Tag: Mark Durkan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the finding in the report, The future potential economic impacts of a bio-plastics industry in the UK, published by the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association in October 2015, that, given the correct legislative environment, a UK bioplastics industry could support 35,000 jobs and contribute £1.9 billion to the economy.

Joseph Johnson

I note the report by the Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association into the future potential impacts of a bio-plastics industry in the UK.

The Government delivers a range of policies across the business landscape – including research funding and innovation – that will be helpful in supporting the development of this sector. At the recent Autumn Statement, it was confirmed that science funding of £4.7 billion will be protected in real terms over the Parliament, and we will protect the Catapult network to support innovative firms and sectors.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department, NHS England and NICE will publish work undertaken to analyse variation between areas in treatment for patients during the transition from the current Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) to proposed a new CDF scheme.

George Freeman

NHS England has advised that it plans to publish analyses of variation in use of Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) drug indications according to geographical areas in the spring of 2016 and then routinely in the future for the new CDF.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the Iranian government on the continued detention of seven Bahá’í leaders.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK regularly raises our concerns at the treatment of the Baha’i community in Iran. We call on Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to allow freedom of religion to all Iranians.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens are known to have been (a) detained and (b) delayed when entering Israel in the past 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

​According to Israeli figures 129 000 British nationals have visited Israel since 1 January 2016, and 50 British nationals have been refused entry into Israel through Ben-Gurion Airport. Of these, 25 sought assistance from the British Embassy. A further 65 British nationals have been refused entry at the Allenby Bridge.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding from the public purse the UK will contribute to the Better Migration Management programme.

Rory Stewart

The €46 million ‘Better Migration Management’ programme is part of the EU’s joint work on addressing unmanaged flows from Africa under the Horn of Africa component of the €1.9 billion EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa. The UK has made no direct financial contribution to this programme. However, we have committed to a contribution of €3 million to the Horn of Africa component of the Trust Fund overall. That is in addition to the UK’s underlying contribution to the Trust Fund, which amounts to approximately 15% of the EU’s total €1.8 billion contribution, predominantly drawn from the European Development Fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps the Government is taking to maintain current spending levels on the core elements of the science budget in real terms over the course of the Parliament.

Joseph Johnson

The Government made clear in the Spending Review its commitment to science and research. We will protect science resource funding in real terms from its current level of £4.7 billion per annum for the rest of the Parliament. Growth in the ring fence will be used to invest in a new £1.5 billion Global Challenges Research Fund for UK science to pioneer new ways of tackling global problems. As well as increasing resource spending for science, we are investing in new scientific infrastructure on a record scale, delivering on the £6.9 billion science capital commitment in our manifesto to provide the infrastructure and funding to keep the UK globally competitive.

The allocation of budgets to individual funding bodies, programmes and facilities has yet to be determined. As per previous spending rounds this allocation process will take place over the coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that approved personalised medicines are available to patients with colorectal cancer.

George Freeman

On 24 September, the NHS England Board agreed the development of a Personalised Medicine Strategy for the National Health Service. Personalised medicine is a move away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the treatment and care of patients with a particular condition. It uses emergent approaches in areas such as diagnostic tests, functional genomic technologies, molecular pathways, data analytics and real time monitoring of conditions to better manage patients’ health and to target therapies to achieve the best outcomes in the management of a patient’s disease or predisposition to disease. The high-level vision and strategy is to create a Personalised Medicine service in the NHS embracing four overarching principles: the prediction and prevention of disease; more precise diagnoses; targeted and personalised interventions; and a more participatory role for patients.

The independent Cancer Taskforce’s five-year strategy for cancer, Achieving World-Class Outcomes (July 2015), recommends improvements across the cancer pathway, with the aim of improving survival rates.

NHS England is currently working with partners across the health system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations of the Cancer Taskforce. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead on implementation, as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience. She has set up a new Cancer Transformation Board to implement the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January. There will also be a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board.

The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for NHS patients to transformative new medicines and technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include personalised medicines for the treatment of colorectal cancer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if the Government will make a multi-year commitment which increases in real terms funding for education in humanitarian situations.

Mr Nick Hurd

The UK is committed to providing long-term support for education in emergencies and crises, and will continue to put contributions through the most effective channels based on their ability to deliver results. For example, following an initial £115million contribution to the No Lost Generation in Syria initiative, the UK has added a further £240million for education in Jordan and Lebanon over the next four years.

The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund, which is designed to attract multi-year additional funding for education in emergencies and protracted crises. The UK has recently announced a multi-year commitment of £30million to the Education Cannot Wait fund at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23 May, as a founding donor to this important initiative.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens held in Israel’s airport detention facilities have been provided with consular assistance by the UK embassy in Tel Aviv in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

​Since January 2016, 25 British nationals who have been detained at Ben-Gurion Airport have requested consular assistance from the UK Embassy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will list the joint projects between the UK and Sudanese governments that are tackling extremism in the Horn of Africa region.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We are not engaged in any joint projects with the Government of Sudan directly designed to tackle extremism in the Horn of Africa. We are, however, exploring options for cooperation in this area with relevant Sudanese Government bodies, as we believe the Government of Sudan has an important role to play in countering these threats.