The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 February 2016 to Question 28048, when the Equality Impact Assessment will be published.
Ben Gummer
We expect to publish the Equality Impact Assessment shortly after Easter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she expects to sign the Investor Agreement for Hinkley Point C power station; and what conditions will have to be fulfilled by EDF before that signing.
Andrea Leadsom
My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State is minded to proceed with the Contract for Difference and associated agreements for Hinkley Point C, including the Investor Agreement, subject to EDF taking a final investment decision. EDF and the French Government have said that EDF are working towards a Final Investment Decision ‘in the near future, with the full support of the French Government’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Govia Thameslink Railway on the closure of Govia Thameslink Railway ticket offices; and what the outcome of those discussions was.
Claire Perry
Officials regularly meet with Govia Thameslink Railway, and their Ticket Office proposals have been discussed. In relation to their Ticket Office proposals, as long as the operator is not breaching the Ticketing and Settlement Agreement with regard to opening hours, employee terms and conditions and the management of any changes in these are a matter for the relevant employer and their employee(s) and/or employee representatives.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Lefroy on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which infrastructure projects were funded through or supported by the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2016; how much funding for each such project was (a) provided through PIDG and (b) leveraged from other sources; and whether each such project is operational.
Rory Stewart
The table attached shows all PIDG supported projects. The table indicates whether the support for projects was initiated before or after 01 January 2010. As support for many projects initiated before 2010 will have continued into the timeframe set out in the question, we have also listed all projects where support was started before 01 January 2010. There is no other straightforward way to filter the data. Further information is also available online (http://data.pidg.org/) .
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2016 to Question 44306, what assessment he has made of the effect of his Department’s policies on trends in shifts from bonuses to salaries in the financial sector; and what plans he has to tackle income inequality in the UK.
Simon Kirby
The UK is at the forefront of global efforts to tackle unacceptable pay practices in the banking sector and has the toughest regime on pay of any major financial centre.
Firms are now required to have policies in place to defer, reduce, cancel or clawback bonuses in the event that poor performance or misconduct comes to light and the Government expects firms to be proactive in their application of these policies. Used in this way bonuses can be an effective incentive for staff to act in the long term interests of a business.
The Government’s efforts have resulted in a restructuring of pay including a significant reduction in cash bonuses, and a better alignment of risk and reward in the financial sector.
Income inequality is lower than it was in 2010, and close to its lowest level since the mid-1980s. Furthermore, distributional analysis published by the Treasury alongside Budget 2016 shows that the richest fifth of households are projected to pay a greater proportion of taxes in 2019-20 than in 2010-11 as a result of government policy – and more than all other households put together.
The government is committed to making Britain a country that works for everyone through tacking injustices and ensuring that everyone, whatever their background, is able to go as far as their talents can take them.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Harris of Richmond on 2015-12-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what powers the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was able to recommend the suspension of a police officer while a homicide investigation is carried out, and whether Her Majesty’s Government are aware of whether any consultations took place between the IPCC and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis beforehand.
Lord Bates
The IPCC’s decision making processes are independent of the Government. As this is an ongoing IPCC criminal investigation, it would be inappropriate for the Home Office to comment further. This is a matter for the IPCC and the IPCC has indicated that it will respond to Baroness Harris directly. Interactions between the IPCC and police forces in respect of an investigation are a matter for those bodies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the value is in each financial year of each service contracted out by Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Group.
Jane Ellison
The data requested are not centrally available. This is a matter for Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Group.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Metcalfe on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) human resources, (b) communications, (c) grant administration, (d) building and estates management and (e) other administrative functions are shared by the seven research councils; and which such services are delivered independently by each research council.
Joseph Johnson
The seven Research Councils currently operate their own corporate functions, with separate Human Resources, Finance, Communications and IT operations.
The Research Councils are working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on a new digital grants system and common technology platform.
The Research Councils share a number of services including a main campus in Swindon at Polaris House; access to the London base of the Medical Research Council (MRC); and Internal Audit and Assurance functions, which are hosted by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). BBSRC also operate the estates and facilities management of Polaris House.
All seven Councils have their transactional HR, finance, payroll, systems and grants administration provided by UK Shared Business Services and six of the seven Councils share a pension scheme and its administration, with MRC running its own pension scheme.
The Government is implementing Sir Paul Nurse’s report, which recommended an evolution of the Research Councils into a formal organisation with a single Accounting Officer. Sir Paul advised that a new Research UK body could support the whole system to collectively become more than the sum of its parts, including by simplifying transactional operations, reducing the burden of administration currently placed on each individual Research Council, and enabling a stronger focus on multi-disciplinary research. We also want to strengthen collaboration between the research base and the commercialisation of discoveries in the business community and this is why we are looking to integrate Innovate UK into Research UK. Innovate UK will retain its clear business focus and separate funding stream.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of the current data collection infrastructure and its capability to collect real world data in the way outlined in NHS England’s plans for a new Cancer Drugs Fund; and if he will make a statement.
George Freeman
Public Health England’s (PHE) National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service is the only national patient-level data source that collects data including outcomes on the whole care pathway on all patients diagnosed with cancer in England. Data are collected from all National Health Service trusts include information on Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy.
There is presently no agreement between NHS England and PHE to provide outcome information on patients receiving Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) funded treatments, on a regular basis. However, PHE and NHS England are currently in discussion to establish a dedicated resource to provide routine and bespoke information and analysis, and this could include defined outcome analyses on the CDF.
The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is also looking at ways to better harness data to support the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of innovative treatments, and discussions are ongoing around the scope for aligning the revised CDF with the AAR recommendations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 31117, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the findings from the 2014 paper by Kavanagh and others, Introduction and sustained high coverage of the HPV bivalent vaccine leads to a reduction in prevalence of HPV 16/18 and closely related HPV types; and whether such findings have been taken into account when assessing the differential impact of the bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines on genital wart incidence.
Jane Ellison
The findings of Kavanagh and others, 2014, and of Mesher and others, 2016, are consistent with the reductions in human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 that were expected in the assessments that informed the Department’s policies. Neither of these papers report findings about genital warts incidence, both report no decrease in HPV types 6 and 11; this is also consistent with expectations in assessments that informed the Department’s policies.
The answer of 23 March 2016 stated, ‘data reported to Public Health England (PHE) from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics shows a reduction in rates of genital warts diagnoses at GUM clinics between 2009 and 2014.’ This analysis has been updated with data for 2013 and 2014. The reductions reported were in patients aged 15 years and older. As the introduction of the quadrivalent vaccine was in 2012, to 12 year olds, no impact on genital warts in 15+ year olds within this time period was expected due to this introduction. Use of the quadrivalent vaccine within this age group prior to its introduction in the national immunisation programme was assessed as a possible but highly unlikely cause of the reductions seen.
The latest data from PHE showing reductions in genital warts diagnoses in GUM clinics amongst ages offered the bivalent vaccine are data for 2014: the future duration of any protection from genital warts associated with the bivalent vaccine has not been (and cannot be) inferred.