be so lacking in merit as to be clearly unfounded.

    The number of initial certified refusals for Pakistan main asylum applicants, from year ending September 2013 to year ending September 2015, was 604. The Home Office publishes data on asylum applications and decisions on a quarterly and annual basis. The information supplied on certified refusals is based on initial decisions which do not necessarily relate to applications made in the same period.

    No assessment has been made of any difference that might exist between grant rates in respect of Pakistani applicants in the DFT process when it operated, and cases entering the non-detained process at the same time. However, as the DFT process avoided claims involving particular complexity and/or vulnerability, and prioritised cases which appeared to be late or opportunistic, it is to be expected that the DFT would have fewer grants than the non-detained process.

  • Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the average frequency of evening and weekend work by junior doctors in the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Employers’ evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration – “Reform of national contracts for consultant doctors and doctors and dentists in training”1 – published in December 2014 during the hon. Member’s tenure as a Minister, included a profile of how the hours worked by doctors in training were spread across the week.

    We have evidence that hospital leaders consider the junior doctors’ contract to be a significant barrier to delivering more seven-day services. NHS Providers’ written evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration on contract reform for consultants and doctors and dentists in training2 stated that the junior doctor contract is still a significant source of barriers to seven day working and reform of the junior doctor contract is also required to support trusts to deliver more seven-day services. In particular, the pay banding system for junior doctors needs to be reviewed. There were concerns from employers that the banding system is too complicated, can create “perverse incentives” for junior doctors and hospital management, and means that providing more seven-day services is unfeasible, since more junior doctors would be working outside core hours and receive premiums under the current banding system. NHS Providers also believe that more hours in a day and more days of the week need to be defined as core hours, as the current arrangement does not support the delivery of more seven-day services or reflect the needs and expectations of today’s patients.

    Future working patterns are for individual employers to determine. The evidence on doctors’ working patterns has not altered since the hon. Member was a Minister for Health.

    1 http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/pay-and-reward/pay/medical-pay/ddrb-evidence—in-detail/consultants-and-junior-doctors-contract-reform-submission-of-evidence-to-the-ddrb

    2 http://www.nhsproviders.org/resource-library/written-evidence-ddrb-special-remit/

    “