The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-09-06.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the average telephone waiting time was for members of the public trying to contact HM Revenue and Customs in the first six months of (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.
Jane Ellison
HM Revenue and Customs publishes regular performance reports, including average speed of answer details, which are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/business-plan-indicators.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many full-time equivalent staff UK Visas and Immigration employs on its North West MP Account Management Team.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The North West MP Account Management Team employs 9.8 full time equivalent (FTE). However, it relies on expertise and contributions from across the business to enable the service to provide comprehensive and helpful replies.
To try and quantify the full extent of UKVI work on Members’ immigration enquiries alone, staff costs to collate this information would exceed the £850 threshold for answering Parliamentary Questions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Melanie Onn on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the number of gastroenterology appointments specifically related to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis that have been cancelled or postponed at the request of an NHS provider in the last 12 months.
Jane Ellison
The information is not held centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2015-12-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will raise the issue of withdrawal of marketing authorisations for veterinary use of colistin at the next EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 7 December 2015.
Jane Ellison
The withdrawal of marketing authorisations for veterinary use of colistin was not raised at the EU Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council on 7 December 2015.
The Public Health Minister has regularly discussed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) with her international colleagues and attended a meeting on AMR hosted by the Netherlands in advance of their forthcoming Presidency where the Minister raised the importance of a ‘One Health’ approach to AMR including the need for the appropriate use of antibiotics in both humans and animals.
The five year UK Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy, published in 2013 takes a ‘One Health’ approach.
Minimising the unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics reduces the selective pressure that favours the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria and is an essential component of strategies to safeguard antibiotics critical for treatment of serious human infections.
PHE is working closely with Defra, Department of Health, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Food Standards Agency and Veterinary Medicines Directorate to ensure the latest evidence on colistin resistance is considered.
AMR is a global problem that needs concerted action at both a national and global level.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many defibrillators are provided in each building her Department manages.
Karen Bradley
We do not hold records centrally on the number of defibrillators across the HO estate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Bradley on 2016-02-02.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that learning disabilities services are commissioned by the NHS in every prison in England.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Public Health England, NHS England and the National Offender Management Service commission individual health and wellbeing needs assessments (HNAs) in all prisons and young offender institutions in England on a regular basis. An HNA identifies the health needs of the population for which health services will be commissioned in that establishment, which includes learning disabilities.
NHS England commissions health services to standard specifications which ensures that evidence-based clinical standards of care are delivered in individual prisons.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen McPartland on 2016-02-29.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 28259, what estimate he has made of the potential cost to people who pay council tax of that tax in (a) Stevenage, (b) Hertfordshire and (c) England in (i) 2016-17 and (ii) 2017-18.
Mr Marcus Jones
Council tax decisions are a matter for individual local authorities and we have not made estimates of council tax in individual areas for future years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who has attended meetings of the Child Protection Task Force and on what dates; and what action has been decided at those meetings.
Edward Timpson
Information relating to the proceedings of recent meetings of Implementation Taskforces is not disclosed as to do so could harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.
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.
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.