Tag: 2016

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the extent of the practice among clinical commissioning groups in England of offering only one fresh cycle of IVF treatment.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has not made an assessment of the annual cost to the National Health Service of high risk pregnancies caused by patients going abroad for in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

    Multiple births are the single biggest risk to the health and welfare of children born following fertility treatment and present significant health risks to mothers and babies. Over recent years, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has worked to drive down multiple birth rates whilst maintaining consistent treatment success rates.

    To minimise the risk of multiple pregnancies, there has been a growing trend for IVF providers to only transfer one embryo, even when more are available, in patients who have a good chance of successful treatment. Elective single embryo transfer is the most effective way of reducing multiple pregnancies. The HFEA has advised that most clinics have shown significant progress in reducing multiple births without compromising pregnancy rates. In 2008 nearly one in four IVF births resulted in a multiple birth but now, with a concerted multiple births reduction policy, this number is one in six.

    Although progress has been made, this number is still higher than the rate in conceptions that do not involve assisted reproduction treatment. The overall goal is to reduce multiple births to one in ten.

    The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

    Information about CCGs approach to commissioning or compliance with the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence guidelines regarding IVF services is not collected centrally.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many times air quality safety levels were breached in Greater Manchester in each year since 2011.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra uses both monitoring and modelling to assess air quality in the UK. The Department has five monitoring stations in the Greater Manchester Urban Agglomeration, at: Bury Whitefield Roadside, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Sharston, Salford Eccles and Shaw Crompton Way. Information about the sites and the pollutants measured is available on Defra’s UK-Air website.

    Nitrogen dioxide pollution from road transport is the predominant source of air pollution in the Greater Manchester area.

    There have been two measured exceedances of the annual mean air pollution objective for nitrogen dioxide in the Greater Manchester Urban Agglomeration since 2011. These were recorded in the Bury Whitefield Roadside and Manchester Piccadilly monitoring sites in 2011 and 2012. However, based on both modelling and monitoring carried out for compliance purposes, the zone was reported to have exceeded the annual mean limit value for nitrogen dioxide for all years between 2011 and 2014.

    Local authorities have a crucial role to play in improving air quality in their areas. They are required to review and assess air quality in their areas and to designate Air Quality Management Areas (AQMAs) and put in place Air Quality Action Plans (AQAPs) to address air pollution issues where national air quality objectives are not being met.

    The ten local authorities in the Greater Manchester area designated AQMAs between 2001 and 2007. In 2016 the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) amalgamated all AQMAs across the region into a single AQMA. The GMCA has put in place an AQAP that sets out measures aimed at promoting sustainable transport initiatives, including proposals to introduce Ultra-Low Emission Zones.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what his Department’s capital and current budgets are for (a) 2016-17 and (b) 2017-18.

    Greg Hands

    The newly created Department for International Trade (DIT) has been formed from the previous UK Trade and Investent (UKTI) and from the Trade Policy Unit of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade also has responsibility for UK Export Finance (the Export Credits Guarantee Department), which has its own budget.

    The estimated annual budgeted operating costs of the department for the next four years are currently being established and will be submitted to parliament later this financial year.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on the effect of a written objection being made by a consultation body specified in Regulation 2 of the Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 (as amended) for the determination of an application for an oil transfer licence.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the Competent Authority that assesses applications for an Oil Transfer License (OTL). All written representations made during a public consultation are considered with the application and used to inform the analysis and the decision

    The MCA will approve or deny the application, direct the applicant to do additional work to address concerns and/or seek additional stakeholder consultation and engagement where appropriate.

    In accordance with the ‘Merchant Shipping (Ship to Ship Transfers) Regulation 2010 (as amended), the MCA will inform the applicant in writing of the decision, with any associated caveats to the License, if granted. Officials will also write to all individuals or consultation bodies who responded to the public consultation informing them of the decision and the justification for it.

    Representations and decision correspondence are retained by the MCA and kept on file for a minimum of 20 years. Records of any other stakeholder engagement undertaken during an OTL consultation or subsequent to it are retained by the MCA for a minimum of five years.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied child refugees in Europe the Government expects to relocate in 2016.

    James Brokenshire

    My Written Ministerial Statement of 28 January set out the government’s plans to reinforce its response to refugee unaccompanied children from Syria, other conflict regions and within Europe. That included a commitment to work with partners, including the European Asylum Support Office, to help identify and support unaccompanied children on arrival in the EU. The government has also created a new fund of up to £10 million to support the needs of vulnerable migrant children in Europe.

    If an unaccompanied child claims asylum in a European country participating in the Dublin Regulation we will consider requests to take responsibility where there are close family members legally present in the UK. Unaccompanied minors already in Europe may also apply for family reunion under the Immigration Rules.

    We have asked the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to advise us on what more we can do to assist unaccompanied refugee children fleeing conflict and persecution in the Syrian region and more broadly across the globe. The number the UK will resettle will be dependent on the UNHCR’s assessment and whether it is in the child’s best interests and our capacity to absorb them.

  • Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has agreed the terms of the Remedial Plan with Govia Thameslink Railway since the issue of a Remedial Plan Notice in December 2015; and if he will publish that plan.

    Claire Perry

    The Secretary of State has accepted Govia Thameslink Railway’s Remedial Plan that sets out the steps the operator is taking to improve their performance and it will shortly be published on the Government’s website. The plan covers the period to September 2018.

  • Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Baroness Donaghy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Donaghy on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of historic patterns of recruitment showing that universities are more effective in filling teacher training places than other forms of provision, such as School Direct, how they will ensure that the new system of allocating training places for 2016–17 meets national and regional teacher supply needs.

    Lord Nash

    As part of our nationwide recruitment drive for 2016/17, we have changed the approach to initial teacher training (ITT) allocations for this year. The National College of Teaching and Leadership has not allocated a specific number of places to individual organisations for postgraduate ITT courses. This approach offers the opportunity for School Direct lead schools, school-centred ITT (SCITTs) and universities to recruit the number of trainees they need locally (within a limited set of recruitment controls).

    One of the aims of the change of approach was to improve recruitment at a national level while still moving towards a school-led system. We created a school-led minimum recruitment level to ensure that school led ITT routes have the opportunity to recruit to at least 51% of the overall market in 2016/17. These levels were based on previous recruitment and were set in order to meet the dual priorities of maximising the chance of recruiting enough trainee teachers and continuing to move to a school-led system.

    We have developed a location recruitment control which we will use where there is a geographical disparity. They are monitoring regional recruitment across all subjects. School Direct lead schools, SCITTs and universities across all regions have been given greater freedom for the 2016/17 academic year to manage their recruitment according to local need.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent by the Cancer Drugs Fund in 2015-16; and how much that fund is estimated to spend in 2016-17.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that it expects to publish information on Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) expenditure for 2015-16 in Board Papers for NHS England’s Board meeting on 26 May 2016.

    The budget allocated for the CDF for 2015-16 was £340 million and new financial control mechanisms, to be put in place from 1 July 2016, are intended to ensure that the CDF does not exceed its fixed £340 million budget in 2016-17.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Hendrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to require manufacturers to display the calorific content of alcoholic drinks on labels.

    Jane Ellison

    The Government has no plans to require manufacturers to display the calorific contents of alcoholic drinks on labels. However, some businesses do choose to do so voluntarily.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to continue to participate in the European Railways Agency after the UK leaves the EU.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government is considering carefully all the potential implications arising from the UK’s exit from the EU, including the implications for our future relationship with agencies such as the European Railways Agency and the European Maritime Safety Agency. Until we leave, EU law still applies, and current arrangements will continue.