Tag: Andrew Percy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press notice, entitled Nuisance calls: funding available for innovative solutions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Small Business Research Initiatives competition for generating solutions to address the problem of nuisance calls.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition has resulted in six successful feasibility studies for innovative call blocking technology to tackle nuisance calls. Further funding is required to test and develop these products before they can be launched on the open market. We will work with our delivery partners to consider how best we can support the next phase of this work.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on tackling online abuse in schools.

Karen Bradley

The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) is co-chaired by Ministers from Department for Education, Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sport. This brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to help to keep children and young people safe online. As part of this work, the UK’s Communications regulator, Ofcom, published best practice guidance for social media platforms to encourage responsible practice from industry in December 2015.

The Department for Education recognises that educating young people is key to tackling cyberbullying and protecting children from online abuse. All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. To help schools to develop effective measures the Department for Education has produced advice which provides a definition of cyberbullying and outlines the steps schools can take to deal with bullying.

Search powers included in the Education Act 2011 have given teachers stronger powers to tackle cyber-bullying (via text message or the internet) by providing a specific power to search for and, if necessary, delete inappropriate images (or files) on electronic devices, including mobile phones. The Department has also issued advice for parents and carers on cyberbullying which specifies the tell-tale signs that it is happening and includes advice on what do when it occurs.

The Government has invested £3.85 million in a new phase of our This is Abuse campaign, which tackles abuse within teenage relationships and was launched in March. The National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) has developed a comprehensive education programme, called Thinkuknow, which provides targeted advice to children, parents and carers, including on how to use social media safely.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the effect that the offshore wind industry has on stimulating investment in the north of England.

Andrea Leadsom

Recent major investments in the north of England include Siemens and APB’s investment in Hull, Offshore Structure Britain in Teesside and JDR Cables in Hartlepool. There has also been significant investment in operations and maintenance facilities. These investments are helping to deliver high quality and long term jobs to the region.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve protection from meningococcal disease; and what steps he plans to take to protect people with low immunity from contracting meningococcal disease.

Jane Ellison

Proptection from meningococcal disease is provided through our successful vaccination programmes. The vaccination programme was recently extended to include vaccines against meningitis B and A,C,W and Y.

We also provide information in our resources on the signs and symptoms of meningitis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.

David Mundell

The Scotland Office manages two buildings. Dover House in London and Melville Crescent in Edinburgh. There is one defibrillator at Melville Crescent. There is no defibrillator at Dover House.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government has provided for post-conflict resolution in Papua New Guinea and Bougainville.

Mr Hugo Swire

Through our support to the United Nations Development Programme, we continue to provide funding for peace-building and post-conflict socio-economic recovery in Bougainville and more widely in Papua New Guinea. Earlier this month, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office invited a delegation of senior Bougainvillian leaders to London, Belfast and Edinburgh to share the United Kingdom’s experience of the Northern Ireland peace process and the Scottish referendum. The visit included a valuable discussion with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association on these issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform, published in November 2015, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to reform the law governing surrogacy to better balance the rights of those involved and the welfare of children born via surrogacy.

Jane Ellison

A search of the Department’s central correspondence system shows that the Department received 22 representations that made direct or indirect reference to the report `Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform’ since it was published in November 2015.

The Government has no current plans to change the legislation in respect of surrogacy arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she has taken to support the Humber region’s biomass projects.

Andrea Leadsom

DECC officials have met with local biomass generators and developers. There are several biomass projects at different stages of development around Immingham, Hull and Stallingborough. The £162million investment at the Brigg Renewable Energy Plant, a 40 MW straw fired biomass plant, has recently opened.

Biomass generation is contributing jobs to Humberside. As a result of £100million in investment, the Humber International Terminal (HIT) at the Port of Immingham is already receiving some of the world’s largest shipments of biomass, destined for Drax, in the adjacent county of North Yorkshire. Drax is supported by the Renewables Obligation and has secured a Contract for Difference to convert another unit to biomass (under the Final Investment Decision enabling Renewables programme). If State Aid approval for the contract is obtained, the Humber will see some 6 million tonnes per annum of pellets imported into the UK. This will enhance its position for future business, including in the heat sector. The UK government continue to support Drax with the State Aid case.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will discuss with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government the possibility of changing building regulations in flood-prone areas to enable buildings to be constructed in such a way as to mitigate some of the effects of flooding.

Rory Stewart

The current building regulations already enable the incorporation of flood resilience measures into building work. Under building regulations Approved Document C (site preparation and resistance to contaminants and moisture) the use of flood resilience measures, such as adequate sub-soil drainage, sewer non-return valves, anti-flooding devices and water resistant construction material is encouraged. We continue to promote better resilience and remain very open to hearing of any innovations in this field.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to encourage the use of faecal calprotectin in primary care to facilitate prompt and appropriate referral of people with suspected inflammation of the bowel.

Jane Ellison

The IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) Registry provides a United Kingdom-wide repository of anonymised IBD adult and paediatric patient data for prospective audit and research purposes. Patients must consent for their data to be added to the registry. The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) has allocated transitional funding this year to incorporate IBD audit data collection into the IBD Registry, providing an enhanced system for data capture and quality improvement that will be available to every hospital in the UK. This will allow the entry of data locally and support service improvement. Initially the focus will be for IBD patients receiving biologic treatments, but the system will address other key aspects of IBD care in the future.

The second step of data collection will be to focus on new patients with IBD to begin to understand the incidence of IBD in the UK. This picture will build up over a number of years and be dependent on the engagement of clinicians.

No specific assessment of the potential effects on healthcare due to the introduction of a registry of patients with IBD in England has been made. However, the data provided through the register can support National Health Service services in areas such as the assessment of local IBD populations as well as in measuring incidence and outcomes with services in other parts of the UK.

Although there is no direct Department funding, HQIP have given £290,000 for a year’s transition funding to join the audit data with the registry.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends faecal calprotectin testing as an option to help doctors distinguish between inflammatory bowel diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and non-inflammatory bowel diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome.

The NICE IBD Quality Standard states that general practitioners (GP) and GP practices should ensure that testing is offered and clinical commissioning groups should ensure the diagnostic services are in place to support this.