Tag: Greg Mulholland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of drugs available on the NHS for the treatment of people diagnosed with (a) MS and (b) Alzheimer’s disease.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body which makes decisions on the clinical and cost effectiveness of drugs based on a thorough assessment of the best available evidence. National Health Service commissioners are required to fund drugs and treatments recommended by NICE technology appraisals.

NICE has recommended a number of drugs as treatment options for multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease and further information is available at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/neurological-conditions

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

On 4 November the The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Philip Hammond) and I met President Khoja and other representatives of the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (National Coalition) in London. We discussed the urgent need for political transition in Syria as the only way to solve the conflict and defeat ISIL. We were clear that Assad has no place in Syria’s future and that the new political process in Vienna offers the opportunity to make progress towards Syrian-led negotiations. The National Coalition expressed their readiness to reach out to other moderate political and armed groups in Syria and agreed that the opposition negotiating team must be able to speak for the Syrian people. The UK’s special representative for Syria maintains regular contact with the National Coalition. The UK will continue to work with the National Coalition and our international partners in pursuit of a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England is taking to develop an in-year draft commissioning policy for the use of everolimus to treat tuberous sclerosis complex.

George Freeman

NHS England is currently developing a clinical commissioning policy statement to cover the use of Everolimus in adults with angiomyolipoma in association with tuberous sclerosis complex, as part of its in-year policy work programme.

In common with its standard process, NHS England has formed a policy working group and commissioned a clinical evidence review. This is now complete and is informing the development of a draft policy statement. The draft policy statement, along with the evidence review, will be shared and tested with stakeholders prior to formal consideration by NHS England in early 2016. The policy statement will be published in due course.

In the meantime, NHS England will continue to consider funding this treatment for individual patients in clinically exceptional and/or critically urgent clinical circumstances.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of flood defences in the Leeds city region.

Rory Stewart

Whenever an exceptional event happens it is important to review what happened and how to prepare for the future, and the Environment Agency will always do this after a flood incident.

The flood response in Yorkshire will be overseen by Transport Minister Robert Goodwill who has been appointed as Flooding Envoy to the county and will track progress on recovery and identify lessons learnt

Work has also already started on the National Resilience Review, which is considering forecasting and modelling, resilience of key infrastructure and the way we make decisions on flood expenditure. The Review is being delivered by a cross-Government team and will be published in the summer.

£40 million funding has been committed to repair flood defences in response to the flooding. Going forward, as part of our new flood defence programme, we have been working with Leeds City Council and we are investing £33 million in a project to better protect Leeds City Centre. Construction of the new defences is already underway.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding his Department has given to the Hospitality Guild for creating centres of excellence in Asian cookery.

Nick Boles

The ‘Centres of Excellence in Asian Cookery’ pilots were organised by People 1^st, which was operating on behalf of the Hospitality Guild, which received funding from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) through their grant with BIS. People 1^st reported that during the period of the pilot (October 2011 to September 2013), 79 people started training at the Centres of Excellence for Asian and Oriental cuisine, out of which 46 completed the pre-employment course, 22 completed work experience and 7 moved onto an apprenticeship.

£205,961 was provided to fund the Asian Cookery campaign. In total, UKCES allocated £1,745,785 to create the Hospitality Guild and to promote skills training, apprenticeships and innovation in the hospitality industry through a range of measures. These included apprenticeships as chefs, baristas, bar staff and hotel management, training provider accreditation, work placements and launching the Hospitality Guild Portal where careers tools, an employer guide and a vacancy matching service can be accessed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what representations she has received on lowering the Tier 2 visa scheme’s minimum salary threshold for chefs.

James Brokenshire

Acquiring this information on visa applications from chefs would involve examining each individual case record held by UK Visas & Immigration for the Tier 2 category. To do so would incur a disproportionate cost.

The Home Office regularly receives representations to lower the criteria (including the salary requirement) for sponsoring chefs under Tier 2, the skilled worker route. Tier 2 is, however, reserved for graduate level occupations. We continue to welcome the very top chefs who promote innovative and authentic cuisine here in the UK — and these types of skilled chefs are on the shortage occupation list. The salary threshold applied to chefs was based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

We have been clear, however, that the restaurant industry needs to move away from an unsustainable reliance on migrant workers. We want to nurture more home-grown talent and encourage young people in this country who want to pursue a skilled career. This means the restaurant sector offering training to attract and recruit resident workers to meet their staffing needs.

The industry is starting to make progress in this area, recruiting and training more chefs in the UK, and this needs to continue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answers of 11 January 2016 to Question 21375 and of 18 January 2016 to Question 22215 on flood control: per capita costs, what steps she took to ensure that the geographical boundaries of Environment Agency areas and census regions matched for the purposes of those calculations.

Rory Stewart

Public facing Environment Agency Areas match local council boundaries used by the Office of National Statistics (with the exception of ‘Central Bedfordshire’) and so census figures can be scaled to the Environment Agency Areas that the flood risk management Grant in Aid allocations were taken from. As Central Bedfordshire is wholly within the Areas that make up our eastern hub this does not change the per capita calculation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the reduction in single-use plastic carrier bag usage in England since the carrier bag charge was introduced.

Rory Stewart

Retailers are required to provide data for the first reporting period ending 6 April 2016 by 31 May 2016. Any assessment the department makes on the reduction of single use carrier bags will be after that point.

In December, Tesco reported a 78% reduction in the number of single-use carrier bags distributed since the introduction of the charge. They also reported an increase of nearly 50% in the number of online shoppers selecting ‘bagless’ deliveries.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department gives to children with tuberous sclerosis complex.

George Freeman

The commissioning of most health services for children is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups. NHS England has the role of commissioning the specialised services which patients with tuberous sclerosis access. In addition clinical policies are developed for new treatments that potentially change the impact of the disease.

NHS England has approved, as an in year service development, the routine commissioning of Everolimus for angiomyolipomas associated with tuberous sclerosis. The policy statement will be published in the next few days which will define the clinical criteria for which access is supported.

A full clinical policy for the use of Everolimus for subependymal giant cell astrocytoma is currently out for public consultation. This policy proposition will be considered for investment in the annual prioritisation round in June 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether his Department or Saxton Bampfylde Ltd approached any person to apply for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy.

Anna Soubry

The Department and the contracted executive search agency, Saxton Bampfylde, approached individuals to consider applying for the Pubs Code Adjudicator vacancy. This was done in accordance with standard practice.