The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what use his Department makes of information it collects in Palestinian camps in Lebanon.
Mr Tobias Ellwood
Information and analysis pertaining to Lebanon and the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon is used by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to inform policy-making and programme work.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-04-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what provision his Department has made for facilitating the in-flight refuelling of P-8As; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Philip Dunne
The P-8A Poseidon is capable of operating over significant range and will be able to meet the requirement for the core UK missions, for which it is being procured, without the need for air-to-air refuelling. In exceptional circumstances, for example to meet extended range missions, we will draw on the in-flight refuelling capability of our Allies.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will (a) review and (b) slow down the rate of increase in pensionable age for women.
Justin Tomlinson
The State Pension age changes, which were made to put pensions on a more financially sustainable footing given increases in life expectancy, were fully debated and voted on when the legislation was before Parliament.
During the Pensions Act 2011 a concession, worth £1.1 billion, was introduced to limit the impact of the rising State Pension age on those women most affected. These transitional arrangements capped the maximum delay at 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable.
Unwinding any of these changes means asking young people to assume more of the cost, and after they’ve already borne their fair share of the tough decisions made last Parliament to bring Government spending under control.
Therefore, the Secretary of State is clear that there are no plans to bring forward further concessions or changes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-15.
To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, whether any non-UK EU nationals were sent postal votes in error for the upcoming EU referendum.
Mr Gary Streeter
The Electoral Commission became aware of an issue with elections software used by a number of local authorities in England and Wales on 1 June that meant some non-eligible EU citizens had mistakenly received postal votes.
The software provider has resolved the issue which means that all postal votes that have been sent to non-eligible EU citizens have been cancelled, including in cases where completed postal votes had already been returned.
All of the affected electors have also been written to by their local Electoral Registration Officer with an explanation of what happened and have been told that they will not be able to vote at the referendum.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bone on 2016-09-12.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to announce when construction of the Isham bypass in Wellingborough constituency will (a) commence and (b) be finished.
Andrew Jones
Funding for the proposed Isham Bypass (also known as the A509 Wellingborough Development Link) was provisionally approved by the Government in 2014 as part of the Northamptonshire Growth Deal. This approval is subject to the scheme promoters, Northamptonshire County Council, obtaining any necessary statutory permissions and submitting to the Department a Final Business Case for approval.
The Council expects to submit a Final Business Case in March 2017. Ministers will then make a final funding decision, as quickly as possible thereafter, on whether to support the scheme. The Council’s current programme is to start construction in September 2017 and to open the completed road in April 2019.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2015-11-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures the Department for Transport has taken to ensure that the appointment of the Managing Director of ScotRail Alliance to the Network Rail Executive Committee does not give a commercial advantage to Abellio in respect of future franchise bids across the UK.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Managing Director of the ScotRail Alliance has now also been appointed as Managing Director Scotland within Network Rail and, as part of his new role, will sit on Network Rail’s Executive Committee. He is an employee of Network Rail in both roles, but continues to report to the head of Abellio UK in his capacity of running the ScotRail Alliance only.
It is for Network Rail and any individual concerned to ensure that no conflicts of interest are allowed to affect the conduct of the company’s business.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Heald on 2015-12-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 June 2015 to Question 2734, what progress her Department has made on restoring physical habitats on chalk rivers in North East Hertfordshire constituency.
Rory Stewart
Through its Restoring Sustainable Abstraction (RSA) Programme, the Environment Agency (EA) is working with local water companies and the Catchment partnerships to significantly improve the condition, flow and habitats of chalk streams Beane, Mimram and Lee.
As part of the Programme, Affinity Water and the EA have committed to investing £3 million by 2020 in habitat improvement projects for these chalk streams. These are currently in the planning and design stage. Delivery will accelerate as the Programme progresses over the next five years.
In order to achieve the greatest benefit from these works, Affinity Water has agreed to reduce abstraction from local chalk streams by over 40 million litres per day by 2024. It will significantly reduce abstraction at the Whitehall pumping station on the River Beane by 2018 by building a pipeline, currently under construction, to supply customers with water from alternative sources.
The EA partnership project at Waterford Marsh, also on the River Beane, has seen improvements for both wildlife and people through chalk stream restoration, pond creation, access repair, and the provision of new information boards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987 to include a requirement to stipulate the time of death.
James Brokenshire
There are no plans at present to amend the Registration of Births and Deaths Regulations 1987 to include time of death at death registration.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-02-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce deaths of premature babies.
Ben Gummer
We are committed making sure every baby receives consistently high quality care, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
In November 2015, the Government announced a national ambition to halve by 2030 the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth.
To support the National Health Service in achieving this ambition we also announced:
― a £2.24 million capital fund for equipment to improve safety;
― over £1 million to roll out training programmes to make sure staff have the skills and confidence they need to deliver world-leading safe care; and
― £500,000 to develop a new system that can be used consistently across the NHS to enable staff to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.
The announcement also committed to publishing an annual report to update the public, health professionals, providers and commissioners on the progress we are making towards achieving the ambition.
The National Maternity Review, chaired by Baroness Cumberlege, will include proposals for the future shape of modern, high quality and sustainable maternity services across England. We anticipate that its report will have an important role in shaping the system to achieve our ambition.
For those babies who are born sick or premature, NHS England commissions Neonatal Care from 165 neonatal units. These units are organised and supported by 13 Operational Delivery Networks. The organisation of networks has brought tangible benefits in the delivery of babies in the right place to receive specialist care when it is needed.
NHS England’s Neonatal Critical Care Service Specification states that providers should ensure that expert and experienced staff treat sufficient numbers of cases to maintain a safe high quality service and move towards national standards.
It is for local hospital trusts and specialised commissioners to decide how best to use the guidance and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence quality standard for specialist neonatal care to improve babies’ chances of survival and minimise mortality associated with being born either premature or unwell. We know that that there is still more to do to ensure these services are consistent across the country and that is why the Neonatal Clinical Reference Group at NHS England has committed to review the findings of the Bliss report, (published in October 2015 which can be found here http://www.bliss.org.uk/babyreport), and will work with all of its key partners to make recommendations for further improvement.
Unless we invest in research we cannot understand how to best improve services for mothers and their babies. Significant sums have been invested over recent years in support of research looking at important questions regarding premature birth. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds a range of research relating to causes, risk factors and prevention of stillbirth and neonatal death. The NIHR Health Technology Assessment is funding a £6.0 million trial of an intelligent system to support decision making in the management of labour using the cardiotocogram – due to report in 2017. The NIHR is also funding a £1.2 million study on preventing adverse pregnancy outcome in women at increased risk of stillbirth by detecting placental dysfunction– due to report in 2019.
To help achieve the best outcomes, women are also offered a comprehensive programme of scans, screening tests and development examinations during pregnancy and following birth babies will receive the checks in the NHS newborn and infant physical examination screening programme and the NHS newborn blood spot screening programme .
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to stop the black market economy in aid allocations.
Mr Desmond Swayne
DFID’s work on the black market is primarily related to illicit markets and organised crime. We are building the evidence base on the linkages between organised crime, development and conflict, and exploring innovative integrated approaches to tackling organised crime in partnership with other government departments. Our work in this area is focused on building resilience and reducing vulnerabilities to organised crime, increasing transparency, and mitigating harm. Examples of our work related to organised crime include: