Tag: Nicholas Soames

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made in identifying ash trees with resistance to ash dieback disease; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart

Investing in research is one of our key commitments in response to ash dieback. We have invested over £21 million into tree health research and the UK is leading the way on the work to identify resistant strains. Defra funded research has already identified three genetic markers for tolerance. This is a significant first step in developing trees with tolerance to the disease and testament to the innovation and dedication of our world leading scientists.

The Government-funded screening trial of 155,000 ash saplings is also unprecedented in its scope.

Collectively, our research is investigating the genetic basis for natural tolerance and screening our native ash trees for genetic markers; work is also underway to further our understanding of the pathogen, how it spreads and local management approaches to protect individual, high value trees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK’s (a) direct and (b) indirect funding was to NATO in each of the last five years.

Mr Julian Brazier

Direct Ministry of Defence (MOD) funding to NATO can be found in the table below. The term "indirect funding" is not one used by the MOD in relation to NATO funding.

Financial Year	NATO Security Investment Programme	Military Budget	Total
	£ million
2010-11	£83.225	£101.566	£184.791
2011-12	£70.063	£104.292	£174.355
2012-13	£45.974	£123.408	£169.382
2013-14	£53.287	£109.741	£163.028
2014-15	£47.261	£82.050	£129.311

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons the number of doctors under training per year is capped.

Ben Gummer

The Government makes a significant investment in educating and training doctors. Health Education England has oversight in determining overall medical place numbers as we only fund places for the numbers of doctors we will need to work in the National Health Service in the future.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Highways Agency on litter clearance on roads.

Andrew Jones

The Secretary of State discusses a range of issues in his regular meetings with the Chief Executive of Highways England. I also raised the issue of litter on roads with the Chief Executive at our most recent monthly meeting on 15 March 2016.

Highways England actively monitors local authorities to ensure standards are maintained, as it is a local responsibility to clear litter on most of the A roads on the strategic road network. On the motorways for which Highways England is responsible, more than 150,000 sacks of litter are collected every year; an average of 411 bags every day at a cost of £40 per sack.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce tax on fast food containers.

Mr David Gauke

The Chancellor keeps all taxes under review. However, there are no plans to introduce a tax specifically on fast food containers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the interim findings of the Area Based Review of further education which includes Central Sussex College; what the geographical extent of that review is; and which other further education institutions are included in that review.

Nick Boles

Central Sussex College is within the Sussex area review, part of wave 1 of the area review programme which began in September 2015. This review covers Brighton & Hove City, East Sussex, and West Sussex Councils, and Coast to Capital and South East Local Enterprise Partnerships.

The other further education institutions included in this review are: Chichester College; City College, Brighton and Hove; Northbrook College, Sussex; Plumpton College; Sussex Coast College; Sussex Downs College; Worthing College; Bexhill College; Brighton Hove and Sussex Sixth Form College; and Varndean College.

The local steering groups overseeing each area review hold regular meetings and do not intend to publish interim findings of any area review.

The Department is committed to making the outcomes transparent, and once each review reaches its conclusions, there will be a report published at the end of each Area Review process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to hospital trusts on the discharge of frail elderly patients.

Alistair Burt

In this Parliament, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published a guideline on “Transition between inpatient hospital settings and community or care home settings for adults with social care needs” in December 2015. The guideline aims to improve people’s experience of admission to, and discharge from, hospital by better coordination of health and social care services.

NHS England’s “Quick Guide: Improving Hospital Discharge into the Care Sector” also provides practical advice for local health and care systems on how to improve hospital discharge for people with packages of care at home or with care home places.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-06-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what local organisation is accountable for the operation of the NHS in (a) Mid Sussex, (b) West Sussex and (c) Brighton.

Jane Ellison

NHS England advises that there is not one single organisation accountable for the operation of the National Health Service in Mid Sussex, West Sussex or Brighton. Instead, each of the NHS organisations in these areas is accountable for the different operational aspects of the provision of NHS services.

NHS England further advises that it commissions a comprehensive health service for patients in this area along with the Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG); Crawley CCG; Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG; and Brighton and Hove CCG.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish a timetable for the roll-out of the General Practice Resilience Programme to support GP practices in Mid Sussex constituency; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat

The milestones for the General Practice Resilience Programme have been set nationally by NHS England and can be found in section 8 of the programme’s guidance document at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/gpfv/resilience/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2016-09-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the Future Combat Air System.

Harriett Baldwin

As set out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), we are working in partnership with the UK defence industry and our closest allies to understand and develop the technologies that will be required for future combat air systems (FCAS). No decisions have yet been made as to what this system will consist of, nor the platforms and capabilities that it will include. We are focussing now on developing the core technologies that any such system will require. To do this we have developed and are implementing the FCAS technology initiative. This programme includes the development of an advanced unmanned combat air system (UCAS) demonstrator in partnership with France, bilateral projects with the United States (US) to mature other key technologies and a national programme to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in the combat air sector.

In Amiens in March 2016 we agreed to transition to the next phase of the UK/France UCAS programme in 2017 and to develop the full-scale demonstrators by 2025. In addition to the current projects we are in discussions with the US and other allies to understand areas of mutual interest for further collaborative work.