Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations his Department has made to the Israeli government on the provision of services to communities of different ethnicities in the Negev region.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    Officials at our Embassy in Tel Aviv are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to demonstrate our concern by regularly visiting the Bedouin communities. They have raised the issue of provision of services with the Arab Affairs Officer in the Prime Minister’s Office and will continue to do so.

  • Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Earl Attlee – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Earl Attlee on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have the power or ability to refer Operation Midland to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

    Lord Bates

    The Home Office is unable to refer matters to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and cannot comment on individual cases which are a matter for individual forces.

    Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002 places a duty on the appropriate authority to refer a matter to the IPCC under certain prescribed circumstances. The appropriate authority would usually be the chief constable or, where the complaint or conduct matter relates to a chief officer, the local policing body for the force in question.

    The appropriate authority may also refer a complaint to the IPCC if it considers it appropriate to do so because of the gravity of the subject-matter or there are any exceptional circumstances involved. Where the appropriate authority is the chief constable and a case is not referred, the local policing body for the force may refer the matter to the Commission on the same grounds. The IPCC can, at any time, require the appropriate authority to refer a matter to it for consideration.

    As part of the measures to strengthen the powers of the IPCC in the forthcoming Policing and Crime Bill, the IPCC will in future have the power to investigate allegations of police misconduct, death or serious injury and complaints against the police without first awaiting or requiring a referral from a force.

  • Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Burt of Solihull – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Burt of Solihull on 2016-02-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effect that the EU referendum will have on their target of doubling exports by 2020.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    At the February European Council meeting the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union (EU). The Government’s view is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

    As part of the new settlement it was confirmed that the EU will pursue, with renewed commitment, free trade agreements with the world’s most dynamic economies, so that the tariff and regulatory barriers faced by UK companies in large and growing non-EU markets are reduced or eliminated. As an example, after the EU-South Korea deal came into force in 2011, UK exports to South Korea doubled in three years.

    These deals have the potential to boost UK exports significantly and can contribute to the Government’s 2020 target.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking in advance of the Global Anti-Corruption Summit in London in May to legislate to subject UK property owned by offshore companies to the same regulations as domestic companies and individuals.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    A discussion paper on proposals to require foreign companies to provide beneficial ownership information when purchasing or owning property or bidding for public contracts was published on Friday 4 March.

    The document has been published here: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/property-ownership-and-public-contracting-by-foreign-companies-improving-transparency and copies of the discussion paper have been placed in the libraries of both Houses.

    “

  • Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-04-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many pharmacies in the retail sector have been (1) reprimanded, and (2) sanctioned, by the General Pharmaceutical Council, in the last three years, for breaching patient privacy.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department does not hold this information. However, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has provided the following information.

    The GPhC undertakes inspections of all registered pharmacies in Great Britain. The vast majority of pharmacies currently receive a routine inspection every three to four years. Inspectors will, in addition, visit pharmacies to investigate concerns from members of the public or health professionals.

    Since November 2013 the GPhC has conducted 6,814 routine inspections of pharmacy premises to assess them against its standards. During every inspection GPhC inspectors seek evidence from the pharmacy team that standards relating to the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public are met. These standards cover the storage of confidential and private information and the physical and governance arrangements for ensuring patients can have private conversations with pharmacy professionals.

    Of the 6,814 inspections that have been carried out by the GPhC since November 2013, in 421 (6.2%) cases pharmacy premises were found to have failed one or more of the above three standards:

    – 274 did not meet standard 1.7 (Information is managed to protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services);

    – 174 did not meet standard 3.2 (Premises protect the privacy, dignity and confidentiality of patients and the public who receive pharmacy services); and

    – 73 did not meet standard 5.3 (Equipment and facilities are used in a way that protects the privacy and dignity of the patients and the public who receive pharmacy services).

    When pharmacy premises have not met one or more of the standards, they are required by the GPhC to complete and implement an improvement action plan.

    In addition, the United Kingdom and Scottish Parliaments recently approved legislation which includes powers to issue an improvement notice or disqualify a pharmacy from the register for a failure to meet the standards. This will improve the GPhC’s ability to protect patients and improve the quality of the pharmacy services they receive.

    In circumstances where the GPhC finds a registered professional’s fitness to practise is called into question it will investigate and can bring proceedings against that individual.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the NHS plans to offer keyhole surgery for liver and colon cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is committed to promoting evidence-based innovation and surgical techniques. Laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery can be used in many different surgical interventions, including for liver and colorectal cancer, as determined by clinical teams, often in discussion with the patient.

  • Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord West of Spithead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord West of Spithead on 2016-07-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are investigating the use of University Royal Naval Unit craft and the Maritime Volunteer Service to increase the number of platforms available for security of UK territorial seas.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Border Force and its partner organisations are well prepared to counter attempts by migrants to use small boats to circumvent border security and enter the UK illegally. A number of counter-measures have been put in place to detect and deter this activity, including the coordination of maritime security assets, so that maximum coverage at sea is delivered that ensures assets are in the right place at the right time.

  • Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Margaret Hodge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Hodge on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the register of persons with significant control, what proportion of returns from companies have listed a shell company in an offshore tax haven as the persons with significant control of that company since 6 April 2016.

    Margot James

    Companies House does not hold figures on the number of companies that have registered a shell company as their PSC. Companies can legitimately register a company as their PSC if that company meets the conditions of control, is the first legal entity in a company’s ownership chain and they are subject to their own disclosure requirements. A full explanation of the rules can be found in BEIS guidance.

    “

  • David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times the National Grid has used the demand side balancing reserve in each of the last 10 years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Demand Side Balancing Reserve (DSBR) was introduced by National Grid ahead of winter 14/15 to help manage electricity margins ahead of the introduction of the Capacity Market in 2018/19. Since its introduction, the DSBR has only been despatched on one occasion.

    Both last year and this year, National Grid will have instructed units within the DSBR as part of testing their capability to ensure they are able to achieve the level and speed of turn-down for which they are contracted.

  • George Howarth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    George Howarth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the Government is doing to encourage the equal treatment of mental and physical health within the NHS; and if he will introduce waiting time targets for children accessing all specialist child and adolescent mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is committed to ensuring parity of esteem between physical and mental health which is legislated by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. It also holds the NHS to account for achieving the objectives set out in the NHS Mandate, which includes ensuring that mental and physical health conditions are given equal priority.

    NHS England’s Five Year Forward View set out a clear commitment to driving towards a more equal response across mental and physical health and achieving genuine parity of esteem by 2020. NHS England’s Planning Guidance for 2015/16, Forward View into action: planning for 2015-16, sets out the expectation that clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) spending on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s allocation increase to support the ambition of parity between mental and physical health. Compliance with the Planning Guidance is being assured at national and Area Team level.

    The Government remains committed to a phased approach to developing further access and waiting standards across mental health. The most recent of which was the Eating Disorder Standard announced in August 2015.