Tag: Parliamentary Question

The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2015-12-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what priority the FCO gives to the promotion and protection of human rights globally.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is committed to the promotion and protection of human rights globally and views the upholding of universal rights as intrinsic to all our bilateral work overseas and our support for the rules based international order. The UK’s decision to stand for re-election to the UN’s Human Rights Council in 2017 reflects the importance we attach to this issue. The UK views the promotion and protection of human rights as inalienable rights in themselves, and as a precondition to security and global economic growth.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase public awareness of rare diseases.

George Freeman

The UK Strategy for Rare Diseases was published in 2013 and is currently being implemented across all four countries of the United Kingdom. The UK Rare Diseases Forum monitors the implementation of the Strategy and provides the Department with advice on rare disease policy development, including awareness raising. The 100,000 Genomes Project, a world-leading initiative launched by the Prime Minister in December 2012 has rare diseases as one of its key priority areas.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2016 to Question 25199, what steps he is taking to encourage the development and implementation of improved HGV design.

Andrew Jones

We are working with our European counterparts on specifications for safer and more aerodynamic cab designs in HGVs. We will continue to work pro-actively with the European Commission and other EU Member States, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), Transport for London and other stakeholders to improve the safety of HGVs.

The Department for Transport’s “British Road Safety Statement” published in December 2015 sets out a number of measures to further improve safety of vehicles. The Department plans to consult on sideguard provisions in the second half of 2016 to ensure these important safety devices remain on the vehicle throughout its life.

Department for Transport officials have negotiated improved requirements for mirrors on the passenger side of the largest heavy goods vehicles and these will apply from 1 July 2016. Camera monitoring systems will be permitted to replace mirrors from around 1 September 2016, which should further improve driver vision around HGVs.

Officials have worked with our European partners to require fitment of technology helping HGVs avoid collisions. Electronic Stability Control (ESC) has been gradually rolled out to all new HGVs and the final phase will be implemented on 11 July 2016, when it will become compulsory on certain smaller HGVs below 12 tonnes laden weight. Advanced Emergency Braking Systems were recently made compulsory on new HGVs over 8 tonnes laden weight, and we expect it will become compulsory on goods vehicles between 3.5 and 8 tonnes laden weight from 1 November 2018.

01/01/2023
Mike Freer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which professional bodies provide accreditation for (a) counselling and (b) psychotherapy services for the NHS.

Alistair Burt

The Department has no statutory powers to compel professional bodies to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). We are working closely with the group who drafted the MoU, currently led by the UK Council for Psychotherapy, which has successfully increased the number of signatories since the document was first published in February 2015. The group will continue to encourage others to sign up to their revised MoU, which will be extended to include transgender people, over coming months.

The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) provides independent accreditation of voluntary registers for counselling and psychotherapy services.

Accreditation by the PSA allows commissioners, employers, and service users to assure themselves that the practitioners on these registers meet high standards of training, conduct and competence, and at all times apply high ethical standards to their work.

The PSA accredits the following voluntary registers relevant to counselling and psychotherapy:

Association of Child Psychotherapists;

Association of Christian Counsellors;

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy;

British Association of Play Therapists;

British Psychoanalytic Council;

Counselling & Psychotherapy in Scotland;

National Counselling Society;

Play Therapy UK; and

UK Council for Psychotherapy.

01/01/2023
Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for core regulatory activities within the Health and Safety Executive in the next three years.

Justin Tomlinson

HSE, like many other public bodies, will deliver further budgetary savings over the next three years. HSE has set out in its 2016/17 Business Plan its priorities and key deliverables up to April 2017, including its commitment to securing effective management and control of risk in GB workplaces. For the longer term it has a financial strategy to deliver the required savings whilst seeking to maintain current levels of its core regulatory activities and sustaining regulatory excellence.

