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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many UK citizens have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC); and how many such people have used their EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in other EU countries in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The United Kingdom European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) means that people living in the UK are able to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.

    There are currently 27,570,911 cards in circulation, as of January 2016. The number of cards granted since 2006, providing such cover is:

    2014/15 – 5,414,977

    2013/14 – 5,571,060

    2012/13 – 5,240,608

    2011/12 – 6,830,734

    2010/11 – 5,703,895

    2009/10 – 4,162,170

    2008/09 – 4,269,023

    2007/08 – 4,160,935

    2006/07 – 5,163,121

    Source: Business Services Authority

    The Department does not hold information about on how many people have used their UK EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in another EEA country in any 12 month period. This is because data on UK EHIC usage is recorded by individual treatment episode rather than the card holder.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners at each establishment have risk indicators which have been identified after completion of a cell sharing risk assessment.

    Andrew Selous

    The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 373, Applying Results of Experiments on Animals to Human Patients.

    George Freeman

    The Government considers that the carefully regulated use of animals in scientific research remains a vital tool in improving the understanding of how biological systems work and in the development of safe new medicines, treatments and technologies.

    At the same time, the Government believes that animals should only be used when there is no practicable alternative and it actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), in particular through funding for the National Centre for the Replacement Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), and also through ongoing UK-led efforts to encourage greater global uptake of the 3Rs.

    Advances in biomedical science and technologies – including stem cell research, in vitro systems that mimic the function of human organs, imaging and new computer modelling techniques – are all providing new opportunities to reduce reliance on the use of animals in research. As part of this Innovate UK, the NC3Rs, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council have produced a Non-animal Technologies Road map for the UK, which offers an approach for the UK to develop, exploit and deploy new non-animal technologies for long-term economic and societal benefit. Integral to this strategy have been two Innovate UK industry-led competitions which have awarded approximately £7m in grant funding; “Developing non-animal technologies” and “Advancing the development and application of non-animal technologies”.

    EU and UK law requires safety testing on animals before human trials for new medicines can begin and animal research still plays an important role in providing vital safety information for potential new medicines.

    The Early Day Motion (EDM 373) rightly draws attention to the UK life science sector’s Concordat on openness in animal research which was launched last year, and provides new opportunities for transparency and debate in this area.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have been convicted of the offence of child destruction under the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 for performing abortions on other people in each year since 1986; and what each such case was.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The number of offenders found guilty at all courts in England and Wales, from 1986 to 2015, can be viewed in the table. The figures from 2005 onwards are a further breakdown of data published in the outcomes by offences data tool in the annual Criminal Justice Statistics publication, at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2015

    Information as to whether each case referred to abortion or miscarriage Is not available.

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  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is the Government’s policy that anti-terrorism cooperation under the Schengen Agreement should continue after the UK leaves the EU.

    Sarah Newton

    Cooperation against terrorism between the UK and European Union Member States has continued following the referendum. We continue to participate in those parts of the Schengen Agreement that relate to law enforcement cooperation, including the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

    Officials are exploring options for future cooperation arrangements once the UK has left the European Union. We will do what is necessary to keep people safe, but it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance of negotiations.

  • Lord Wigley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Lord Wigley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wigley on 2016-10-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are planning to publish any legal advice they have received on whether or not the UK has the right to withdraw the Lisbon Treaty Article 50 notification before the two year time-limit has elapsed if negotiations to leave the EU under the provisions of Article 50 lead to unacceptable conditions for Brexit.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    A clear majority of the UK electorate voted to leave the EU and we will respect the will of the people. The Government’s position is that once given, our notification will not be withdrawn.

    Our efforts will be focused on getting the best deal possible for the UK in the negotiations with the EU.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which countries’ citizens (a) may and (b) may not enter the UK without a visa.

    James Brokenshire

    Appendix 2 to Appendix V of the Immigration Rules – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules – sets out those countries or territorial entities whose nationals or citizens need a visa in advance of travel to the UK for any purpose. Nationals or citizens of countries or territories that are not included in paragraph 1(a) of Appendix 2 do not need a visa in advance of travel to the UK as a visitor or for any other purpose for less than six months.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.

    Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.

    The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS’s own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.

  • Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2016-01-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to increase diversity in police forces, in particular to close the gap between the percentage of applicants and percentage of appointments from black and minority ethnic groups.

    Lord Bates

    It is vital that the police reflect the communities they serve and I am determined to improve BME representation in all 43 forces in England and Wales.

    Decisions on when and how to recruit individuals are for the chief officer of a police force. It is important that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups.

    The Government’s reforms have already made improvements, for example we set up the College of Policing which has embarked on a major programme of work, BME Progression 2018, looking at recruitment, retention and progression of black and minority ethnic officers, including the development of an evidence base of successful approaches used by forces.

    As part of this programme the College recently published Positive Action Practical Advice, which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups, and it has published case studies from forces showing what can be done.

    The College of Policing is currently undertaking a review of initial police recruitment, including the SEARCH assessment centre for police recruits, to better understand disproportionality that can occur between white candidates and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The review is due to report by the 31 March 2016.

    Under this Government, innovative schemes such as Direct Entry and Police Now are increasing the number of BME recruits to the police, showing that you can achieve better representation while attracting the best and the brightest into policing.

    Of the nine direct entry superintendents who began their superintendent training on November 2014 four (44%) are women and two (22%) are from an ethnic minority background. This is significantly more representative than the current make up of the superintendent rank which comprises 17% women and 4% ethnic minority.

    Police Now, introduced in the Metropolitan Police, has appointed 69 people to start their training, up from an anticipated 50 owing to the high calibre of applicants. Of these, 43% are women and 9% are from a BME background, compared to the national BME proportion of 5.5%.

    With the joint leadership of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Commissioner, the Metropolitan Police also introduced its London residency criteria for recruits in August 2014. Recent Metropolitan police figures show that in the three months from June to August 2015, 26% of new Metropolitan police recruits came from a black or minority background, more than double the 12% recruited in the same quarter of 2014, and the 12% of Metropolitan police officers currently from a black and minority ethnic background.

  • Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Craig Tracey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Tracey on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects the decommissioning of Sparrowdale School to be completed.

    Edward Timpson

    School playing fields are protected by Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Schools and local authorities must obtain the Secretary of State’s approval before they can dispose of their land. Applications to dispose of school playing fields are considered by the independent school playing fields advisory panel, and are approved only when it is demonstrated that the application meets published criteria.

    The Department is aware of an application by Warwickshire County Council to seek approval to dispose of the former Sparrowdale Special School. The application is currently being processed by officials at the Education Funding Agency; a final decision should be expected in the summer. The application will only be considered when sufficient information is available to consider how the sale proceeds will be invested to benefit other local schools. The Secretary of State will consider the recommendation of the panel before making her final decision.

    The Department has published a list of decisions since May 2010 on applications for consent to dispose of school playing field land: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals

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