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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of recent trends in (a) the level of and (b) regional variations in the level of domestic tourism.
David Evennett
The number of overnight trips in England in 2015 was up 11% on 2014, with associated spend reaching a new record of £19.6bn. In 2015, five English regions (East Midlands, West Midlands, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber and London) saw double digit growth in domestic overnight trips on the previous year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Calum Kerr on 2016-09-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will publish a response to the report prepared by the Republican staff of the Committee on Financial Services, US House of Representatives, Too Big to Jail, Inside the Obama Justice Department’s Decision Not to Hold Wall Street Accountable, published in July 2016.
Simon Kirby
The UK Government does not usually respond to reports from the Committees of other Parliaments and does not intend to respond to this report. The UK government and regulators are committed to ensuring that UK financial institutions are fully compliant with global standards and rules. In our dialogue with the US in 2012, the previous Chancellor requested early warning before any enforcement action is taken against UK banks to manage the financial stability risks. No company is immune from prosecution and the UK government supports the consistent and proportionate enforcement of global rules.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-10-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch Greenwich on patient involvement in the commissioning process prior to the granting of the contract to provide musculoskeletal services to Circle Holdings PLC; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
The provision of local health services is a matter for the local National Health Service.
There have been no meetings between Ministers at the Department and Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch Greenwich about patient involvement in the commissioning process prior to the granting of the contract to provide musculoskeletal services to Circle Holdings PLC.