The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he intends to answer the letter to him dated 23 March 2016 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regards to Mr C Costigan.
Jane Ellison
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health responded to the Rt. hon. Member’s letter of 23 March 2016 on 22 April 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of existing regulations on drones; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Government’s primary responsibility is the safety and security of our citizens. That is why we apply one of the highest regulatory safety standards for commercial aviation in the world.
There are existing regulations in place that require users of drones to maintain direct, unaided visual contact with their vehicle and to not recklessly or negligently cause or permit an aircraft to endanger any person or property. Guidance on tackling the risks of criminal drone use has been provided to constabularies across the UK.
The Department and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) work with a wide range of industry partners across the aviation sector, (including manufacturers, airports, and airlines), to ensure our understanding of potential hazards to aircraft remains up-to-date and mitigations effective. Further work is underway to better understand the risk posed by flying drones close to commercial planes to ensure that regulations remain fit for purpose.
Awareness and education on current restrictions are vitally important. The Civil Aviation Authority is undertaking activities to raise awareness of the basic safety requirements, including an ongoing ‘Dronecode’ safety awareness campaign, issuing safety leaflets at the point of sale, publishing an animated video on their website, and running ‘small UAS’ Risk and Hazard workshops with industry as part of the Mid Air Collision Programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Martyn Day on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department is taking steps to identify businesses that engage in labour exploitation.
Margot James
The Immigration Act 2016 creates a new Director of Labour Market Enforcement. They will be responsible for overseeing and setting priorities for the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, National Minimum Wage enforcement and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority. This will strengthen efforts to identify businesses that engage in labour exploitation.
To enable more effective enforcement, we are creating:
We have already reformed the Gangmasters Licensing Authority into the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority with the ability to tackle labour exploitation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what baseline data collection her Department plans to undertake in Somalia and Zimbabwe to measure progress against the Sustainable Development Goals in those countries.
Mr Nick Hurd
In Somalia, one of the costs of protracted conflict has been the loss of national capacity to produce credible statistics. We are working with the UN and others to help rectify this, but it will be some time before proper baselines can be set across all of the SDGs. For now, we expect some progress to be made soon on the first five (covering poverty, hunger, health, education, and gender equality).
In Zimbabwe, DFID has supported a number of data collections which will be used to help measure a baseline for SDG delivery. These include the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), the 2016 Demographic Health Survey (DHS), and other data collections on Agriculture (including the Agriculture and Livestock Survey). DFID will also support a 2016 survey on Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure (PICES).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government recognises the killing of the Yazidis by Daesh as genocide.
Mr Philip Hammond
I condemn the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yezidis and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population in Iraq and Syria who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality.
It is a long-standing policy of successive governments that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.
Ultimately, the best way of preventing future atrocities is to defeat Daesh and its violent ideology.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many warrants for the purposes of establishing whether women are being trafficked have been excluded by her Department in each local authority in Lancashire in each month in 2015.
Karen Bradley
The Home Office does not hold this information centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-04-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pharmacies in the retail sector have been (1) reprimanded, and (2) sanctioned, by the General Pharmaceutical Council, in the last three years, for breaching patient confidentiality.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department does not hold this information. However, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has provided the following information.
The GPhC undertakes inspections of all registered pharmacies in Great Britain. The vast majority of pharmacies currently receive a routine inspection every three to four years. Inspectors will, in addition, visit pharmacies to investigate concerns from members of the public or health professionals.
Since November 2013 the GPhC has conducted 6,814 routine inspections of pharmacy premises to assess them against its standards. During every inspection GPhC inspectors seek evidence from the pharmacy team that standards relating to the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public are met. These standards cover the storage of confidential and private information and the physical and governance arrangements for ensuring patients can have private conversations with pharmacy professionals.
Of the 6,814 inspections that have been carried out by the GPhC since November 2013, in 421 (6.2%) cases pharmacy premises were found to have failed one or more of the above three standards:
– 274 did not meet standard 1.7 (Information is managed to protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services);
– 174 did not meet standard 3.2 (Premises protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services); and
– 73 did not meet standard 5.3 (Equipment and facilities are used in a way that protects the privacy and dignity of the patients and the public who receive pharmacy services).
When pharmacy premises have not met one or more of the standards, they are required by the GPhC to complete and implement an improvement action plan.
In addition, the United Kingdom and Scottish Parliaments recently approved legislation which includes powers to issue an improvement notice or disqualify a pharmacy from the register for a failure to meet the standards. This will improve the GPhC’s ability to protect patients and improve the quality of the pharmacy services they receive.
In circumstances where the GPhC finds a registered professional’s fitness to practise is called into question it will investigate and can bring proceedings against that individual.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to encourage people to reduce the symptoms of diabetes using exercise and diet.
Jane Ellison
In March 2016, Public Health England (PHE) launched One You, an integrated social marketing campaign to engage adults in making changes to improve their own health and so help them reduce the risk of conditions such as diabetes. The programme encourages adults in mid-life to make a number of lifestyle changes including taking more exercise, improving diet, stopping smoking and reducing alcohol consumption.
Additionally, PHE’s Change4Life campaign encourages families across England to “eat well, move more, live longer”. Type 2 diabetes is highlighted in the campaign as a potential health consequence of poor diet and inactivity.
NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK have been working together on the Healthier You: the Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP). By 2020, the programme will be made available to up to 100,000 people at risk of diabetes each year across England. Those referred will get tailored, personalised help to reduce their risk including education on healthy eating and lifestyle and bespoke physical exercise programmes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2016-07-08.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what mechanisms they plan to employ to seek advice on workforce planning for gastroenterology following the removal of the role of National Clinical Director for that area.
Lord Prior of Brampton
In future, NHS England will seek clinical advice on issues relating to gastrointestinal and liver disease from a variety of sources. This will include experts at Public Health England (PHE) for issues which are alcohol related, the National Clinical Director for Obesity and Diabetes for issues relating to obesity induced fatty liver disease as well as through the Clinical Reference Group for hepatitis C and the medical Royal Colleges.
Information on liver and gastrointestinal (GI) diseases is also available from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, PHE Atlases of variation, relevant national audits and regular clinical communication between the national Medical Director, his senior team and the relevant Royal Colleges and specialist societies and with senior professionals.
NHS England continues to run an Endoscopy Stakeholder Group to ensure that all aspects of diagnostic pathways for GI disease are reviewed and clinical advice is taken regarding policy developments to address the current and projected requirement in capacity. The relevant specialist societies are key members of this group. NHS England also supports the national Cancer Implementation Programme on behalf of the arm’s length bodies, which includes workstreams on early diagnosis, and on living with and beyond cancer, both of which are addressing many issues that affect patients with GI cancers.
Health Education England will continue to ensure that they engage with employers to forecast how many gastroenterologists they require year on year. The process for making decisions relating to medical training numbers is currently being refined. Medical speciality training post numbers will be reviewed in greater depth with a range of stakeholders on a rolling programme; approximately every two years. Gastroenterology is expected to be reviewed this winter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the register of persons with significant control, what proportion of returns from companies have listed another company rather than an individual as the persons with significant control.
Margot James
As at 10 October 2016, the number of accepted filings from companies that have listed another company, rather than an individual as the people with significant control (PSC) is 66,304, equating to 8.4% of the 785,616 total number of accepted filings from companies that have listed PSC details.