Tag: Parliamentary Question

Christopher Pincher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Pincher on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the (a) most recent environmental risk assessment for bound use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks, (b) exposure levels of dioxins and heavy metals in the air when the blocks were cut, drilled or crushed in buildings and (c) scientific methodology used for measuring these levels.

Rory Stewart

In 2012 the Environment Agency’s Definition of Waste panel gave a positive end of waste opinion to the company Carbon8 for the use of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks. The company’s submission included their own risk assessment for safety and environmental impacts. We have not published, and do not intend to publish, information on the risks or the methodology relating to the binding of air pollution control residues in concrete blocks.

01/01/2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will commission an independent review into the sentencing regime for imprisonment for public protection which will involve those criminal justice agencies that manage the sentence and incorporate the experiences of prisoners and their families.

Andrew Selous

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders 2012, abolished the sentence of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) and introduced a new sentencing scheme for dangerous offenders.

In respect of IPP sentences already imposed, the government considered that it would not be right or appropriate retrospectively to alter sentences that had been lawfully imposed, particularly because in this case those sentences were imposed with public protection issues in mind.

Significant numbers of IPP prisoners continue to be released where the Parole Board is satisfied that they can be safely managed in the community, but other prisoners currently remain too high risk to be released. It is a priority for us to help remaining IPP prisoners progress towards release, by ensuring that their parole reviews take place on time, through greater efficiency in the parole process, and by giving their opportunity to complete relevant interventions and work in order to demonstrate reduced risk to the Parole Board.

01/01/2023
Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve co-ordination of care for heart failure patients across primary and secondary care.

Jane Ellison

NHS England is working with key partners to ensure better co-ordination and integration of all services with the aim of delivering person-centred and coordinated care which is tailored to the needs and preferences of the individual, their carer and family.

Specifically on heart failure, NHS England is working with Health Education England to look at ways of improving the provision of and increase access to echocardiography, which is used for the diagnosis of heart failure.

NHS England has also established a best practice tariff for acute heart failure. This aims to encourage better practice in the caring for heart failure patients. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published quality standards for acute heart failure and chronic heart failure, which can be found at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/QS9

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs103

NHS England expects commissioners and providers to take account of quality standards in the services that are delivered to patients.

The use of natriuretic peptides in diagnosing heart failure is widely understood and pathology laboratories are used to measuring them. The NICE’s guidance on acute heart failure and chronic heart failure both cover the use of natriuretic peptides. This guidance can be found at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg108

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg187

The NICE has also developed a commissioning toolkit for the use of natriuretic peptides assessment in primary care for suspected heart failure:

https://www.nice.org.uk/sharedlearning/a-commissioning-toolkit-for-use-of-natriuretic-peptide-assessment-for-suspected-heart-failure-in-primary-care

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01/01/2023
Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of removing the protected status of seagulls in urban areas on local authorities’ ability to manage seagull populations more effectively.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

Defra has not undertaken such an assessment. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 already allows for the control of gulls, under licence from Natural England, in the interest of public health and safety or to prevent disease. Local authorities, businesses and individuals are also able to take action to manage urban gull populations e.g. using bins with secured lids, ensuring domestic animals are not fed outside and that streets are clear of litter.

01/01/2023
Mrs Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how and when the Community and Environment Fund and Business and Local Economy Fund allocated to the route of High Speed 2 Phase One will become available.

Andrew Jones

We anticipate the Community and Environment, and Business and Local Economy funds will be open for applications in early 2017 at which point guidance on the application process will be published.

01/01/2023
Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase research into the causes and types of rare diseases in England.

George Freeman

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has invested significantly in world-class research infrastructure in the National Health Service, to provide the facilities and people to undertake and increase research into rare diseases.This includes significant funding through the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Units, the NIHR Bio Resource – Rare Diseases which provides opportunities for patients, their families and health volunteers to take part in early translational research on the basis of their genotype and phenotype, and the dedicated NIHR Rare Diseases Translational Collaboration that brings together the country’s leading researchers in rare diseases and promotes collaboration including with the life sciences industry.

In 2012 the NIHR also launched a call for Applied Clinical Research on Very Rare Diseases as part of the researcher-led funding streams across six of the NIHR Research Programmes. This call was issued in support of the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases and in recognition of the need for increased high quality evidence on the organisation of super specialised services or their commissioning and to improve the health outcomes for sufferers of rare diseases.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they support the rebuilding of the town of Kobane in Syria; and if so by what means they envisage this being brought about, and whether they will ask the government of Turkey to allow full access for materials and experts.

Baroness Verma

The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region and has pledged over £1.1 billion to date, our largest ever response to a single humanitarian crisis.

The majority of UK assistance to Syria is humanitarian. UK aid, delivered by UN and NGO partners, is guided by humanitarian principles and therefore prioritises the most vulnerable people across Syria based on their needs.

We continue to encourage the Government of Turkey to facilitate delivery of cross-border humanitarian assistance and reconstruction materials into Syria. We also advocate for the full reopening of border crossings, and we continue to call on all sides of the conflict to respect International Law and protect civilians.

With respect to Kobane specifically, as people return, key priorities are to ensure that habitable areas and farmland are de-mined to make them safe for return as well as ensuring that residents are educated in mine risk awareness.

01/01/2023
Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost to the economy of computer hacking.

