Tag: 2016

  • Lord Willoughby de Broke – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Willoughby de Broke – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Willoughby de Broke on 2016-07-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 1 October 2015 (HL2378), in the light of the fact that a substantial number of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments have not yet been made and that no date for completion of payments has been given, why they stated that the majority of BPS payments would be made in December 2015, and the vast majority by January.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The Rural Payments Agency (RPA) achieved the target of making the majority of BPS payments in December 2015, paying 44,408 (50.9%) of eligible claims by the end of December. The agency also delivered on its target of making the vast majority of payments by end of January, paying 66,800 (77%) of eligible claims with a value of around £1bn.

    The Government understands the importance of BPS payments for farmers. The targets, ‘majority’ and ‘vast majority’, were established in line with the RPA’s priority to pay as many farmers as possible, as quickly as possible, from the opening of the payment window back in December.

  • Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Paul Flynn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2016-10-07.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the total funding that the Welsh Government will lose as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr David Gauke

    The UK Government will guarantee EU funding for structural and investment fund projects in Wales, including agri-environment schemes, signed before we leave the EU. It will be for the Welsh Government to make an assessment of which projects should be pursued in areas of its competence, and this guarantee will apply to any such projects. The agricultural sector in Wales will receive the same level of funding that it would have received under Pillar 1 of CAP until the end of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework in 2020.

    As a result of these steps taken by the UK Government, individuals and organisations in receipt of EU funds now have a greater degree of certainty about funding over the coming years. The UK Government will work with the Welsh Government to consider future funding arrangements for once the UK has left the EU.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to use the (a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund and (b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund

    Highways England is developing a programme of initiatives to improve the safety of the network and to also improve facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians, identifying further opportunities for improved integration with wider transport networks such as Park & Ride.

    This fund supports their ambition to reduce the number of casualties on the strategic road network and encourage walking and cycling as an everyday mode of travel, as set out in the DfT Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

    (b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

    Highways England’s Delivery Plan commits them to start 10 air quality pilot studies in the first 2 years of this road investment period.

    These studies are designed to identify new and innovative solutions that will be funded using the air quality designated fund, to improve air quality alongside the strategic road network and support delivery of the major improvement schemes identified in the Road Investment Strategy.

    Highways England’s work in relation to air quality, and the use of the £75million air quality designated fund (2015 – 20), is in support of the Government’s National Air Quality Plan.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her comments at the Oxford Farming Conference on 6 January 2016 on additional powers to internal drainage boards, what plans she has to give local authorities a role in the maintenance of local watercourses.

    Rory Stewart

    Local Authorities (LAs) have powers to carry out flood risk management works, including maintenance on ordinary watercourses, while the Environment Agency (EA) has powers to carry out work on main rivers. In addition, under the Flood and Water Management Act 2010, flood risk management authorities may carry out work using the powers of other risk management authorities using public sector cooperation agreements. There are some excellent examples of LAs working in partnership with the EA and internal drainage boards, for example in Lincolnshire and Somerset.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people learn to swim.

    David Evennett

    Swimming is an important life skill and one which we are keen is available to as many people as possible. This is why the Government’s new sport and physical activity strategy ‘’Sporting Future: a New Strategy for an Active Nation’, (www.gov.uk/government/publications/sporting-future-a-new-strategy-for-an-active-nation) includes a commitment to ensure that every child leaves primary school able to swim.

    Swimming is part of the national curriculum and Government are committed to ensuring that all children are able to meet the minimum standard of capability and confidence in swimming. Sport England is developing a number of pilot projects which aim to encourage adults to take up swimming. It is also investing £20 million between 2013-17 in the Amateur Swimming Association and in other projects, such as the innovative ‘This Girl Can Swim’, to get more people right across the country swimming. In addition, it has invested over £330 million to create modern, safe and attractive swimming pool facilities in England.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people leaving sixth form are fully aware of all further education options open to them.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We are taking a number of steps to ensure that the full range of education and training options are widely understood by young people. Schools are legally required to secure independent careers guidance for pupils up to the age of 18. This must include information on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships.

