Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What plans he has to bring forward new sector deals in the near future.
Answered by Greg Clark
My Honourable Friend has been a fantastic champion of Sector Deals. He has been integral to the delivery of the ten Sector Deals published so far, creating over £3bn of investment from industry and Government.
We are building on his excellent work with new deals for the tourism and food and drink sectors which will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to reduce industrial energy costs.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
There remains significant potential for business to reduce energy costs and improve competitiveness by improving energy efficiency. Policies such as the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) encourage energy efficiency in business.
For energy intensive sectors, voluntary Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow up to 90% reduction from the Climate Change Levy (CCL) in return for signing up to stretching energy efficiency improvement targets agreed with Government. In addition, the Government has put in place a significant package of compensation for energy intensive industries for the indirect impacts of energy and climate change policies on their electricity costs (the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), Carbon Price Floor, Renewables Obligation and small scale Feed in Tariffs) as well as an exemption from the costs of Contracts for Difference.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help the Gambian government to improve that country's human rights record.
Answered by James Duddridge
The UK is the only EU Member State to have a resident Ambassador in The Gambia. We therefore have a leading role in pressing for improved respect for human rights in The Gambia, and in ensuring that the issue remains prominent on the EU’s agenda. We raised our concerns when The Gambia’s human rights record was evaluated at the United Nations last October during the Universal Periodic Review and set out recommendations for action by The Gambia. We will reiterate our concerns during the follow-up sessions in Geneva later this month.
The British Ambassador in Banjul also regularly raises human rights with senior members of the Gambian Government, and our Embassy provides funds that support human rights projects in the country. These include priorities such as women’s and children’s rights, access to justice and prisoner rights.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have been found guilty of wrongdoing by the Child Support Agency in the last 10 years; and how many and what proportion of such people were (a) fined and (b) given some other form of punishment.
Answered by Steve Webb
Information on both civil and criminal enforcement actions undertaken by the Child Support Agency (CSA) is only available from April 2007. This can be found on page 44 of the latest CSA Quarterly Summary of Statistics, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404296/csa-qtr-summ-stats-dec-2014.pdf
This includes committal information on a variety of enforcement actions, along with information on the number of prosecutions that have been undertaken. However, any fines that have been imposed as a result of these prosecutions are decided by the courts. This information is not routinely recorded for management information purposes and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the cost measured by (a) GP appointments and time and (b) cost of product of issuing prescriptions to people who receive help with prescription costs for emollients such as toothpaste, moisturising lotion and shampoo and conditioner.
Answered by Dan Poulter
Data are not centrally collected on the cost measured by (a) general practitioner appointments and time and (b) the cost of product of issuing prescriptions to people who have received help with prescription costs for emollients such as toothpaste, moisturising lotion and shampoo and conditioner.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase teacher recruitment in (a) Hertfordshire and (b) England.
Answered by David Laws
The Department for Education wants to attract the best and brightest graduates into teaching. Teaching continues to be a hugely popular career with more teachers in England’s classrooms than ever before and record levels of top graduates entering the profession, with 17% of postgraduate entrants to initial teacher training in 2014/15 (one in six) holding a first class degree and 73% holding a 2:1 or better. However, we recognise that we must continue our efforts to attract top graduates, which is why the Department is offering increased bursaries worth up to £25,000 tax free to those training to teach physics, maths, chemistry, computing and languages. Furthermore, the Prime Minister announced on 8 December a range of measures to up-skill 15,000 existing teachers and to recruit up to 2,500 additional specialist maths and physics teachers over the next Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with bodies that represent pharmacists, GPs and other stakeholders on prescription direction; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
All patients are free to choose whichever pharmacy they wish to receive their dispensed medicines and other National Health Service pharmaceutical services. We deprecate any action which seeks unduly to influence patients towards, or away from, choosing a particular pharmacy.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, Pharmacy Voice and the British Medical Association issued a joint statement in October 2013 calling on general practitioners to avoid activities which are against good practice. A copy can be found at the following link:
http://psnc.org.uk/contract-it/pharmacy-regulation/direction-of-prescriptions/
Officials at the Department have met pharmacists’ representatives to discuss the direction of prescriptions on several occasions to hear their concerns. NHS England is currently reviewing the evidence and is meeting pharmacists’ and medical representatives this month to consider the position and what further action may be appropriate.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he will take to raise awareness among public bodies, companies and communities of the powers that may be exercised under a lasting power of attorney.
Answered by Simon Hughes
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) plans to run a communications campaign early next year to raise awareness amongst the public of future life planning options and encourage them to think about making provision for possible loss of mental capacity.
It will focus on raising awareness of using lasting power(s) of attorney (LPAs), as well as associated issues such as making a will and organ donation.
MoJ is working collaboratively with the Office of the Public Guardian, which is responsible for registering LPAs, other government departments and relevant partner organisations to deliver this campaign.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department gives to schools on the relative risk of pupils with neurofibromatosis 1 also having autism or attention deficit disorder.
Answered by Edward Timpson
A new duty was introduced on 1 September 2014 for governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance, which came into force on the same date. The guidance focuses on the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life. We would expect those arrangements to apply to pupils suffering from neurofibromatosis.
The guidance advocates the use of individual healthcare plans, which may include details of associated conditions, and the support required for their wider educational, social and emotional needs.
Asked by: Lord Harrington of Watford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that schools are aware of social, psychological and health problems that pupils with neurofibromatosis 1 may encounter; and what guidance her Department gives to schools to ensure that pupils with that and other genetic conditions receive adequate support to ensure that they do not feel socially excluded.
Answered by Edward Timpson
A new duty was introduced on 1 September 2014 for governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions and to have regard to statutory guidance, which came into force on the same date. The guidance focuses on the needs of each individual child and how their medical condition impacts on school life. We would expect those arrangements to apply to pupils suffering from neurofibromatosis.
The guidance advocates the use of individual healthcare plans, which may include details of associated conditions, and the support required for their wider educational, social and emotional needs.