Tag: 2016

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the UN Secretary General on the supply of arms and other military equipment sales to Saudi Arabia.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has had no discussions with the UN Secretary General on the supply of arms and other military equipment sales to Saudi Arabia.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many treatments for rare and infectious diseases have been approved for use on the NHS based on a foreign laboratory test analysis.

    Jane Ellison

    The information requested is not available. The most appropriate treatment for a rare and infectious disease is determined by the physician looking after the patient. Where laboratory tests have been conducted abroad, they may be repeated in the United Kingdom depending on the condition, particularly where laboratory practice or standards in the country of origin are in doubt.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Ouseley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what provision they plan to make to meet the shortfall of residential care home places for elderly people in the light of home closures and increased demand for social care.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Adult social care is largely delivered by a market of independent providers. As in any market, there is inevitable change which will give rise to local fluctuations in capacity. We are not aware of any systemic shortfall of residential care home places.

    Under the Care Act (2014), local authorities have duties to shape their local market to ensure there is adequate provision of good quality, appropriate services to meet the changing needs of their local population, including for people who do not get state-funding.

  • Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Deech – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 25 April (HL7413), whether the independent auditor of UK payments to the Palestinian Authority that are channelled through a trust fund administered by the World Bank is regulated by any British regulator.

    Baroness Verma

    Deloitte is a registered audit firm that employs certified public accountants who conduct their assignment in compliance with the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) standards.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on consultancy and legal fees since it was established.

    Mr David Jones

    The Department has been billed for £12,711 in relation to legal fees since it was established. There has been no spend on consultancy fees during this period.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Department’s press release entitled, Department of Health’s settlement at the Spending Review 2015, published on 25 November 2015, how the investment of up to £300 million per year on diagnostics will be spent in 2016-17.

    David Mowat

    The independent Cancer Taskforce’s implementation plan, published May 2016, included activity modelling that showed a 7% growth in overall diagnostic activity year on year to 2020/21. This was factored into overall clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations and CCGs were advised to plan for appropriate diagnostic capacity as one of the nine ‘must dos’ in the 2016/17 Planning Guidance.

    The Government and NHS England are also taking forward a number of diagnostic initiatives to support this through immediate investment in 2016-17. This includes a new National Diagnostics Capacity Fund to explore new and innovative ways to deliver diagnostic services; a new 28 Day Faster Diagnosis Standard, which will ensure that all patients are seen, and either diagnosed or have their cancer ruled out within 28 Days; and Wave 2 of the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) programme, testing a new, multi-disciplinary diagnostic centre approach to ensuring patients with vague but concerning symptoms receive a diagnosis as quickly as possible.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in his Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether his Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether his Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if he will make a statement.

    Dominic Raab

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain – so we get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.

  • Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Grant Shapps – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grant Shapps on 2016-01-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that social housing tenants who would like superfast broadband can access connections; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is on target to deliver access to superfast broadband for 95% of all UK premises – including social housing – by December 2017, and to extend coverage beyond that as far as possible. We do not hold a breakdown of this information by housing tenure centrally, however this investment is benefiting all types of housing, as well as businesses, and we are proud to be delivering on this critical piece of infrastructure as set out in our manifesto.

    Currently, superfast broadband is available to almost 90 per cent of homes and businesses in the UK – up from 45 per cent in 2010. Around 5 per cent of UK homes and business are currently experiencing connection speeds below 10 Mbit/s.

    Having reduced the proportion of all UK premises with speeds less than 2 Mbit/s substantially from 11% in 2010 to around 1% in December last year, we have now implemented our commitment of having at least 2 Mbit/s per second basic broadband available to all homes and businesses.

    All premises which are not currently scheduled to get an increase in speed to at least this level are eligible for a subsidised satellite broadband service that can deliver speeds of 10Mbps or more.

    The Prime Minister has also announced the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) which is set at 10 Mbit/s. This new broadband USO will give people the legal right to request an affordable broadband connection, at a reasonable cost threshold, no matter where they live. We will be consulting on these proposals shortly.

  • Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department has made on developing a national measure of child development at age two to two-and-a-half as part of the public health framework; and when he expects that measure to be introduced.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department is leading work to develop an indicator of child development at age 2-2½ to be included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) from 2017. The population measure will give a national picture of child development at age 2 and will also help local areas to assess the impact of services for 0-2 year olds and inform local commissioning.

    Since April 2015, the Department has asked all health visiting teams in England to use the evidence based Ages and Stages Questionnaires (ASQ-3) as part of children’s health and development reviews at age 2-2½ to generate data for the indicator. The Department has worked with Health Education England to develop e-learning materials to support health professionals using ASQ-3 as part of the two year review.

    From October 2015, health visiting providers were asked to report ASQ-3 scores to the Children and Young People’s Health Services dataset, which is being developed by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. The dataset is expected to publish its first report in April 2016.

    Public Health England will draw on ASQ-3 data from the children’s dataset to report the PHOF outcome measure of child development at age 2-2½, reporting on a yearly basis the percentage of children with a positive outcome across all five domains of development in ASQ-3 at age 2-2½. The first reporting of the outcome measure is planned for inclusion in the PHOF in spring 2017.

  • Nick Clegg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nick Clegg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Clegg on 2016-03-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on dealing with offenders who use cannabis to treat a serious medical condition.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not collect data on this.

    Decisions on disposal options for those who possess cannabis for any reason are an operational matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.