The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angela Eagle on 2016-02-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the change to Sunday trading laws proposed in the Enterprise Bill on employment in each region.
Anna Soubry
The Government has been considering the costs and benefits of changes to Sunday trading and we will be publishing the Impact Assessment shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Jones on 2016-03-02.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions (a) he and (b) ministers of his Department have had with their Welsh Government counterparts on the potential benefits to North Wales of the Northern Powerhouse.
Greg Hands
Ministers from the Treasury and Wales Office regularly meet with members of the Welsh Government. The Rt. Honourable Member is right to recognise that north Wales is well positioned to play an integral role in the Northern Powerhouse. The UK Government wants to work with the Welsh Government and partners like the Economic Ambition Board to improve productivity and drive further growth in the region.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of her Department’s programmes in the eight districts of the Central Region of Uganda in preventing the spread of malaria.
Mr Nick Hurd
DFID works with UNICEF in the Central Region of Uganda on a programme to prevent the spread of malaria. As part of this, the Integrated Community Case Management programme is improving access to testing and treatment for children under five with high fever. This is an important intervention in preventing the spread of malaria and reducing deaths related to malaria and other treatable diseases.
Results from the 2014-15 internationally recognised Malaria Indicator Survey showed that the prevalence of malaria in children in the central region where the eight districts are located had reduced from 39.1% in 2009 to 10.5%. This is largely as a result of targeted interventions including the programme funded by DFID and implemented by UNICEF.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to tackle political instability in east Africa.
Penny Mordaunt
The Ministry of Defence does not directly tackle political instability. As part of the United Kingdom’s policy of countering shared threats in the region, supporting democratic and accountable governments, and promoting sustainable development, the Department works with other parts of Her Majesty’s Government in assisting the countries of East Africa, as well as the United Nations and the African Union, to maintain security and to conduct peace support operations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimate they have made of the number of Saddam Hussein’s elite guards and soldiers who have joined ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Government does not hold figures for the number of former military personnel from Saddam Hussein’s regime that joined Daesh. However, there are credible reports of several ex-Ba’athist senior military officials and personnel with weapons expertise having joined Daesh.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hamilton of Epsom on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Lord O’Neill of Gatley on 5 September (HL Deb, col 849–50), what assessment they have made of the impact of immigration on wage rates and productivity in the UK.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
As noted in the 2012 report by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the empirical literature suggests that the impact of migration on productivity may be mixed and heavily dependent on the type of migrant coming to the UK. Migrants may increase productivity either through a simple ‘batting average’ effect if they work in higher productivity roles relative to the average for non-migrants, or through increasing the productivity of UK workers through greater specialisation and knowledge transfer. In this report, the MAC established the key role played by skilled migrants in raising productivity. Further, the 2014 MAC report, ‘Migrants in low-skilled work’, found low skilled migrants have a neutral impact on UK-born employment rates, GDP per head and productivity. The impact of immigration on wage rates is also mixed, although a 2015 working paper by the Bank of England found an increase in the immigrant to native ratio has a small negative impact on average British wages.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-10-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46333, how much has been spent on the functions of the Department for International Trade; and what estimate he has made of how much will be spent on those functions by the end of the current fiscal year.
Mark Garnier
Following her appointment on 13 July 2016 the Prime Minister established the Department for International Trade (DIT). Until such time as a transfer of functions order establishes my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade as a corporation sole, DIT remains a unified Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) department for accounting purposes. The transfer of functions order (No 2016/ 992) laid on 19 October 2016 will come into effect on 9 November 2016.
DIT is a new Department and is in the process of establishing a separate and distinct budget for its operating costs. This will be shared with Parliament through the Autumn Statement and Supplementary Estimates.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2015-11-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by the Lord Privy Seal on 28 October (HL Deb, col 1176), whether Lord Strathclyde’s review of the powers of the House of Lords will define financial measure”.”
Baroness Stowell of Beeston
The Lord Privy Seal (Baroness Stowell of Beeston):
Lord Strathclyde is being supported in his review by a panel of external experts and a small secretariat of civil servants in the Cabinet Office. The secretariat does not include political advisers. The expert panel comprises Sir Stephen Laws, former First Parliamentary Counsel; Jacqy Sharpe, a former Clerk in the House of Commons and Clerk to the Joint Committee on Conventions; and Sir Michael Pownall, former Clerk of the Parliaments.
Several reviews have examined the powers of the House of Lords, including the Royal Commission on the reform of the House of Lords (2000) and the Joint Committee on Conventions referenced above (2006).
The review led by Lord Strathclyde is due to consider how to protect the ability of elected Governments to secure their business in Parliament in the light of the operation of certain conventions. The review will consider in particular how to secure the decisive role of the elected House of Commons in relation to its primacy on financial matters; and secondary legislation.
Ministers regularly discuss a wide range of issues with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.
Lord Strathclyde will determine the way in which the review is undertaken and the content of his recommendations, including any definitions required. It is not possible to provide an estimate of the cost of the exercise at this stage, but neither Lord Strathclyde nor his panel of experts will be paid a fee. Lord Strathclyde is expected to seek views from a wide range of Parliamentarians, parties and groups in undertaking his review, and has issued a letter to all Parliamentarians inviting their input. He is also seeking views from the Clerk of the Parliaments and the Clerk of the House. Lord Strathclyde will report to the Prime Minister, and the Government will decide how to proceed upon receipt of his recommendations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on climate change of the recently published report by the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition, entitled Executive Guide to Carbon Pricing Leadership.
Andrea Leadsom
The Government welcomes the report produced by the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition and its aim to encourage businesses to take up carbon pricing initiatives. The UK is strongly committed to carbon pricing as a policy tool to allow carbon emissions to be reduced at least cost. The Government has encouraged businesses to recognise the cost of carbon in decision-making by pressing for reforms to strengthen the EU Emissions Trading System as well as pursuing other market-based policy approaches. We also support other countries to develop pricing models through our international outreach and projects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Barron on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to substitute the prescribing of high volume branded medicine with generic equivalents.
George Freeman
Generic substitution has happened in secondary care for many years, but is not currently permitted in primary care. The Department consulted on introducing primary care generic substitution in 2010, but did not progress the proposals following concerns about the potential impact on patient safety.
Most general practitioner practices and clinical commissioning groups, formerly primary care trusts, have been pursuing and supporting policies of increasing generic prescribing for 15 years or more. Generic prescribing rates are already relatively high in England at 84.1% in 2014, as reported in the Health and Social Care Information Centre report: Prescriptions dispensed in the community: England 2004-14.