Tag: Robert Flello

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with trades unions officials representing Highways England traffic officers on the potential danger of serious injury or death arising from trying to move a heavy goods vehicle from a live lane using a Highways England traffic officer 4 by 4 vehicle.

Andrew Jones

The Trade Union that represents Highways England Traffic Officers was consulted throughout the life of the enhanced carriageway clearance project, which focused on carriageway clearance of vehicles of all types. Trade Union representatives attended a number of meetings and specific workshops.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department has taken or plans to take on the practice of consuming and selling dog meat for consumption in addition to the steps he set out in the debate in the House on the dog meat trade of 5 November 2015.

Mr Hugo Swire

Since the debate on 5 November my Department has not received any representations from any diplomatic missions in the UK on the dog meat trade, nor have Ministers made representations to their counterparts abroad. As highlighted during the debate by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge), I am contacting our Ambassadors in the countries concerned to review our activities in this area.

The Government is committed to raising the standards of animal welfare at home and abroad. I raised animal welfare issues during my visit to the region in February and will continue to make representations when appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the scenarios and charges in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 2008 were last reviewed to ascertain whether they should be updated.

Mike Penning

The current scenarios and charging regime in the Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicle Regulations dates from 2008, when a table of varying rates for different prescribed scenarios replaced the previous flat rate charge in place since 1989. The Government keeps these scenarios and charges under regular review. Currently, there are no plans to change this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the guidance is on licences applied for to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority being granted before receiving ethical approval; and what proportion of such licences have been so granted in each of the last three years.

George Freeman

The Department has not had any discussions with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) after its authorisation of a licence for gene editing of human embryos by means of CRISPR-Cas9 about the process of ethical approval being granted for such a licence.

The Francis Crick Institute, which made the licence application to the HFEA, is intending to place copies of the information given to patients or donors explaining this research on its website, once the final draft has been agreed.

There is no statutory requirement for ethical approval to be in place before an HFEA research licence can be granted. However, the HFEA has developed guidance for its licensing committee that such approval should be in place before a licence is granted and research is allowed to proceed.

In 2012, none of the three licences granted had ethical approval in place and a condition was therefore placed on each licence that licensed research could not proceed until such approval was in place. In 2013, five research licences were granted, all of which had ethical approval in place. In 2014, seven licences were granted, all of which had ethical approval in place. In 2015, one of the 15 licences granted did not have ethical approval in place and a condition was therefore placed on the licence that licensed research could not proceed until such approval was in place.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Care Quality Commission report, British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS-Richmond, Quality Report, published in November 2015, what steps his Department is taking to improve safety in abortion clinics.

Jane Ellison

The termination of pregnancies is a regulated activity. All providers of regulated activities must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and must meet all of the relevant Regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety, which includes independent sector termination of pregnancy providers and managers. The CQC is responsible for monitoring and, where appropriate, inspecting providers in relation to their ongoing compliance with meeting those requirements. Independent sector providers are also required to comply with the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures which the CQC inspect against.

The CQC has made a public commitment to undertake inspection of all independent providers of termination of pregnancy services using their new inspection approach and will continue to respond to risk as appropriate and take regulatory action as required.

On the issue of whether the Department plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on consultation on disposal arrangements following termination, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32357.

We have no plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on the administration of drugs. The administration of drugs is managed through the CQC’s fundamental standards and through inspection visits.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation has been paid from the public purse to owners of heavy goods vehicles damaged as a result of being moved by Highways England traffic officers from live lanes to (a) hard shoulders and (b) emergency refuge areas in the last 12 months.

Andrew Jones

Highways England has not received any claims relating to heavy goods vehicles damaged as a result of being moved by Highways England traffic officers in the last 12 months. Hence, no compensation has been paid.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what representations have been made to his Department on fraud involving the tax status of lorry drivers.

Andrew Jones

The Road Haulage Association has made my Department aware of concerns about widespread fraud involving the tax status of lorry drivers. The Road Haulage Association has raised these concerns directly with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new entrants there were for religious education initial teacher training courses in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb

The numbers of new entrants to religious education initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England, and the target levels, for each of the last five years are as shown in Table 1 below.

The numbers of people achieving qualified teacher status (QTS) in religious studies in each of the last five years are as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 1: New entrants to Religious Education ITT courses.

Year	Postgraduate ITT new entrants	Postgraduate ITT target	Percentage of the postgraduate target achieved	Undergraduate ITT new entrants
2011/12	463	446	104%	15
2012/13	471	439	107%	12
2013/14	367	450	82%	12
2014/15	386	537	72%	8
2015/16	411	650	63%	14

Table 2: Final year religious education trainees obtaining QTS awards.

Year	Postgraduate				Undergraduate
Number awarded QTS	Number not awarded QTS	Total	Percentage awarded QTS	Number awarded QTS	Number not awarded QTS	Total	Percentage awarded QTS
2009/10	755	96	851	89%	12	2	14	86%
2010/11	762	78	840	91%	19	2	21	90%
2011/12	464	71	535	87%	17	7	24	71%
2012/13	419	65	484	87%	25	5	30	83%
2013/14	321	23	344	93%	12	0	12	100%

Further information is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-teacher-training

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-03-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what (a) financial and (b) other assistance her Department has contributed to international support for children with microcephaly and their families.

Mr Nick Hurd

The Department for International Development (DFID) has worked with the Department for Heath (who are leading the UK government’s response), Public Health England and the Foreign Commonwealth Office to help develop the UK strategy on Zika and support the World Health Organisation (WHO) galvanise an effective international response. There are four strands of this strategy which are: (a) galvanising effective leadership and international coordination; (b) ensuring a risk-based approach to identify priority regions/countries and likely impact of further spread; (c) shaping and contributing to country and regional responses and (d) playing a lead role in the international research response.

DFID has programmes in a number of countries which will support the Zika response. To date, countries in currently affected regions of Latin America and the Caribbean have not made specific requests for financial and/or other assistance from us to support children with microcephaly. We will continue to carefully assess any requests, offer additional assistance where needed and adapt any existing programmes to the needs required. We have already committed £200,000 of bilateral aid in support of Haiti’s Ministry of Health community mobilisation activities. DFID and Wellcome Trust will contribute £10 million (DFID up to £5million) for Zika research. We will continue to monitor the situation closely, working with other government departments and WHO.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Robert Flello on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that abortion clinics transfer women to hospital at the earliest stage necessary in the case of serious incidents.

Jane Ellison

The termination of pregnancies is a regulated activity. All providers of regulated activities must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and must meet all of the relevant Regulations under the Health and Social Care Act 2008, including meeting the fundamental standards of quality and safety, which includes independent sector termination of pregnancy providers and managers. The CQC is responsible for monitoring and, where appropriate, inspecting providers in relation to their ongoing compliance with meeting those requirements. Independent sector providers are also required to comply with the Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures which the CQC inspect against.

The CQC has made a public commitment to undertake inspection of all independent providers of termination of pregnancy services using their new inspection approach and will continue to respond to risk as appropriate and take regulatory action as required.

On the issue of whether the Department plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on consultation on disposal arrangements following termination, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 11 April 2016 to Question 32357.

We have no plans to issue guidance to abortion clinics on the administration of drugs. The administration of drugs is managed through the CQC’s fundamental standards and through inspection visits.

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