UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: 2016

  • 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, whether he has received any reports of (a) violence against opposition officials, candidates and activists and (b) intimidation of journalists during the Parliamentary elections taking place in Serbia.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Elections took place in Serbia on 24 April. The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) deployed a 22 person election monitoring mission and we and other countries fielded additional observers. We await final reports and ODIHR’s full and thorough assessment of the fairness and conduct of yesterday’s elections.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will summon the ambassador of Turkey to explain why the Co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party, Kamuran Yuksek, has been arrested and charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation.

    Mr David Lidington

    The PKK continues to mount deadly terrorist attacks in Turkey, particularly in the country’s south-east. In the course of security operations in that region, a number of Democratic Regions Party officials have been detained, including Kamuran Yuksek. We regularly urge the Turkish authorities to respect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, in the course of anti-terror operations, and to support the rule of law. We will continue to monitor these issues closely.

  • Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress of the UN Population Fund Supplies programme.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    As with all programmes in which DFID invests, the UNFPA Supplies programme is subject to thorough Annual Reviews, which were conducted in December 2014 and again in December 2015. The programme has expanded from 12 to 46 focus countries and has been found to be achieving value for money in procurement of contraceptive commodities. The recommendations from these Annual Reviews are being taken forward with UNFPA.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the sign-off process is for sustainability and transformation plans.

    David Mowat

    The Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are being developed by local areas. National Health Service providers, commissioners, local authorities, and other health and care services are coming together to propose how they, at local level, can close the health and wellbeing, care and quality and financial gaps. These plans are locally owned, but will be shared with the national health and care bodies, chiefly NHS England and NHS Improvement, so the national bodies can best develop support to enable footprints to deliver their plans. The National bodies have also published guidance on the STP process.

    NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue to work closely with STP areas to provide them with support and expertise to develop robust plans which will meet the objectives set out in the Mandate. STPs will form the basis for operational planning for 2017/18 and 2018/19, which will be subject to NHS Improvement and NHS England assurance processes.

    The local organisations will also be leading public engagement processes on their STP plans, in line with the engagement guidance.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the risk of a conflict of interest when members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers both provide the reference prices from which to set the NHS tariff prices for specials in the primary care sector and supply those specials to community pharmacists.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Members of the Association of Pharmaceutical Specials Manufacturers do not provide the Department with reference price data for their products. Individual manufacturers provide data on their sales volumes and selling prices to the Department under a memorandum of understanding between manufacturers and the Department. This data is then used to set a reimbursement price which reflects the price at which community pharmacies purchased these products in the quarter before.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2016-01-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much tax revenue they have collected directly from fixed-odds betting terminals in each of the years from 2010–11 to 2014–15 inclusive.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    Total Machine Games Duty (MGD) receipts for the years ending 31 March 2015 and 2014 were £562 million and £502 million. Total Amusement Machine Licence Duty receipts for the years ending 31 March 2013, 2012 and 2011 were £151 million £219 million and £219 million.

    Receipts from fixed odds betting terminals are not separately identified in the figures published in HMRC’s Tax & Duty bulletin.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of her Department’s spending was allocated to (a) Nigerian state organisations, (b) non-governmental organisations and (c) the private sector in the last three years for which figures are available.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    No UK aid goes directly through Nigerian government systems. Our bilateral aid is delivered through commercial service providers (private sector), international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

    The table below provides a breakdown of our payments over financial years 2012-13 to 2014-15.

    2012/13

    2013/14

    2014/15

    Private Sector

    £145.724m

    £185.146m

    £156.147m

    International Organisations

    £31.905m

    £52.343m

    £40.505m

    NGOs

    £22.401m

    £28.498m

    £27.667m
  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that defendants do not break bail conditions due to contact with people that those conditions do not allow when travelling to court.

    Mike Penning

    We have a range of special measures in place to support vulnerable witnesses and victims when they are giving evidence. These include the option of giving evidence from a remote location away from the court via live link, which significantly limits the risk of a witness coming into contact with a defendant or their supporters. This will mean victims of crime can give evidence from somewhere they feel safe.

    The Ministry of Justice also funds the delivery of the court-based Witness Service, delivered by Citizens Advice at all criminal courts in England and Wales. The Service has developed an enhanced package of support to vulnerable and intimidated witnesses (including victims). This enhanced level of support includes both support at court and pre-trial support and an outreach service offering home visits or meetings, in advance of trial, at Citizens Advice offices or another neutral and appropriate location, and meeting the witness outside the court and accompanying them inside. This enhanced service is being rolled out nationally and will be available in all areas by end of April 2016.

    The court can impose any bail condition necessary to ensure that a defendant does not interfere with a witness. If a bail condition is broken, this will have consequences for the offender, including the possibility of a remand into custody.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department collects on the health outcomes of autistic people who do not have a learning disability or mental health condition.

    Alistair Burt

    General practitioners already maintain a register of people with learning disabilities which may include patients on their lists who also have autism where this has been diagnosed. The Royal College of General Practitioners’ Autism Initiative, which is part funded by the Department, is currently looking at the idea of an autism indicator in general practice. This work is at an early stage.

    NHS England has been working with the Health and Social Care Information Centre to develop the Mental Health Services Data Set. This mandatory data set will include provision for the diagnosis of autism to be recorded. The data will be published and available for everyone to use to support and develop services based on health outcomes.

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on patient confidentiality of the decision by NHS Royal Free Foundation Trust to grant DeepMind access to NHS patient records; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    Individual organisations providing National Health Service care are the data controllers for the information that they hold, and are responsible for ensuring that there is a legal basis for sharing confidential patient information with a third party.

    Individual organisations must ensure that where patient consent is the basis for information sharing that patients are fully informed about the purposes for which personal information might be processed and with whom they might share information. Where a NHS organisation has contracted a third party to process personal information on its behalf to support the provision of direct care to patients the individual organisation must ensure that it has contractual safeguards in place to prevent the third party from using the data for purposes other than those determined by the NHS organisation.

    NHS organisations should not share confidential patient information where the patient has objected – except in cases where there is a legal requirement to share data or an overriding public interest.