Tag: Jim Cunningham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) military and (b) financial support his Department has provided to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq and Syria in the last year; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Militarily, the UK is conducting air operations as part of the Global Coalition to assist the Iraqi Government and Kurdish Regional Government in their fight against ISIL. The UK is also providing training and equipment to Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish Peshmerga in northern Iraq. The UK has provided over 50 tonnes of non-lethal support, 40 heavy machine guns, nearly half a million rounds of ammunition and £600,000 worth of military equipment to the Kurdish Peshmerga. We have gifted 1000 counter-IED VALLON detectors to Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish fighters. We have also delivered over 300 tonnes of weapons and ammunition on behalf of other Coalition nations. In Syria, the UK is not providing material support to Kurdish groups. Financially, the UK, through the Department for International Development, is providing £79.5 million in humanitarian assistance to help those across Iraq, including in the Kurdistan Region, who have been affected by ISIL’s brutality. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also manages a portfolio of projects under the Conflict, Security and Stability Fund worth £10 million in Iraq, aimed at helping political reconciliation, building community cohesion and encouraging security sector reform – a portion of which will benefit the Kurdish Region. The UK is providing over £1.1 billion in humanitarian assistance across the region to help those affected by the conflict in Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what financial support his Department has provided for research into antibiotic resistance in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The information requested is not available. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Department’s Policy Research Programme (PRP). Spend on research funded directly by the NIHR is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories. There are no HRCS health sub-categories, and no category or sub-category for antibiotic resistance.

On 18 November 2015 the NIHR announced funding for 16 studies relating to antimicrobial resistance with an investment of over £15.8 million to date, with funding of further projects expected during 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 16575, if he will review the adequacy of the number and accessibility of pharmacy facilities; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

NHS England is responsible for ensuring the adequate provision of pharmaceutical services. Local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) assess the need for pharmaceutical services for the relevant area and describe this in the Pharmaceutical Needs Assessment (PNA). Each HWB was required to publish its first PNA by April 2015 following a full local consultation. NHS England determine applications from a prospective contractor to provide NHS pharmaceutical services by reference to the most recent PNA and whether there is an need identified in the PNA.

The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical and Local Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2013 (as amended) require the Secretary of State to carry out a review of the Regulations and publish the report before the end of August 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the average number of hours worked by Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency staff in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Jones

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has not made an estimate on the average number of hours worked by its members of staff in each of the last five years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 12142, if his Department will publish any expert advice it has received to inform its policy on the safety of safe-standing facilities at higher tier sports stadia.

Tracey Crouch

Government is not, at present, persuaded by the case put forward to re-introduce standing accommodation in grounds covered by the all-seater requirement. We will, however, monitor its introduction in Scotland closely and reassess this position once evidence from the Scottish experience is available and the Hillsborough Inquests have concluded, taking into account any recommendations made by the coroner on stadium safety.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of sanctions measures imposed on North Korea in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Hugo Swire

The UN and EU sanctions measures on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have increased the cost and difficulty to the DPRK of its efforts to fund, supply and develop their nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

However, these sanctions regimes would be strengthened by more rigorous implementation by all UN Member States. As the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) said following the nuclear test conducted by the DPRK on the 6 January, we are working with other UN Security Council members to ensure the international community responds robustly, including immediate work on further significant measures in a new UN Security Council Resolution.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women born in the 1950s who have been affected by the changes to pension terms made in 1995 and 2011; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson

We have interpreted the question as asking how many women in total were affected by State Pension age equalisation in either the Pensions Act 1995 or the Pensions Act 2011 or the increase in the State Pension age to 66 in the Pensions Act 2011.

The estimated number of women born between April 1950 and December 1959 who are affected by the changes to State Pension age made in the 1995 and 2011 Pensions Acts is 3.48 million. This figure, rounded to the nearest 10,000, is for Great Britain and is based on DWP calculations using ONS statistics.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what support his Department provides to outdoor recreational activities across the UK; and if he will make a statement.

Tracey Crouch

We recognise the importance of outdoor recreation and this is reflected in our new sport and physical activity strategy, published in December 2015. Sport England is currently working with the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) on the ‘Getting Active Outdoors’ insight report – the largest ever of its kind – to get the nation active – particularly children, pensioners and women. In the meantime, Sport England is investing over £68 million in outdoor recreation sports, including £3 million invested in the Britain on Foot campaign, to get more people hillwalking, trail running and mountaineering.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate she has made of the financial support her Department has provided to the United Nations Childrens’ Fund in each of the last five years.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The core and non-core contributions (in £ millions) made by DFID to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2009/10 until 2013/14 can be found in the table below. These figures are taken from DFID’s internal data sources and DFID’s publication ‘Statistics on International Development’.

Delivery Channel	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
DFID core funding to UNICEF	21.0	23.6	40.0	40.0	46.0
DFID non-core funding to UNICEF	113.9	127.4	207.1	192.3	270.1
Total DFID funding to UNICEF	134.9	151.0	247.1	232.3	316.1

Data for 2014/15 will be included in the next release of DFID’s ‘Statistics on International Development’ publication. This is due for release in February 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Attorney General, if he will estimate the costs attributed to the Department for Education by the former Treasury Solicitor’s Department in each year since 2010.

Robert Buckland

The Treasury Solicitor’s Department was renamed the Government Legal Department (GLD) on 1 April 2015. It is primarily funded through the fees it charges for its legal services. It provides Litigation, Employment, Commercial and Advisory legal services to the Department for Education (DfE). The fees charged to DfE for this work, including the cost of disbursements, are as follows:

Financial year	Fees (excluding VAT) £
2010-11	4,208,845
2011-12	4,499,546
2012-13	4,805,840
2013-14	4,409,976
2014-15	4,098,629

Providing information on the costs attributed to cases relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would incur disproportionate cost as it would involve a manual exercise to identify those historical cases that relate to FOI.