Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to take account of the reported views of several members of the Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group that weak evidence was used to support the conclusions of the March report by Professor Walker on the regulation of herbal medicines and practitioners that there is no credible evidence base for herbal medicine and no rationale for accrediting training courses in that field.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Herbal Medicines and Practitioners Working Group, Chaired by Professor Walker, was an independent Group with a clear remit. The internal workings of the Group, and the evidence it considered when carrying out the various strands of its work, was for the Group and its Chair to determine. The Government will review the recommendations of the report and provide its response in due course.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether additional financial support is available to local authorities who participate in the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme to assist them with housing Syrian refugees.

Richard Harrington

The first 12 months of each refugee’s resettlement costs are met from the UK’s overseas aid budget. At the Spending Review, government committed £129m to assist with local authority costs over years 2-5 of the scheme. This is a substantial level of funding which will enable local authorities to support these vulnerable people as they rebuild their lives in safe and secure surroundings, among supportive communities in the UK.

01/01/2023
Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will take steps to ensure that football supporters from all nations of the UK have equal free access to their national team games aired on television.

Tracey Crouch

I share the enthusiasm of all supporters to be able to watch their home nation on TV. Where home nations compete in the European Championship and World Cup final tournaments, fans can watch them on free to air television as they are Listed Events. Beyond that it is a matter for the Scottish FA to negotiate with UEFA, under a central sales strategy, who broadcasts Scotland qualifying or friendly matches.

01/01/2023
Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the conditions in which Kamal Foroughi is being held in Evin Prison, Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We have not been able to obtain access to Mr Foroughi since his detention in May 2011. The Iranian Government does not recognise dual nationality for Iranian citizens. Our requests for consular access to detainees have been rejected on these grounds. We regularly express our concerns about all of our consular cases at high level with the Iranian Government.

Prime Minister David Cameron raised these issues in a letter to President Rouhani on 19 October and again in a telephone call on 19 January. Most recently this was raised by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) during Foreign Minister Zarif’s visit to London on 5 February. I am also keeping a close interest in Mr Foroughi’s case, having recently met with his son in London on 1 December and 14 January.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with bus companies on priority wheelchair spaces on buses.

Andrew Jones

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR) 2000 require all affected vehicles to incorporate a designated space suitable for a reference wheelchair.

The use of the wheelchair space is currently the subject of a case at the Supreme Court however. As such Ministers are unable to discuss it with bus operators.

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of free schools that have participated in local authority pupil place planning in each of the last three years.

Edward Timpson

Data reported at May 2015 showed that local authorities (LAs) already had plans in place to deliver more than 80,000 new places in 2016/17, and we know many more will have been planned and delivered since then, including through central programmes.

Free schools can play an important part in helping LAs meet place pressures, and every free school has been opened in response to either the need to provide extra school places, the need to provide parents with greater choice or the need to provide more high quality school places. 85% of mainstream free schools approved since January 2014 are in areas where there was a basic need for additional school places. An additional group of schools were approved on the basis of more up-to-date LA data on future need for places and where section 106 agreements suggest need related to new housing developments. There are currently 117 mainstream free schools in the pipeline.

Many local authorities are recognising the opportunity that the free schools programme provides and are encouraging new and existing high quality education providers to apply to set up a new school in their area. We encourage all local authorities to do likewise.

01/01/2023

Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of pharmacies in the UK in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

The information requested is provided in the following table.

Number of registered pharmacies in Great Britain, both National Health Service and private, for each of the last 10 years

As at 31 December
2006	12,545
2007	12,844
2008	12,958
2009	13,224
2010 (as at 31 October)	13,465
As at 31 March
2011	13,500
2012	13,850
2013	14,186
2014	14,306
2015	14,367
2016	14,397

Source: For the years 2006 to 2009 the data is taken from archived records of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. From 2010 to 2016 the information has been provided by the General Pharmaceutical Council.

Number of registered pharmacies in Northern Ireland, both NHS and private, for each of the last 10 years (as at 31 May)

2006	548
2007	530
2008	538
2009	539
2010	542
2011	543
2012	548
2013	548
2014	549
2015	552

Source: Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland

01/01/2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the terms of reference for the Inter-Ministerial Group on Anti-Corruption.

Matthew Hancock

This is available on www.gov.uk

01/01/2023
Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to reduce homelessness.

Mr Marcus Jones

One person without a home is one too many. That is why the Government is clear that prevention must be at the heart of everything we do to reduce homelessness. We are investing £500 million to prevent, relieve and reduce homelessness across this Parliament. This includes protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, which will amount to £315 million by 2019-20, to help them continue to provide quality advice and assistance to everyone who approaches them for help. Since 2010, local authorities have helped prevent or relieve over one million cases of homelessness.

Reducing homelessness is a complex issue. The causes are varied and driven by issues such as health, education, justice, welfare, and employment. That is why we have increased central investment to tackle homelessness over the next four years to £139 million, including a new £10 million Social Impact Bond to support rough sleepers with the most complex needs. This builds on the success of the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond, run by the Greater London Authority to turn round the lives around of 830 of London’s most entrenched rough sleepers. Over half have achieved accommodation, employment or reconnection outcomes.

In addition we have invested £15 million to improve outcomes for young people through the Fair Chance Fund. This funding is turning around the lives of around 1,900 18 to 25 year olds with complex and overlapping needs, by supporting them into accommodation, education, training and employment.

We also announced in the Budget an additional £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living. I am also considering Bob Blackman MP’s Homelessness Reduction Bill 2016-17.

01/01/2023
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-11-10.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts are being made to tackle rape and sexual and gender-based violence in the Darfur region of Sudan, in the light of the previous attacks on women and girls in that region.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We continue to press the Government of Sudan to tackle sexual and gender-based violence. We raised the situation with the Director of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in late October. At the UN, the UK led on Security Council Resolution 2228 which called on all parties to the conflict in Darfur to make and implement specific and time-bound commitments to combat sexual violence. At the Human Rights Council in September we supported the Sudan resolution which condemned violations or abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law with specific reference to sexual and gender-based violence. In addition, UK-funded project work has provided support to over 150 survivors of rape in Darfur and contributed to the successful prosecution of members of the police and armed forces. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

01/01/2023