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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-04-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will give details of progress made by all the networks of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, including future plans and a description of the outcomes obtained.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The action notes and papers from the last alcohol network group meeting, which took place on 5 November 2014 are attached. There are no current plans for any of the Responsibility Deal networks to meet, but the Department continues to engage with key stakeholders in each of these sectors as part of its routine policy activity.

    On alcohol, 1.3 billion units of alcohol were removed from the market through improving consumer choice of lower alcohol products, exceeding the target two years ahead of schedule. 101 companies pledged to have 80% of their bottles and cans of alcoholic drinks displaying unit content, the previous Chief Medical Officer’s lower-risk guidelines and a warning about drinking when pregnant by the end of 2013. An independent report (2014) found that 79.3% of labels provided all these three elements correctly, with 92.8% providing correct pregnancy information. The pledge was considered to be met.

    On food, around 75% of the retail market and 65% of major high street restaurants and contract caterers have committed to reduce salt. This includes all the major supermarkets, many big manufacturing brands, restaurant chains and contract caterers. 43 companies, including major retailers, fast food and pubs and caterers, as well as the makers of household-name brands are taking a range of actions to help us to consume fewer calories, including through reducing the sugar content of sugar sweetened beverages. 45 major out of home businesses are currently displaying calories on their menus to help consumers make informed choices when eating outside the home, and account for approximately a quarter of all out of home meals served. 23 businesses agreed to adopt the voluntary United Kingdom front of pack nutrient labelling scheme accounting for two thirds of the market for pre-packed foods and drinks.

    Employees in a wide range of companies are seeing their health and well-being taken more seriously as more and more organisations (over 500) signed up to the health at work pledges. The focus was on making occupational health more about prevention, as well as looking at improving the management of people with chronic health conditions, the workplace environment, healthier canteen food, encouraging more active travel and helping staff to give up smoking. Over 80 construction firms signed up to the health at work pledges representing over 250,000 employees. Construction is the UK’s largest industry employing 2 million workers, 6% of the entire workforce. It is also the unhealthiest industry. Construction workers are at least 100 times more likely to die from a disease caused or made worse by their work than they are to die from a fatal accident. These diseases are all preventable. This was the first sector-specific health at work pledge.

    Working behind the scenes and reaching into the heart of communities, many businesses and organisations – around 300 – made pledges to help get more people, of all ages and backgrounds, more active. Through the physical activity workplace pledge, we estimate 1.5 million more people are now supported to be more active than before in their workplaces.

    On 11 March 2016 the Department let all partners know that they will not need formally to report on the progress of the pledges that they have signed up to by submitting their annual updates this year. The Department has not separately analysed the annual reports submitted by partners to date.

    This Government has renewed priorities and it is considering how best to work with partners and other stakeholders to deliver those. This includes tackling childhood obesity and wider work on diabetes and prevention.

    The Department will keep all partners informed of any developments on the Responsibility Deal whilst the Government is considering how it should best work with industry to deliver its new priorities. In the meantime, the Government expects that all partners will want to continue to work towards the commitments they have already made and welcomes the fact that many organisations have continued to announce significant new commitments.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Royal College of General Practitioner’s report entitled A blueprint for building the new deal for general practice in England, published in May 2015, if his Department will respond to the recommendations of that report on (a) necessary increases in the GP workforce and (b) the proportion of the NHS budget that should be invested in general practice.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department has committed to increasing the primary and community care workforce by 10,000 by 2020, including an additional 5,000 doctors working in general practice.

    The General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April and developed in discussion with the Royal College of General Practitioners and other general practitioner (GP) stakeholders, sets out actions to double the rate of growth of the GP workforce by introducing measures to increase recruitment, retention and return to practice.

    The General Practice Forward View states that NHS England is committed to increasing the proportion of investment going into general practice services, which should reach over 10% by 2020/21. Investment in general practice will increase by £2.4 billion per year by 2020/21, meaning that investment will rise from £9.6 billion in 2015/16 to over £12 billion a year by 2020/21.

  • Paul Farrelly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Farrelly – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Farrelly on 2016-07-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to advise smokers on the range of harm-reduction products available to help them quit smoking.

    Jane Ellison

    For the first time, from May 2016, cessation information to signpost consumers to quitting support has become mandatory on tobacco products. The Government’s advice remains that the best thing a smoker can do is to quit and quit for good. Any smokers wanting to quit, with or without the help of products available on the market, are four times more likely to stop smoking and quit for good with the personalised support offered by local stop smoking services.

