Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the Reprieve report, entitled Belfast to Bahrain: the Torture Trail and its findings of work carried out by Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas Ltd in Bahrain.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    ​The UK Government continues to assist Bahrain in their reform agenda including by working with the Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas (NICO) programme. Our and NICO’s aims are to assist the Government of Bahrain to bring its justice system into compliance with international standards. All of NICO’s work in Bahrain is regularly monitored and reviewed and continues to comply with rigorous UK human rights standards, which are in line with international human rights law. The impact of their work has been and continues to be positive.

  • Lord Rooker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Rooker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Rooker on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 22 July (HL1237), whether any proposed change to the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 will be forwarded to the relevant scientific committee for consideration.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    In June this year the Government held an informal consultation in order to seek views on possible additions to the exemptions currently allowed under the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 from the requirement to fortify flour with calcium, iron, niacin, and thiamine. The exemptions that were envisaged would allow more efficient and streamlined manufacturing operations for foods produced for export as well as for the home market, without compromising the public health benefits which accrue from fortification. A range of interested parties were consulted including millers, flour users, retailers, fortificant manufacturers and health professionals.

    The options proposed in the consultation would allow millers to produce unfortified flour in England when used as a secondary ingredient which undergoes further processing, or is used in relatively small quantities in products. This approach was welcomed by most consultees and the Government is now considering how to take this forward.

    The Department of Health and Public Health England has considered the proposals and concluded that it is unlikely that an exemption from fortification for flour used in such products will have a nutritionally significant impact on the intakes of calcium, iron, thiamine or niacin.

    The changes proposed would apply to England only since food legislation is a devolved matter. The devolved administrations are aware of these proposals but have not yet made any decisions on whether to introduce similar changes.

    Respondents to the consultation also asked for some additional flexibility around the point at which the fortificants are added to flour. At the moment flour must be fortified at the mill and the four fortificants are added as a premix at the end of the milling process. Many businesses which manufacture foods both for the home market and for export requested the flexibility to be able to add the fortificants at the bakery stage. They highlighted that the requirement for separate storage and handling for, both fortified and unfortified flour (which is used for exported products) was creating significant manufacturing complexities. That resulted in a more restricted product range and is having an adverse effect on their export potential and their ability to diversify into new global markets. The Government is currently considering this.

  • Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Grahame Morris – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answers of 16 November 2015 to Questions 15277 and 15193, what the outputs are from the NHS England expert forum which were originally initiated in the Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Strategy; and what plans the NHS England expert group has for future work on familial hypercholesterolemia.

    Jane Ellison

    The expert forum – the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Collaborative Strategy Group – has representation from key CVD stakeholders including NHS England, Public Health England, Department of Health and third sector organisations such as the British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK and the National Kidney Federation. It provides leadership to the National Health Service in developing approaches to improve the prevention, early diagnosis and management of CVD as highlighted in the CVD outcomes strategy.

    As part of its work, the group is exploring approaches to support the earlier diagnosis of atrial fibrillation, high blood pressure, heart failure and valve disease and to improve outcomes from out of hospital cardiac arrest. It is also considering how it can support wider strategic developments arising from the Five Year Forward View, such as the development of seven day services.

    In addition, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Heart Disease continues towork with partners on familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Working with Public Health England, they aim to identify more families with FH and address the importance of cholesterol on general as a risk factor for CVD. The National Clinical Director alsochairs an FH Steering Group, which brings together relevant stakeholders, and supportsStrategic Clinical Networks around the country so that good practice can be shared more widely.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2015 to Question 1958, what the total budget of the BIS Automotive sector team was in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    The total administrative budget associated with the BIS Automotive sector team for the last five financial years was £6,265,356. This is illustrated below:

    Financial Year Administrative Cost

    11/12 £1,393,614*^

    12/13 £1,187,636^

    13/14 £1,207,986^

    14/15 £1,256,570^

    15/16 £1,219,550^

    *Includes funding for the Advanced Manufacturing Showcasing team who were under the same administrative budget for these years.