    Destination measures are a key tool to assess how well schools and colleges prepare their students to make a successful transition into the next stage of education or training, or employment. The key stage 5 measure looks at activity in the year after the young person took A level or other level 3 qualifications. Destination measures will be one of the headline performance measures in the 2016 performance tables if the data are robust enough. They are taken into account by Ofsted during school inspections.

    However, the range of information that young people receive remains too narrow and we want to ensure that young people hear much more consistently about the merits of alternatives to academic routes and are aware of all the routes to higher skills and into the workplace. The government intends to bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity that will require schools to allow other education and training providers the opportunity to talk to students about their offer on school premises.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that outsourced hospital food providers and the places they source their ingredients are monitored regularly to ensure the highest hygiene standards.

    Jane Ellison

    All hospital food providers need to register with their local authority Environmental Health Department, who will carry out food safety interventions, including inspections, at a frequency determined by the risk based intervention criteria in the Food Law Code of Practice. The inspections will include consideration of the provider’s traceability system.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 1 June (HC38011 and HC38012), which members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) Executive who provided administrative support to the work of the expert panel convened by the Authority might have in turn passed on any unredacted information that was provided in confidence to the expert panel to non-members; and whether each of the individuals concerned continue to be employed by the HFEA in a similar capacity.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) convened Expert Panel is comprised of scientific experts in the relevant fields and supported by a small team of Authority staff. The HFEA has advised that in order for the Panel to carry out its work it is essential for members of the Panel and Authority staff to be able to exchange information.

    It is entirely proper that all involved in reviewing the information have access to all the relevant documentation. All HFEA staff who were involved in supporting the Expert Panel continue to work for the Authority and have the full confidence of the Chair and the Chief Executive Officer.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the additional £1.25 billion made available in the March 2015 Budget for child and adolescent mental health services has been spent in Derby North constituency.

    Nicola Blackwood

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    We are advised by NHS England that from this additional funding the amount allocated to Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group in 2015/16 was £1.029 million and for 2016/17 the amount is £1.370 million.

    This Government has made £1.4 billion funding available over the course of the Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health, with total investment to date of £453 million.

    Investment in 2015/16 included:

    – £75 million to transform local services through delivery of Local Transformation Plans (LTPs);

    – £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and

    – £68 million to fund expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme (CYP IAPT); improvements to perinatal mental health care; investment in inpatient services for children and young people; increased workforce capability; and innovation and development of online support.

    Investment for 2016/17 includes:

    – £119 million for LTPs;

    – £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and

    – £131 million for workforce and system development to support LTPs; a proportion of this will be allocated to commissioners for CYP IAPT and perinatal mental healthcare.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the proposed protocols for (1) detection of aneuploidy in embryos following application of the proposed Augment technique, and (2) demonstrating that injected mitochondria either disperse so as to be equally inherited by each blastomere of any resulting embryos or are concentrated in the inner cell mass, in the recent application received by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for a pilot trial in the UK; what estimate the HFEA has been provided regarding (1) the likely financial costs to patients undergoing the proposed Augment procedure, and (2) the potential impact on clinical pregnancy rates of any assessments deemed to be scientifically necessary; and what assessment the HFEA has made of the ruling by the US Food and Drugs Administration in 2013 that Augment is a novel drug in need of extensive and expensive safety testing.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) advises that it does not hold data from clinics on the incidence of aneuploidy in oocytes over time, nor has it received evidence from OvaScience, Professor Simon Fishel or other sources that mitochondrial defects are primarily responsible for age-related increases in oocyte chromosomal aneuploidy.

    The HFEA also advises that it has not been made aware of any published randomised trials regarding the Augment technique and has not made an assessment of the credibility of claims by OvaScience and those previously made by Clonaid, in the light of data available in peer-reviewed journals. It is currently considering whether techniques, which involve addition of autologous mitochondria to eggs, would be legal in the United Kingdom (under the framework of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended). Part of this consideration involves considering the claims made for Augment by Ovascience.

    The HFEA has not received any formal applications for clinical use of the Augment technique, and has not made an assessment of the ruling by the US Food and Drugs Administration to which the Noble Lord refers.