Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dame Tessa Jowell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Tessa Jowell on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many funding applications were made by GPs for new premises in 2013; and how many of such applications have been approved by NHS England.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    NHS England has advised that information about the number of funding applications, the number of applications which have been approved and the number of applications which include a rent increase is not held centrally.

    However, NHS England has been collating all applications transferred from predecessor primary care trusts concerning funding for general practitioner (GP) practice premises, after which prioritisation decisions will be made for each of the application categories in the system.

    NHS England is working with clinical commissioning groups, health and wellbeing boards and other partners to develop a new strategy for premises and to support timely decisions on GP premises funding.

  • Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison McGovern – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Immigration and Passport Service on (a) the service’s ability to meet the three-week timescale for processing an application for a child passport and (b) possible extension of that timescale.

    James Brokenshire

    Expected service standards for processing passports are given at: www.gov.uk.

    My Rt. Hon. Friend the Home Secretary explained in the House on 12 June 2014
    a set of measures to deal with the high level of passport demand has been put
    in place. I refer the Hon. Member to the statement of 12 June 2014, Official
    Report, columns 693 and 694.

  • Mike Weir – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    Mike Weir – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Deputy Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Weir on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Deputy Prime Minister, if he will publish the (a) scope, (b) date of commissioning, (c) date of polling and (d) cost of polling commissioned by the Devolution Team in his Department on attitudes in Scotland towards Scottish independence and related matters from (i) Ipsos-MORI and (ii) other opinion survey companies since May 2011.

    Greg Clark

    The UK Government regularly commissions independent research to inform and evaluate major policy programmes. Cabinet Office has contracted Ipsos MORI for the purposes of providing market research in relation to the Scotland Analysis Programme. Two formal tenders for this research were issued in March and August 2013 respectively and, as with other tenders for Government contracts, these processes were managed by the Government Procurement Service (now part of the Crown Commercial Service).

    Cabinet Office has also contracted Engine Partners LLP for the purposes of providing communications support work in relation to the Scottish independence referendum. A formal tender for this work was issued in September 2013 and was managed by the Government Procurement Service.

    As part of the Government’s commitment to transparency in expenditure information relating to the costs of both sets of work is publicly available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data

    “

  • Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tom Watson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Watson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 10 February 2014, Official Report, column 474W, on unmanned air vehicles: guided weapons, if he will take steps to receive parliamentary approval before the deployment of the armed forces to the redeployment of armed drones abroad.

    Mr Mark Francois

    There is no intention for Parliamentary approval to be sought before decisions on deployment or redeployment of individual items of equipment are made, though the Ministry of Defence may of course notify Parliament of significant deployments, as it does at present.

  • Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paul Uppal – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Uppal on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of endometriosis.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    Information on endometriosis is readily available to healthcare professionals and the public. Both the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and NHS Choices have published information for the public on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis. Further information can be found on the RCOG website:

    www.rcog.org.uk/womens-health/clinical-guidance/endometriosis-what-you-need-know

    and NHS Choices website:

    www.nhs.uk/conditions/Endometriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx

    To support women with endometriosis all obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis, investigation and management of the condition, which is specifically listed as a topic in the core curriculum for obstetrics and gynaecology. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has published clinical guidelines on the management of women with endometriosis to assist clinicians.

    In addition, NHS England has developed a service specification for severe endometriosis under the specialised commissioning area of complex gynaecology. NHS England expects all units providing a service to women with severe endometriosis to provide care which meets the standards laid out in a specification which can be found on their website:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/e10-comp-gynae-endom-0414.pdf

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Romanian-born prisoners are being held in British prisons.

    Jeremy Wright

    On 31 March 2014 there were 588 prisoners in England and Wales who declared they were Romanian on reception to prison.

    All foreign national offenders sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office for them to consider deportation at the earliest possible opportunity.

    Romania has implemented the EU Prisoner Transfer Arrangement and relevant cases have been referred to the Home Office to obtain deportation orders.

    The Prisoner Transfer process is just one mechanism for removing Foreign National Offenders. The number of FNOs deported under the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000 FNOs under ERS and under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS), which we introduced in May 2012, we have removed over 240 FNOs to date.