Matthew Hancock

The Government takes cyber security very seriously: since 2011 we have invested £860 million in a National Cyber Security Programme to protect the UK from cyber attack. Measures have included: setting up a National Cyber Crime Unit, establishing CERT-UK – a computer emergency response team, creating a Cyber Information Sharing Partnership for companies to share information, the Cyber Essentials Scheme for businesses, cyber risk reviews for companies and developing cyber initiatives into the education process.

We will invest £1.9b in cyber security over the next five years to protect the UK from cyber attack. This ambitious level of investment will include: a programme of active cyber defence; creation of a National Cyber Centre and an ambitious skills programme.

01/01/2023
Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-01-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what work is being undertaken by the United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide in relation to the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government has received a number of recent representations on these issues from Parliament and members of the public and is responding in writing.

We condemn in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed by Daesh against all civilians, including Christians, Mandeans, Yazidis, and other minorities, as well as the majority Muslim population who continue to bear the brunt of Daesh’s brutality. The UK has led efforts within the UN to tackle and condemn Daesh and on the protection of civilians more widely. For example, we co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council Resolution mandating the UN to investigate and report on Daesh abuses.

It is a long-standing Government policy that any judgements on whether genocide has occurred are a matter for the international judicial system rather than governments or other non-judicial bodies.

Ultimately, the only way to protect Christians, Yazidis and other minorities in the region from Daesh is by defeating this terrible organisation, which in turn requires, amongst other things, ending the conflict in Syria. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), set out the UK’s comprehensive strategy for defeating Daesh and finding a political settlement to the Syria conflict in his response to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 26 November 2015.

The joint Office of the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect (the Office) are engaged with these issues and publish much of their activity online, including statements in relation to the situation of Christians and other minorities in Syria and Iraq. Our officials maintain regular contact with officials from the Office to discuss issues related to the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. The Government provides funding for the Office, including for their work with religious leaders and faith based organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region, aimed at the prevention of incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

01/01/2023

Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) drugs of each type and (b) other items were confiscated from visitors to each prison in each year since 2010.

Andrew Selous

We have a range of security measures and searching techniques to prevent smuggling into prisons and to detect items of contraband including drugs. We have legislated to make smuggling New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) into prison illegal, use specially trained dogs to detect illicit drugs and will evaluate the use of Body Scanners to reveal drugs concealed within the body.

We refer all visitors to prisons found in possession of drugs to the police. We also use closed visits, where the prisoner and visitor are prevented from physical contact, to deal with visitors and prisoners who smuggle or are suspected of conveying drugs through visits.

The table below shows the number and type of drugs confiscated from visitors in each prison for the period 01 October 2015 to 31 December 2015. Prior to 01 October 2015 the Incident Reporting System (IRS) did not specifically record who possessed the drugs found.

Number of incidents where drugs were found in visitor’s possession, October to December 2015, by establishment and drug type

Establishment	Drug type	Number of incidents¹²
Aylesbury	Cannabis	3
Birmingham	NPS: Black Mamba	1
Brinsford	Cannabis	1
	Unknown	1
Bristol	Other	1
Bullingdon	NPS: Spice	1
Cardiff	Amphetamines	1
	Buprenorphine/Subutex	1
	Heroin	1
	NPS: Spice	1
	Other	1
	Unknown	1
Channings Wood	Heroin	1
Chelmsford	Cannabis	2
	NPS: Spice	2
Coldingley	Unknown	1
Doncaster	Amphetamines	1
	NPS: Other	1
	Other	2
	Unknown	3
Dovegate	Other	1
	Unknown	1
Elmley	Cocaine	1
Featherstone	Unknown	1
Feltham	NPS: Other	1
	NPS: Spice	1
Forest Bank	NPS: Black Mamba	1
	Unknown	1
Guys Marsh	Unknown	1
Haverigg	Unknown	3
High Down	Unknown	1
Highpoint	NPS: Other	1
	NPS: Spice	2
Hewell	Cannabis	3
	NPS: Other	1
	NPS: Spice	2
	Other	1
	Steroids	1
Holme House	NPS: Spice	1
Humber	Amphetamines	1
Lancaster Farms	Unknown	1
Leeds	Amphetamines	1
	Cocaine	1
	NPS: Other	1
Lindholme	Cannabis	1
	NPS: Spice	1
	Unknown	1
Lowdham Grange	Cannabis Plant	1
Manchester	Cannabis	1
	NPS: Spice	1
Moorland	NPS: Spice	3
	Other	1
	Unknown	1
Morton Hall	NPS: Spice	1
New Hall	Unknown	1
Northumberland	Unknown	2
Norwich	Heroin	1
Oakwood	Heroin	1
	Other	1
	Unknown	1
Onley	NPS: Spice	1
	Steroids	1
	Unknown	1
Parc	Unknown	1
Peterborough Male	Other	1
Peterborough Female	Crack	1
	Heroin	1
Ranby	NPS: Other	1
Risley	Cannabis	1
	NPS: Spice	2
	Unknown	2
Rochester	Cannabis	1
	Crack	1
	Unknown	2
Stoke Heath	NPS: Other	1
The Mount	Cannabis	1
	Heroin	1
	NPS: Other	1
	NPS: Spice	2
Verne	NPS: Other	1
Wayland	NPS: Spice	2
Wymott	NPS: Other	1

(1) Number of incidents where each drug type were found.

(2) Where establishment is not listed, no confiscations were reported in the period

Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the NOMS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.

01/01/2023