Tag: Catherine West

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to address the prevalence of hunger in Malawi.

Mr Nick Hurd

DFID has a significant programme of ongoing support in health, education, agriculture, water and sanitation and economic development, particularly in rural areas and with the private sector, for growth, jobs, incomes and food insecurity. We support increasing access to justice for women and vulnerable groups, accountability and governance reforms.

The UK was one of the first development partners to respond to Malawi’s international appeal for emergency aid in October 2015. The UK has now committed £14.5m through partners including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and an International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) consortium led by Save the Children. This support includes:

• Food for over 800,000 people, including pre-positioning of food, nutrition supplies and livestock vaccines.
• Cash transfers for up to 450,000 people who live near functioning markets but do not have the means to purchase food
• Mass screening of up to 800,000 children to identify urgent nutritional support needs
• Specialist supplies for up to 75,000 children and others suffering from acute malnutrition
• Vital protection support to vulnerable people, including women and girls, in displacement and refugee camps

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with officials of (a) NATO and (b) the EU on the recent ballistic missile launched by North Korea.

Mr Hugo Swire

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), strongly condemned the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)’s satellite launch of 7 February, which used ballistic missile technology in clear violation of a number of UN Security Council Resolutions.

The Government continues to work closely with partners in NATO and the EU to ensure significant and substantive measures are agreed in response to the DPRK’s repeated provocations. In addition, we continue to work with international partners to ensure existing Resolutions are implemented effectively.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the rate of pay is for cleaners in her Department.

Andrea Leadsom

The hourly rate of pay for cleaners working in the Department of Energy and Climate Change is between £7.85 and £9.15 depending on location.

From 1 April 2016, the rate of pay will be increased to the 2016 Living Wage Foundation rates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to address the issues raised in the Independent Investigation into conditions at Yarl’s Wood in January 2016; and what additional steps she will take to address concerns around (a) staffing arrangements including capacity and training and (b) an inadequate proportion of female officers to care for women at the centre.

James Brokenshire

Serco commissioned an independent investigation by Kate Lampard into the culture and staffing at Yarl’s Wood. The report was published in January 2016. Serco has responded quickly to the recommendations in the report and has agreed or completed 32 of the 35 recommendations. These include an increase in staffing levels and introducing changes to policies to ensure that all detainees are treated in a safe and dignified manner. As of 9 March 2016, 55% of Serco’s operational staff at Yarl’s Wood are women.

The Government is addressing the issue of welfare in detention through its response to Stephen Shaw’s review set out in the Written Ministerial Statement laid before the House on 14 January. This includes a new adults at risk policy and a mental health action plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many people were refused student loans as a result of their discretionary leave to remain immigration status in each of the last three years.

Joseph Johnson

The Student Loans Company does not hold information on the number of student loan applicants with discretionary leave to remain who have had their application for support refused.

A public consultation on the introduction of a new category of eligibility for those with long residence in the UK, including periods of discretionary leave, closed in January 2016. The consultation can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/student-support-for-non-UK-nationals-who-have-lived-in-the-UK-for-a-long-time

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues on what evidence should be used to determine basic treatment for people presenting with acute urinary tract infections.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not determine which treatments should be available for what ailments. National Health Service commissioners are responsible for making decisions on individual treatments on the basis of the available evidence, taking into account guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) where available.

NICE guidance is always evidence based, assuring us of the latest clinical thinking and research to determine the best treatment for patients.

The guidelines from NICE for urinary tract infections can be found here:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg171/chapter/1-recommendations

NHS England published new guidance on 16 November 2015 to help improve the care and experience of people with continence issues. This includes the most up to date evidence to support commissioners and providers. The guidance can be found on NHS England’s website and accessed via the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/11/16/continence-care/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what missions HMS Protector is currently undertaking; and how many missions that ship has undertaken in the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt

HMS PROTECTOR, the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, provides a United Kingdom Sovereign presence in the British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime areas.

PROTECTOR is currently in the South Atlantic and is focussed on the provision of support to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including Antarctic Treaty inspections and station visits in support of the British Antarctic Survey, and survey activity, primarily to increase charting coverage of Antarctic shipping routes and the United Kingdom Overseas Territories. She recently successfully deployed unmanned aerial vehicles for the first time to assist with navigating through the Antarctic.

Since entering service in 2011, PROTECTOR has been deployed to the South Atlantic from December 2011 to May 2013; and from October 2013 to April 2015. In October 2015, she again deployed from the United Kingdom, arriving in the region this spring, having conducted a circumnavigation of the globe.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were enrolled on the PROUD trial.

Jane Ellison

The PROUD trial was launched in 2012, coordinated by the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit and Public Health England (PHE). The number of people enrolled in the trial, was 544.

Based on evidence from the PROUD study, PHE has made an assessment that of the 100,000 men who have sex with men who attend genito-urinary medicine clinics annually, 8,000 can be identified as being at ‘high-risk’.

The Department has not yet made its own assessment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s target waiting time is for a Disclosure and Barring Service local intelligence check to be completed by the Metropolitan Police Service.

Karen Bradley

In 2015/16, the Disclosure and Barring Service processed 87% of all applications within 21 days, against a target of 85%.

Some of the over four million applications received each year need to be referred to one or more police forces for further checks. There is a service level agreement between the Disclosure and Barring Service and police forces in relation to the time taken to complete these local disclosure checks.

These standards are: –

85% of police checks must be completed in 14 days;

90% of police checks must be completed in 18 days;

95% of police checks must be completed in 25 days; and – 100% of police checks must be completed in 60 days.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has had with Didier Seeuws on the UK’s exit of the EU since his appointment to the EU special task force.

Mr David Jones

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 September 2016 to the Question 44967.

The Prime Minister has been clear we will not give a running commentary on Brexit negotiations. We will ensure that we engage closely with all relevant interlocutors.