The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax credit claimants have reported difficulties in renewing their claim online in the last 12 months.
Damian Hinds
The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many young people earn below the living wage.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the outcomes were of her visit to China in November 2015; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice
During her visit the Secretary of State met a number of her counterparts, supported the two week long Food is GREAT Campaign in China and took with her the largest ever UK delegation to the Food and Hotel China trade show. She signed agreements to open the markets for UK barley and pigs trotters worth up to £190m over 5 years and discussed the forward plan for opening up the markets for poultry, beef and lamb. She discussed shared priorities with the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister of Water Resources and agreed programmes of closer collaboration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the Israeli government on the Children in Military Custody report, funded by his Department, which was published in June 2012.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have held roundtable meetings with Israeli officials to discuss the Children in Military Custody report, most recently on 19 May. Since the publication of the report, there has been some progress on the issue of children held in military detention. This includes piloting of sending summons instead of carrying out night-time arrests, changes to standard operating procedures on methods of restraint, and steps to reduce the amount of time a child can be detained before seeing a judge. There has also been a reduction in the use of solitary confinement and an increase in the use of Arabic to give notifications of arrest. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv continue to push for further progress with Israeli officials. On 27 August, our Ambassador to Tel Aviv lobbied the Israeli Military Advocate General on Children in Detention where the issue of child detention was discussed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical commissioning groups on commissioning of off-patent drugs for use in new indications.
George Freeman
NHS England supports the national commissioning system in England, including the provision of guidance to the service, where appropriate.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications. Where drugs are not appraised by NICE, it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how drugs should be funded locally, in line with any guidance from NHS England. The Department has produced no guidance and had no discussions with CCGs on off-label drug use.
Many thousands of patients benefit from the use of off-patent drugs, off-label, every day in the National Health Service. NICE publishes Evidence Summaries on unlicensed and off-label medicines. These provide a summary of the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment or no licensed medicines are appropriate for a significant proportion of people requiring treatment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will introduce multi-year funding for child protection programmes in the Central African Republic.
Grant Shapps
Since 2013, DFID has committed £58 million to address the needs of Central Africans, Central African children and of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR). This funding has enabled agencies to support children who have been separated from their families, to provide services for girls and boys who have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, to reduce malnutrition, and give children access to education and training. DFID monitors needs in CAR and reviews regularly the strategy and level of support it provides. DFID are currently considering options for programming in CAR after the end of our current programme, which runs until March 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local highway agencies always give motorists sufficient and early notification of traffic delays, congestion and road accidents so that motorists approaching a black spot can use an alternative route; and if he will make a statement.
Andrew Jones
Local authorities are responsible for managing their roads and are required through the Network Management Duty contained in the Traffic Management Act 2004 to do so in a way that provides safe, convenient and expeditious movement of traffic.
Providing timely and relevant information to road users is an important part of this, and it is for local authorities to decide how to ensure they provide this. They have a range of measures available to them, including CCTV to monitor the road network and identify incidents, variable message signs to show messages indicating road closures and diversions, and information provided through their website and to local radio stations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Marie Rimmer on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the habitual residence test on UK citizens returning to the UK from working overseas.
Priti Patel
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Sheffield Central on 9 September 2015 to Question 8901:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of jobseeker’s allowance claimants have used Universal Jobmatch in the last 12 months.
Priti Patel
Universal Jobmatch is open to anyone to use in order to look for work, whether they are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or not. We do not differentiate between different types of users and are not able to provide statistics on the numbers of each.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in the light of the recommendations of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists in 2011 that NICE and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency should be instructed to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug bevacizumab in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and produce national guidelines for the use of anti-VEGF agents in AMD.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department has no plans to ask the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop technology appraisal guidance on the use of bevacizumab for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Bevacizumab is not licensed for use in the treatment of wet AMD. Other licensed drugs are available for the treatment of AMD and have been recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance as clinically and cost effective. The National Health Service in England is legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisal guidance. NICE is currently developing a clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of AMD and currently expects to issue final guidance in August 2017.