Tag: David Anderson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent discussions she has had with the Ethiopian government on the situation in the Oromia region.

Mr Nick Hurd

I visited Ethiopia on 17^th June and met with a number of senior Ethiopian Government officials. Our discussions covered a range of issues, including the situation in the Oromia region. I set out the UK Government’s serious concerns about the response to protests in Oromia.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times the National Grid has used the demand side balancing reserve in each of the last 10 years.

Andrea Leadsom

The Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) was introduced by National Grid ahead of winter 14/15 to help manage electricity margins ahead of the introduction of the Capacity Market in 2018/19. Since its introduction, the DSBR has only been despatched on one occasion.

Both last year and this year, National Grid will have instructed units within the DSBR as part of testing their capability to ensure they are able to achieve the level and speed of turn-down for which they are contracted.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what restrictive covenants exist on the use and disposal of each prison establishment in England and Wales.

Andrew Selous

We will consider what impact the existence of any restrictive covenant would have on any future closures and new prison sites. Providing a list of restrictive covenants on the use and disposal of each prison in England and Wales could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Prime Minister, whether he plans to issue a new Memorandum of Understanding under section 2(2) of the Justice and Security Act on the remit of the Intelligence and Security Committee in the current Parliament.

Mr David Cameron

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Ms West) on 21 January 2016, UIN 22720.

By long-standing convention under successive Governments the Law Officers’ advice is not published. The legal basis for the airstrike against Reyaad Khan is set out in the Government’s Memorandum to the Joint Committee on Human Rights.

The Government’s legal position in relation to UK airstrikes against Daesh in Syria is reflected in my response to the Foreign Affairs Committee Report on the extension of offensive British military operations to Syria.

The current Memorandum of Understanding together with the Justice and Security Act 2013 provides the necessary scope for the ISC to conduct robust oversight of those matters that are within its statutory remit.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will ensure that creative subjects are included in the new Ebac; and if she will make a statement.

Nick Gibb

This Government’s aim is to have at least 90% of pupils taking GCSEs from the English Baccalaureate subjects of English, maths, science, humanities and languages.

These subjects are part of a broad and balanced curriculum. There is space in the wider school curriculum to teach other subjects alongside these subjects.

On 3 November 2015 the Secretary of State for Education launched a public consultation seeking views on the government’s proposals for the implementation of the English Baccalaureate[1]. The consultation closed on 29 January 2016 and the government will publish its response in the spring.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-english-baccalaureate

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure provision of specialist respiratory care for people with muscle-wasting conditions; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Ellison

NHS England commissions specialised neurological services at a national level, including those with muscle-wasting conditions. The relevant service specification sets out what designated specialised providers must have in place to offer evidence based safe and effective care. Patients should have access to a multidisciplinary team (MDT) to assess, diagnose and provide support. The MDT will include neuromuscular consultants, neuromuscular physiotherapists, psychologists, specialist nurses, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists and other health professionals.

The specification also sets out that neuromuscular clinics need to identify those at risk of respiratory problems and refer for specialist respiratory assessment and monitoring.

The specification can be found at the following link:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

A separate specification covers services for children:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/e09-paedi-neurology.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to his Written Statement of 17 December 2015, HCWS 431, to which deployed coalitions the UK is party.

Michael Fallon

The personnel embedded in coalition Headquarters are supporting Operation Shader and wider Middle East security operations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has conducted a workload impact assessment in respect of the introduction of the new Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 assessments.

Nick Gibb

The removal of unnecessary workload is a priority and is considered carefully when introducing any significant change for schools. Our primary assessment reforms have been designed to put arrangements for the majority of classroom assessment back into the hands of the school and to reduce the tracking burdens that national curriculum levels encouraged. We believe schools are best placed to decide how to assess pupils in line with their curriculum and that over time this should lead to a reduction in workload for teachers so that their efforts can focus on teaching.

Following the introduction of the new national curriculum and the removal of levels, we have developed new forms of statutory assessment at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2. The duty to report assessment at these points remains unchanged from previous years. We do recognise, however, that in this first year the new forms of assessment are used pupils and teachers will be adapting their approach. Significant reforms take time to embed and the best way to prepare pupils remains to focus on teaching the new national curriculum, which schools have been doing since September 2014.

Throughout the introduction of our important reforms to primary assessment, we have worked closely with teachers and head teachers and continue to listen to the concerns of the profession as the details of the new arrangements are finalised. We are working constructively with the teaching profession and their representatives to find solutions to some of the remaining issues.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure that patients have accelerated access to healthcare technologies.

George Freeman

The Government is actively supporting a number of initiatives to accelerate access to innovative treatments. These include the Early Access to Medicines Schemes which supports access in the United Kingdom to unlicensed or off-label medicines and represents a significant advance in treatment in areas of unmet medical need and the Accelerated Access Review, which aims to speed up access to innovative drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital products for National Health Service patients, and to make the UK the best place to develop these innovations.

NHS England supports the invention and adoption of transformative healthcare technologies. This includes existing technologies, where the benefits are already proven but wider adoption is critical to benefit all patients, and new technologies, which require larger scale trials to test out their impact individually and in combination. Current initiatives include the sponsorship of 15 Academic Health Science Networks (£48 million core funding in 2015-16), the Small Business Research Initiative (£20 million in 2015-16), and the Test Bed programme which is providing funding for frontline health and care workers to evaluate the use of novel combinations of interconnected devices such as wearable monitors, data analysis and new ways of working.

NHS England has been tasked under section 7.1 of the NHS Mandate to “Implement the agreed recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review including developing ambition and trajectory on NHS uptake of affordable and cost-effective new innovations”.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many medals have been issued to men conscripted into UK coal mines under the Bevin Boys Veterans Badge scheme.

Andrea Leadsom

Since 25^th March 2008, when the first Bevin Boys Veterans Badge was issued, to the end of March 2016 the Department has issued just over 5,100 Badges to former Bevin Boys and their widows, where their husbands passed away after the Badge was announced on 20 June 2007.