The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will delay the start date for the introduction of standardised packaging on tobacco products in light of the post-implementation review of the measure in Australia.
Jane Ellison
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32266.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the press release, PM holds major summit as part of global drive to expose, punish and drive out corruption, published on 12 May 2016, what the timetable is for the (a) formulation and (b) implementation of the Government’s plans to require foreign companies that own property in the UK to declare their real owners.
Anna Soubry
At the International Anti-Corruption Summit in London on 12 May, my Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister announced that we will require foreign companies that own or purchase UK properties or bid on UK Government procurement contracts to provide details of their beneficial owners to a public central register. This will be the first register of its kind in the world.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will consult with experts to develop the policy throughout the year and consult formally on the detail of the policy in due course. Implementation of the new register requirements is expected to require both primary and secondary legislation, which we intend to introduce when Parliamentary time allows.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Barron on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) extent of the implementation of the Making Every Contact Count initiative by clinical commissioning groups and local authorities and (b) adequacy of training provided to staff to equip them to provide consistent self-care messages during consultations; and if he will make a statement.
Alistair Burt
Public Health England, Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England are collaborating with local authorities and National Health Service partners to support local uptake of the Making Every Contact Count (MECC) approach building on the many examples of implementation such as from Warwickshire, Medway and Wigan. Activities to support the commissioning, development and delivery of effective local training have been undertaken.
To support MECC uptake by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities a provider requirement now exists within the NHS Standard Contract; and NHS England’s person-centred care Commissioning for Quality and Innovation for CCGs includes workforce skills that support the local MECC offer. The national MECC advisory group is linking with HEE’s national workforce programme and NHS England’s New Models of Care and Self-Care teams to support and equip the workforce with person centred skills to support and enable self-care and behaviour change. HEE has regional events to support MECC implementation activity across the Sustainable Transformation Plan footprints.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-09-15.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the surplus/deficit in the National Insurance Fund is.
Jane Ellison
There are two separate National Insurance Funds (NIF) one for Great Britain and a significantly smaller Northern Ireland Fund.
The balance on the GB NIF as at 31 March 2015 was £20.9bn and the Northern Ireland NIF was £0.5bn. These balance can be found in the accounts which were published on 29 October 2015, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-fund-accounts.
The NIF accounts for the year ending 31 March 2016 are currently in the process of being audited prior to publication.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Cox on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons the trade supplement for a RAF weapon technician is no longer grouped with aircraft engineering trades under Armed Forces Pay Reform.
Penny Mordaunt
For Other Ranks, the Ministry of Defence uses a long-standing and rigorous process of Job Evaluation (JE) to determine the pay treatment of each trade. In the current binary pay model which consists of High and Low Pay Bands, JE evidence assigns the role of the RAF Weapon Technician to the High Pay Band. In the new pay system, with its four supplements and greater flexibility, the same JE evidence assigns the Weapon Technician to Supplement 2, while other trades in the RAF’s Trade Group 1 (TG1) (Aircraft Engineering) are assigned to Supplement 3. This does not mean there has been a reduction in the Weapon Technician’s technical status or intrinsic value. It reflects the fact that the other trades in TG1 continue to score higher in the JE process and therefore continue to be treated differently in pay terms.
No-one will take a pay cut on transition to the new model and Service personnel will continue to be eligible for any Government approved pay award. Incremental progressions will also continue to be a feature of the new pay model, though rationalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department has taken to improve security at the Akrotiri and Dhekelia RAF Sovereign Base Areas; and how much his Department has spent on securing those areas in each of the last 10 years.
Penny Mordaunt
There are robust and established measures in place to provide effective security to the Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas, both of which have undergone various upgrades during the past 10 years. I cannot comment in detail on the security arrangements, the cost of them, and any specific changes to them over the last ten years, but they include physical improvements and intelligence driven countermeasures. All measures are kept under constant review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-03-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to deliver hyper-speed broadband coverage in urban areas.
Mr Edward Vaizey
As announced at the 2016 Budget, the Government intends to support the development of the ultrafast market by establishing, in partnership with the private sector, a new broadband investment fund to support the growth of alternative network developers by providing greater access to finance. Ofcom also recently announced its strategy to promote large-scale roll-out of new ultrafast broadband networks as part of its Digital Communications Review. The Government is committed to ensuring that ultrafast broadband should be available to nearly all UK premises, as soon as practicable. We are proposing to take action in a number of areas which will help support existing commercial investment plans and encourage the ultrafast market to develop further, including reforming the Electronic Communications Code, the statutory framework governing rights of access to private land; implementing the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive to help reduce the cost of rolling out high speed broadband; reviewing the effectiveness of the fixed planning changes introduced in England in 2013 to determine whether they should be made permanent; and encouraging and supporting innovative approaches in street works which can lower the cost and speed up deployment of faster broadband.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on late-stage Lyme disease treatment in each of the last three years.
Jane Ellison
As services for the treatment of Lyme disease are commissioned locally information on the costs associated with laboratory testing and treatment of late stage Lyme disease is not collected centrally. Nor is information collected centrally on the average time to diagnose cases of Lyme disease.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a clinical guideline on Lyme disease and reports progress on its website. NICE recently consulted on a draft scope for the guideline, and expects to publish final guidance in July 2018.
Public Health England and NHS Choices publish information on their websites to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. Given the need to maintain public awareness these or similar mechanisms are expected to continue beyond 2018. Increased awareness is likely to encourage early consultation but no information on the time taken to seek medical advice is available.
There are no plans to set targets for diagnosis and treatment as most cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed empirically by general practitioners using their clinical judgement rather than relying on a laboratory test, thus treatment can start immediately. Diagnosis of patients with late or complicated Lyme disease can be difficult and the National Health Service will continue to provide care taking account of the existing evidence base.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 32639, how much of the investment in energy efficiency measures referred to in (a) the 2010 to 2015 Parliament and (b) the current Parliament is classified as direct government investment.
Andrea Leadsom
The vast majority of spending on energy efficiency is delivered through Government obligations on energy suppliers and is thus not classified as direct Government investment.
Of the £7.4bn estimated spend last parliament, around £150m is classified as direct Government investment [1] (around 2% of the total); this parliament around £100m of the £3.6bn spend (also around 2%) falls into this category.
[1] Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, Cashback and Green Deal Communities
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many police officers there are per head of population (a) in Northern Ireland, (b) in the Metropolitan Police Service area and (c) on average for all police forces in the UK.
Mrs Theresa Villiers
There is currently 1 PSNI officer per 273 of the population in Northern Ireland.
The answers for part (b) and (c) are matters for the Home Office.