Tag: Andrew Stephenson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the ability of the UK aerospace industry to meet demand for new aircraft over the next 15 years.

Anna Soubry

The latest Airbus Global Market Forecast identifies a need for more than 32,500 new large passenger and freighter aircraft, worth a total of $4.9trillion by 2034. In addition, there is an estimated requirement for 24,000 new business jets, 5,800 regional aircraft and 40,000 helicopters by 2032, worth around $500bn. (Source: ADS)

The Government is working with the UK aerospace industry, through the Aerospace Growth Partnership, to ensure the UK sector has the capability and capacity to secure maximum benefit from this growth opportunity. A range of industry-led action is under way, supported where appropriate by Government, to increase the productivity and competitiveness of UK suppliers; and develop the product and manufacturing technologies required to meet future market demands.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much illicitly-brewed alcohol was seized in prisons in each of the last 10 years.

Andrew Selous

The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has in place a comprehensive range of security measures and searching techniques to detect items of contraband including alcohol, to prevent smuggling into prisons. In addition we use specially trained dogs to detect illicit alcohol.

The table below gives the number of alcohol finds in prisons in England and Wales in the timeframe requested

Table 1: Finds of alcohol in prisons in England and Wales, 2005 to 2014

Year	Number of Incidents
2005	172
2006	306
2007	330
2008	340
2009	468
2010	386
2011	573
2012	803
2013	875
2014	1090

(1) Figures were produced by searching for the words “alcohol”, “hooch” and “fermenting liquid”.

(2) Includes NOMS operated Immigration Removal Centres

(3) Data in whole years only and is not yet available for 2015

Changes were introduced to the Incident Report System in September 2015 that improved the recording of alcohol finds. Prior to these changes, alcohol related finds are recorded as a "miscellaneous" incident and requires a text search of the data. This method of extracting data requires searching for specific words and may not always identify all the related incidents. It can also identify non-related incidents which contain the words in the search. In this case I have searched for the words "alcohol", "hooch" and "fermenting liquid" in the incident text.

All figures in this answer have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time.Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. The data are not subject to audit.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people who were victims of domestic abuse were incarcerated for violent crimes committed in response to the abuse they had received in each of the last three years.

Caroline Dinenage

This information is not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate costs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what targets his Department has set to increase early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.

Jane Ellison

As services for the treatment of Lyme disease are commissioned locally information on the costs associated with laboratory testing and treatment of late stage Lyme disease is not collected centrally. Nor is information collected centrally on the average time to diagnose cases of Lyme disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a clinical guideline on Lyme disease and reports progress on its website. NICE recently consulted on a draft scope for the guideline, and expects to publish final guidance in July 2018.

Public Health England and NHS Choices publish information on their websites to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. Given the need to maintain public awareness these or similar mechanisms are expected to continue beyond 2018. Increased awareness is likely to encourage early consultation but no information on the time taken to seek medical advice is available.

There are no plans to set targets for diagnosis and treatment as most cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed empirically by general practitioners using their clinical judgement rather than relying on a laboratory test, thus treatment can start immediately. Diagnosis of patients with late or complicated Lyme disease can be difficult and the National Health Service will continue to provide care taking account of the existing evidence base.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what work his Department is undertaking on identifying EU regulations that have a cost to British businesses that could be repealed or replaced.

Margot James

In the short term, the Government will continue to seek the amendment or repeal of EU rules within the framework of the European Commission’s Regulatory Fitness (REFIT) programme, in order to minimise the regulatory burdens imposed on UK businesses. The REFIT programme was established in 2012 to review the stock of existing EU legislation in order to identify burdens, inconsistencies, gaps or ineffective measures and address them.

Building on the work of the Red Tape Challenge and the current Cutting Red Tape programme, we will continue our engagement with business to gather their views on their priorities for reducing EU regulatory burdens wherever possible once the UK has left the EU. My Rt Hon Friend the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Member for Bromsgrove (Sajid Javid) chaired a roundtable with business leaders, to discuss the challenges faced by businesses and ensure that the negotiation of the UK’s future relationship with the EU is carried out in the interest of UK companies, investors, potential investors and workers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that people eligible to join the Class 3A voluntary contribution scheme are made aware of it.

Justin Tomlinson

1. A nationwide communications campaign, called ‘State Pension top up’, has been in place since 2014 to raise awareness of the Class 3A voluntary contribution scheme both before and after its launch on 12 October 2015. This campaign has included the creation of dedicated webpages on GOV.UK, including a calculator tool which has been used over 82,000 times since scheme launch. Printed and digital leaflets have been produced alongside advertising both online, and through national and regional press.

For over a year prior to launch, individuals were able to register by phone or email for scheme updates.

The scheme has also achieved widespread coverage, particularly around its launch, in the national and specialist press read by the scheme’s target audience. DWP has worked directly with financial advisory bodies and key pensions industry experts to raise awareness of the scheme.

DWP officials have attended conferences around the country with IFAs to explain the scheme and Ministers have written articles and conducted interviews on national, regional and international broadcast channels.

As of 8 November 2015, the scheme had attracted 3460 applications.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of levels of computer literacy among prison staff.

Andrew Selous

All staff who are required to use computers as part of their day-to-day duties will receive formal training in the use of specific software or programmes during induction into their role, or as part of continuous professional development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase opportunities for prisoners to acquire skills that could lead to earned release.

Andrew Selous

The Secretary of State for Justice last September asked Dame Sally Coates to chair a review of the quality of education in prisons. It is examining how we can better equip prisoners with the skills to find employment on release and will report in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent on late-stage Lyme disease treatment in each of the last three years.

Jane Ellison

As services for the treatment of Lyme disease are commissioned locally information on the costs associated with laboratory testing and treatment of late stage Lyme disease is not collected centrally. Nor is information collected centrally on the average time to diagnose cases of Lyme disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is developing a clinical guideline on Lyme disease and reports progress on its website. NICE recently consulted on a draft scope for the guideline, and expects to publish final guidance in July 2018.

Public Health England and NHS Choices publish information on their websites to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. Given the need to maintain public awareness these or similar mechanisms are expected to continue beyond 2018. Increased awareness is likely to encourage early consultation but no information on the time taken to seek medical advice is available.

There are no plans to set targets for diagnosis and treatment as most cases of Lyme disease are diagnosed empirically by general practitioners using their clinical judgement rather than relying on a laboratory test, thus treatment can start immediately. Diagnosis of patients with late or complicated Lyme disease can be difficult and the National Health Service will continue to provide care taking account of the existing evidence base.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what representations he has received on making refuges a statutory-funded service; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones

Domestic Abuse is a devastating crime and we are determined to ensure that everyone receives the support they need when they need it. This Government recognises the important role played by refuges in keeping victims of domestic abuse safe and we have made a clear commitment to secure a future for refuges.

Many refuges already receive public funding via housing benefit, local authorities and health services. In the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy published on 8 March, we set out our ambition to improve services for women suffering from domestic abuse, committing to a new Statement of Expectations to set out for the first time what we expect from local areas. To support this, we are launching a new two year fund for refuges and other forms of accommodation based support and to help local areas take the steps they need to meet the expectations set out in the Statement.