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 25th 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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-05-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken in response to Resolution 1815 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on measures to reduce exposure, particularly of children, to electromagnetic fields, agreed on 27 May 2011.
Jane Ellison
Pre-existing precautionary advice remains available to the United Kingdom public and internationally recommended (ICNIRP) guidelines on limiting exposures to electromagnetic fields are in place. The Government has not responded specifically to this Resolution.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the Ethiopian government on the implications for her Department’s supported programmes in Oromia of the response of that government to protests in that region.
Mr Nick Hurd
I visited Ethiopia on the 17th of June and held discussions with senior Ministers in the Ethiopian Government, reiterating our concerns about the response to the protests in Oromia. I emphasised that civil and political rights are an important aspect of DFID’s Partnership Principles assessments, which inform decisions on the shape of our programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce in the rest of the UK the General Licence Restriction Order for the protection of birds in use in Scotland; and if she will make a statement.
Rory Stewart
The introduction of a new regulatory measure requires evidence that it will be effective.
We will monitor the situation in Scotland to consider whether this measure is necessary and proportionate to assist in tackling wildlife crime in England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what account the prison estates review took of the existence of restrictive covenants prior to the Government’s announcement of the programme of prison closures and new prison construction.
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, if he will disclose a summary of the government advice on the legality of the drone strike that killed Reyaad Khan in the manner set out in Part 6 of the Cabinet Manual.
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 Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of electricity in the UK was generated by UK coal-fired power stations in 2015.
Andrea Leadsom
DECC will publish finalised energy market statistics including figures for electricity generation in 2015 later this year. However, provisional figures [1] show that coal accounted for 22% of UK electricity supplied over Q1 – Q3 in 2015 compared to 28% in the same period in 2014.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487838/Electricity.pdf
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