Tag: Anna Turley

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the socio-economic groups to which those deciding to have a termination of pregnancy after the 20 week scan of a neural tube defect-affected pregnancy belong.

Jane Ellison

Information on the socio-economic group for women having abortions is not collected centrally.

In 2014, 442 abortions were performed because of neural tube defects; 34% of these were performed at 20 weeks gestation or over.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the safe levels of acetaldehyde to which workers in the chemical industry can be exposed.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to commission an assessment of the levels of acetaldehyde that workers are exposed to in the UK chemical industry.

Acetaldehyde has been assigned a Workplace Exposure Limit (WEL). WELs are concentrations of hazardous substances in the air, averaged over a specified period of time, referred to as a time-weighted average (TWA). Two time periods are used; long-term (8 hours) and short-term (15 minutes). For acetaldehyde these are concentrations of 37 milligrams per cubic meter (mg.m^-3) and 92mg.m^-3 respectively.

Substances that have been assigned a WEL are subject to the requirements of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH). COSHH requires employers to prevent or control exposure to hazardous substances. Under COSHH, control is defined as adequate only if a) the principles of good control practice are applied; b) any WEL is not exceeded; and c) exposure to asthmagens, carcinogens and mutagens are reduced as low as is reasonably practicable. As part of the assessment required under regulation 6 of COSHH, employers should determine their own working practices and in-house standards for control of exposure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of fees charged by medical professionals for death certification on those liable for such fees who are on low incomes.

David Mowat

There is no fee payable for completing the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD).

When a patient dies it is the statutory duty of the doctor who has attended the patient in the last illness to issue an MCCD.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the risk and potential effect of new government-funded assets on commercial innovation activity in existing commercial innovation facilities.

Joseph Johnson

All potential major capital projects are assessed against the additional value they add, including an evaluation of whether the research or innovation activity is already being undertaken elsewhere. The majority of decisions about which research investments to undertake are taken directly by Research Councils, based on rigorous criteria including peer review.

In respect of the establishment of Innovate UK’s 11 Catapult Centres, all candidate areas have undergone a robust evaluation by Innovate UK’s Senior Innovation Leads who have relevant domain expertise. In addition, facilitated workshops, with leading figures in the relevant industries – including business, academic and representatives from the public sector, are held to ascertain whether Innovate UK’s analysis of the market opportunities in this area is correct. Each candidate area is evaluated according to an agreed process to assess the size of the global market opportunity and the demand for a Catapult to help business build on their capabilities to commercialise innovation and realise this potential in the UK.

In setting up new Catapult centres Innovate UK take into account the option of working within or alongside existing physical centres in the UK either to avoid duplication or to achieve quicker delivery.

At a local level, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are responsible for identifying, assessing and approving Local Growth Funded projects. They do this in accordance with their strategic economic objectives and Local Assurance Frameworks which have to comply with the LEP National Assurance Framework. The National Assurance Framework covers value for money and states that methodology should be proportionate to the funding allocated and in line with established Government guidance including the HM Treasury Green Book.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what correspondence his Department has had with PwC regarding SSI Redcar in the last three years; and how many meetings his Department has had with PwC in that period.

Anna Soubry

My officials had a number of telephone calls and one meeting with PwC between 28 August 2015 and 1 October 2015 to discuss SSI.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the postcodes for the addresses of mothers of babies born with congenital abnormalities are available on the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers.

George Freeman

The National Congenital Anomaly and Rare Disease Registration Service (NCARDRS) is operated by Public Health England. NCARDRS has legal permission to collect patient identifiable data without the need for individual consent. As part of this dataset, patient postcodes for individuals resident in England are recorded on the NCARDRS congenital anomaly database. Protection of individual patient data is paramount and release of this data, including postcode data, is strictly controlled.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects are terminated after the 20 week scan.

Jane Ellison

Information on the socio-economic group for women having abortions is not collected centrally.

In 2014, 442 abortions were performed because of neural tube defects; 34% of these were performed at 20 weeks gestation or over.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were diagnosed with cancer as a result of exposure to acetaldehyde in the (a) North East and (b) UK in the latest period for which figures are available.

Jane Ellison

Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with cancer as a result of exposure to acetaldehyde is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the deliverability of the recommendations of the independent report, Tees Valley: Opportunity Unlimited, published in June 2016; and what the timetable is for his Department to respond to those recommendations and set out a schedule for the implementation of any recommendations which are accepted.

Andrew Percy

Government is currently working with Tees Valley Combined Authority on progressing Lord Heseltine’s recommendations. The report was debated in Parliament on 15 June.

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-06-5/debates/16061550000002/TeesValleyInwardInvestmentInitiative#contribution-16061550000452

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-10-14.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the timeframe to implement the Apprenticeship Levy; and what steps he is taking to ensure that businesses affected by the levy are given adequate time to make adjustments.

Mr David Gauke

From April 2017 the government will introduce a levy to fund the step change needed to achieve 3 million apprenticeship starts and an uplift in their quality by 2020. The systems required to implement this in time for April 2017 are on track and are being tested on a regular basis. This includes progress by both HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), with regards to the collection of the levy, and from the Skills Funding Agency who are building the digital accounts for employers to access levy funds.

The Department for Education has issued guidance for employers regarding the apprenticeship levy. Further guidance, confirming the funding policy, will be published shortly. HMRC has also issued guidance to software developers to ensure that employers’ payroll systems are ready for the apprenticeship levy and will publish further guidance for employers in December.

The government have been working with employers and training providers since the concept of the apprenticeship levy was introduced to ensure that it works for them. These conversations have played a major part in shaping how the apprenticeship levy will work and we will continue these discussions to assist employers and providers as they prepare for the introduction of the levy.