Tag: 2016

  • Gordon Henderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gordon Henderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Henderson on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the current scheme of discretionary top-up payments provided by the Macfarlane Trust to its beneficiaries will be removed as a result of the Government’s proposed changes to its scheme of support for people affected by contaminated blood.

    Jane Ellison

    The consultation on reforming the current payment schemes for those affected by HIV and/or hepatitis C through National Health Service-supplied blood/blood products closed on 15 April. The analyses of responses are still being considered by Ministers and no decisions on changes to the schemes have been taken. An announcement will be made in due course.

  • Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Vernon Coaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Vernon Coaker on 2016-07-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, under what legislation prosecutions are brought against perpetrators of hate crime and racist abuse.

    Mike Penning

    Hate crimes are criminal behaviour and may be prosecuted in England and Wales using the full range of criminal offences. Sections 29 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 set out racially and religiously aggravated offences covering wounding, assault, damage, harassment (including stalking) and threatening/abusive behaviour which carry higher sentences than equivalent non-aggravated offences. Sections 18 to 23 of the Public Order Act 1986 contain offences of stirring up racial hatred and sections 29B to 29G contain offences of stirring up hatred on grounds of religion or sexual orientation. There is also an offence of racialist chanting at football matches in section 3 of the Football Offences Act 1991.

    Sections 145 and 146 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 make it an aggravating factor for the purposes of sentencing if at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before, the offender demonstrated hostility towards the victim on the basis of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or transgender identity or that the offence was motivated by hostility towards persons who had that characteristic. Under paragraph 5(2)(g) of Schedule 21 to the 2003 Act., murder motivated by hostility on the grounds of any of these characteristics attracts a life sentence with a 30 year starting point for the minimum term.

  • Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Alan Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 45332, what assessment he has made of the use of biomass for electricity production and its contribution to supporting the decarbonisation of the UK economy.

    Jesse Norman

    In 2015, bioenergy generated 29.3 TWh of electricity from 5.2 GW of capacity, up from 22.6TWh and 4.5GW in 2014[1].

    The contribution of sustainable biomass to decarbonisation formed part of the Impact Assessment for the Fifth Carbon Budget level, which determined that to the extent that feedstock is available, biomass could play a role not only in electricity generation but in industry, heating and transport.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/547977/Chapter_6_web.pdf

    “

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support the Government has given to the Government of Nepal for (a) rebuilding, (b) supply of food and (c) energy supply.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    (a) Rebuilding: DFID’s response to the devastating earthquake now stands at £70 million following further commitments made at the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction, making us one of the largest donors. DFID is working closely alongside the Government of Nepal but not directly funding it, rather collaborating with trusted UN and NGO partners to deliver on the humanitarian response both via direct in-kind assistance as well as supporting activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. We welcome the adoption of the National Reconstruction Authority Bill and formation of the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA). We will support the Government’s reconstruction vision by funding community infrastructure and social protection but not through direct financial aid. We plan to provide technical assistance and advisory support to the NRA.

    (b) Supply of food: We do not work directly with the Government on this but are supporting local government by providing immediate assistance to the most vulnerable households via in kind distributions (tarpaulins, blankets, mattresses, clothes, shelter insulation, solar lamps and cook stoves). We are funding activities that contribute to an enabling environment for an effective and responsive humanitarian support. This includes funding assessments, coordination and logistics. For example DFID supported the World Food Programme’s (WFP) cash and food assistance operations in the aftermath of the earthquake. This planned to reach 1.4 million people in urgent need of assistance within the first three months of the earthquake, including distribution of rice and high-energy biscuits to prevent starvation and provide supplementary nutrition to the most vulnerable.

    (c) Energy supply: DFID has committed £5 million to support delivery of renewable energy technologies to earthquake affected communities. The support includes delivery of solar home systems, mobile phone charging stations and repair of mini-hydropower plants that were damaged by the earthquake. The support is being delivered through Nepal’s Alternative Energy Promotion Centre, a semi-autonomous agency under the Ministry of Population and Environment.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many freedom of information requests were (a) granted and (b) refused by his Department in each of the last five years.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) submits statistics on freedom of information performance to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. These statistics, along with those of other departments of state, are published in a quarterly statistics bulletin (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics). The quarter four bulletin includes annual figures.

    The FCO annual figures for 2010-2014 are shown in the attached table.

