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Tag: 2016

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of improvement in the conditions of children in prisons in Israel since the publication in 2012 of the report by British lawyers Children in Military Custody.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) progress report of October 2013 noted that Israel has taken some positive steps towards addressing the recommendations in the 2012 report by updating the existing Standard Operating Procedures and policies in relation to the arrest of minors. These updates included changing the policy on methods of restraint and the use of blindfolds. Israel also increased the age of majority for Palestinian children. The Israeli military committed to conducting a pilot of using written summons instead of night-time arrests.

    We welcome the steps taken to date, but we continue to call for further measures, including the mandatory use of audio-visual recording of interrogations, investigation into continued reports of single-hand ties being used, and an end to solitary confinement for children.

    We are also funding a follow up mission by the British lawyers who conducted the report in February.

  • Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on renewed rocket fire attacks into Gaza in Israel.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We receive reports from our Embassy in Tel Aviv and our Consulate General in Jerusalem giving us regular updates on the current situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These updates include reports on rockets being fired from the Gaza Strip into the sea; any rocket fire from Gaza into Israel; and any retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza. According to reports, in December 2015 and January 2016 a total of three rockets were fired into Israel by Gazan militant groups.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to help liberate Yazidi women currently being held in captivity in Iraq and Syria by Islamic State.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The Government agrees that there is an urgent need to protect civilians in Syria and Iraq and recognises the plight faced by vulnerable women and girls in the region.

    Ultimately, the only way to protect civilians, including Yazidi women from Daesh is by defeating this terrible organisation, which in turn requires, amongst other things, ending the conflict in Syria. The UK has been at the forefront of these efforts and plays a leading role in a Global Coalition of 66 countries and international organisations to respond to Daesh’s inhumanity.

    The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), set out the Government’s comprehensive strategy for dealing with Daesh and the conflict in Syria in his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 26 November 2015.

  • Sir Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Sir Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sir Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to promote research and development in the UK.

    Greg Hands

    At the Spending Review 2015 we protected the current £4.7 billion science resource funding in real terms for the rest of the Parliament and re-affirmed our long term science capital commitment of £6.9 billion between 2015-2021.

    The government also continues to support business research and development investment through R&D tax credits. In 2013-14, R&D tax credits provided £1.75bn of relief to over 18,000 companies, supporting around £14.3bn of innovative investment.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol.

    Karen Bradley

    An impact assessment of a minimum unit price for alcohol was published before a consultation on the Government’s Alcohol Strategy proposals in 2012.

    The consultation raised questions concerning possible unintended consequences of minimum unit pricing, such as the impact on responsible drinkers on low incomes. The Government continues to monitor the research being carried out by the University of Sheffield and others on the potential effects.

    The Government has also noted the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union on the proposed introduction of minimum unit pricing in Scotland and will continue to monitor the legal proceedings.

  • Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Keith Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures are in place to regulate the prices of everyday drugs sold to the NHS by pharmaceutical companies.

    George Freeman

    There are arrangements in place to ensure that the prices paid by the National Health Service for medicines provide value for money for the NHS. The prices and the profits made on the sales of branded medicines to the NHS are controlled by the voluntary Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme. If a company chooses not to join the voluntary scheme, it falls under a statutory scheme which controls the prices of branded medicines.

    The Department does not control the price of generic medicines; instead it relies on competition to drive down prices. A report in 2010 by the National Audit Office showed that the reimbursement arrangements had delivered savings for the NHS of £1.8 billion between 2005/6 and 2008/09.

    Concerns about possible anti-competitive behaviour by pharmaceutical companies are investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Department and the CMA work closely together on such matters. The CMA is committed to investigating suspected infringements of competition law, including suspected excessive pricing in the pharmaceutical sector. The CMA has strong powers of investigation and, where it finds that a firm has breached competition law, it may impose penalties of up to 10% of a company’s worldwide turnover.

    The CMA has been asked by the Secretary of State to undertake further work to look into specific instances of excessive pricing.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) men, (b) women and (c) children have entered the UK under the refugee family reunion rules in each of the last three years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The family reunion policy allows those granted refugee status or humanitarian protection in the UK to sponsor their pre-flight family members, i.e. spouse or partner and children under the age of 18, who formed part of the family unit before the sponsor fled their country, to reunite with them in the UK.

    Information on how many men, women and children have entered the UK under refugee family reunion provisions in the Immigration Rules is not captured in our published data and would require a manual review. This information cannot therefore be provided without exceeding proportionate costs.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average GP list size was in (a) England, (b) Cheshire and (c) Halton constituency in each year since 2010.

    David Mowat

    The information requested is in the attached document.

  • Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Uddin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Uddin on 2016-01-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of language classes for Muslim women in respect of radicalisation.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Our new English language offer, worth £20 million over this Parliament, will help women in our most isolated communities get the training they need. This new programme will be informed by six projects we have funded as part of our current community-based English language programme. By the end of March this year the projects will have provided training to 33,500 adults – the majority women, with over half from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Somalian ethnic groups.

    Community-based English language programmes can help build women’s confidence in using English in daily activities such as engaging with their children’s teachers, interacting with public services and playing a full part in the local community.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to implement the conclusions of his Department’s report, entitled Future in Mind, published in March 2015, on vulnerable young people’s transitioning from the child and adolescent mental health service to the adult mental health service.

    Alistair Burt

    Future in mind, the report of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce, recognised that transition at 18 years of age is not always appropriate and that there should be flexibility around age boundaries, in which transition is based on individual circumstances, rather than absolute age, with joint working and shared practice between services to promote continuity of care.

    The Government has acknowledged that the transition for young people into adult mental health services can undoubtedly be challenging, particularly if a young person has been receiving support from children’s mental health services for some time. In January 2015, NHS England published new service specifications for commissioners, giving guidance and best practice on transition from children and adolescent mental health services to adult services (or elsewhere). These specifications intentionally do not stipulate an age threshold for transition (for example, 18) but state that transition should be built around the needs of the individual.