Tag: Parliamentary Question

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 2016-04-25.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people were employed in the retail sector in each of the last 10 years, and what estimate they have made of the number of people who will be employed in that sector over the next 10 years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The number of jobs (both employees and self-employed) in the retail sector in each of the last ten years and the proportion of total UK Workforce Jobs is given in the table below:

Year	Workforce Jobs (‘000s)	% of UK Total
2006	3,189	10.0%
2007	3,194	10.0%
2008	3,218	9.9%
2009	3,127	9.8%
2010	3,076	9.7%
2011	3,065	9.7%
2012	3,098	9.6%
2013	3,084	9.4%
2014	3,126	9.4%
2015	3,159	10.0%

Source: UK Employees Jobs and Self Employed Jobs (ONS)

Her Majesty’s Government has not made forecasts of future job levels in the retail sector.

January 1, 2023

Lord Pearson of Rannoch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pearson of Rannoch on 2016-06-07.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 1 June (HL345), whether they can veto any proposed EU army, or whether this could go ahead under enhanced co-operation” between other EU member states.”

Earl Howe

The Prime Minister has been clear that the United Kingdom’s Armed Forces will never be part of a European army. In the Treaty on the European Union there is special provision for any decision within the EU that has military or defence implications. Such decisions must be made unanimously, meaning that the UK has a veto. This also applies to enhanced co-operation, which requires agreement by all member states before it can be undertaken.

January 1, 2023
Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department will (a) approve and (b) fund the upgrade of the A303/A30 between Southfields and Honiton.

Mr John Hayes

The Road Investment Strategy, covering the period 2015 to 2020, commits funding for small-scale improvements to the A303/A30 between Southfields and Honiton to improve safety and journey quality, alongside a £2bn commitment to upgrade the A303 as a strategic corridor to the South-West. The Department and Highways England are gathering evidence to inform plans for investment in the Strategic Road Network post-2020, and decisions about further investment in this route will be made as part of this process.

January 1, 2023
Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what responsibilities the Government has for delivering services to teenagers and young adults with cancer.

David Mowat

Cancer services for teenagers and young adults are delivered by a network of Principle Treatment Centres and Designated Hospitals, commissioned centrally by NHS England. Services include:

– All cancer chemotherapy and radiotherapy;

– Specialist palliative care services;

– Survivorship;

– Long-term follow up; and

– Specialist therapies and rehabilitation.

Cancer services for teenagers and young adults reflect the unique needs of this age group. The delivery of care is arranged similarly to adult services, but there are important differences including the delivery of care in an age-appropriate environment and multi-disciplinary teams include social workers, youth workers, and activity coordinators.

Services also support teenagers and young adults with the late effects of cancer treatment which particularly affect this age group. Because cancer is a rare condition in this age range, teenage and young adult services work very closely with other agencies to deliver emotional, psychosocial and specialist therapies to support each teenager and young adult to maximise their physical, emotional, cognitive, social and functional potential.

January 1, 2023
Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to boost exports to (a) Indonesia, (b) Vietnam, (c) Thailand, (d) Malaysia, (e) the Philippines and (f) other countries in South East Asia.

Anna Soubry

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) has established a regional network to support UK trade and investment across South East Asia. This helps provide UK companies with access to the fast-growing markets of the region. The network is on target to assist nearly 10,000 businesses this year. UKTI has directly assisted in export deals with the region worth £2bn in the first six months of this financial year, putting us on track to deliver the UK’s best ever trade figures for the region. My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister urged the European Union to accelerate negotiations on the EU-ASEAN FTA, a deal that is worth an additional £3 billion a year to the UK economy.

Closer collaboration across the region, supported by continued investment from government, has enabled UKTI to operate ever more efficiently, working with more British businesses and securing a higher value of business wins. Six regional priority sectors have been identified- reflecting UK strengths as well as the scale of opportunities in the region – enabling a more strategic approach to trade delivery in Infrastructure, Education, Energy, Financial & Professional Services, Consumer Retail and Healthcare.

Significant investment is also being made in the development of additional trade service capacity, being delivered by industry partners in the region, principally through Chambers of Commerce. This represents the government’s growing focus on the region as a global growth engine, and is indicative of the continuing importance that this government places in seeking out global opportunities to boost the UK economy.

In July of this year my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister led a trade mission to Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. The mission was made up of 30 British businesses, and included the signing of trade deals worth over £750 million. Concurrently, my right hon. Friend the Secretary for State for Business, Innovation and Skills led the inaugural Northern Powerhouse delegation, comprising over 50 UK companies, to Singapore and Malaysia.

During his visit to Indonesia, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced that the Government will make available up to £1 billion to finance infrastructure projects involving UK business, in Indonesia through its export guarantee scheme. The UK welcomes the recent commitments made by President Joko Widodo’s government on deregulation and improving the business and investment environment in Indonesia, as well as the talks between Indonesia and the EU on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which will benefit both Indonesia and the UK. Richard Graham MP, the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Indonesia and the Asian Economic Community (AEC) has paid two visits this year to Indonesia, pushing forward trade priorities and promoting work on second-tier cities within Indonesia.

Two-way trade with Vietnam more than doubled between 2009 and 2014, reaching £2.81 billion, with the UK being amongst Vietnam’s largest trading partners within the EU. During my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s visit in July, the first by a serving British Prime Minister, Rolls Royce and Vietnam Airlines signed an agreement totalling £340 million, Prudential announced a £100 million investment and ZincOx agreed a £75 million investment for hazardous waste recycling.

