The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many civil service apprentices have been appointed by his Department to date.
Joseph Johnson
Since 2010 BIS has appointed a total of 89 apprentices, of which 44 were new appointments and 45 were existing civil servants taking up an apprenticeship.
BIS is committed to meet the apprenticeship target of 2.3% of the workforce.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Berridge on 2016-04-27.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the murder of Asad Shah in Glasgow, what action they are taking to restrict access to websites that espouse extremism in Pakistan.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The tragic murder of Asad Shah demonstrated the powerful influence of extremist online content. In the UK, the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is responsible for the referral of terrorist-related content to online communication service providers (CSPs) for removal. Upon receipt of a referral, CSPs remove material on a voluntary basis where it breaches their terms and conditions.
Referrals made to CSPs by CTIRU have led to over 160,000 pieces of terrorist-related content being removed to date world-wide, including websites, user accounts and videos. Overall, removals at the request of CTIRU have increased from around 60 items a month in 2010, when CTIRU was first established, to over 4,000 a month in 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish guidance on the Dublin III regulation.
James Brokenshire
The Dublin III Regulation clearly sets out the criteria and process for determining responsibility for asylum cases. Caseworkers refer to the detail of the Regulation when determining cases, along with the relevant case law. We are aiming to update and publish some additional guidance shortly. Caseworkers have access to policy and legal advisers on a regular basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff vacancies remain to be filled in his Department.
Mr David Jones
The department now has over 180 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and is still growing rapidly with first class support from other government departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the amount of landfill produced annually by non-recyclable coffee cups each year; and if she will make a statement.
Dr Thérèse Coffey
Neither Defra nor the Environment Agency collect or hold data regarding the amount of non-recyclable coffee cups going into landfill. The data on waste tonnages accepted in disposal and recovery facilities is based on standard European Waste Classification (EWC) codes. These codes do not map directly to non-recyclable coffee cups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2016-01-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2015 to Question 17889, whether all current junior doctors will receive an 11 per cent pay rise after (a) basic pay and (b) all other rates of pay have been taken into consideration under the proposed new contract.
Ben Gummer
Under the terms of the November 2015 offer, the current system where junior doctors are paid broad banding supplements to cover extra hours worked, unsocial hours and on call would be replaced by a contract paying doctors for all hours worked with premium rates for unsocial hours and supplements for on call. As part of this, basic pay would increase by 11%. With the addition of transition protection, the offer is an improvement on the pay structure developed whilst the hon. Gentleman was a Minister.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-02-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to sperm banks on the grounds for rejecting donors.
Jane Ellison
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) issues guidance to licensed clinics, including sperm banks, on donor recruitment, assessment and screening in the HFEA Code of Practice. A copy of which is attached.
The HFEA requires clinics to select donors on the basis of their age, health and medical history, provided on a questionnaire and through a personal interview performed by a qualified and trained healthcare professional. This assessment must include relevant factors that may assist in identifying and screening out persons whose donations could present a health risk to others, such as the possibility of transmitting diseases, (such as sexually transmitted infections) or health risks to themselves (e.g. the risks associated with the egg collection procedure or the psychological consequences of being a donor).
Clinics should ensure that its procedures for recruiting donors are fair and non-discriminatory. The HFEA has never required or endorsed prohibiting people with dyslexia, dyspraxia, attention deficit disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders from becoming sperm donors. In relation to the recent press coverage about a particular centre, the HFEA has clarified its requirements for selecting donors with this centre, and has reviewed all the exemptions cited in the centre’s materials, to ensure that all future donors are treated fairly and in accordance with the law.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has spent on meningitis vaccine stocks in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
Vaccine prices are commercially confidential, and so we are unable to provide this information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has taken steps to provide national guidance to ensure that healthcare and wider staff in prisons are given adequate levels of training around blood-borne viruses as recommended by The Hepatitis C Trust’s recent report, The blood-borne virus opt-out testing policy for prisons in England: An analysis of need towards full implementation, published on 3 March 2016.
Ben Gummer
Implementation of opt-out testing for blood-borne viruses (BBVs) in all adult prisons in England in a shared priority for Public Health England (PHE), NHS England and the National Offender Management Service as published in our second National Partnership Agreement for 2015-16.
To support implementation, PHE and its partners, including The Hepatitis C Trust among other third sector organisations, have developed a broad range of range of resources to support prison healthcare teams. These include information leaflets and posters, testing algorithms, web-based and DVD resources which cover all aspects of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Hepatitis C and other BBVs to support prison healthcare teams in offering testing, managing both positive and negative results, providing advice on harm minimisation and supporting people into treatment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent research her Department has conducted on the potential merits of wave-generated power.
Andrea Leadsom
The Scottish Government set up Wave Energy Scotland in December 2014 to take the development of the technology forward. DECC provides assistance as required.