Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Angela Rayner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Rayner on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to paragraph 1.57 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on research and development by industry of converting innovation grants into interest-paying loans.

    Joseph Johnson

    Access to finance remains an important challenge for innovative enterprises. We want to broaden the type of financial support available for innovation. Other European countries like France, Finland and The Netherlands offer financial products in their policy mix for business innovation. We are seeking to learn from these approaches. In doing this, we will engage with businesses to better understand their needs and support access to sufficient financing throughout the lifecycle of innovative projects.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether new guidance has been issued to her Department on drafting responses to written parliamentary questions.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education regularly refreshes its internal guidance on drafting responses to written parliamentary questions to ensure that it is up to date.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department has taken to ascertain the reason for a large number of whales becoming stranded on the east coast of the UK in 2016; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    Mass stranding events of whales are rare and ascertaining what causes them can be difficult. This is why Defra, in conjunction with the Devolved Administrations of Scotland and Wales, funds the UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP). Although it is still too early to draw any conclusions on what may have caused the recent mass strandings of sperm whales in the North Sea, the CSIP will be working with stranding networks in Germany and the Netherlands over the coming months to try to identify the potential cause.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has held with pharmacy patients on the closure of community pharmacies.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

    Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim. We are not able to assess which pharmacies may close or the number of people who may lose their jobs, because we do not know the financial viability of individual businesses or the extent to which they derive income from services commissioned locally by the NHS or local authorities or have non-NHS related income.

    We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee and others, including patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

  • Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Catherine McKinnell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine McKinnell on 2016-04-08.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of parents eligible for tax-free childcare who do not have access to the internet; and what plans he has to ensure all such families are not excluded from access to tax-free childcare due to lack of access to the internet.

    Damian Hinds

    The Government will publicise the Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) scheme in good time ahead of its introduction through a range of digital and print channels. HMRC will also work with the childcare industry and representative groups who interact regularly with parents to raise awareness of the scheme.

    HM Revenue and Customs is developing an online childcare calculator to help parents understand their eligibility for government childcare support. From early 2017, parents of the youngest children will be able to enter the scheme first, with all eligible parents brought in by the end of 2017. Parents will not be able to open childcare accounts prior to the launch of the scheme.

    TFC will be straightforward and quick to apply online for the vast majority of parents. We estimate that up to 9% of the families eligible for the scheme of that population may have issues with either accessing or using the internet. HM Revenue and Customs will ensure that assistance is provided, usually by telephone, so these families do not miss out on the support available.

    Tax-Free Childcare is part of the wider government childcare offer which will be worth over £6Bn per annum and together provide generous support to families on all levels of income.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government’s policy is on voting in favour of referring as genocide the acts committed by Daesh in Iraq and Syria to the International Criminal Court in the event of another member of the UN Security Council proposing such a referral.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    It is not possible for the UN Security Council to refer Daesh itself to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Any referral would cover all potential crimes within a specified geographic area, rather than by a specified organisation or set of actors.

    We would consider carefully any suggestion from another member of the Security Council to refer the situation in Iraq and Syria to the ICC.

    However, we judge that a referral to the International Criminal Court by the UN Security Council is not practical at this time.

    When efforts were made to refer the situation in Syria to the ICC in 2014, it was vetoed by Russia and China. We expect that any Security Council resolution at this time seeking to refer the situations in Iraq or Syria to the ICC would likewise be blocked.

    We continue to discuss with partners on the UN Security Council further ways to ensure that the perpetrators of crimes committed in Syria and Iraq are held to account and face justice.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 40017, on NHS: drugs, what the value is of the five contracts listed in that Answer.

    George Freeman

    We cannot provide the values of the contracts because it is possible that such information, if taken with other information already in the public domain, may make it possible to deduce the purchase prices of the products concerned. Suppliers will regard product pricing as commercially sensitive. The publication of commercially sensitive drugs pricing information is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the contractors concerned as well as those of the Department itself.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many doctors have taken the Royal College of General Practitioners online awareness module on Lyme disease.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what anti-corruption measures were agreed at the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan, held on 4-5 October 2016; what steps she plans to take to ensure the effectiveness of such measures; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Helping Afghans to tackle corruption is a key priority for the UK’s engagement in Afghanistan, where we focus first and foremost on anti-corruption efforts that contribute to the building of a stable and self-reliant state. Anti-corruption was a key theme of the Brussels Conference on Afghanistan. At the Conference, the Afghan government announced that the new Anti Corruption Justice Centre (ACJC) was operational. They also made a commitment that five revenue generating ministries will publicly report on implementation progress of their anti-corruption action plans in 2017.

    The UK and the rest of the international community will continue to press the Afghan government to deliver on these commitments to ensure that core government functions are transparent, accountable and consistent, and that violations are met with legal, timely and consistently applied sanctions.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the vulnerability of the UK banking system to a Russian debt default; and if he will make a statement.

    Harriett Baldwin

    The Financial Policy Committee (FPC) within the Bank of England identifies, monitors and addresses risks to the UK financial system; including overseas exposures.

    The FPC regularly publishes the indicators that it considers when formulating policy, and this includes all countries to which UK banks have large or rapidly growing total exposure. The most recent indicators (for Q2 2015) can be found on the Bank of England’s website using the link below.

    http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/Pages/fpc/coreindicators.aspx