Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations he has made to Volkswagen on establishing a compensation scheme for vehicle owners in the UK affected by that company’s use of defeat devices.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government expects Volkswagen to treat its UK customers fairly and adequately address their concerns. We continue to press Volkswagen on the issue of compensation for UK consumers and the Secretary of State has summoned the Managing Director of VW UK to a further meeting this week to discuss the issue.

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to make (a) Nivolumab and (b) other immuno-oncology treatments for lung cancer available on the NHS.

    George Freeman

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently carrying out technology appraisals of nivolumab for two lung cancer indications:

    (i) previously treated locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. The expected publication date for this final guidance is September 2016.

    (ii) Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small-cell lung cancer after prior chemotherapy in adults. The publication date for this final guidance is to be confirmed.

    The NICE is also appraising pembrolizumab for treating advanced or recurrent PD-L1 positive non-small cell lung cancer after progression with platinum-based chemotherapy [ID840]. The expected publication date for the final guidance on this appraisal is January 2017.

    Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in the NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued. In the absence of guidance from the NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, when he plans to publish his Department’s response to the Parking Reform: Tackling Unfair Practices consultation.

    Andrew Percy

    The government made available the summary of responses to the discussion paper "Parking Reform: Tackling Unfair Practices" on 11 May.

    The summary can be found here: http://www.britishparking.co.uk/write/Documents/DCLG_Summary_of_responses_BPA.pdf

    We will set out our proposals on parking reform in due course.

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to review the rule preventing those who have acquired British nationality by descent under Section 2(1)(a) of the British Nationality Act 1981 from passing on citizenship to their children by descent in circumstances where their parents were on short-term secondment abroad at the time of their birth other than on Crown Service.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Children who are born overseas to British citizens by descent and do not acquire British citizenship automatically are able to apply for registration as a citizen where the family can demonstrate a close connection with the UK.

    The child of a British citizen is also able to enter the UK under the Immigration Rules as the child of a settled parent.

    There are no plans to change the law in this respect at the current time.

  • Stuart McDonald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart McDonald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart McDonald on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees selected for resettlement from UN camps to the UK had previously been selected for resettlement in the US.

    Richard Harrington

    The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 Syrian refugees brought to the UK by Christmas. We use the established UNHCR process for identifying and resettling refugees and have been working closely with them to achieve a significant uplift in the scheme.

    The UK collaborates closely with the major countries involved in resettlement, notably the US, Australia and Canada. In the expansion of the UK Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme we have worked with the US Government to take 500 people from the UNHCR’s pool of registered refugees that might otherwise have been passed to the US for consideration. No refugee actually selected for resettlement in the US has been passed to the UK; and all refugees being resettled in the UK have opted for this route.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, on the estimated number of patients who may have had a vital operation cancelled, how many patients who had such an operation cancelled had it rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation.

    Ben Gummer

    On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many defibrillators are provided in each building his Department manages.

    Mike Penning

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take to improve customer satisfaction with South Eastern, Southern, and Govia Thameslink train services, and whether they have plans to take over any of those franchises.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    It is for the operators of the relevant franchises to take steps to improve customer satisfaction and deliver the requirements set out in their respective Franchise Agreements.

    Gatwick Express and Southern are operated as part of the Thameslink Southern and Great Northern franchise operated by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). The Franchise Agreement includes a Passenger Experience Metric which was developed for this franchise to measure, reward and incentivise good levels of customer satisfaction. GTR failed to meet its benchmark for cancellations set out in its Franchise Agreement. In order to address the poor performance, the Department issued GTR with a Remedial Plan Notice that requires them to set out the measures they will take to improve their performance. GTR submitted its Remedial Plan and discussions are on-going to ensure the plan is robust. Once the measures are agreed they will become contractually binding through a Remedial Agreement.

    This year GTR will introduce new trains on the Gatwick Express service, replacing the current 25-year-old trains with a fleet better suited to the needs of airport passengers.

    The Southeastern franchise includes a financial penalty regime if the operator does not achieve the National Rail Passenger Survey (NRPS) benchmarks for stations, train services and customer service. We will review performance against these benchmarks in March 2016, and any penalties incurred must be re-invested into raising passenger satisfaction, with plans agreed by the Department.

    The Department has no plans to take over either of these franchises.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 19 February 2016 to Question 27234, how many of the 135 women referred to in that Answer became widows after 31 March 1973.

    Mark Lancaster

    A war widow(er) is the spouse of an ex-Service person whose death in Service, or subsequently, was attributable to injury or illness caused by Service in the Armed Forces before 6 April 2005.

    Of the 135 women who remarried between 6 April 2005 and 1 April 2015, 110 registered as a war widow from 1 April 1996 onwards and 20 women registered as a war widow prior to 1 April 1996. The Ministry of Defence is unable to determine the registered date for war widows prior to 1996, and therefore cannot confirm whether they were registered before, or after, 31 March 1973.

  • Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lisa Cameron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will estimate the proportion of rebel ground forces in Syria which could be considered moderate.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Prime Minister, the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) stated in Parliament in December 2015 that we assessed at that time that there were around 70,000 non-extremist fighters in Syria, standing up to both the tyranny of the Asad regime and the poisonous and murderous ideology of Daesh. Since the time of that assessment, there have been significant shifts on the ground, particularly as a result of Russia’s military escalation, the majority of which has directly targeted the moderate opposition.