Tag: Mark Durkan

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on whether the resource impact assessment that NICE plans to publish alongside its guidance following its review of TA 85[ID456] of immunosuppressant agents for kidney transplant will include the effect on (a) the number of successful kidney transplants, (b) kidney dialysis capacity, (c) the UK national transplant waiting list and (d) the NHS Organ Donor Register.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has advised that it will publish a resource impact report to accompany its final technology appraisal guidance on immunosuppressive therapy for kidney transplant in adults (review of TA85).

The current draft version of the report makes no comment on the effect of this appraisal on these issues.

Further information on the ongoing appraisal is available at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-tag348

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what mechanisms his Department has put in place for responding to allegations that a competent harbour authority has not acted in conformity with the provisions of the Pilotage Act 1987.

Mr Robert Goodwill

It is a Competent Harbour Authority which has the statutory duty to determine what pilotage services need to be provided to secure the safety of navigation of vessels operating in their waters. Where a ruling on the legality of its actions is needed, that is a matter for the court rather than the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to support the preliminary ceasefire recently agreed in South Sudan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) condemned the violence and called on all sides to cease fighting. The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) and senior members of Her Majesty’s diplomatic service have also been in touch with regional colleagues on how to bring an immediate end to the crisis. At the UN, we are pressing for action at the Security Council including on securing an arms embargo to tackle the flow of weapons and ammunition to those pursuing violence.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tax claims stoppages made directly by HM Revenue and Customs in August 2016 were related to compliance with annual renewals.

Jane Ellison

Between 1 August 2016 and 31 August 2016 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) automatically stopped 365,483 tax credit claims as a direct result of customers failing to comply with the requirements of the annual renewal process.

Alongside the annual renewal process, HMRC records the number of awards that have been amended, which could be stopped, reduced or increased. Therefore, data showing the total number of claims stopped following a compliance intervention is unavailable.

During the course of the contract, HMRC delegated a total caseload of 2,209,500 cases for high risk renewal checks by Concentrix. Of these 1,635,676 cases were not the subject of further investigation for fraud or error by Concentrix. This amounts to 74% of the total caseload.

The volume of high risk renewals referred to Concentrix are broken down into the three risk categories as follows:

• Undeclared Partner: 1,398,908

• Work & Hours: 564,983

• Child Care: 245,609

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to improve nutrition for women and children in lower middle income countries.

Grant Shapps

The UK Government has made a commitment to improve the nutrition of 50 million people by 2020, including in lower middle income countries. Those being helped includes children under five, breast feeding women, women of childbearing age and adolescent girls. This commitment builds on our previous 2010 commitment to reach 20 million children under five and pregnant and breast feeding women with nutrition programmes by 2015. By mid 2015 we had reached 28.6 million people.

Further details can be found on Development Tracker: http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/

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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 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on the Port and Marine Safety Code.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There are no plans to make the Port Marine Safety Code mandatory. The non-statutory status of the Code is vital to its success, enabling port operators to apply industry-agreed good practice flexibly in ways most appropriate to the size and operations of their facility.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the obstruction of humanitarian agencies delivering assistance to civilians and the expulsion of international NGOs in South Sudan would trigger the sanctions regime provided for in UN Security Council Resolution 2304.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The sanctions threat in UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2304 relates specifically to the obstruction of the UN Mission in South Sudan or the deployment of a Regional Protection Force. However, the obstruction of the activities of international peacekeeping, diplomatic, or humanitarian missions in South Sudan or of the delivery or distribution of, or access to, humanitarian assistance are some of the criteria set out in UNSCR 2290, which renewed the sanctions regime on South Sudan until 31 May 2017.

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

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of the tax claims stopped directly by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the last 12 months had previously been referred to Concentrix by HMRC as high risk renewals.

Jane Ellison

Between 1 August 2016 and 31 August 2016 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) automatically stopped 365,483 tax credit claims as a direct result of customers failing to comply with the requirements of the annual renewal process.

Alongside the annual renewal process, HMRC records the number of awards that have been amended, which could be stopped, reduced or increased. Therefore, data showing the total number of claims stopped following a compliance intervention is unavailable.

During the course of the contract, HMRC delegated a total caseload of 2,209,500 cases for high risk renewal checks by Concentrix. Of these 1,635,676 cases were not the subject of further investigation for fraud or error by Concentrix. This amounts to 74% of the total caseload.

The volume of high risk renewals referred to Concentrix are broken down into the three risk categories as follows:

• Undeclared Partner: 1,398,908

• Work & Hours: 564,983

• Child Care: 245,609

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support communities affected by land grabs being in the Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia.

Mr Nick Hurd

DFID’s development support is improving millions of peoples’ lives in Ethiopia by supporting basic services for the poorest; promoting job creation, particularly for women; tackling female genital mutilation and early child marriage which ruins lives; and boosting people’s nutrition and ability to cope with natural shocks.

DFID does not have programmes that specifically target those affected by resettlement, nor does DFID fund resettlement programmes in the Omo Valley or elsewhere in Ethiopia. However since 2011, DFID, alongside other donors in Ethiopia, has visited resettlement sites, including in South Omo, to view implementation against international good practice. We have found no evidence of forced resettlement, but we have concerns about the level of consultation, speed of implementation and respect for international good practices on resettlement. We have regularly raised these concerns with the Government of Ethiopia. Further information can be accessed on the Development Assistance Group website: www.dagethiopia.org

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