Tag: 2016

  • Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on the EU Global Strategy.

    Mr David Lidington

    At the European Council meeting of 25-26 June, European leaders asked the EU High Representative to prepare an EU Global Strategy on foreign and defence policy to replace the 2003 European Security Strategy, which was last updated in 2008. It will identify and describe EU Member State interests, priorities and objectives, existing and evolving threats, challenges and opportunities, and the instruments and means to meet them. The Government supports this initiative, which complements the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, and has engaged regularly with the High Representative during its preparation. The Government believes that the Global Strategy can enhance UK and other Member State foreign and security policy by covering the full range of EU external action tools.

  • Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Lord Judd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Judd on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they are providing to the Kurdish authorities to help them cope with the number of people who have fled fighting in Iraq and are now displaced within the region.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    In response to the crisis in Iraq, since summer 2014 the UK has pledged £129.5 million of humanitarian support. This includes £50 million of additional assistance announced on 20 July 2016. To date, we have provided cash assistance, access to clean water, food, medicines and other life-saving assistance for the most vulnerable – irrespective of race, religion or ethnicity. This funding has supported the response in northern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), as well as helping other vulnerable people across the country.

    Given the importance of a coordinated response, we have provided £1 million of funding to UNDP to support the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Centre (JCC), as well as its equivalent for the Government of Iraq, the Joint Crisis and Monitoring Centre (JCMC). In close collaboration with the JCMC, the United Nations, donors and non-governmental organisations, the JCC is leading humanitarian efforts in the Kurdistan Region.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department’s policy is on the interruption of stem cell transplantation.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The decision to perform a stem cell transplant will be made by specialist clinicians in discussion with the patient based on the potential benefits and risks of this form of treatment. Treatments may be discontinued for clinical reasons or in accordance with the wishes of the patient.

  • Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many homes have been built on flood plains in each of the last five years; and how many homes have been granted planning permission for building on flood plains.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    This Government takes flood prevention extremely seriously and we are investing £2.3 billion in flood defences over the next six years, as well as protecting flood maintenance spending in real terms over this Parliament.

    We have put in place strong safeguards to stop inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding, and are delivering the homes this country needs by taking forward plans to build homes on suitable brownfield land.

    The Environment Agency provides advice on whether or not to grant permission, with latest figures showing 99% of proposed new homes had planning outcomes in line with their advice, but final decisions rest with local authorities.

    The Department does not collect figures for the numbers of homes for which planning permission for building on a flood plain has been granted.

  • Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord McAvoy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord McAvoy on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish the minutes and papers of the last seven meetings of the Joint Exchequer Committee.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The UK and Scottish governments publish a joint communique after each meeting of the Joint Exchequer Committee, it outlines what was discussed at the meeting. The negotiations are ongoing and require a private space in which discussions can make progress.

    The UK government has no plans to publish any further minutes or papers from the Joint Exchequer Committee.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers claiming to be under the age of 18 have been charged with a criminal offence in the last year; and what proportion of such asylum seekers were subsequently found to have fraudulently claimed to be under the age of 18.

    James Brokenshire

    The Home Office does not maintain a central record of the requested information and could only provide it at disproportionate cost.

  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to section 5.9 of the Migration Advisory Committee’s review of Tier 2 visas, published in December 2015, whether he plans to introduce an Immigration Skills Charge for employers for all Tier 2 visa workers of £1,000 per year per worker.

    Joseph Johnson

    Following consideration of the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations on migration and other evidence, my right hon. Friend the Minister of State for Immigration has made a written statement on Tier 2 migration including the Immigration Skills Charge.

    The full statement can be viewed at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2016-03-24/HCWS660/.

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  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of 20 April 2016, Official Report, column 995, whether Daesh has committed crimes that should be referred to the International Criminal Court.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    The Government has condemned repeatedly Daesh’s atrocities against both minorities, and the majority Muslim populations of Iraq and Syria. There is a growing body of evidence that terrible crimes have been committed by Daesh. The UK is supporting efforts to gather and preserve that evidence.

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor set out some of the complicated issues involved in the ICC investigating Daesh in her statement of 8 April 2015. The Rome Statute provides for "situations" rather than organisations to be referred to the ICC. Therefore, referral would cover all potential crimes within a specified geographic area, rather than a specific organisation.

    As neither Iraq nor Syria is a State Party to the Rome Statute, the ICC has no territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed on their soil.

    In order for Daesh’s crimes in Iraq and Syria to be investigated by the ICC, Iraq and Syria would have to declare their acceptance of the Court’s jurisdiction, or the UN Security Council would have to refer the situation in those countries to the Court.

  • Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Teresa Pearce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Teresa Pearce on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many diagnoses of (a) Lyme disease and (b) chronic Lyme disease have been made in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    The existing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance supports primary care doctors in managing Lyme disease but to further strengthen the evidence base we have commissioned NICE to develop guidelines for the recognition and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018.

    Public Health England (PHE) provides information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the medical profession and the public, holds regular medical training days, and works with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients.

    NHS Choices also publishes information on its website to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection.

    The number of human cases can be reduced by raising public awareness of how to avoid tick bites, and by environmental measures in public places to reduce the long grass and scrub which harbor ticks. PHE works with interested local authorities to raise tick awareness, and has produced joint public information with local authorities in areas such as the New Forest with a significant incidence of Lyme disease.

    The number of laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales varies annually, in 2013 there were 878 and in 2014 there were 730, but the majority of diagnoses are made clinically by general practitioners and those figures are not recorded.

    Patients with late or complicated Lyme disease may be diagnosed in a variety of specialist clinics, and the numbers are not recorded. Based on the clinical information supplied with the laboratory request, only a small proportion of the annual number of cases fall into this category.

    There is no clear definition for chronic Lyme disease, and no general acceptance of what the term means, so no data is available.

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

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that patients suffering with radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer are not denied treatment due to the timeframes applied by NHS England for access to the new Cancer Drugs Fund.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has advised that systemic therapy is available for patients with radioiodine-refractory thyroid cancer through the continued funding of sorafenib for this indication via the Cancer Drugs Fund. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been asked to develop technology appraisal guidance on the use of sorafenib and lenvatinib for this indication.