    ^ Includes one FTE on loan to the Office for Low Emission Vehicles.

    The total budget to support Industrial R&D primarily for the Advanced Propulsion Centre and Driverless cars over the last 3 years* was:

    RDEL(Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit) – £79.327m

    CDEL (Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit) – £11m.

    RDEL CDEL

    13/14 £452,000 £0

    14/15 £26,000,000 £5,000,000

    15/16 £52,875,000 £6,000,000

    *There is no data available for 11/12 and 12/13

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that injured military veterans do not have to pay social care costs out of their military compensation; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    Armed forces veterans injured in service receive payments either through the War Disablement Pension (WDP) or the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS). The AFCS applies to veterans injured from 6 April 2005. These payments are divided into a personal injury compensation element and other payments. Traditionally, only the personal injury compensation payment has been fully disregarded.

    Since October 2012 Guaranteed Income Payments made to veterans under the AFCS have been disregarded. The Department has been in discussion with the Royal British Legion about how WDP payments are treated. Currently the first £10 per week of WDP payments is disregarded. The Government is considering how WDP payments to veterans should be treated in the financial assessment for social care charging in future.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs on the restricted breed list were destroyed in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    Numbers of dogs destroyed as a result of being a dog of a specified type (section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991) are not held centrally. Such records would be held by each police force.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total number of visitor visa applications received from (1) India, and (2) Pakistan, in the last six months; and what was the success rate in each case.

    Lord Keen of Elie

    For July to December 2015, there were 155,928 and 40,985 Entry clearance visitor visa applications from Indian and Pakistani nationals. Of the cases resolved (granted, refused, withdrawn or lapsed) in the same period, the proportion granted was 86% and 47% respectively. The information is provided in the table.

    The latest quarterly Home Office immigration statistics on entry clearance visas are published in ‘Immigration Statistics, October-December 2015’, available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-statistics

  • Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-03-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 2.228 of Budget 2016, when he expects the new pensions guidance body to be established.

    Harriett Baldwin

    At Budget 2016, the government published its response to the Public Financial Guidance Review and launched a consultation seeking views on the government’s plans to restructure the statutory financial guidance providers – the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise. This paper, which closes on 8 June 2016, sets out a new delivery model for public financial guidance and seeks views on how, within this model, the proposed services could best be offered. The new delivery model is designed to better complement the financial guidance provided by the third sector and the industry and provide more targeted support for consumers.

    The government will consider the responses to this consultation over the summer, and in parallel, work closely with the affected organisations to finalise the delivery structure. A detailed timetable will be set out with the final response, which will be published in the autumn. The government has been clear that the three affected organisations will continue to provide guidance to consumers until at least 2018.

  • Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral evidence given to the Committees on Arms Export Controls on 27 April 2016 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, how many final reports his Department has received from the Saudi government’s independent investigation committee on alleged breaches of international humanitarian law to date in Yemen.

    Mr Philip Hammond

    Saudi Arabia is conducting a number of investigations into specific allegations of breaches of International Humanitarian Law. On 31 January Saudi Arabia held a press conference where they announced the result of the investigation into the MSF hospital incident on 26 October in Sa’ada. They also announced more detail of how they investigate allegations of IHL breaches and apply lessons learnt from these investigations. It is important that these investigations are thorough and conclusive. We would encourage them to publish their findings where appropriate.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the proportion of UK energy consumption that was supplied by other countries in each of the last 10 years.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The UK’s net import dependency is published in DECC’s Energy Trends table 1.3, and is reproduced below:

    Import dependence

    2006

    21.3%

    2007

    20.6%

    2008

    26.3%

    2009

    27.0%

    2010

    28.6%

    2011

    36.7%

    2012

    43.1%

    2013

    47.1%

    2014

    46.2%

    2015

    38.6%

    Source: DECC Energy Trends, March 2015

    In 2015, the UK’s net imports of 79.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent accounted for 38.6% of the UK’s primary consumption of energy.