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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Eric Ollerenshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Eric Ollerenshaw – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eric Ollerenshaw on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adaptive licensing or early access schemes (a) in the UK and (b) across the EU; and if he will make a statement.

    Norman Lamb

    The potential merits and impact of adaptive licensing and early access to medicine schemes were considered by the Expert Group on innovation in the regulation of healthcare that was established in June 2012 following the Prime Minister’s 2011 Life Science Strategy. The Expert Group was composed of a range of experts from government, industry, patient and health professional stakeholders.

    In their 2013 report, the group welcomed the proposal for the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMS), for highly promising unlicensed medicinal products in areas of high unmet medical need, and urged the Government to introduce it as soon as possible. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency launched the EAMS on 7 April 2014.

    On adaptive licensing, the group saw opportunities for more use of the existing legal flexibilities to facilitate patient access to innovative products. The Group urged for the pilot on adaptive licensing by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to be launched at the earliest opportunity.

    The EMA published its adaptive licensing pilot project on 19 March. The Government sees this pilot as a test for current licensing flexibilities and the methodology of adaptive licensing. We welcome the pilot and will continue to be actively engaged in the debate in Europe.

    A copy of the report of the Expert Group on innovation in the regulation of healthcare has been placed in the Library.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the prevalence and effect of unlicensed performance enhancing drugs (a) online and (b) in shops.

    Norman Lamb

    There are strict legal controls governing the sale and supply of medicinal products in the United Kingdom.

    Unlicensed medicines which claim to enhance performance generally claim to enhance either sexual, cognitive or athletic performance.

    The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) works with domain name providers to shut down websites which are illegally trading in unlicensed erectile dysfunction medicines and which refuse to come in to compliance.

    A UK registered pharmacy may have a presence on the internet; however the requirements of legislation apply equally to both UK internet pharmacies and bricks-and-mortar premises. These legal controls also apply equally to medicines for human use sold or supplied via the internet or e-mail transactions. These restrictions do not apply to countries outside UK jurisdiction where medicines may be classified and regulated differently.

    Medicines most commonly associated with enhanced athletic performance are anabolic steroids and human growth hormones. These medicines are controlled as class C drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

    The MHRA has serious concerns about the availability of medicines being offered via the Internet and issues regular warnings to the public concerning the inherent risks of purchasing medicines online. MHRA advice is that medicines purchased from websites, particularly websites based overseas, cannot be guaranteed to meet set standards of quality, safety and efficacy and advises patients not to purchase medicines in this way.

  • Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jessica Morden – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jessica Morden on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) standard passport applications, (b) fast-track applications and (c) premium service applications were processed in (i) 1 January 2012 to 31 May 2012, (ii) 1 January 2013 to 31 May 2013 and (iii) 1 January 2014 o 31 May 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The information requested is shown in the following table. This also includes data up until 30 June for each year.

  • Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Keith Vaz – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed by HM Passport Office were specifically tasked with processing passport applications on (a) 1 January, (b) 1 February, (c) 1 March, (d) 1 April, (e) 1 May and (f) 1 June 2014.

    James Brokenshire

    The formal record for workforce data is made on the last day of each calendar
    month.
    The table below shows the number of Her Majesty’s Passport Office full-time
    equivalents working within the passport operational Directorates.
    (a) On 31 December 2013: 2,457
    (b) On 31 January 2014: 2,515
    (c) On 28 February 2014: 2,559
    (d) On 31 March 2014: 2,593
    (e) On 30 April 2014: 2,611
    (f) On 31 May 2014: 2,629

    Please note, Her Majesty’sPassport Office records migrated to the Department’s
    strategic record system during this period and are subject to enhanced validation
    checks. Several months in this time series have a variance of +/- 2 FTE.

  • David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Simpson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many racially aggravated attacks were recorded in the latest period for which figures are available.

    Norman Baker

    The police provide the Home Office with aggregated figures of the recorded number of racially or religiously aggravated assault with (a) and (b) without injury offences. It is not possible to separately identify the specific aggravating factor.

    In the year ending December 2013, the police recorded 2,473 racially or religiously aggravated assault with injury offences and 3,988 racially or religiously aggravated assault without injury offences.

  • Tracey Crouch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Tracey Crouch – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tracey Crouch on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the merits of including alcohol awareness training in the driving test assessment; and if he will make a statement.

    Stephen Hammond

    The Highway Code advises drivers not to drink any alcohol before driving; this advice applies to all drivers, regardless of experience. The driving theory test includes questions about the effects of alcohol on a person’s ability to drive.

    The Department for Transport believes a more effective route to public awareness of the negative effect of alcohol on drivers is through appropriate pre-test training. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency produces The National Standard for Driver Training that should form the basis of training that approved driving instructors give to their pupils; these include thorough guidance on the appropriate consumption of alcohol prior to driving.

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department takes to investigate whistleblowers’ allegations of impropriety relating to employment support contracts.

    Esther McVey

    The Department treats any allegation of fraud by contractors very seriously, regardless of where these emanate from. Any fraud is completely unacceptable. Where we identify, or are notified of, allegations of contractor fraud, these cases are investigated thoroughly by the Department’s professionally trained and experienced investigators to a standard required to support reference to the Police whenever evidence of criminal offences is discovered.

    All contracted employment providers are required to have whistleblowing procedures that support their employees in reporting suspected wrongdoing at work and ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’. If they consider that they cannot raise suspicions of abuse of government funds with their employer, they should contact the Comptroller and Auditor General of the National Audit Office (NAO). This route is used to escalate whistleblower concerns and DWP Internal Investigations work with the NAO to investigate these matters and take appropriate action where issues are identified. This is an important channel in ensuring that employees can raise concerns and that they can be protected legally when doing so.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of adverse sanction decisions taken against jobseeker’s allowance claimants in 2013 were repeat decisions.

    Esther McVey

    We have interpreted the question to be for the number of sanction decision reconsiderations and appeals upheld therefore resulting in a sanction still being applied following a request for a review or a formal appeal from the JSA claimant.

    This information is published and can be found at:

    https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/

    Guidance for users is available at:

    https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/Stat-Xplore_User_Guide.htm

    The proportion of adverse sanction decisions can be calculated using these figures.

    “

  • Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Iain Wright – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Iain Wright on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the Written Statement of 11 June 2014, Official Report, column 47WS, on UK Green Investment Bank, what estimate he has made of the staff resource the additional responsibilities on the Green Investment Bank will require.

    Michael Fallon

    The Green Investment Bank (GIB) expects that the business planning work will require two people and has taken on two individuals with experience in investment in developing economies to complement GIB’s in-house expertise in green investment. The costs of these extra staff will be met by the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

  • Anas Sarwar – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Anas Sarwar – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anas Sarwar on 2014-06-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will publish details of alternative proposals for fire fighter pensions which have been considered by his Department.

    Brandon Lewis

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 June, Official Report, Column 152W.