    The National Centre for Stop Smoking Services has issued guidance on offering advice to those wanting to use e-cigarettes as part of their quit attempts and encouraged local stop smoking services to be open to their use.

    The Government recognises that some people have found e-cigarettes helpful in quitting smoking and that they are considerably less harmful than continuing to smoke. The forthcoming tobacco control plan will consider the role of e-cigarettes and other harm reduction products in further reducing the prevalence of smoking in England.

    The Department has no current plans to review the restrictions on advertising for tobacco products.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government plans to continue to participate in the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work after the UK leaves the EU.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The United Kingdom will continue to participate in the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work while we remain a member of the European Union (EU). Decisions on any future participation after we leave the EU will be dependent on the outcome of the exit negotiations.

  • Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ensure that any new system of appraisal for cancer medicines will include in its remit appraisal for drugs which treat conditions with small patient populations.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that it intends to jointly consult with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund operating model. This will include the future arrangements for the evaluation of cancer drugs, including drugs for rarer cancers with small patient populations. Members of the public and any interested parties will have the opportunity to consider and comment on these proposals.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Stephen Gethins – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2015-12-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 9 November 2015 to Question 14345, if her Department will publish a position proper on the criteria it uses to ensure aid graduation is sustainable.

    Justine Greening

    The Department is currently undertaking a Bilateral Aid Review which will determine the countries that we will provide direct bilateral assistance to over the next five years.

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-01-21.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of trends in the levels of exit payments in the (a) private sector and (b) public sector in the last 20 years.

    Greg Hands

    The Government consulted on implementing a public sector exit payment cap in July 2015. The Government response to this consultation was published on 16 September 2015. This response provides detail on the potential impacts of the cap and sets out which organisations the Government intends to capture within scope of the public sector exit payment cap. The final policy is in line with the Government’s manifesto commitment to end tax payer funded six figure payoffs for public sector workers.

    The consultation ran from 31 July to 27 August 2015. Over 4000 responses were received. These representations were considered during and after the consultation to inform the Government response that was published on 16 September 2015.

    The response document can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/464367/Public_sector_exit_payments_response.pdf

    An impact analysis was published within the exit payment cap consultation document which respondents had an opportunity to comment on. Further, the Government worked with departments and took into account consultation responses received after the official deadline to inform the impact of a public sector exit payment cap set at £95,000 in different sectors and for different categories of workers. This assessment gave due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

    The exit payment cap is intended to capture organisations classified as public sector by the Office for National Statistics with few exceptions as identified in the consultation response.

    The Government does not expect the cap to have a widespread impact on the take-up of voluntary redundancy.

    At the 2015 Spending Review the Government announced it will consult on further cross public sector action on exit payment terms. This consultation will provide a good opportunity to collect further information on the trends in the level of exit payments between the private and public sector.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of the coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations originated in the USA in the first nine months of 2015.

    Andrea Leadsom

    DECC does not hold figures on the proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations, by country of origin. However, from January to September 2015, 16,784 thousand tonnes of steam coal (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) were imported into the UK, while coal used for electricity generation was 22,512 thousand tonnes during the same period.

    The USA provided 3,231 thousand tonnes of steam coal imports, 19% of all steam coal imports, while Russia provided 7,237 thousand tonnes (43%)

    Source:

    Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends

    “

  • Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Patten – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2016-03-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had with the EU about its public response to the takeover of the Turkish newspaper Zaman.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    EU leaders discussed the issue of press freedom with the Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, at the EU-Turkey summit on Monday 7 March. As a friend and ally, we urge the Turkish government to uphold the right of media to operate without restriction. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), did so when he met Turkey’s Prime Minister at the summit and underlined the importance of protections for a free press and human rights in Turkey. We welcomed the EU Commission’s Annual Progress Report on Turkey, released on 10 November 2015, which highlighted the need for further reforms from Turkey in these areas.

  • Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    Lord Palmer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the The Lord Chairman of Committees

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Palmer on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Chairman of Committees why the refurbishment of the toilets outside the Cholmondeley Room has not yet been completed; and when it is expected to be completed.

    Lord Laming

    The works are due to be completed before June 2016. Alternative facilities are available down the corridor, which are signposted. The refurbishment of these toilets includes replacement of worn and damaged fixtures, and addressing a number of issues including drainage and ventilation. The Administration and Works Committee is received regular updates on progress.