    Whereas this Government has begun to reduce the foreign national population in prison since 2010, between 1997 and 2010, the number of foreign nationals in our prisons more than doubled.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Bridget Phillipson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 26 March 2014, Official Report, column 318W, on conflict resolution: females, if he will publish in the Library the minutes of the meetings on this matter on (a) 24 February, (b) 5 March, (c) 20 March, (d) 18 March, (e) 19 March and (f) 13 March 2014.

    Anna Soubry

    None of the meetings mentioned were convened by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). They were convened by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as the lead Department, or by the Department for International Development on behalf of the FCO and thus it is they who may have a record of the meetings, the MOD has no record of any formal minutes. However the real output of these meetings was in the development of the UK’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security which was published by the Foreign Secretary on 12 June at the Global Summit on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. This document is available from the FCO.

  • Peter Aldous – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Aldous – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Aldous on 2014-06-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England takes to consider (a) all new specialised service applications and (b) new treatments for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency; and whether such steps are subject to review by his Department.

    Norman Lamb

    The Prescribed Specialised Services Advisory Group (PSSAG) is a Department expert committee which was set up to provide regular advice to Ministers on which services are specialised and should be prescribed in regulations for national commissioning by the NHS Commissioning Board (NHS England). The Group met most recently in May 2014 and may meet up to four times a year.

    Evidence, supporting information and activity on those services currently prescribed in legislation for direct commissioning by NHS England and any new services identified as potentially specialised, are made available to PSSAG from a range of sources, which may include Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), patient groups, clinicians, commissioners and members of the public. The proposals the group considers are in large part generated by NHS England through its CRGs. The PSSAG makes recommendations to Ministers who, before deciding whether to make regulations, consult with NHS England, as required by section 3B of the National Health Service Act 2006.

    NHS England advises that where it becomes the responsible commissioner for a service, it considers the funding priority of the service through its clinical priorities advisory group and manages a process for selecting providers. Any highly specialised services that become the commissioning responsibility of NHS England will be discussed at its Rare Disease Advisory Group.

    The commissioning of services for people with alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency is a matter for individual clinical commissioning groups. We understand the Alpha 1 Alliance is working with NHS England and the Specialised Respiratory Clinical Reference Group to develop a proposal on alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency for a future PSSAG meeting.

  • Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Fabian Hamilton – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fabian Hamilton on 2014-05-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of replacing live animals with simulators in armed forces trauma training; and if he will make a statement.

    Anna Soubry

    It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

  • Lord Jenkin of Roding – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Jenkin of Roding – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Jenkin of Roding on 2014-05-12.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they intend to publish drafts of the several orders and regulations implementing the electricity market reforms under the Energy Act 2013; when they plan to table motions in both Houses of Parliament to enable the drafts to be debated; and when they expect that any orders and regulations that are approved will come into force.

    Baroness Verma

    The implementing secondary legislation for Electricity Market Reform (EMR) is currently being finalised. It is the Government’s intention that these regulations will be laid before the House at the beginning of June 2014 and published concurrently.

    The regulations will then be scrutinised by both the JCSI (Joint Committee on Secondary Legislation) and the SLSC (Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee). Should the regulations be approved by the committees, then Business Managers in both Houses will be asked to schedule scrutiny debates. Once debated, approval motions will be tabled in both Houses.

    Subject to the will of Parliament, it is intended that the Regulations will come into force around 1 August 2014.

    Additionally at the beginning of June, the Government will publish the response to four consultations:

    · Electricity Market Reform: Consultation on Proposals for Implementation (October 2013)

    · EMR: Consultation on industry code and licence modifications (January 2014)

    · EMR: Contracts for Difference Regulations – Consultation on Directions to Offer Contracts for Difference (March 2014)

    · EMR: Consultation on Balancing and Settlement Code subsidiary documents (April 2014)

    We will also publish an accompanying handbook setting out the final detailed policy of EMR, titled Implementing Electricity Market Reform.

    The publication of this information alongside the laying of legislation provides certainty to industry on final EMR policy design and keeps EMR on track for delivery this year.