Tag: Parliamentary Question

Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to reduce UK reliance on fossil fuels from Eastern Europe.

Andrea Leadsom

Fossil fuels are widely traded internationally, and the UK imports fossil fuels from a variety of different countries to supplement our domestic production. This diversity of supply reduces our reliance on fossil fuels from any single region, including Eastern Europe.

January 1, 2023
Stephen Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Twigg on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will support the immediate establishment of an international, impartial investigation into repeated international humanitarian law violations by all parties to the conflict in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK Government has been clear that we want to see thorough and conclusive investigations where allegations have been made against parties to the conflict in Yemen regarding international humanitarian law. The Saudi Arabian government has its own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail on how they investigate such incidents earlier this year and that any lessons learned would be acted upon. We continue to call on all parties to the conflict in Yemen to comply with international humanitarian law, including to take all feasible precautions to minimise harm to civilians and civilian objects.

January 1, 2023
Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

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

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 25 July 2016 to Questions 43380 and 43381, what proportion of that £12 billion was spent on (a) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) winning contracts directly from government and (b) large companies winning contracts directly from government and then outsourcing parts of those contracts to SMEs.

Ben Gummer

In 2014-15, Central Government spent over £12 billion with small and medium sized businesses, of which £4.88 billion was direct spend and £7.27 billion through our supply chains.

A full breakdown of the data can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/central-government-spend-with-smes-2014-to-2015

“

January 1, 2023
Stephen Doughty – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role the Government plans to take in helping to facilitate a resumed dialogue between Somaliland and Somalia after presidential elections in Somaliland in March 2017.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government recognises the importance of dialogue between Somalia and Somaliland, currently facilitated by the Government of Turkey, and we expect to see this resumed once both the Somaliland Presidential elections and the Parliamentary and Presidential electoral processes in Somalia have been held.

The Government’s position on Somaliland has long been that it is for Somalia and Somaliland to decide their future, and for regional neighbours to take the lead in recognising any new arrangements.

January 1, 2023
Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-11-03.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made in encouraging small pension funds in the United Kingdom to amalgamate or co-operate in order to be able to compete with larger international pension funds in the purchase of suitable assets.

Baroness Altmann

Automatic enrolment is driving scale in pension provision and the clear trend is towards larger schemes which are better able to take advantage of the economies of scale including better access to a wider range of investment vehicles.

The Government fully supports the concrete steps the pensions industry has taken to cooperate on investment strategies – for example, the Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PIP) launched in February last year, and the London Collective Investment Vehicle (CIV) currently under development by a number of local authorities’ pension schemes in London.

Moreover, the Government will also work with the Local Government Pension Scheme Administering Authorities more widely to ensure that they pool investments to reduce costs significantly, while maintaining overall investment performance.

Trustees and managers are ultimately responsible for making investment decisions in the best interests of scheme members, and the Government recognises the challenges of the current economic environment for scheme funding. The Pensions Regulator sets out on an annual basis its key messages on current market conditions and how trustees and employers can agree appropriate funding plans that protect members’ benefits without undermining the sustainable growth of the employer.

Ministers continue to meet regularly with key stakeholders from the pensions industry to understand better the range of challenges facing schemes and employers and will consider whether there are further steps the Government could take.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead on 2015-11-30.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the statements made by representatives of the UN about breaches of international humanitarian law in Yemen by the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition, and other parties to the fighting, have been reflected in risk assessments for licences for military aircraft, bombs and other equipment issued for sales to Saudi Arabia since their operations began in Yemen in March.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We are aware of reports of alleged violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) by the Saudi Arabian-led Coalition. We have received assurances from the Saudi Arabian authorities that they are complying with IHL and we continue to engage with them on those assurances. The Saudi Arabian authorities have their own internal procedures for investigations and we encourage them to be open and transparent in this. We have also raised our concerns with the Houthis on the importance of compliance with IHL and international human rights law.

The UK takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. We rigorously examine every application on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria.

