Tag: Danny Kinahan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve the life chances of people with disabilities.

Penny Mordaunt

The Government is committed to improving the life chances of disabled people and has made a commitment to halve the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled people.

The Government is working with employers through Disability Confident to challenge attitudes towards disability and ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. Since 2013 the number of disabled people in work has increased by almost half a million (493,000). Nearly 3.4 million disabled people are now in employment.

Access to Work provides practical and financial support with the additional costs faced by individuals whose heath or disability affects the way they do their job. 36,470 individuals were helped by Access to Work in the 2015/16 including record numbers of people with learning disabilities, mental health conditions and young people. Last year’s Spending review announced a real-terms increase in funding for access to work starting in 16/17 to enable the scheme to help a further 25,000 people by the end of the parliament.

Work Choice is a voluntary contracted specialist disability employment programme introduced in 2010 and helps people with disabilities whose needs cannot be met through other employment programmes, Access to Work or workplace adjustments. It provides individually tailored support (e.g. job search skills, basic training, and work placements) for disabled people who face the most complex employment barriers to find and stay in work.

Later this year, we will produce a Green Paper exploring a range of options to close the disability employment gap and transform the lives and prospects of disabled people, and conduct a consultation which will reach out to disabled people and their representative organisations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s plans are for the unused housing at RAF Aldergrove.

Mark Lancaster

Demolition of the unused housing at RAF Aldergrove is planned to commence in 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-10-27.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage the development of enterprise zones in Northern Ireland.

Greg Hands

In Northern Ireland, many of the benefits associated with Enterprise Zones are the devolved responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive.

The 2013 economic pact, Building a Prosperous and United Community, indicated that the Government would consider designating a range of sites within any Northern Ireland Enterprise Zone as eligible for Enhanced Capital Allowances, which as part of the UK’s tax system remain a non-devolved responsibility.

In March 2014 the NI Executive indicated that it was considering creating a pilot Enterprise Zone near Coleraine. The Government remains open to examining the case for offering Enhanced Capital Allowances at that, or alternative, locations when proposals are brought forward by the Executive.

Budget 2014 announced that businesses located within the Executive’s proposed pilot Enterprise Zone near Coleraine will benefit from enhanced capital allowances until 2020. I understand the Executive continues to work towards the implementation of this pilot Enterprise Zone.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will support Jet2.com’s Onboard Together campaign to reduce disruptive behaviour on aircraft.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Last month I met with the management of Jet2.com to discuss their work on reducing disruptive behaviour on aircraft. The Government supports the aviation industry’s efforts to find solutions to the issue of disruptive passengers. The Government encourages collaboration across the industry to tackle the problem, including airlines, airports, retail outlets and the police working together to ensure consistent approach and messaging.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual cost is of the health needs of UK thalidomide survivors.

George Freeman

In addition to using NHS services, thalidomide survivors have access to health grants in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The grants are administered by the Thalidomide Trust and allocations in 2015 are set out in the following table.

Allocations under the Thalidomide Health Grants in 2015

Country	Total Allocation (£000s)	Number of beneficiaries
England	7,454	325
Scotland	1,254	55
Wales	782	31
Northern Ireland	472	19

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to develop agriculture education links with countries that would benefit from UK expertise.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Department for International Development has supported Partnership Projects covering agriculture and veterinary sciences, across 17 developing countries linking UK Universities and developing country institutions. We have funded research programmes for collaborative projects between UK researchers and partners in Africa and Asia at postgraduate level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims against prison staff were made by prisoners in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

NOMS defend robustly all claims brought and successfully defend two thirds of claims brought by prisoners. It is not possible accurately to separate prisoner compensation claims against prison staff from other similar claims (e.g. assaults by other prisoners).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-04-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on granting that Institute the power to be able to approve cancer drugs for use off-license.

George Freeman

Clinicians can prescribe any treatment, including an unlicensed product or a product not licensed for a particular indication, which they consider the best available medicine to meet the individual clinical needs of their patient, subject to their primary care organisation agreeing to fund this treatment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) already produces Evidence Summaries which critically review the best available evidence for significant uses of unlicensed or off-label medicines. They help commissioners and clinicians to make evidence-based prioritisation, treatment and funding decisions where there are no clinically-appropriate licensed alternatives.

Ensuring that patients get timely access to any new treatment, including off-label medicines in new indications, is complex and the Department is committed to working with stakeholders including NICE, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the General Medical Council, patient and professional groups, and charities to co-ordinate activities and set plans in place that will make this easier. This includes work to look at more systematic inclusion of off-label uses of drugs in the British National Formulary and development of case studies looking at re-purposed medicines and their pathways from research results into clinical practice.

Alongside these, the Access to Medical Treatments (Innovation) Act 2016 will, in due course, provide the National Health Service with a newly created database which will provide a mechanism for collecting and sharing information on innovative treatments including off-label drugs and medicines in development. Now that the Act has received Royal Assent the work to implement its provisions can begin.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-09-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward proposals to ring-fence and secure EU infrastructure funding for projects in Northern Ireland when the UK withdraws from the EU.

Mr David Gauke

On 12 August, the Chancellor set out the steps the Treasury was taking to offer reassurance to recipients of EU funding as part of the UK Government’s wider work on the UK’s exit from the EU.

I wrote to the Northern Ireland Finance Minister on the same day, clarifying that the Treasury was offering guarantees in relation to the funding required to cover European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) projects administered by the Executive within its devolved responsibilities, which will have signed contracts or funding arrangements in place in advance of Autumn Statement.

My letter further indicated that the Treasury will consider what procedures to put in place for funding in relation to ESIF projects which are expected to be signed after Autumn Statement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Danny Kinahan on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s plans are for the future of RAF Aldergrove.

Harriett Baldwin

The estate optimisation strategy aims to provide a more efficient and better quality Defence estate to support our Armed Forces, which will be fit for purpose for future generations.

This long-term, detailed work seeks to identify a rationalised Defence estate which more appropriately meets the needs of our Armed Forces by being of better quality, more cost effective and more efficient, as well as 30% smaller overall, by 2040.

No decision about the future of individual sites has been made at this point, other than those that have been previously announced