Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question
To ask the Prime Minister, whether it is the Government's policy that decisions in Parliament relating to abortion should be subject to a free vote; and if he will instruct that the Department for International Development's practice paper, Safe and unsafe abortion, published in July 2011, should not be regarded as an expression of the Government's policy until its contents have been approved by the House in a free vote.
Answered by Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton - Foreign Secretary
Issues on matters of conscience have, by tradition, been the subject of a free vote in the House of Commons. Issues relating to abortion in other countries are determined by respective Governments.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to achieve a prisoner transfer agreement between Iraq and the UK; and what steps he is taking to achieve a prisoner transfer agreement between Iraq and the UK with regard to Danny Fitzsimons.
Answered by Jeremy Wright
The negotiation of a prisoner transfer agreement between the United Kingdom and Iraq is at an advanced stage. Officials at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are in discussion with the Iraqi authorities and we hope to finalise the agreement at the earliest possible opportunity. Once in place British nationals imprisoned in Iraq and Iraqi nationals imprisoned here, will be able to serve their sentences in their own country. Given the security situation in Iraq, we have reminded the Iraqi Government of its important duty of care for foreign nationals held in its prisons and have asked for urgent advice on their contingency planning.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will estimate the number of cases of a local authority paying a landlord directly because a tenant who receives universal credit was more than eight weeks behind on rent payments; and what steps his Department has taken to (a) encourage tenants in receipt of universal credit to pay rent on time and (b) tackle repeated non-payment of rent by universal credit claimants.
Answered by Steve Webb
Housing payments are not administered by Local Authorities under Universal Credit. All claimants in Universal Credit are offered practical help and advice on budgeting and money management early on in their claim alongside being advised of their responsibility to pay rent to their landlords. We make an initial judgement on each claim as to whether the claimant is at risk of default. If so we can put them on managed payments immediately. Any representations received from the landlord will be taken into account when reaching this judgement.
If it is decided to pay the rent direct to the claimant then we have two safeguards in place. First, we will review our initial decision if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of one month's rent. Second, if direct payments have continued, we will move to payment to the landlord if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of two months' rent.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of universal credit on landlords who have claimants as tenants; what the results were of the direct payment demonstration projects on the effect of paying housing benefit direct to tenants; and if he will reduce the two calendar month rent arrears trigger point before a landlord can go directly to his Department for direct payment.
Answered by Steve Webb
Interim evaluation from the first 6 months of the Direct Payment Demonstration Projects was published in December 2013 and can be found at:
DWP has developed three levels of safeguards for tenants and landlords based on findings from the Direct Payment Demonstration Projects and continuous improvements through our test and learn approach in live service.
We make an initial judgement on each claim as to whether the claimant is at risk of default and if so, we can put them on managed payments immediately. In the majority of cases Direct Payments will apply and we have two safeguards in place; (1) We will review the initial decision if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of one months rent. (2) We will move to payment to the landlord if we are advised that arrears have reached the equivalent of two months rent.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Defence Consultant Adviser for Psychiatry about Asperger's syndrome in the context of the Defence Medical Services policy review; and whether he plans to change his Department's policy on the recruitment to the armed forces of people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.
Answered by Anna Soubry
There have been no such discussions with the Secretary of State or other Defence Ministers.
It is our policy that Armed Forces personnel should be recruited to be fully fit for deployment worldwide on operations. For this reason, the Services do not recruit personnel with existing medical conditions which may adversely impact on the effectiveness of the Armed Forces, or which may themselves be exacerbated by military circumstances.
This is particularly relevant in cases of individuals with autism or Asperger's Syndrome, as military personnel are expected to perform in multiple roles, which may be difficult for someone suffering from these disorders. Further, all military personnel are required to work in close-knit teams, and in operational environments the pressures are such that anyone with significant disability in social interaction may potentially be a danger to themselves or their team. These two diagnoses have significant disability in social interaction as part of their defining features.
