Tag: Parliamentary Question

Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help provide (a) compensation from VW Group for drivers and (b) partial or full reimbursement for retesting cars under the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme.

Andrew Jones

We continue to press Volkswagen on the issue of compensation for UK consumers. The Secretary of State summoned the Managing Director of VW UK to a further meeting this week to discuss the issue.

We undertook the Vehicle Emissions Testing Programme to check for further test cycle manipulation strategies as used by the Volkswagen Group. To ensure the independence of this important programme neither the vehicles nor the testing facilities were provided by the vehicle industry, and the department funded the testing.

01/01/2023
Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the time taken for NICE appraisal processes for the provision of Nivolumab on the treatment of NHS patients with non-small cell lung cancer; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

No such assessment has been made.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently carrying out technology appraisals of nivolumab for two lung cancer indications:

(i) Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer. The expected publication date for this final guidance is September 2016.

(ii) Previously treated locally advanced or metastatic squamous non-small-cell lung cancer after prior chemotherapy in adults. The publication date for this final guidance is to be confirmed.

Commissioners are legally required to fund drugs and treatments recommended in NICE technology appraisal guidance within three months of its final guidance being issued. In the absence of guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund new medicines based on an assessment of the available evidence.

From July 2016, the new arrangements for the Cancer Drugs Fund will ensure that the most promising and innovative medicines get to patients as quickly as possible. In particular, NICE will issue draft guidance on new cancer drugs or significant new licence indications before they have received marketing approval in the United Kingdom. Any drug that receives a positive draft recommendation would then be funded from the point of licence.

01/01/2023
Kevin Hollinrake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Hollinrake on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information her Department holds on the number of eviction possession hearings that took place in respect of (a) private and (b) social landlords in the last year for which data is available.

Sir Oliver Heald

The number of possession hearings that took place in respect of (a) private and (b) social landlords are available on GOV.UK using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mortgage-and-landlord-possession-statistics-april-to-june-2016

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01/01/2023
Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passports have been confiscated from Syrian citizens by UK officials in 2016 on the basis of being stolen.

Mr Robert Goodwill

This information is not collated centrally. To collate this date would incur disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Stuart McDonald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart McDonald on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees from each UN camp she expects to be resettled in the UK in 2015.

Richard Harrington

The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 Syrian refugees brought to the UK by Christmas. The Government is working closely with local authorities, international delivery partners and the voluntary sector, putting in place the plans and structures to deliver this and ensuring the system is scaled up in a way that protects the interests of all concerned. Details on numbers will be published in the regular quarterly immigration statistics.

The UNHCR identifies and proposes Syrian refugees for the VPR scheme from among the whole of the registered refugee population in the region, over 4 million people. This includes people in formal refugee camps, informal settlements and host communities. Therefore, not all of those coming to the UK for resettlement will be coming from UN camps.

01/01/2023
Henry Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-12-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma is not affected by the (a) delisting of treatments from the Cancer Drugs Fund and (b) ongoing consultation on that Fund’s future.

George Freeman

NHS England has advised that a draft treatment pathway for patients with multiple myeloma, which takes into account the potential impact of treatments removed from the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), is currently being finalised. It is likely to be published early in 2016.

The Government remains committed to the Fund. NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence are currently consulting on draft proposals on the future direction of the CDF. The consultation is open until 11 February 2016 and further information is available at:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/cdf-consultation

01/01/2023
Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the level of violence in prisons.

Andrew Selous

Our prison system needs reform. There is much more to do to ensure prisons are places of decency, hope and rehabilitation.

Violence in prisons has increased in recent years. The nature of offenders currently in custody and the widespread availability of novel psychoactive substances have both contributed to making prisons less safe. There is no single, simple solution to the problems we face but we are making progress.

We have launched a two year Violence Reduction project to reduce violent incidents and the propensity of violence in prisons. This project will help us to gain a better understanding of the causes and characteristics of violence in prisons and to strengthen the handling of this. We are also trialling the use of body worn cameras in prisons, developing better case management of individuals identified as being at heightened risk of harming others, introducing a psychologically based assessment tool to understand better local factors driving violence in prisons, and training sniffer dogs to detect novel psychoactive substances. We have also made it an offence to smuggle novel psychoactive substances into prison. However, ultimately the only way to reduce violence in our prisons is to give governors and those who work in prisons the tools necessary to more effectively reform and rehabilitate offenders, which we are determined to see through.

01/01/2023
Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-02-02.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will help to ensure that women have access to family planning throughout Latin America and the Caribbean in the light of the spread of the Zika virus and its potential link to birth defects.

Baroness Verma

The importance of comprehensive Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for all women is brought home by the emergence of Zika. There may be increased demand for voluntary rightsbased Family Planning from women in affected countries seeking to avoid pregnancy, and there is a risk of a rise in unsafe abortion in some countries. DFID has a track record of promoting rights based family planning and in highlighting the contribution safe abortion makes to saving women’s lives.

We are in close contact with DFID-funded partners, including in the UN system and civil society, active in affected regions and will continue to do all we can to support their efforts. The Government is determined to support the international community in responding to the Zika virus. The UK has been at the forefront of global efforts to ensure the World Health Organisation (WHO) has the funding, expertise and systems to respond to emerging disease threats like Zika. We are the second largest national funder of WHO and have also provided political and technical support to strengthening the organisation and its preparedness. As part of the UK effort to strengthen global health security DFID contributed £6.2 million to WHO’s contingency fund for emergencies which is available for the management of Zika.

Affected countries are working closely with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) which serves as the Regional Office of the World Health Organisation. PAHO and governments across the region are issuing information on the emerging Zika infection. DFID will keep under review its support to countries affected by Zika viral infections and along with other Government Departments we welcome the WHO emergency committee statement issued on Monday 1^st February.

01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of senior civil servants in his Department are women.

Mark Lancaster

As at 1 January 2016, 25.1% of senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence were women.

01/01/2023

Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many staff in his Department were in receipt of Continuity of Education Allowance in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15; and what the cost to his Department was of providing that allowance for staff based (i) in the UK and (ii) overseas in each such year.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The figures requested are attached and as follows:

	Number of Staff	Cost CEA Home	Cost CEA Overseas	Total
2012/2013	442	£8,736,957	£6,189,104	£14,926,061
2013/2014	378	£6,727,304	£6,435,519	£13,162,823
2014/2015	370	£7,193,211	£5,749,923	£12,943,134

It is a condition of their employment that members of the diplomatic service must be prepared to serve anywhere in the world at any time during their career, sometimes at very short notice. Those with children have a legal obligation as parents to ensure that their children receive a full-time education from the age of five years. Most parents prefer to take their children with them abroad, but in some of the 168 countries where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has UK based staff, we do not permit staff to take their children for health or security reasons. In others, local schools of an acceptable standard are not available. It is longstanding practice that the FCO helps staff by providing financial support for their children’s education in the UK where staff choose this, or are obliged to do so given local conditions in the country to which they are posted.

01/01/2023