Tag: Lord Jones of Cheltenham

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government in which countries, excluding the Commonwealth, EU, or Overseas Territories, do people in receipt of the UK state pension receive annual uprating of their pension.

Baroness Altmann

The Government has a clear position, which has remained consistent for around 70 years: UK state pensions are payable worldwide and uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or countries where we have a reciprocal agreement that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this.

Details of the numbers of people in receipt of the state pension, and whether they live in countries where the state pension is frozen or uprated, is included at Annex A. Countries where the UK state pension is up-rated are identified by an asterisk by the name of the country.

The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off in a reformed EU. Of course there is uncertainty about how a vote to leave the EU could impact on access to pensioner benefits for UK pensioners living in other parts of Europe. These questions would need to be answered as part of the process of negotiating the UK’s exit if there is a vote to leave. We could only consider the detail of access to pensions and benefits for people in receipt of UK state pensions who are resident in Europe as part of the process for leaving the EU.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Altmann on 2 March (HL6343), why Canada was excluded from the list of countries in Annex A, and what figure for the number of people in Canada in receipt of a frozen UK state pension should have been included.

Baroness Altmann

The information requested can be found at page 2 of Annex A, at line 5 of the table provided in the answer I gave on 3 March to (HL 6343). I attach that here at Annex A for convenience.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2016-03-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Altmann on 2 March (HL6343), why there is a difference within the Overseas Territories resulting in some people receiving uprating of their pensions while the pensions of others are frozen, and what would be the annual cost of unfreezing pensions for all those living in the Overseas Territories.

Baroness Altmann

The government has a clear position, which has remained constant for around 70 years: the UK State Pension is payable worldwide and is uprated abroad where we have a legal requirement to do so for example in the European Economic Area or in countries where there is a reciprocal agreement in place that allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this.

The annual additional cost of up-rating the state pensions of those recipients who are resident in the British Overseas Territories is estimated at approximately £1million in 2015/16.

Were this to occur, liabilities for pensioners who live in other countries and territories would also have to be met. The estimated cost of increasing pensions in those countries where they are not currently uprated would be over £0.5 billion a year. This would be financially unaffordable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the appraisal criteria upon which medicines for rarer cancers are approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has advised that it is not planning to specifically review the methods used for appraisal of medicines for rarer cancers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what initiatives they are planning to encourage tourists to use the new airport on St Helena.

Baroness Verma

The UK Government is providing financial support of £4.8 million between 2013 and 2016 to Enterprise St Helena, the island’s economic development agency. Enterprise St Helena is supporting the tourism sector through tourist promotion, international advertising, hospitality training, and small business development grants. It is also working with Comair, the St Helena Government’s airline partner, to encourage tourists to visit the island.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which medicines will be delisted following their planned changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has advised that decisions on which drugs will be removed from the national Cancer Drugs Fund list are still subject to change. A revised list will be published on NHS England’s website in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what NHS pathways will be available to patients newly diagnosed as suffering from (1) multiple myeloma, and (2) rarer cancers, when changes are made to the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has advised that a draft treatment pathway for patients with multiple myeloma is currently in the process of being finalised and is likely to be published early in 2016. This has been the subject of public consultation and is being revised to take into account the comments received.

Work on the treatment pathways for patients with rarer cancers is planned for development and consultation in 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the United Kingdom life sciences industry of their planned changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Neither the Department nor NHS England has made any such assessment.

The Government regularly holds discussions with life sciences companies about the United Kingdom business environment and these routinely include discussion about the impact of policies such as the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF).

The independent Accelerated Access Review is considering the long term landscape for innovation adoption and how schemes like the CDF best fit within this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jones of Cheltenham on 2015-10-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the global standard of care that will result from their planned changes to the Cancer Drugs Fund.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England has advised that no assessment has been made of the impact on the global standard of care that will result from any changes to Cancer Drugs Fund.