Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what position the UK representative at the MaMa-COHAFA meeting in Brussels on 11 April 2016 took on proposals to (a) demand compensation from the Israeli authorities for demolition of structures in the Occupied Palestinian Territory funded by the EU and its member-states and (b) make the EU damages registry publicly available.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We do not comment on ongoing discussions between EU Member States in the Council, as they are confidential. However, our position on demolitions is clear: they cause unnecessary suffering of ordinary Palestinians and undermine the prospects for a two-state solution.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33117, which programmes the reprioritisation of £100 million in capital funding to deliver low-cost second stage accommodation for rough sleepers will affect.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    The Department is not reducing delivery of any existing programmes. We are confident that we will be able to meet this new pressure through careful management and review of existing capital budgets. This may include use of receipts from other programmes and re-profiling underspends on capital grant programmes. The reprioritisation of the money means that the Department’s homelessness budget now has an additional £100 million to spend on programmes to help those vulnerable and at risk of homelessness.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what powers his Department has to block access to social media sites for people awaiting sentencing.

    Andrew Selous

    An extensive programme of work is underway to prevent prisoners having access to mobile phones. As the Prime Minister said on 8 February 2016, we are working with the mobile network operators to challenge them to do more, including developing new technological solutions, so we can block mobile phones’ signals in prisons.

    Although there are no rules to prevent prisoners on remand from passing on passwords for social media platforms, prisoners, including those on remand in custody, are not allowed access to social media platforms either directly or via a third party.

    It is a criminal offence for a person to take or transmit any image or sound from within a prison and send it outside the prison and where a link between a prisoner and content posted on social media is identified, the case will be referred to the police. A sentence of up to two years can be given if those charged are found guilty. If the police decide not to pursue a criminal investigation, a prisoner can be punished under the prison disciplinary system, for example, by having privileges removed or additional days added to their time in prison.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the statement by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Life Sciences of 9 December 2015, Official Report, column 389-90WH, if NHS England will develop a commissioning policy on the use of anti-tumor necrosis factor therapy for adults with uveitis.

    David Mowat

    In November 2015 NHS England undertook to review the current adult policy for uveitis once the study, known as VISUAL II, was fully published in a peer reviewed journal. The results of this study were published in August 2016.

    NHS England will be reviewing the clinical evidence as reported in VISUAL II and make a judgement on whether an interim policy should be published prior to the anticipated National Institute of Health and Care Excellence Guidance on treating uveitis expected in July 2017.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will review NHS diabetes dietary guidelines.

    Jane Ellison

    Current dietary advice to people who have diabetes is the same as for the general population – that they should enjoy a healthy, balanced diet based on the eatwell plate, the national healthy eating guide.

    In July 2015, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) published its report on Carbohydrates and Health, a review of the latest evidence on dietary carbohydrates and health. SACN recommended reducing sugar consumption, increasing fibre consumption and minimising consumption of sugars-sweetened drinks.

    Following publication, advice on what constitutes a healthy, balanced diet was updated to reflect the Government’s acceptance of SACN’s recommendations. As part of this Public Health England is undertaking a review of the eatwell plate and the refreshed resource will be launched in early 2016.

  • The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry on 2015-12-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the projected financial cost for this financial year of UK air strikes against Daesh in Syria.

    Earl Howe

    It is not possible to separate out the costs of military action in Syria from that of wider counter-Daesh operations, due to the inter-related nature of UK military activity. Based on current levels of activity, the net additional cost of increased UK activity in Syria is not expected to rise above the low tens of millions of pounds.

  • Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Callum McCaig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Callum McCaig on 2016-01-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what level of domestic content her Department expects to be used in the construction of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Work to enable the British supply chain to compete for contracts means that we expect more than 60% of the project’s construction value to go to UK companies.

    The construction and operation of Hinkley Point C will create 25,000 employment opportunities with a peak workforce of 5,600 people and thousands more in the supply chain. At least 5,000 people from Somerset are expected to work directly on the project. The project aims to create 1,000 apprenticeships alongside £14 million of EDF Energy investment in education and training. When operating, 900 jobs and £40 million a year is expected to be delivered to the local economy for 60 years, through wages and supply contracts.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the evidence given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 10 February 2016, how many operations UK Reaper drones have undertaken in Libyan airspace this year.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The Government has a long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.

  • Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to increase teacher recruitment in schools.

    Nick Gibb

    Ensuring there are high quality teachers in all schools is crucial to achieving our ambition of educational excellence everywhere. That is why the Government is investing over £1.3 billion to 2020 to attract new teachers into the profession. Our investment includes tax-free training bursaries worth up to £30,000 for top graduates in priority subjects in addition to grants to support new teachers who want to earn a salary whilst they train.

    We are continuing to support the expansion of the prestigious Teach First scheme which is now Britain’s largest graduate employer, and places top graduates in schools in disadvantaged areas.

    We are also offering training and support to former teachers to help them return to the classroom and have launched the National Teaching Service, which will place up to 1,500 outstanding teachers and middle leaders into the schools who need them most.

    To ensure that schools can play a leading role in selecting and training the teachers that they need, we have significantly expanded school-based routes into teaching so that over 50 per cent of trainees are now training through school-led programmes.

    Teaching continues to be a hugely popular career for top graduates and career changers, and we now have more, better-qualified teachers in our classrooms than ever before.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing non-invasive prenatal testing on the prevalence of sex-selective abortions.

    Ben Gummer

    The UK National Screening Committee which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy has conducted a full review of the published scientific and cost evidence relating to Non-Invasive Pre-Natal Testing (NIPT) as a screening test for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes. On 15 January 2016, the Committee announced its recommendation that NIPT should be introduced as an additional test into NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of an evaluation. This is because the evidence suggests that NIPT is much more accurate than the current testing used in screening and can substantially reduce the number of pregnant women needing an invasive test, which carries a high risk of miscarriage. Ministers are currently considering this recommendation.

    The possible introduction of NIPT into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme does not fundamentally alter the choices presented to prospective parents, or the options and choices available when testing identifies a feotus with a syndrome. Therefore, no assessment has been made of the impact of NIPT on the number of abortions.

    NIPT testing as part of the NHS Foetal Anomaly Screening Programme will not be used to determine the sex of the foetus. Abortion on the grounds of gender alone is illegal.