Tag: 2016

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to procure ships under the Military Afloat Reach Sustainability programme; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) programme covers the four Tide Class Tankers which were ordered in 2012 and are currently under construction, and the Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships. As stated in the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, we plan to procure three Fleet Solid Support logistic ships

  • 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 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his Department’s recent estimate is of the number of civilian casualties in the conflict in Yemen; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Yemen estimates that over 6,000 people have been killed and over 30,000 people injured since the conflict escalated in March 2015. A political solution remains the best way to bring this conflict and the suffering of the Yemeni people to an end. We continue to urge all those involved in the UN-facilitated peace talks to find a way to bring peace and stability to Yemen which its people deserve.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assistance his Department provides to local authorities to help tackle (a) homelessness and (b) the root causes of homelessness.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many. That is why the Government is clear that prevention must be at the heart of everything we do to tackle homelessness. We will be investing £500 million in work to prevent and relieve homelessness across this Parliament. This includes protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, which will amount to £315 million by 2019-20, to help them continue to provide quality advice and assistance to everyone who approaches them for help. Since 2010, local authorities have helped prevent or relieve over one million cases of homelessness.

    Homelessness is rarely a housing issue alone. The causes are varied and driven by issues such as health, education, justice, welfare, and employment. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million, including a new £10 million Social Impact Bond to support rough sleepers with the most complex needs. This builds on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority to turn round the lives around of 830 of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers. Over half have achieved accommodation, employment or reconnection outcomes.

    In addition we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-10-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when a UK (a) Minister and (b) official last visited (i) the area designated by the Chinese government as the Tibetan Autonomous Region and (ii) the areas of Tibet subsumed by the Chinese government into China in the 1960’s; what requests for such visits are outstanding; and if he will make a statement.

    Alok Sharma

    ​I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer given by the former Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), to the Hon. Member for Dundee West (Mr Law), on 4 May 2016 (PQ 35590), copied below for ease of reference:

    The Hon. Member for Bury South (Mr Lewis) was the last serving Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) minister to visit the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in September 2009. An FCO official last visited the TAR in June 2014. We continue to press the Chinese authorities for further access.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 26 November 2014 to Question 215220, what information his Department holds on further research on the use of dogs to detect cancer.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network is recruiting to a study of canine olfactory detection of human urological cancer from the odour of human urine samples. The study is funded by the charity Medical Detection Dogs.

    The NIHR is funding a programme of systematic reviews to determine the accuracy of tests for the diagnosis and staging of skin cancer. The report from this programme is expected to be published in December 2017. One of the ongoing reviews funded within the programme is on canine odour detection for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma in adults.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many care leavers in part or full-time training or employment aged between 19 and 21 in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015 were former unaccompanied asylum-seeking children looked after by the local authority.

    Edward Timpson

    The information requested is shown in the table below. This information is for England only.

    Care leaver activity [2]

    Number of former unaccompanied asylum seeking children [1]

    2014

    2015

    Higher education

    20

    40

    Education other than higher education

    100

    260

    Training or employment

    40

    130

    Source: SSDA903

    Information on the activity of all care leavers in England has been published in tables F1 of the Statistical First Release on looked after children[3].

    [1] This includes young people who were unaccompanied asylum seeking children in their final period of care.

    [2] Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.

    [3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2014-to-2015

    “

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been claimed in reimbursement expenses by Dr Nicole Mather in her role as Director of the Office for Life Sciences in (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2015-16 to date.

    George Freeman

    Dr Nicole Mather is an employee of Deloitte on secondment to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). In her role as Director of the Office for Life Sciences, Nicole has claimed reimbursement expenses including travel, accommodation and subsistence within the UK, Europe and the US in the course of carrying out her role and when accompanying the Minister for Life Sciences, for the period (a) 2014-15 to a total of £772.44 and period (b) 2015-16 a total of £1,009.90 to date.

  • Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Douglas Chapman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Chapman on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the last three exercises were carried out under the Five Powers Defence Arrangements; and how many armed forces (a) personnel and (b) assets were used in each of those exercises.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The last three exercises carried out under the Five Powers Defence Arrangements were:

    Exercise Suman Warrior 15 (27 July-6 August 2015). Eight UK Armed Forces personnel deployed on this exercise. No UK military ships or aircraft were deployed.

    Exercise Bersama Shield (8 May – 18 May 2015). 21 UK Armed Forces personnel and one JSATO DA20 (Joint Services Air Tasking Organisation) aircraft were deployed on this exercise.

    Exercise Bersama Lima (7-21 October 2014). 163 UK Armed Forces personnel and six Typhoon aircraft were deployed on this exercise.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times have mines and improvised explosive devices been detected in the vicinity of UK military bases in the last 10 years.

    Penny Mordaunt

    Specific statistics regarding mines and IEDs either detected or causing injuries or fatalities in the vicinity of UK military bases are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what decisions his Department has made on the distribution of funding to relieve the immediate pressures in general practice, set out in NHS England’s General Practice Forward View, published in April 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    The General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016, sets out that an extra £2.4 billion a year will be invested in general practice services by 2020/21, representing a 14% increase in real terms. This means that investment will rise from £9.6 billion a year in 2015/16 to over £12 billion a year by 2020/21.

    There will be a national £508 million five year Sustainability and Transformation package for general practice to help support struggling practices, develop the workforce, stimulate care redesign and tackle workload. This package will include:

    ― £56 million, to include a new practice resilience programme starting in 2016/17, and the offer of specialist services to general practitioners suffering from burn out and stress;

    ― £206 million for workforce measures to grow the medical and non-medical workforce; and

    ― £246 million to support practices in redesigning services, including a requirement on clinical commissioning groups to provide around £171 million of practice transformational support and a new national £30 million development programme for general practice.