Tag: Alasdair McDonnell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England’s Be Clear on Cancer campaigns aim to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of specific cancers, and to encourage those with symptoms to see their doctor promptly. A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise. Pancreatic cancer is generally asymptomatic at an early stage and it is for this reason that there has not been a campaign focussing on this cancer type to date.

Public Health England is also looking to develop an approach to raise awareness of generic symptoms that can indicate a wider number of cancers and the need to visit the doctor promptly with these symptoms. This work is currently in development, with the help of a number of experts, including clinicians and charities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve early diagnosis rates of pancreatic cancer.

Jane Ellison

Improving early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government. We have committed to implementing recommendation 24 of the Independent Cancer Taskforce’s report Achieving World-Class Outcomes and this will be underpinned by investment of up to £300 million more in diagnostics each year by 2020. The strategy also makes recommendations for speeding up diagnosis of cancers with non-specific but concerning symptoms through the use of multidisciplinary diagnostic centres. NHS England is working with partners across the health system to consider how best to take forward these and other recommendations.

Updated suspected cancer referral guidelines by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), including new guidelines for pancreatic cancer, which was published last June will continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients and urgently refer them as appropriate, where pancreatic cancer is suspected. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-04-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the governments of (a) Egypt, (b) Saudi Arabia and (c) United Arab Emirates on the removal of restrictions on press freedom in these countries and the Middle East.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We regularly raise our concerns over press freedoms with the Egyptian authorities both in London and in Cairo. The Prime Minister raised the detention of journalists including the trial of the Al Jazeera journalists with President Sisi during his visit to the UK in November 2015. I raised press freedoms and freedom of expression with the Egyptian Ambassador earlier this month.

We also regularly make our views on freedom of expression known to the Saudi Arabian Government. We continue to underline to the UAE that people must be allowed to freely discuss and debate issues and exercise the right to freedom of thought. We believe that reforms, including meeting citizens’ aspirations for greater participation, will be the guarantor of longer-term stability in the region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans the Government has to pursue co-ordinated North-South renewable energy projects that take advantage of the North-South electricity interconnector.

Kris Hopkins

Non-nuclear energy is devolved in Northern Ireland and is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has discussed with Executive Ministers and the sector increasing the security of supply, the costs to consumers and meeting the UK’s renewables commitments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the report by the British Red Cross, entitled Are pre-hospital deaths from trauma and accidental injury preventable?, published in September 2016, what steps he is taking to ensure that first aid education is included in the Government’s road safety strategy.

Andrew Jones

Advice on “First aid on the road” is contained in Annex 7 of The Highway Code. Driver’s knowledge of first aid is tested as part of the driver theory test and many professional drivers take first aid training. The Department is providing support for a not-for-profit training programme for drivers in administering first aid.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the report by the British Red Cross, entitled Are pre-hospital deaths from trauma and accidental injury preventable?, published in September 2016, what steps she is taking to ensure that young people have the opportunity to learn basic first aid at school.

Edward Timpson

Schools are free to teach first aid, and may choose to do this as part of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, which is a non-statutory curriculum subject. This is reflected in the PSHE Association’s non-statutory programme of study, which includes first aid.

When teaching first aid, many schools draw on the expertise of reputable organisations, such as the British Red Cross, the British Heart Foundation and St John Ambulance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will detail how his Department provides support for a not-for-profit training programme for drivers in administering first aid; and how many drivers this programme has trained.

Mr John Hayes

The Department has provided a grant payment of £70,000 to Driver First Assist for its 2016-17 programme.

Driver First Assist is a not for profit organisation training large goods vehicle drivers to provide lifesaving first aid and manage the scene at a road traffic collision prior to the arrival of the emergency services. So far the organisation has trained 738 drivers to act as first responders.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much is expected to be allocated to Northern Ireland under the National Infrastructure pipeline in each of the next five years.

Greg Hands

The information requested can be obtained from “National Infrastructure Pipeline”, published in July 2015 and is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-infrastructure-pipeline-july-2015

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to respond formally to the Soil Association’s Save Our Anti-Biotic campaign.

George Eustice

No formal response will be made. On 16 September 2016 the Government published its response to the final report and recommendations of the Independent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance. The response outlines future plans and ambitions to reduce the need for antibiotics and tackle antibiotic resistance.

We continue to work with a wide-range of stakeholders and use emerging, scientifically sound evidence to develop policy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alasdair McDonnell on 2015-11-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he expects revenue to be generated to the public purse from the sale of assets, buildings and land in Northern Ireland during 2015-16; and if so for what amount.

Greg Hands

The devolved administrations have the capacity to generate income from asset sales and should do so where this is a sensible way of realising value for taxpayers and freeing up resources for investment.

The Government has committed to securing good value for money for taxpayers by establishing UK Government Investments to deliver the sale of a wide range of publicly-owned assets.

The Stormont House Agreement contains specific measures whereby the Treasury would allow the Northern Ireland Executive to retain the proceeds of specific agreed asset sales in their entirety, and give exceptional consideration to those funds being used for a combination of both capital and resource spending.