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Tag: 2016

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people leaving sixth form are fully aware of all further education options open to them.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    We are taking a number of steps to ensure that the full range of education and training options are widely understood by young people. Schools are legally required to secure independent careers guidance for pupils up to the age of 18. This must include information on the full range of education and training options, including apprenticeships.

    Destination measures are a key tool to assess how well schools and colleges prepare their students to make a successful transition into the next stage of education or training, or employment. The key stage 5 measure looks at activity in the year after the young person took A level or other level 3 qualifications. Destination measures will be one of the headline performance measures in the 2016 performance tables if the data are robust enough. They are taken into account by Ofsted during school inspections.

    However, the range of information that young people receive remains too narrow and we want to ensure that young people hear much more consistently about the merits of alternatives to academic routes and are aware of all the routes to higher skills and into the workplace. The government intends to bring forward legislation at the earliest opportunity that will require schools to allow other education and training providers the opportunity to talk to students about their offer on school premises.

  • Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rebecca Long Bailey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rebecca Long Bailey on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that outsourced hospital food providers and the places they source their ingredients are monitored regularly to ensure the highest hygiene standards.

    Jane Ellison

    All hospital food providers need to register with their local authority Environmental Health Department, who will carry out food safety interventions, including inspections, at a frequency determined by the risk based intervention criteria in the Food Law Code of Practice. The inspections will include consideration of the provider’s traceability system.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 1 June (HC38011 and HC38012), which members of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) Executive who provided administrative support to the work of the expert panel convened by the Authority might have in turn passed on any unredacted information that was provided in confidence to the expert panel to non-members; and whether each of the individuals concerned continue to be employed by the HFEA in a similar capacity.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) convened Expert Panel is comprised of scientific experts in the relevant fields and supported by a small team of Authority staff. The HFEA has advised that in order for the Panel to carry out its work it is essential for members of the Panel and Authority staff to be able to exchange information.

    It is entirely proper that all involved in reviewing the information have access to all the relevant documentation. All HFEA staff who were involved in supporting the Expert Panel continue to work for the Authority and have the full confidence of the Chair and the Chief Executive Officer.

  • Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Amanda Solloway – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Amanda Solloway on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the additional £1.25 billion made available in the March 2015 Budget for child and adolescent mental health services has been spent in Derby North constituency.

    Nicola Blackwood

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    We are advised by NHS England that from this additional funding the amount allocated to Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group in 2015/16 was £1.029 million and for 2016/17 the amount is £1.370 million.

    This Government has made £1.4 billion funding available over the course of the Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health, with total investment to date of £453 million.

    Investment in 2015/16 included:

    – £75 million to transform local services through delivery of Local Transformation Plans (LTPs);

    – £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and

    – £68 million to fund expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme (CYP IAPT); improvements to perinatal mental health care; investment in inpatient services for children and young people; increased workforce capability; and innovation and development of online support.

    Investment for 2016/17 includes:

    – £119 million for LTPs;

    – £30 million to improve community based eating disorder services; and

    – £131 million for workforce and system development to support LTPs; a proportion of this will be allocated to commissioners for CYP IAPT and perinatal mental healthcare.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what are the proposed protocols for (1) detection of aneuploidy in embryos following application of the proposed Augment technique, and (2) demonstrating that injected mitochondria either disperse so as to be equally inherited by each blastomere of any resulting embryos or are concentrated in the inner cell mass, in the recent application received by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for a pilot trial in the UK; what estimate the HFEA has been provided regarding (1) the likely financial costs to patients undergoing the proposed Augment procedure, and (2) the potential impact on clinical pregnancy rates of any assessments deemed to be scientifically necessary; and what assessment the HFEA has made of the ruling by the US Food and Drugs Administration in 2013 that Augment is a novel drug in need of extensive and expensive safety testing.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) advises that it does not hold data from clinics on the incidence of aneuploidy in oocytes over time, nor has it received evidence from OvaScience, Professor Simon Fishel or other sources that mitochondrial defects are primarily responsible for age-related increases in oocyte chromosomal aneuploidy.

    The HFEA also advises that it has not been made aware of any published randomised trials regarding the Augment technique and has not made an assessment of the credibility of claims by OvaScience and those previously made by Clonaid, in the light of data available in peer-reviewed journals. It is currently considering whether techniques, which involve addition of autologous mitochondria to eggs, would be legal in the United Kingdom (under the framework of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended). Part of this consideration involves considering the claims made for Augment by Ovascience.

    The HFEA has not received any formal applications for clinical use of the Augment technique, and has not made an assessment of the ruling by the US Food and Drugs Administration to which the Noble Lord refers.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-23.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what percentage of objections submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator about the admission arrangements of schools were submitted by (1) groups and organisations, and (2) local parents, in each of the years from 2012 to 2015 inclusive.

    Lord Nash

    There is currently no requirement for an objector to identify themselves, or whether they belong to, or represent, a campaign group or organisation. Some objectors volunteer this information. However, some wish to remain anonymous and other parent objectors may not reveal whether they submitted the objection on behalf of a campaign group. We have no means of identifying this.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the Government’s recent application to the EU Solidarity Fund to help flood affected areas.

    James Wharton

    The Government submitted an initial UK application to the EU Solidarity Fund on Friday 26 February and we continue to refine our cost estimations.

    At the date the application was made, the Government had not been approached on this matter by the Northern Ireland Executive.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what progress his Department has made in encouraging diversity in leadership positions in the culture sector.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    In the recently published Culture White Paper we made it clear that more needs to be done to encourage diversity in leadership positions. From this year, Arts Council England will publish data on leadership looking at the diversity profile of Chief Executives, Artistic Directors and Chairs of the organisations that they fund. In December 2015, the Arts Council announced four new strategic funds for diversity, totalling £8.6 million. This included £2.1 million for the Elevate fund which has been created to develop the strength, management and governance of diverse-led organisations outside the Arts Council’s National Portfolio. A new £2.6 million Change Makers fund will fund long-term relationships between National Portfolio Organisations and aspiring arts leaders from the BME and deaf and disabled communities, providing valuable experience to individuals. Both of these funds are now open for applications.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report of the Independent Cancer Taskforce entitled Achieving world-class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020, published in July 2015, what steps Monitor and NHS England have taken to introduce new sanctions for any provider not fully complying with electronic prescribing.

    Jane Ellison

    The independent Cancer Taskforce recommended that new sanctions should be introduced to encourage e-prescribing. A mechanism to enforce contractual sanctions for non-delivery of adult chemotherapy e-prescribing systems has been created from April 2016, which requires development of an action plan by 30 June 2016 and full implementation by 31 March 2017. For children, teenagers and young adults, providers will be required to produce a robust implementation plan by 30 September 2016 and to achieve full implementation by 30 September 2017.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-07-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning reports of Israeli troops shooting a Palestinian with Down’s Syndrome who posed no threat to those troops.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    While we have not made any representations to the Israeli authorities on this specific case, we have raised our concerns with the Israeli authorities in the past about the Israel Defence Forces’ use of live fire, urging robust and transparent investigations where appropriate.