Tag: Parliamentary Question

Stephen Kinnock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Kinnock on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will suspend all licences permitting UK-produced arms to be sold to Saudi Arabia.

Anna Soubry

All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country if to do so would be a breach of the Criteria.

01/01/2023
Gareth Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Thomas on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assistance his Department has offered to Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group to help it avoid its projected deficit of £116.4 million by 2018-19; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

We are advised by NHS England that the projected deficit figure for 2018/19 dates from November 2013, and was included in a potential “downside case” modelled as part of Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) sustainability plan which was submitted to NHS England.

We understand that the sustainability plan also included an “upside case” and a “mid case” and that all three cases were modelled according to varying projected levels of Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) savings.

The joint financial strategy agreed with the seven other CCGs in north-west London, combined with higher than average growth in allocations and delivery of its QIPP programme, has enabled Harrow CCG to improve its financial performance, as a result of which it is now reporting a surplus of £2 million for 2015/16.

For 2014/15, Harrow CCG received one of the highest funding increases in the country, amounting to 4.2% on the previous year. For 2015/16, the CCG received another above average increase in allocation and will receive a funding increase of 6% in 2016/17, compared to an average CCG growth figure in London of 3.6%.

01/01/2023
Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department’s wellness strategy is.

George Eustice

Our Department’s employee Wellbeing Framework complements our Health and Safety Policy and supports the implementation of the Civil Service Employee Health and Wellbeing Strategic Action Plan. Our framework has been developed collaboratively by the Defra Wellbeing network to ensure consistency across all organisations in the Defra group. It focuses on three key priorities: Healthy Minds, Healthy Bodies and Healthy Lifestyles and is delivered to our employees via workshops, campaigns and other initiatives accessible to all.

01/01/2023
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, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bates on 21 March (HL7044), whether (1) the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, (2) the Prime Minister’s Office, or (3) any other government institution, have received any representations from the government of India about not pursuing the money-laundering case against MQM.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

I refer the noble Lord to the answer given by my noble Friend Lord Bates, of 21 March 2016 [HL7024]. I am informed that no records have been identified by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office, HM Treasury and No 10 of any such representations.

01/01/2023
Robert Flello – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that abortion clinics transfer women to hospital at the earliest stage necessary in the case of serious incidents.

Jane Ellison

The termination of pregnancies is a regulated activity. All providers of regulated activities must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and must meet all of the relevant Regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety, which includes independent sector termination of pregnancy providers and managers. The CQC is responsible for monitoring and, where appropriate, inspecting providers in relation to their ongoing compliance with meeting those requirements. Independent sector providers are also required to comply with the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures which the CQC inspect against.

The CQC has made a public commitment to undertake inspection of all independent providers of termination of pregnancy services using their new inspection approach and will continue to respond to risk as appropriate and take regulatory action as required.

On the issue of whether the Department plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on consultation on disposal arrangements following termination, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32357.

We have no plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on the administration of drugs. The administration of drugs is managed through the CQC’s fundamental standards and through inspection visits.

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01/01/2023
Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) claims and (b) payments were made following claim approval for vaccine damage for whooping cough in each year since 2003.

Justin Tomlinson

Information regarding claims and awards in respect of each particular disease/vaccine is unavailable. This is because this information is not collected or collated.

The Vaccine Damage Payments Unit administers the Scheme but do not collate information about vaccinations given to those claiming or receiving a payment under the scheme. As a number of vaccinations are often given in close proximity, often on the same day, it is not always possible to state categorically which has caused the adverse reaction. Such data is not required for the administration of the scheme.

01/01/2023
Nigel Evans – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Wales Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Evans on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps the Government is taking to improve the (a) electronic and (b) physical connectivity of rural villages in Wales.

Guto Bebb

We are introducing the Universal Service Obligation, guaranteeing internet connectivity to half a million rural properties throughout the UK that fall outside existing plans. We have also secured deals with the Mobile Network Operators to deliver mobile coverage to 90% of the UK’s landmass and to 95% of premises in Wales.

Recognising the importance of transport costs to rural communities, we have frozen fuel duty for six successive years, the longest freeze for 40 years.

01/01/2023
Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects the Estate Optimisation Strategy to be published.

Mark Lancaster

As set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Ministry of Defence is aiming to reduce the size of its built estate by 30% by 2040 and is committed to release land to accommodate 55,000 houses by 2020 in support of the Government’s public sector land release agenda. This year I have announced the release of 35 sites which will provide land for potentially some 39,000 homes, of which approximately 20,000 are expected in this Parliament. We do not have an annual target for a reduction in the defence estate each year.

I will announce the results of the Department’s Estate Optimisation Strategy later this year.

01/01/2023
Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 October (HL2528), why it was possible to vote daily in the Great British High Street of the Year competition for up to 30 days, and from multiple email addresses; who decided that voting should be allowed to take place in that way; and what assessment they have made of the impact of that decision on the outcome of the competition.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Great British High Street Competition was an initiative launched by the Future High Street Forum, a group bringing together retailers and sector experts to lead work to support high streets. The Great British High Street Competition, now in its second year, is overseen by a sub-group of the Forum.

The results of the Great British High Street Competition will be decided on by the combination of two scoring mechanisms. The first element will be based on scoring from a visit from our independent panel of judges which includes expert senior representatives from Boots, Costa, Google and the Post Office.

The second part of the scoring is based on the outcome of a public vote which allows people to vote every day but from a single email address. The decision was based on advice from analysts and social media experts, which included Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo, and was introduced in order to allow the finalists to build local campaigns which generate interest across the course of the campaign and not just on one day. It was also designed to allow towns with varying populations to compete. Ministers had no role in this decision.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish the team in Colne and their competitors, every luck. We received 230 entries of an excellent standard so to reach the final is a huge achievement. The competition is shining a light on all the wonderful, hard work going on around the country and, once the competition is over, we look forward to continuing to work with all of the finalists to share and publicise their great work.

01/01/2023

Jim Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 24 November 2015 to Question 17021, what the number of methicillin resistant (a) staphylococcus aureus, (b) clostridium difficile and (c) E.coli infections were in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

Public Health England (PHE) has surveillance data on meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia, E. coli bacteraemia and on C. difficile Infection (CDI). The reported numbers for both MRSA and E. coli bacteraemia cover bloodstream infections only. C. difficile data covers all infections. The totals, shown in the table below, are the number of infections reported to PHE each financial year, extracted from the Healthcare Associated Infections (HCAI) data capture system. Mandatory surveillance data covers England only.

Total Number of MRSA, C. difficile and E. coli infections in England (April 2010 to March 2015)

Year:	April 2010 – March 2011	April 2011 – March 2012	April 2012 – March 2013	April 2013- March 2014	April 2014 – March 2015
Total reported MRSA bacteraemia episodes	1,481	1,116	924	862	801
Total reported C. difficile episodes	21,707	18,022	14,694	13,361	14,165
Total reported E. coli bacteraemia episodes	*	*	32,309	34,275	35,676

* Mandatory surveillance of E. coli bacteraemia was introduced in July 2011.

Source: PHE.

01/01/2023