    “

  • 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 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed to process Disclosure and Barring Service checks in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The average number of full-time equivalent staff employed by the Disclosure and Barring Service in each year since 2010 is listed in the table below. The DBS was created in 2012 and replaced the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

    Year

    Average number of Staff

    2010-11

    667

    2011-12

    542

    2012-13 (CRB)

    483

    2012-13 (DBS)

    730

    2013-14

    721

    2014-15

    745
  • Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how often the physical and governance arrangements which ensure that patients can have private conversations with pharmaceutical staff, in the retail sector, are examined by or on behalf of the General Pharmaceutical Council and what percentage of examinations are unacceptable.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department does not hold this information. However, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has provided the following information.

    The GPhC undertakes inspections of all registered pharmacies in Great Britain. The vast majority of pharmacies currently receive a routine inspection every three to four years. Inspectors will, in addition, visit pharmacies to investigate concerns from members of the public or health professionals.

    Since November 2013 the GPhC has conducted 6,814 routine inspections of pharmacy premises to assess them against its standards. During every inspection GPhC inspectors seek evidence from the pharmacy team that standards relating to the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public are met. These standards cover the storage of confidential and private information and the physical and governance arrangements for ensuring patients can have private conversations with pharmacy professionals.

    Of the 6,814 inspections that have been carried out by the GPhC since November 2013, in 421 (6.2%) cases pharmacy premises were found to have failed one or more of the above three standards:

    – 274 did not meet standard 1.7 (Information is managed to protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services);

    – 174 did not meet standard 3.2 (Premises protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services); and

    – 73 did not meet standard 5.3 (Equipment and facilities are used in a way that protects the privacy and dignity of the patients and the public who receive pharmacy services).

    When pharmacy premises have not met one or more of the standards, they are required by the GPhC to complete and implement an improvement action plan.

    In addition, the United Kingdom and Scottish Parliaments recently approved legislation which includes powers to issue an improvement notice or disqualify a pharmacy from the register for a failure to meet the standards. This will improve the GPhC’s ability to protect patients and improve the quality of the pharmacy services they receive.

    In circumstances where the GPhC finds a registered professional’s fitness to practise is called into question it will investigate and can bring proceedings against that individual.

  • 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 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of people with high blood pressure.

    Jane Ellison

    Public Health England (PHE) has established the Blood Pressure System Leadership Board to help drive improvements in the prevention, detection and management of high blood pressure. In 2014 the group published ‘Tackling High Blood Pressure: Evidence into action’, which sets out priority interventions required across the system and key commitments being made by various system partners.

    The NHS Health Check programme offers blood pressure testing to adults aged 40-74 years of age. Recent national evaluation of the programme demonstrated that one case of hypertension was diagnosed in every 27 people receiving a check.

    NHS England is working with partners to promote better Cardiovascular Disease outcomes, including improving the detection and management of conditions such as high blood pressure.

    PHE continues to work on reducing the risk factors of high blood pressure at a population level, through action to improve the diet of the nation and reducing inactivity.

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

    Lord Turnberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-07-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS England will seek advice from specialist gastrointestinal disease societies following the removal of the role of National Clinical Director for that area.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In future, NHS England will seek clinical advice on issues relating to gastrointestinal and liver disease from a variety of sources. This will include experts at Public Health England (PHE) for issues which are alcohol related, the National Clinical Director for Obesity and Diabetes for issues relating to obesity induced fatty liver disease as well as through the Clinical Reference Group for hepatitis C and the medical Royal Colleges.

    Information on liver and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases is also available from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, PHE Atlases of variation, relevant national audits and regular clinical communication between the national Medical Director, his senior team and the relevant Royal Colleges and specialist societies and with senior professionals.

    NHS England continues to run an Endoscopy Stakeholder Group to ensure that all aspects of diagnostic pathways for GI disease are reviewed and clinical advice is taken regarding policy developments to address the current and projected requirement in capacity. The relevant specialist societies are key members of this group. NHS England also supports the national Cancer Implementation Programme on behalf of the arm’s length bodies, which includes workstreams on early diagnosis, and on living with and beyond cancer, both of which are addressing many issues that affect patients with GI cancers.

    Health Education England will continue to ensure that they engage with employers to forecast how many gastroenterologists they require year on year. The process for making decisions relating to medical training numbers is currently being refined. Medical speciality training post numbers will be reviewed in greater depth with a range of stakeholders on a rolling programme; approximately every two years. Gastroenterology is expected to be reviewed this winter.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many companies have disclosed information to Companies House on persons with significant control in their company as part of their company register since 6 April 2016.

    Margot James

    As at 10 October 2016, the total number of companies that have disclosed information on people with significant control (PSC) for the period 6 April to 10 October is 779,043.