The policy on Asperger's has recently been changed to allow some minimal degree of relaxation for those candidates for the Services who do not display classic symptoms of the Syndrome or where their diagnosis may be in doubt. It places more emphasis on assessing their ability to perform as part of a team and to function within a simulated military environment and less on medical opinion.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women were admitted to hospital with ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in each of the last five years for which figures are available; how many adverse incidents were recorded in licensed clinics in that period; and what the severity grading of each such incident was.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the data it holds on these issues is as follows:
Year | Total number of incidents reported | Severity: Grade A | Severity: Grade B | Severity: Grade C | Not an incident/near miss |
2009-10 | 497 | 7 | 308 | 146 | 36 |
2010-11 | 586 | 1 | 292 | 255 | 38 |
2011-12 | 571 | 3 | 206 | 308 | 54 |
2012-13 | 503 | 0 | 183 | 261 | 59 |
2013-14 | 506 | 4 | 203 | 255 | 44 |
Of these, the number of cases of Ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome (OHSS) reported to the Authority is as follows:
Years | Number of OHSS | Moderate | Severe |
2009-10 | 121 | 1 | 120 |
2010-11 | 221 | 122 | 99 |
2011-12 | 241 | 196 | 45 |
2012-13 | 179 | 134 | 45 |
2013-14 | 192 | 142 | 50 |
The HFEA has also advised that licensed fertility clinics are only required to report instances of OHSS to the Authority that require a hospital admission with a severe grading, although in practice clinics often report moderate OHSS as well.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, in how many of licensable treatment cycles at least 20 eggs were collected in the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The information requested in shown in the following table:
Years | Licensable treatment cycles where at least 20 eggs were collected |
2008 | 2,910 |
2009 | 3,095 |
2010 | 3,435 |
2011 | 3,466 |
2012 | 3,464 |
20131 | 1,764 |
Note:
1The year 2013 only covers the period 1 January to 30 June 2013.
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 196584 6 May 2014, Official Report, column 41W, on drinking water, what plans his Department has to test for the levels of tranquillisers and antidepressants in drinking water; and if his Department will conduct a study into levels of psychotropic drugs in UK river and seawater.
Answered by Dan Rogerson
In 2012, the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) published research looking at pharmaceuticals likely to present the worst case scenario in drinking water. Fluoxetine was included in the study, the outcome of which was that these pharmaceuticals presented no concern for public health. The research is part of an ongoing risk assessment which is revisited in the event of new information. The DWI has also responded to the earlier PQ (0019) on this matter.
Monitoring river water and seawater is driven by requirements under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). As psychotropic drugshave not been identified as harmful chemicals under the WFD they are not routinely monitored, although they may be detected in less-specific investigations.
The water industry has undertaken collaborative research into chemicals in sewage effluent through the UK Water Industry Research (UKWIR) Chemicals Investigation Programme. Some medicines were included in the first Programme of 2010-13, including fluoxetine. A second Chemical Investigations Programme, beginning in 2015, will look at the psychoactive medicines fluoxetine and sertraline in sewage effluent.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 19 January 2012, Official Report, columns 932-3W, how many companies hold licences for the manufacture or distribution of (a) Nitrazepam, (b) Flurazepam, (c) Loprazolam, (d) Lormetazepam, (e) Temazepam, (f) Clonazepam, (g) Medazepam, (h) Midazolam, (i) Zopiclone, (j) Zaleplon, (k) Zolpiden, (l) Eszopiclone, (m) SSRI antidepressants and (n) trycyclic antidepressants; and how many of those licences were issued in the last three years.
Answered by Norman Lamb
There are currently 15 products authorised in the United Kingdom containing nitrazepam and 15 different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently two products authorised in the UK containing flurazepam and one company authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently two products authorised in the UK containing loprazolam and two different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently eight products authorised in the UK containing lormetazepam and four different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently 10 products authorised in the UK containing temazepam and six different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently six products authorised in the UK containing clonazepam and three different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently no authorised products in the UK containing medazepam.
There are currently 22 products authorised in the UK containing midazolam and 10 different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently 17 products authorised in the UK containing zopiclone and nine different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently two products authorised in the UK containing zaleplon and one company authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently 21 products authorised in the UK containing zolpidem and 12 different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently no authorised products in the UK containing eszopiclone.
There are currently 238 products authorised in the UK containing SSRI antidepressants and 57 different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
There are currently 16 products authorised in the UK containing tricyclic antidepressants and 11 different companies authorised to manufacture and distribute them.
One loprazolam, four lormetazepam, two clonazepam, two midazolam, three zopiclone, four zolpidem and 75 SSRI products have been authorised in the last three years.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will take steps to ensure that the provisions of EU law in relation to the freedom to provide services apply to the provision of services from Gibraltar to any part of the EU.
Answered by David Lidington
Gibraltar is in the EU and is covered by EU treaty provisions on the freedom to provide services. We vigorously support all of Gibraltar's rights under the EU Treaties.