Tag: Andrew Percy

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on the likelihood of people’s reemployment of their prior length of absence from work; and what steps the Government is taking to address that matter.

Priti Patel

It is not possible to quantify the exact effect of benefit duration on the likelihood of re-employment as information on the destinations of people leaving benefits is not recorded for all claimants.

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 make a cheaper, more effective vaccine against pneumococcal meningitis available on the NHS.

Jane Ellison

The availability and pricing of vaccines, including any targeting pneumococcal meningitis, are primarily matters for vaccine manufacturers. Available vaccines, and those close to being licensed, are considered and assessed by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which advises the Department of Health, on their potential use in the national immunisation programme. Vaccines used in the national immunisation programme are chosen following stringent procurement processes, which include competitive tendering, in order to achieve best value for money.

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many defibrillators are provided in 10 Downing Street.

Matthew Hancock

One defibrillator has been provided in each of three buildings managed by the Cabinet Office. The buildings are: 10 Downing Street; Rosebery Court, Norwich; and Emergency Planning College, York.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with flood insurers on the launch of Flood Re in April 2016.

Rory Stewart

I chaired a Flood Re readiness meeting on 12 January with Flood Re, major insurers, and delivery partners. Officials have regular contact with Flood Re on preparations for the Scheme’s launch. Flood Re has given assurances that the Scheme is on track to start accepting policies from insurers in April 2016.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received on the proposals contained in the report, Surrogacy in the UK: Myth Busting and Reform, published in November 2015.

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 ensure that all renewables can compete on equal terms in the additional rounds of renewable subsidy auctions scheduled between now and 2020.

Andrea Leadsom

The Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme allows a wide range of renewable technologies to compete for contracts.

On 18 November 2015, my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change announced the intention to run three more auctions this Parliament, with the first, for the less established group of technologies that includes Offshore Wind, Wave, Tidal Stream, Advanced Conversion Technologies, Anaerobic Digestion, Dedicated Biomass with Combined Heat and Power (CHP) and Geothermal, planned for late 2016.

We will announce plans for Pot 1 (established technologies) and Pot 3 (biomass conversion) in due course.

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, how many people have registered for free flood warnings provided by the Environment Agency; and what steps she has taken to ensure that more people so register.

Rory Stewart

As of 1 March 2016 there were a total of 1,146,146 properties registered to receive flood warnings in England.

Environment Agency staff work with communities to prepare them for flooding. They encourage people to fully register for the service by knocking on the doors of residents and businesses who are not registered to receive flood warnings, running local events and attending appropriate shows and seminars to encourage sign-up. Callers to the Floodline call centre are encouraged to register if they are not already on the system.

Alongside work to encourage people to ‘opt-in’ to the service, the Environment Agency has automatically added 400,000 mobile phone numbers registered to locations at high risk of flooding provided by the company ‘EE’. They are currently working with 3 other major mobile phone companies to access their numbers too. This approach increases the number of people that the Environment Agency can automatically add to their warning system.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on healthcare of the introduction of a registry of patients with inflammatory bowel disease in England; and what support his Department has provided for that registry.

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.

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.