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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to require local authorities to prioritise homeless people in the allocation of social housing.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    We have maintained the protection provided by the statutory reasonable preference criteria which ensure that overall priority for allocation of social housing continues to be given to those in the greatest housing need. The reasonable preference categories include people who are homeless and those owed certain duties under the homelessness legislation.

  • Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kevan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) senior officials and (b) Ministers of his Department are over the age of 45.

    Harriett Baldwin

    A total of 235 of the 315 Senior Civil Servants (SCS), including those in equivalent posts and SCS personnel in DE&S Trading Entity employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) were aged 46 or above as at 1 July 2016. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5. All MOD Ministers are over the age of 45.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-28.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will contact those people whose personal details have been stolen as a result of the cyber security breach of the Government Gateway system.

    Matthew Hancock

    There are no indications of a cyber security breach of the Government Gateway.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the reform of the junior doctors’ contract.

    Ben Gummer

    My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health is in regular dialogue with the devolved administrations. Health is a devolved matter and it is for each administration to decide whether to seek to reform junior doctors’ contracts. All four countries were party to the negotiations that the British Medical Association walked away from in October 2014.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2015-12-17.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussion they have had with the governments of China, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam about combatting the illegal tiger trade and tiger farming in those countries.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    The UK Government remains committed to playing a leading international role in tackling the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), including in tigers, and working with our international partners to bring an end to this scourge.

    Issues concerning illegal trade in tigers, their parts and derivatives are addressed through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). The UK is an active member of the CITES Working Group on tigers and issues discussed include illegal trade and captive tiger breeding. The Working Group has submitted a report of its work for consideration at the CITES Standing Committee meeting to be held in Geneva on 11–15 January 2016.

    The UK has engaged with China, Laos and Vietnam on IWT through two high-level international Conferences on IWT, the first of which was hosted by the UK in London in February 2014 and which was attended by all three countries. China and Vietnam also attended the Kasane Conference on IWT in Botswana in March 2015, in which the UK played an active role. The UK will be providing support to Vietnam to host a third high-level international Conference on IWT, due to take place in late 2016, and will be encouraging Thailand’s participation. The UK’s diplomatic posts also engage with the relevant authorities in all three countries about how best to tackle IWT.

    The Government has also committed £13 million to support projects around the world to tackle illegal wildlife trade by reducing demand, strengthening law enforcement and developing sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by IWT, primarily through Defra’s Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund. A second round of the Challenge Fund was launched on 5 August and successful applicants will be notified in early 2016.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2016 to Question 22716, if he will commission a survey on the effects of delays in the publication of the hepatitis C framework on (a) all people and (b) members of the South Asian population in England with hepatitis C.

    Jane Ellison

    No such survey has been commissioned. Public Health England and NHS England continue to work together to improve outcomes for people with hepatitis C.

  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to encourage body confidence in young disabled people.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The government wants all young people to be confident and positive about their body image. My department has worked with a range of bodies, including the Advertising Association and the National Citizen Service, to develop materials that support good practice and encourage young people to become more informed and resilient consumers of media content; and with the PSHE Association to provide guidance for teachers on teaching about body image using accredited resources.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to increase the availability and uptake of innovative technology available to patients on the NHS; and if he will make a statement.

    George Freeman

    The Government is actively supporting a number of initiatives to accelerate access to innovative treatments. These include the Early Access to Medicines Schemes which supports access in the United Kingdom to unlicensed or off-label medicines and represents a significant advance in treatment in areas of unmet medical need and the Accelerated Access Review, which aims to speed up access to innovative drugs, devices, diagnostics and digital products for National Health Service patients, and to make the UK the best place to develop these innovations.

    NHS England supports the invention and adoption of transformative healthcare technologies. This includes existing technologies, where the benefits are already proven but wider adoption is critical to benefit all patients, and new technologies, which require larger scale trials to test out their impact individually and in combination. Current initiatives include the sponsorship of 15 Academic Health Science Networks (£48 million core funding in 2015-16), the Small Business Research Initiative (£20 million in 2015-16), and the Test Bed programme which is providing funding for frontline health and care workers to evaluate the use of novel combinations of interconnected devices such as wearable monitors, data analysis and new ways of working.

