Tag: 2015

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Care Quality during Oral Questions on 17 November 2015 on the establishment of a working party to examine issues regarding the availability of off-patent, repurposed drugs, when the working party was established; what the working party’s scope and terms of reference are; which organisations and individuals have been invited to join the working party; and when the next meeting of the working party will be convened.

    George Freeman

    The Government has not established a working party in relation to the Off-Patent Drugs Bill. We did hold a roundtable event in February 2015 with key stakeholders including charities and agreed several follow up actions. We have now agreed additional further actions:

    – arrange a further roundtable event specifically for those charities who would like to explore the Bill in more detail;

    – input in to the work of the Off-Patent Drugs Bill All Party Parliamentary Group; and

    – hold a Ministerial drop-in session on 30 November, for those who would like to discuss the Bill further. This will be hosted by myself.

  • Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of (a) the level of funding required to cover local authority spending on social care in the period to 2020 and (b) how much the proposed two per cent increase in council tax intended for the social care levy will have raised in funding by 2020 if every authority implements that proposal to the full.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Ahead of the Spending Review, the Local Government Association estimated the gap in adult social care funding to be £2.9 billion – arising from a growing elderly population and introduction of the National Living Wage.

    At Spending Review the Government outlined a package of support worth up to £3.5 billion to ensure councils are able to support some of their older and most vulnerable residents. That included giving authorities with social care responsibilities the flexibility to raise council tax in their area by up to 2% above the referendum threshold for each year between 2016-17 and 2019-20, to fund adult social care services. It is also providing £1500 million additional funding for local authorities to spend on adult social care by 2019-20, to be included in an improved Better Care Fund. Taken together, these measures provide significant resources to address the demographic pressures facing the social care system.

    In terms of what the social care flexibility could raise, I refer the hon. Member to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark), announced to the House on 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

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  • Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of people held in immigration detention are (a) foreign national offenders convicted of immigration related offences, (b) foreign national offenders convicted of other offences and (c) non-foreign nationals.

    James Brokenshire

    At the end of June 2015, the proportion of people held in immigration detention who were foreign national offenders was 25% (884).

    It is not possible to provide a break-down of foreign national offenders convicted of immigration offences and foreign national offenders convicted of non-immigration offences. Such data is not aggregated in national reporting systems, which would mean these questions could only be answered through a disproportionately expensive manual case search to collate the data.

  • Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Ian Blackford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department has not conducted economic impact assessments on proposed by-law changes (a) in general and (b) regarding the Raasay ranges.

    Mark Lancaster

    Under the byelaws review process there is no specific requirement to carry out an economic impact assessment.

    Following input received as part of the recent byelaw consultation process and due to local concerns, an economic impact assessment is currently being undertaken regarding Raasay Ranges. Its scope will reflect the MOD policy for such reports.

  • Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tania Mathias – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tania Mathias on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support refugees from Iran; and what recent assessment she has made of the safety of Iranian refuges in Iraq.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Since 2011, the UK has provided £163 million of core funding to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to deliver protection and assistance to refugees globally. The UK works with the Government of Iraq, Kurdish Regional Government, the UN and the international community to support the rights of all minorities and to ensure our aid reaches those in greatest need.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what resources were committed by the UK at the COP21 climate conference in Paris to help developing countries pay for repairing damage from extreme weather events caused by climate change.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Paris Agreement recognises the importance of averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage. The UK is already taking action to support insurance mechanisms that provide financial support in the event of an extreme weather event. For example, we support the G7 initiative that aims to increase by up to 400 million the number of people in the most vulnerable developing countries who have access to direct or indirect insurance coverage against the negative impact of climate change related hazards by 2020.The UK contribution to these rapid actions includes support for (i) the Africa Risk Capacity initiative and (ii) the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative (PCRAFI). Other UK-supported actions are contributing to the G7 Initiative’s overall aims.

    Her Majesty’s Government maintains the capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies wherever they occur in the world.

  • Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2015-11-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects the business case for universal credit to be signed off in full.

    Priti Patel

    The 2nd Permanent Secretary to the Treasury explained to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the 10 December 2014 (see link below), the process for Business Case approvals within Government. The first stage of this process, the Strategic Outline Business Case, was agreed in September 2014. The next step, the Outline Business Case, has been agreed at official level and is now with Treasury Ministers for approval. The Full Business Case will follow for approval by the end of 2017. This is in line with the process within Government and a Programme of the scale and complexity of Universal Credit.

    http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/public-accounts-committee/universal-credit-progress-update/oral/16340.html

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  • Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether any Special Intelligence Service officers have been posted at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan since October 2001.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    There is no Special Intelligence Service. Should the question be referring to the Secret Intelligence Service, which does exist, then it is a long-standing policy of successive British governments not to comment on intelligence matters.

  • Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Harris of Haringey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Harris of Haringey on 2015-11-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, for each of the last three years, what was the estimated cost to the public purse of people being imprisoned for defaulting on payment of their council tax.

    Lord Faulks

    This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. The department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison, and in summary form the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. These can be found on Gov.uk.

  • 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 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people with both TB and HIV receive joined-up care.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department recognises that joined up care for people with tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, as with other areas of comorbidity or coinfection management, is important. In NHS England’s specialised services, service specifications exist for HIV and for infectious diseases and both make reference to the importance of referral pathways and network arrangements to meet the needs of patients.

    Separate to NHS England’s commissioning of joined up care for people with TB and HIV, treatment and care services for co-infected sufferers take account of the reference guideline, “British HIV Association guidelines for the treatment of TB/HIV coinfection 2011”, which recommends that patients with both HIV and TB are managed by a multidisciplinary team with expertise in both TB and HIV. A link to this guideline is at:

    http://www.bhiva.org/documents/Guidelines/TB/hiv_954_online_final.pdf

    The role of a TB specialist nurse and multidisciplinary team is essential in the management of co-infected patients.

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