The Ministry of Defence monitors the reports of alleged IHL violations which informs our overall assessment of IHL compliance in Yemen. We consider a range of evidence from Government sources, foreign governments, the media and international non-governmental organisations. We are also offering advice and training to Saudi Arabia to demonstrate best practice and to help ensure continued compliance with IHL.

January 1, 2023
Lord Donoughue – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Donoughue on 2016-01-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of any changes in agricultural yields due to sustainable agricultural projects funded, in whole or in part, by the UK International Climate Fund.

Earl of Courtown

Agriculture projects receiving ICF support are assessed against a number of performance indicators, including improvement in people’s resilience to climate change, and how they help improve farmers’ incomes and yields. While the evidence on effective climate change actions is still growing, the DFID funded CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security has reviewed in 2015 the impact of 19 climate smart case studies on agriculture productivity, people’s resilience to climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It found that climate smart approaches clearly have the potential to meet our development expectations: all of the 19 case studies contributed towards sustainably increasing agricultural productivity, and related increases in farm incomes, food security and development. 18 cases helped build resilience of agricultural and food security systems to climate change, and 15 cases clearly contributed to reducing greenhouse gases from agriculture.

January 1, 2023
Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps NHS England is taking to standardise the collection of data on cholesterol.

Jane Ellison

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) provides information and data for commissioners, analysts and clinicians in health and social care and is responsible for matters relating to standardisation of the collection of cholesterol data.

The HSCIC administers the Health Survey for England which is an annual survey of the general population. Since 2008, it has included measurements of total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The data is publically available from the UK Data Service.

Additionally, cholesterol testing in primary care for people diagnosed with hypertension and diabetes is included in the Quality Outcomes Framework. This information from this is published every year by the HSCIC.

January 1, 2023
The Earl of Sandwich – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Earl of Sandwich on 2016-02-24.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the British Medical Association’s report Prescribed drugs associated with dependence and withdrawal: building a consensus for action published in October 2015 on the effects of sudden withdrawal from prescribed drugs that have been over-prescribed; and (2) the need for more training on those effects; and whether they have plans to take any action as a result of that report.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We welcome the British Medical Association’s report and its contribution to addressing this serious issue.

It is the responsibility of local areas to plan, develop and improve health services according to the healthcare needs of the local population, including services for people dependent on prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

The Department, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS England (NHSE) are responsible for helping local areas to understand how they can best support people dependent on prescribed or over-the-counter medicines and have undertaken a number of initiatives. These include:

– supporting a project by St George’s University of London to strengthen the training of medical students in relation to substance misuse;

– supporting the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education, Royal College of General Practitioners and others to develop information and educational materials, and training on addiction to medicines for General Practitioners and other healthcare professionals;

– the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency publishing a learning module on benzodiazepines in April 2013;

– PHE supported an expert group led by the Faculty of Pain Medicine at the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCOA) to develop an online only core resource on opioid pain medicines that can be used as a source of consistent information by any medical body developing its own materials, and are working with RCOA colleagues to support the widespread dissemination and implementation of this online only resource;

– in June 2013, PHE published a commissioning guide for the NHS and local authorities, ‘Commissioning treatment for dependence on prescription and over-the-counter medicines: a guide for NHS and local authority commissioners’, which sets out their expectation that support should be available in every area for people with a dependency on prescription or over-the-counter medicines, based on a full assessment of local need. A copy of this guidance is attached;

– PHE supporting a small number of local areas to pilot improvements in their commissioning of responses to dependence on prescribed or over-the-counter medicines; and

– Commissioning research into prescribing patterns of dependence forming medicines in primary care.

January 1, 2023
Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using drones to detect mines and improvised explosive devices.

Penny Mordaunt

The merits of the use of drones to detect mines and improvised explosive devices have been recognised by the UK’s Armed Forces and there are a number of ongoing research projects which seek to refine possible techniques.

While a number of technical challenges remain in integrating more complex detectors and sensors onto Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), there is potential for a UAS to be procured in future which could be used to detect mines and improvised explosive devices.

January 1, 2023