    NHS England has been tasked under section 7.1 of the NHS Mandate to “Implement the agreed recommendations of the Accelerated Access Review including developing ambition and trajectory on NHS uptake of affordable and cost-effective new innovations”.

  • Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Tebbit – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possible role of the contraceptive chemical E22, which is resistant to water purification techniques, in the increase in number of freshwater and coastal water fish bearing both male and female sexual organs.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    In the UK, environmental regulators, scientific experts and the water industry have been researching the link between the synthetic steroid, 17α-ethinyloestradiol (EE2, used in human oral contraception) and fish populations to understand the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals on the reproductive physiology of fish. Most work has focused on EE2 which has been measured in some of our rivers and downstream of sewage treatment works (STWs); this matches findings in other countries.

    Based on scientific evidence from the UK and in Europe, there is reasonable certainty that very low concentrations of EE2 can cause feminisation (intersex condition) in male fish. The incidence of intersex seems to relate to the size of the STWs and the dilution ability of receiving waters. In the UK, fish inhabit comparatively small-sized rivers where limited dilution of EE2 occurs. Conventional STWs can remove EE2 from sewage, but not to the very low levels of less than one nanogramme per litre (ng/L) where no endocrine disrupting effects are predicted. In some cases the impact on fish populations remains unclear, and some affected populations appear to be self-sustaining.

    In 2014, EE2 was included on the European Commission’s ‘watch list’ under the Water Framework Directive to gather information on its occurrence in surface waters across the European Union. Data will be reported by the UK and other Member States, and reviewed by the Commission throughout 2017 to assess whether this pharmaceutical is to be prioritised for monitoring and control and is to be included in future versions of the Directive.

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-04-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what communication his Department had with the EU Commission when developing the rules of the revised community amateur sports club scheme (a) in general and (b) on the implications of the Commission’s view as expressed in State Aid SA.38208 (2014/NN) that tax relief to member-owned golf clubs does not constitute state aid.

    Damian Hinds

    The new regulations for CASCs were introduced on 1 April 2015. All the changes made were necessary to reinforce the original spirit of the scheme requiring clubs to be open to the whole community, with the promotion of participation in sport as their main purpose.

    The Government consulted widely with the sector on all the changes to the scheme. It was aware that there was confusion about the meaning of participation prior to the consultation period for the new regulations. Responses to the consultation were mostly supportive of the 12 times a year rule for participation.

    The scheme does not permit clubs to impose fees which are a significant obstacle to membership. The vast majority of CASCs charge less than £520 for annual membership. To make membership more accessible, clubs with higher costs associated with membership are required to make provisions for those who can’t afford to pay more than £520 a year. If no suitable arrangements are made this club is not able to be a CASC because it is not considered to be open to the whole community.

    During the development of the new CASC regulations the Government was aware of State aid complaint SA.38208 (2014/NN). At the time, the Government was only asked to provide a response to the complaint. The Government provided this response, explaining why the CASC scheme was not State aid. The Commission’s subsequent ruling confirmed this view.

    Since the introduction of the new regulations all CASCs were given a 12-month period of grace to make any necessary changes to remain in the scheme. The Government wrote to all registered CASCs explaining the new regulations and asked clubs to complete a self-assessment checklist on income, membership and participation levels. They were also asked to contact HMRC if they did not meet the new requirements.

    From 1 April 2016, 500 clubs have been deregistered as CASCs, affecting some 35 different types of sport.

    Since 2010 there has been a steady increase in the numbers of CASCs registered in the scheme. Although the Government does not yet have figures for clubs registered as at 5 April 2016, the breakdown of figures since 2010 is:

    5630 – 5 April 2010

    5976 – 5 April 2011

    6165 – 5 April 2012

    6334 – 5 April 2013

    6571 – 5 April 2014

    6715 – 5 April 2015.