Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to support the life sciences industry.
Answered by George Freeman
This Government recognises that health and life sciences industries are a key source of future growth and is committed through the Life Sciences Strategy to providing a supportive wider business environment in which these industries can flourish, so that the UK can be the best place in the world to develop and launch innovative medicines, technologies and diagnostics. Priorities include: simplifying the adoption of transformative products within the NHS through the Accelerated Access Review; supporting new and growing markets and disruptive technologies – such as digital health and genomics; and working across Government to improve the UK’s competitiveness to stimulate investment and drive export growth. Our latest estimates show collective Government support since the Life Science Strategy launched has stimulated more than £6bn in new investment by the life science industry linked to more than 17,000 new sector jobs.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make an assessment of the link between government support for UK Life Sciences and pharmaceutical research and development investment in the UK.
Answered by George Freeman
Our latest estimates show that collective Government support through the Life Science Strategy has stimulated more than £6 billion in new investment by the life sciences industry linked to more than 17,000 new sector jobs. Underpinning this success is the UK’s world class science base and an increasingly strong and informed relationship between our universities and wider life sciences community, which is a key attractor for investment by domestic and overseas companies. Through the Accelerated Access Review the government is making this country a world leading place to design, develop and deploy medical innovations, stimulating investment and creating a stronger NHS.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to maintain the UK's position as a market for investment by global pharmaceutical companies.
Answered by George Freeman
This Government is committed to maintaining and building on the UK’s position as a leader in the global market for investment in health and life sciences – the UK is the number one destination for life science FDI in Europe, and pharmaceutical exports grew 23% in the first three quarters of 2015. Through the Life Sciences Strategy we are working across Government to improve the UK’s competitiveness to stimulate investment, including by protecting the ring-fenced science budget in real terms and increasing funding in real terms to the Catapults which play a key role in commercialising innovation.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs has paid out in supplements following late payment of VAT returns in (a) 2015-16 and (b) each of the previous 10 years; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that amount.
Answered by David Gauke
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not routinely publish this information.
The Government recognises the importance to businesses of receiving VAT repayments as quickly as possible. HMRC also has a duty to ensure that incorrect or fraudulent repayments are identified and prevented. All repayment claims are subject to automated risk analysis on receipt and 94% are processed for immediate payment. Of the remainder, 50% are approved for payment within 5 days. Repayment Supplement is designed to compensate customers where HMRC fails to make a repayment within 30 days. In 2014-15, HMRC paid Repayment Supplement in 0.3% of all cases.
In the first half of 2015-16, HMRC carried out an extensive review of its repayment process with a view to minimising delays in cases where repayments are not authorised automatically. Following the review, new processes have been introduced and HMRC expects to reduce the incidence of Repayment Supplement as a result.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK police forces have a dedicated unit dealing with the prosecution and identification of (a) sexual offences against children and (b) other online offences; and which UK police forces also hold specialist expertise in child protection and safeguarding.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Tackling child sexual abuse including online child sexual exploitation is a top priority for this Government. We have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat in the Strategic Policing Requirement, setting a clear expectation on police forces to safeguard children, collaborate across force boundaries, share intelligence and share best practice.
The College of Policing and the National Policing lead have set the requirement on all forces to train all new and existing police staff including police officers, detectives and specialist investigators to respond to child sexual abuse.
We are committed to supporting the police to tackle these horrendous crimes. We have made £1.7 million available to fund Operation Hydrant, which co-ordinates the handling of multiple non-recent child sexual abuse investigations specifically concerning institutions or persons of public prominence, and up to £1.5 million to support a new network of regional co-ordinators and analysts to oversee the implementation of the National Policing Plan for tackling child sexual exploitation.
The Government will also continue to invest in law enforcement capabilities at the national, regional and local levels to ensure they have the capacity to deal with the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber-dependant crime and cyber-enabled fraud, including support for the Regional Organised Crime Units, who have a dedicated Cyber Crime Unit each. As the Chancellor also announced last week, spending on the UK’s cyber security programmes will be almost doubled over the next five years, with £1.9 billion funding.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many offences where alcohol consumption was a contributory factor were recorded by Hampshire Police in each of the last three years; how many such offences took place in (a) Basingstoke, (b) Newbury and (c) Andover; and how many such cases involved repeat offenders.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally.
According to the 2013/14 Crime Survey for England and Wales, there were an estimated 704,000 violent incidents where the offender was under the influence of alcohol (53% of violent incidents), in England and Wales as a whole. This is compared with around 863,000 incidents in 2010/11 (48% of violent incidents). The proportion of violent incidents perceived to involve alcohol is similar between 2010/11 and 2013/14 (not statistically significantly different).
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people Hampshire Police has prosecuted for supplying legal highs to children aged under 18 in (a) Basingstoke, (b) Andover and (c) Hampshire in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally.
On 28 May, we introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill in the House of Lords to create a blanket ban on the supply of psychoactive substances.
The Bill will ban the sale, supply, production and distribution of psychoactive substances for human consumption and give police and local authorities greater powers to tackle this reckless trade.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many times Hampshire Police has confiscated legal highs from children aged under 18 in (a) Basingstoke, (b) Andover and (c) Hampshire in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mike Penning
The Home Office does not hold the information requested centrally.
On 28 May, we introduced the Psychoactive Substances Bill in the House of Lords to create a blanket ban on the supply of psychoactive substances.
The Bill will ban the sale, supply, production and distribution of psychoactive substances for human consumption and give police and local authorities greater powers to tackle this reckless trade.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people who were (a) drunk and (b) under the influence of alcohol attended Hampshire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust accident and emergency or urgent care centres in each of the last three years; and how many such patients were repeat attendees.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.
We have written to Elizabeth Padmore, Chair of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust informing her of my hon. Friend’s enquiry. She will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Asked by: Kit Malthouse (Conservative - North West Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children aged under 18 have visited A&E departments due to (a) breathing difficulties and (b) other symptoms relating to the completion of legal highs in each of the last three years.
Answered by Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.