Tag: Parliamentary Question

Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to meet the demands of increasing world-wide migration.

Lord Bates

The Government undertakes extensive engagement on global migration issues with international partners through multilateral and bilateral discussions. The frequency of engagement has increased since the migration crisis in summer 2015 and focuses on the root causes of the crisis and its consequences. UK participation in the Valletta Summit and the Khartoum Process are key parts of this engagement.

In order to tackle the unprecedented levels of illegal migration to the EU, we are prioritising interventions upstream in countries of origin and transit to reduce the need for migrants to leave their country of origin or move on from a safe third country. Action is being taking through regional initiatives, including Regional Development and Protection Programmes and overseas aid, including £1.12 billion of support to Syria. We are supporting work to strengthen the EU’s external border and joint action on human trafficking to crack down on those who profit from this vile trade. The Government recently announced that it will work with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to lead a new initiative to resettle unaccompanied children from conflict regions. We have asked the UNHCR to make an assessment of the numbers and needs of unaccompanied children in conflict regions and advise on when it is in the best interests of the child to be resettled in the UK and how that process should be managed. This new initiative builds on the Government’s existing commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees during this Parliament. More than 1,000 vulnerable Syrians refugees – around half of them children – have already been resettled through the scheme.

01/01/2023
Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the financial and humanitarian effect on Turkey of keeping its border with Syria open to refugees while restricting their access to the EU.

Justine Greening

The UK recognises Turkey’s extraordinary generosity in ably hosting so many refugees from Syria and elsewhere. The EU-Turkey Summit on 29 November 2015 highlighted the importance that the EU attaches to its wide-ranging partnership with Turkey and need to support Turkey in its hosting of Syrians. The EU and Turkey have agreed to an Action Plan and a €3 billion Refugee Facility for Turkey to help implement it. We have committed our share to the €3 billion Facility

01/01/2023
Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-03-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many hepatitis C patients NHS England is planning to treat in 2016–17.

Lord Prior of Brampton

NHS England is planning to treat 10,000 patients with chronic hepatitis C in 2016/2017.

01/01/2023
Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effects on auto enrolment of the roll-out of the lifetime ISA.

Justin Tomlinson

Automatic enrolment is the cornerstone of this Government’s private pension reforms, normalising pension saving and reversing the decade long decline in pension savings prior to introduction in 2012. It has been a great success to date with over 6 million people enrolled and opt-outs low at around 10 per cent.

The Lifetime ISA is not a part of the pension system but an additional flexible savings product that can complement pension saving but not replace it. Increasing the choice of savings products available, it aims to support the Government’s ambition to encourage a regular savings habit amongst young people and to create a culture of medium and long term saving at different points in people’s lives.

The Budget 2016 Lifetime ISA costing, certified by the OBR, did not anticipate any revenue impact from individuals opting-out of their workplace pensions in order to save into Lifetime ISAs.

01/01/2023
Christina Rees – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christina Rees on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to improve legal education in England and Wales.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The legal profession in England and Wales is independent from government. We want to see an innovative and competitive market that provides people with affordable legal services that they want and need, with regulation that supports the public and consumer interest.

We welcome the Law Society’s survey and will take account of the findings as part of the development of legal services policy.

The legal services regulators have a duty to promote the regulatory objectives set out in the Legal Services Act 2007, including improving access to justice and increasing public understanding of the citizen’s legal rights and duties. The regulators have established the “Legal Choices” website, which provides people with information to help them in deciding whether and how to seek legal advice and the available services they might choose from. The Advicenow website, established by Law for Life, provides information on rights and the law.

01/01/2023
Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-09-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect lenvatinib to be available on the NHS for patients with radioiodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Ministers asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop technology appraisal guidance on the use of lenvatinb for the treatment of thyroid cancer on 22 July 2016. NICE plans to develop guidance on lenvatinib and sorafenib through the same technology appraisal and currently expects to publish draft guidance in October 2017.

In the absence of NICE guidance, it is for commissioners to make funding decisions based on the available evidence and on the patient’s individual clinical circumstances.

01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the regularity of incursions into UK airspace by foreign jets; and if he will make a statement.

Mike Penning

The airspace around and approaching the UK is permanently monitored on a 24 hour basis. There have been no unauthorised incursions by any foreign military aircraft into sovereign air space around the UK, which projects 12 miles off shore or to mutually agreed mid-points between adjacent nations over narrow straits such as the Straits of Dover. The UK civil air traffic region and the NATO Air Policing Area, which the UK has responsibility for monitoring, include large areas of international airspace through which foreign military traffic may legally transit.

01/01/2023

Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many domestic customers (a) Scottish Power, (b) SSE, (c) E.on, (d) British Gas, (e) EDF, (f) Npower, (g) First Utility, (h) Ovo and (i) Cooperative Energy each have.

Andrea Leadsom

Ofgem publishes market share of energy suppliers based on monthly domestic customer numbers as part of its yearly Great Britain and Northern Ireland National Reports to the European Commission, most recently published in 2014. In this report smaller suppliers including First Utility, OVO and Co-operative Energy are grouped together as ‘Other Suppliers’.

GB Domestic Energy Suppliers’ Market Share, December 2013

Supplier	Electricity Market Share	Gas Market Share
British Gas	24%	39%
SSE	18%	15%
E.on	16%	13%
EDF	13%	9%
Scottish Power	12%	9%
RWE npower	12%	10%
Other Suppliers	5%	5%

First Utility, OVO and Co-operative Energy have released customer numbers on their websites. First Utility claim to have over 800,000 customers in July 2015, OVO claim to currently have 500,000 customers, while Co-operative Energy claim to have over 200,000 customers. The majority of these Customers will take both electricity and gas from their supplier.

01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what account his Department takes of the human rights situation and reports of persecution on the basis of religious belief in Iran in setting its policy on changes to sanctions imposed on that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We continue to urge Iran to abide by its international commitments to ensure all Iranians enjoy the rights and freedoms they are entitled to. There has been no real improvement in the human rights situation, and in some cases, the situation appears to have worsened. As such, we have designated over 80 Iranians responsible for human rights violations under EU sanctions.

01/01/2023
Seema Malhotra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2016-01-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the ease by which UK SMEs can access the export market.

Anna Soubry

Increasing exports is a key factor in the Government’s long-term economic plan and, through the GREAT campaign, it continues to promote the support available to those UK businesses looking to take advantage of overseas opportunities.

According to data from the Office of National Statistics, since 2010 UK exports have increased from £444.4bn to £513.5bn per annum. At the same time, the number of UK exporting businesses has increased from 188,000 in 2010 to over 221,000 in 2014. The Government commitment is to increase this figure to over 288,000 UK exporting businesses per annum by 2020; an increase of 100,000 on the 2010 figure.

01/01/2023