01/01/2023
Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote religious freedom in Saudi Arabia; and what recent representations the Government has made to Saudi Arabia on that matter.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We strongly support the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which is restricted in Saudi Arabia, reflecting views which are widely held in Saudi society. The authorities are encouraging reforms at a pace that is acceptable to Saudi society. This includes allowing foreign workers in Saudi Arabia to practice religions other than Islam in private.

We regularly raise human rights issues, including in relation to the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, with the Saudi Arabian authorities.

01/01/2023

Jo Churchill – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jo Churchill on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of (a) trends in the take-up of academy places and (b) the performance of academies in Bury St Edmunds constituency in the last five years.

Edward Timpson

The number of pupils on roll in the nine academies in the Bury St Edmunds Constituency for the years when they were open as academies from January 2012 to January 2016 is provided in the table below:

	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Bury St Edmunds County Upper School	1009	993	957	978	987
Horringer Court Middle School	296	272	307	356	371
Westley Middle School	468	466	470	468	478
Priory School	121	117	129	135	143
Tollgate Primary School	N/A	N/A	N/A	224	273
Great Barton Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	200
Rattlesden Church of England Voluntary Controlled School	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	123
Thurston Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	197
Woolpit Community Primary School	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	171

Source: School Census, January 2012 to 2016

The percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2 in 2012 to 2015 for academies with results in 2015 in the Bury St Edmunds constituency was as follows:

	2012	2013	2014	2015
Horringer Court Middle School	64%	72%	79%	83%
Westley Middle School	67%	70%	80%	78%

Source: School Performance Tables

The percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) including English and mathematics GCSEs at key stage 4 in 2012 to 2015 for the academy with results in 2015 in the Bury St Edmunds constituency was as follows:

	2012	2013	2014	2015
Bury St Edmunds County Upper School	74%	77%	70%	70%

Source: School Performance Tables

There were no open academies in Bury St Edmunds constituency before August 2011 and no academy results before 2012. Key stage 4 results from 2014 reflect the removal of many equivalent vocational qualifications and other reforms.

01/01/2023

Julie Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Elliott on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether he has had any discussions with officials from the automotive industry on levels of future investment in the UK.

Mr David Jones

Ministers across the Government are engaging with multiple sectors as we shape our negotiating strategy. Our automotive sector is very successful and we are determined to protect its interests.

01/01/2023
Jonathan Ashworth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-10-28.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his Department’s impact assessment on the Tax Credits (Income Threshold and Determination of Rates) (Amendment) Regulations 2015, what the (a) income brackets are for each decile and (b) equivalent levels are for the proportions in Chart 1.

Damian Hinds

The analysis that fed into the published Impact Assessment^{^[1]} shows how the £4.4bn of savings from the tax credit changes as laid out in the publication are distributed for each income decile on the income distribution for tax credit claimants. This has clearly demonstrated that tax credit claimants on the highest incomes – on average £42,000 a year – will contribute nearly 4 times as much as the claimants on the lowest incomes to the savings from this policy.

This Government is committed to moving from a high welfare, high tax, low wage economy to a lower welfare, lower tax, higher wage society. As the Chancellor has made clear, the Government will set out at Autumn Statement how we plan to achieve the same goal of reforming tax credits, saving the money we need to save to secure our economy, while at the same time helping in the transition.

[1] http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-committees/Secondary-Legislation-Scrutiny-Committee/DraftTaxCreditsRegs2015-ImpactAssessment.pdf

01/01/2023
Rachel Reeves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rachel Reeves on 2015-11-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Docetaxel chemotherapy medication is available from the Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman

Docetaxel has not been made available through the national Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) list. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended docetaxel for the treatment of hormone-refractory metastatic prostate cancer (where the disease becomes unresponsive to hormone treatment). Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance.

NHS England will consider Individual CDF Requests for cancer medicines not on the CDF list and not recommended by NICE to treat individuals whose clinician can demonstrate clinical exceptionality.

01/01/2023