In the past year, over 1000 UK businesses have been helped to trade with Thailand. Notable improvements to the business environment include: British beef and lamb now being allowed to be imported into the Thai market after a 20-year hiatus, which will bring business of some £9m over the next five years; the British Embassy Bangkok, with other embassies and Chambers, encouraged the Thai authorities not to proceed with new regulations which would have directly impacted foreign ownership of over 5000 companies, many British, as well as deter further UK investment opportunities; finally the Government has encouraged the Thai authorities, with strong support from the Thai Prime Minister, to sign up to the Construction Transparency Initiative, which should improve public procurement practice for major infrastructure projects.

Exports to Malaysia (the UK’s second largest export market in ASEAN) have risen by almost 25% between 2010 and 2014. Over the past four years, there have been more UK Ministerial and VIP visits to Malaysia promoting trade and investment than ever before, including two visits by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. Recent successes include a £4.2bn supply and maintenance deal between Rolls Royce and Air Asia. Posts have successfully worked to tackle market access barriers, for example, helping to open up engineering and legal services in Malaysia.

In the first half of this year UK exports to the Philippines grew by 44%, the third highest growth in exports to any country worldwide. Major deals include a £90m contract for the supply of electronic voting machines, a £70m deal for a British solar company and the appointment of Arup as the lead designer on the country’s second largest airport.

Lord Puttnam, UK Trade and Cultural Envoy to Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam has also made two visits to the region this year, strengthening important business and governmental links and working on campaigns ranging from infrastructure to education.

January 1, 2023
Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking, and advocating to others, in order to boost Palestinian economic activity in Zones B and C of the occupied West Bank.

Earl of Courtown

DFID is promoting economic development which is vital for Palestinian development. We are providing £15 million (2013-2019) through the Palestinian Market Development Programme (PMDP) which seeks to improve the competitiveness of 570 Palestinian businesses and address market failures. So far 190 firms in the West Bank including Areas A, B, and C have been assisted and were able to develop 117 products and enter 63 new markets. Through the UN FAO, DFID has helped vulnerable rural farmers in Area C support their families through increased incomes from agricultural production. We also continue to fund the development of Palestinian outline plans to improve Palestinian communities’ access to services in Area C.

The UK remains deeply concerned about the impact of Israeli restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which continue to be the main impediment to sustainable economic growth in the Occupied Palestinian Territories including Area B and C. We have consistently called on Israel to improve movement and access in the OPTs, including in visits by the Minister of State for International Development and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We fund advisers to support the work of the Office of the Quartet (OQ) on easing movement and access restrictions in the OPTs and to improve the environment for businesses operating there.

January 1, 2023
Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on the guidance given to local authorities regarding housebuilding on floodplains.

Brandon Lewis

The Department, together with the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, holds regular discussions with the Environment Agency on a variety of matters including to ensure the safeguards in national planning policy to protect people and property from flooding are being applied. Between April 2011 and March 2015 over 99% of proposed new homes had planning outcomes in line with Environment Agency advice where they had objected because of concerns about flood risk and had been made aware of the decision.

January 1, 2023
Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent consideration he has given to the findings of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills on the issue of skills shortage vacancies; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles

We are investing in apprenticeships to meet identified skill needs across all sectors. We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020 and will ensure they deliver the skills employers and the economy need for growth. We have also announced plans for ground-breaking reforms to technical and professional education, working in direct partnership with employers to ensure the new system provides the skills most needed for the 21st century. Together with creating 5 National Colleges, supporting a new network of Institutes of Technology and rolling out more degree and higher level apprenticeships, we are helping to equip people with the higher and technical level skills that are in demand.

Our aim is for all local areas to take a leading role in skills provision to ensure it is responsive to local economic priorities and devolution deals with areas around the country are a big step towards this ambition so that they can secure the training and skills that local employers need.

January 1, 2023
Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the effect on survival rates in kidney patients and on the Domain 1 outcomes of the NHS Outcomes Framework of transplants unsuccessful because of the lack of availability of immunosuppression treatments that the patient can tolerate, following the recommendation from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (review of TA 85) [ID456] to restrict access to such agents.

George Freeman

We have made no such assessment.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not yet published its final updated guidance on the use of immunosuppressive therapy for kidney transplant in adults (review of TA85) or on the use of immunosuppressive therapy for kidney transplant in children and young people (review of TA99). NICE is developing resource impact reports to support implementation of its guidance which will be published alongside its final technology appraisal guidance.

January 1, 2023
Lord Shinkwin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Shinkwin on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support individuals with Down’s Syndrome and their families.

Lord Prior of Brampton

There is support available for families with children born with Down’s syndrome. For many people this will involve an early intervention programme, to help support the child’s development and provide support to the family. This support will be delivered by health visitors and midwives.

An early intervention programme can include speech and language therapy, physiotherapy to help with any muscle weakness, and individual home teaching programmes.

Where a child has a special educational need, the local authority should also make support available to ensure the child has access to the same educational opportunities as a child without such a need. The Children and Families Act 2014 introduced a statutory framework for local authorities and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), to work together to secure services for children and young people up to the age of 25 who have special educational needs or disability.

General practitioners can provide an annual learning disability health check. Children and young people aged 14 and over who are on a general practice’s learning disability register are eligible to have a health check and a health action plan linked to this check. The health check and health action plan can inform a local authority’s annual review of young people with special educational needs from age 14 onwards to help them to prepare for adult life.

The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to undertake an assessment when an adult appears to have care and support needs. The assessment must involve the adult, their carer and anyone else they want to involve and consider the outcomes the person wants to achieve, their needs and how these impact on their wellbeing.

January 1, 2023