Tag: Mark Durkan

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.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve one-year cancer survival rates over the next five years.

Jane Ellison

We want to lead the world in fighting cancer. Survival rates have never been higher, but we want to go further. In England, the independent Cancer Taskforce’s five-year strategy for cancer, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, published in July 2015, recommends improvements across the cancer pathway with the aim of improving survival rates.

Updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence referral guidelines for suspected cancer could save about 5,000 lives with general practitioners urged to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold for tests. Whilst health is, of course, a devolved matter, we know that these guidelines are often used by the devolved administrations.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department is having with NHS England on ensuring patients continuing access established precision treatments for colorectal cancer.

George Freeman

We are not aware of any discussions with NHS England on this matter.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies focuses on the most marginalised children including girls and children with disabilities.

Mr Nick Hurd

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I provided on 23rd May to Question number 37287.

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 have raised the issue of poor treatment by Israeli authorities at border crossings and entry points with the (a) UK Government, (b) embassy in Tel Aviv and (c) consulates in Jerusalem and Ramallah in the last 12 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

Since January 2016, 15 British nationals have alleged poor treatment by Israeli authorities at border crossings.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to tackle extremism in Sudan.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK has engaged directly with the University of Medical Sciences and Technology in Khartoum on counter extremism issues. This led to us supporting two parallel events in 2015 – one at the university in Khartoum and one in Manchester for alumni – which aimed to raise awareness and to engage staff, students and the graduate association on options for tackling the risks of radicalisation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for peace talks in Colombia of the on-going violence perpetrated by paramilitaries in that country.

Mr Hugo Swire

We strongly believe that the best way to achieve a sustainable peace in Colombia after decades of conflict is through the current Peace Process. We welcome the announcement by both sides on 23 September, on an agreement for justice and victims’ reparations. The agreement ends any notion of impunity, including those alleged to be involved in Paramilitary groups.

Our Embassy in Bogotá receives regular reporting on the security and human rights situation in Colombia from a range of sources including non-governmental organisations operating in Colombia. This includes allegations of abuses by paramilitary groups such as attacks against leaders of land restitution claims and human rights defenders. The majority of such abuses continue to take place in areas affected by the ongoing conflict. We remain concerned about the ongoing activity of paramilitary forces operating in Colombia and we continue to raise this issue of Human rights regularly with the Colombian authorities.