Tag: 2016

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-12-16.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the effects on the economy of the level of (a) consumer borrowing and (b) personal loans.

    Harriett Baldwin

    Household debt as a proportion of income has fallen to 144% in Q2 2015, from a peak of 168% in Q1 2008. To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past we have created the independent Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England to ensure emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system as a whole are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.

  • Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Angela Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Smith on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times project licence applications were referred to an independent assessor in each year since 2012.

    Mr John Hayes

    The Harm-Benefit Analysis (HBA) is undertaken, on behalf of the Secretary of State, by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors, all of whom are veterinary or medically qualified and trained in assessing research proposals. The HBA is the process of considering a research proposal to make a judgement whether the likely harms that the animals will experience are justified by the likely benefits. Under section 18 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, inspectors advise the Secretary of State who decides whether and on what terms a project licence should be granted.

    The number of project licences which were recommended for grant by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors between 2012 and 2015 are shown in table 1, column (c).

    The Secretary of State has not rejected any of the recommendations for granting project licences made by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors between 2012 and 2015.

    The Home Office does not keep records of applications that have been rejected or withdrawn at the concept or drafting stage [24507]. The Home Office does not keep records of which applications were withdrawn as a result of advice from the Animals in Science Regulation Unit inspectors.

    The Home Office refers project licence applications to both the Animals in Science Committee and external independent assessors for critical review. The number of project licences referred to both is given in Table 1 columns (a) and (b) respectively for the years 2012-15.

    Year

    (a) Project licence applications referred to the Animals in Science Committee[1]

    (b) Project licence applications referred to independent assessors

    (c) Project licences granted

    2012

    9

    4

    626

    2013

    3

    0

    604

    2014

    4

    1

    474

    2015

    3

    0

    577

    [1] Prior to 2013 the independent advisory body was entitled the ‘Animals Procedures Committee’

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that approved personalised medicines are available to patients with colorectal cancer.

    George Freeman

    On 24 September, the NHS England Board agreed the development of a Personalised Medicine Strategy for the National Health Service. Personalised medicine is a move away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the treatment and care of patients with a particular condition. It uses emergent approaches in areas such as diagnostic tests, functional genomic technologies, molecular pathways, data analytics and real time monitoring of conditions to better manage patients’ health and to target therapies to achieve the best outcomes in the management of a patient’s disease or predisposition to disease. The high-level vision and strategy is to create a Personalised Medicine service in the NHS embracing four overarching principles: the prediction and prevention of disease; more precise diagnoses; targeted and personalised interventions; and a more participatory role for patients.

    The independent Cancer Taskforce’s five-year strategy for cancer, Achieving World-Class Outcomes (July 2015), recommends improvements across the cancer pathway, with the aim of improving survival rates.

    NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations of the Cancer Taskforce. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead on implementation, as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience. She has set up a new Cancer Transformation Board to implement the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January. There will also be a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board.

    The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for NHS patients to transformative new medicines and technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include personalised medicines for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the UK meets its renewed target of zero carbon emissions by 2050.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government believes we will need to take the step of enshrining the global goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century, agreed in Paris, into UK law. The question is not whether but how we do it.

    The Government also remains committed to its existing Climate Change Act target of an at least 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 on 1990 levels. Our working assumption is that we will publish our Emissions Reduction Plan by the end of 2016, which will set out our proposals for meeting our Climate Change Act targets.

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on whether gross or net figures for rental income should be used in the calculation for the income threshold under spousal visa rules.

    James Brokenshire

    Under paragraph 20(c) and (cc) of Appendix FM-SE to the Immigration Rules, the gross income from property rental may be counted towards meeting the minimum income threshold for sponsoring a non-EEA national spouse or partner under the family Immigration Rules, provided that the evidential requirements of Appendix FM-SE are met.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to devolve Airline Passenger Duty to the Welsh Assembly or Welsh Government.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The government is considering the case and options for devolving APD to the Welsh Assembly, informed by a review of options to support English regional airports from the potential impacts of APD devolution. At Summer Budget 2015, the government published a discussion paper exploring three options and is carefully considering the responses. An announcement will be made in due course.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what he plans the in-service date to be for each of the nine P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As previously stated, we expect that the first P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft will come into service in 2019, with the entire fleet being delivered by 2021. We are, as yet, unable to provide details of the in-service date for each UK aircraft as this will only be available once the production contract has been placed with Boeing.

  • Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jon Trickett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jon Trickett on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help strengthen local authority powers to deal with rogue landlords.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Government introduced a package of measures in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords. They comprise civil penalties of up to £30,000 as an alternative to prosecution, the expansion of Rent Repayment Orders to cover a wider range of offences, a database of rogue landlords and property agents and banning orders to prevent serious and prolific offenders from being involved in the renting out or management of private rented properties. In addition, over the past five years, we have have made £12 million available to a range of local authorities to help them tackle acute and complex problems associated with rogue landlords. This has resulted in the inspection of over 70,000 properties with more than 5,000 landlords now facing further enforcement action.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2015-12-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much he expects local authorities to raise through the proposed social care precept arrangements; and what steps he is taking to ensure those funds are ring-fenced for care services.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    I refer the hon. Members to information accompanying the provisional local government finance settlement 2016-17, which was announced by my rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark) 17 December 2015, Official Report, Column 1722.

    This is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/council-tax-in-2016-to-2017 and https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486708/Core_spending_power_supporting_information.xlsx

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Law Society mental health panel accredited representatives there were on the Law Society panel available for First Tier Tribunal (mental health) hearings in each year since 2010.

    Caroline Dinenage

    This information is not recorded.