Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinicians not affiliated with his Department and NHS England his Department consulted on the Off-patent Drugs Bill.
Answered by George Freeman
We have not consulted on this Bill. In developing our response to the Bill, we have taken advice from clinicians and officials at NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and taken account of views expressed by other stakeholder organisations.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to opt in to the EU Internal Security Fund for the period 2014 to 2020.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The EU Internal Security Fund was adopted on 16 April 2014 and comprises two EU Regulations. The Government chose not to opt in to the policing element when it was proposed but undertook to review that decision post adoption and is considering its position in advance of consulting Parliament. The UK cannot join the ‘borders and visas’ Regulation as it is a measure relating to that part of Schengen in which the UK does not participate.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what projects in Africa with an agro-ecological component have been funded by her Department (a) directly and (b) indirectly in the last three years; and what criteria her Department uses for deciding which projects to fund under the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
DFID is directly and indirectly supporting a wide range of work that has an agro-ecological component, from soil and water conservation and land use management to climate resilience and conservation agriculture. We are working in a number of African countries, supporting programmes like the Community Land Use Fund in Mozambique and programmes for soil and water conservation such as the Karamoja Resilience programme in Uganda. DFID’s global climate change and agriculture food security research programme is building the evidence base for how better to deliver agro-ecological approaches, while the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme supports farmers to adapt agricultural systems to be climate resilient. The full range of our programmes can be found on the Development Tracker.
The UK has committed £600m to the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. Of this £480m is for pre-existing programmes in the six DFID partner countries participating in the New Alliance, and £75m is a contribution to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Programme. These pre-existing programmes satisfied the following criteria: (i) they occur in one of the DFID partner countries participating in the New Alliance (Ethiopia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria); and (ii) they include components on food security, agriculture and nutrition. The UK’s new financial support to the New Alliance of £45m has focused on “enabling actions” that support agriculture, food security and nutrition – specifically, the development of policy instruments, technology and innovation, and risk management.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 10 November 2014 to Question 213576, how many cases are still being dealt by Atos; and what assessment he has made of the effect this will have on waiting times.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
As at 30 September 2014 there were around 580,000 cases awaiting Work Capability Assessments at Atos Healthcare (down by 25% since February). These figures do not include cases where the claimant has yet to return the claimant questionnaire.
From 1 March, MAXIMUS Health and Human Services Ltd. will take over delivery, initially using elements of the Atos infrastructure in order to ensure a smooth and gradual transition between providers. The priority for MAXIMUS will be to deliver the best service possible for claimants, increase the volume of assessments carried out and reduce waiting times.
We are committed to reducing waiting times which is why this Government has awarded the new contract to Maximus.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will take steps to ensure that Atos and its successor provide claimants with an immediate refund on the costs incurred when travelling to that assessment.
Answered by Mark Harper - Secretary of State for Transport
Atos Healthcare will refund claimants’ travel expenses within 14 working days of the assessment taking place. There is no process in place to make an immediate refund.
MAXIMUS Health and Human Services Ltd have also committed to paying all travel expenses within the same time limits. This agreement will take effect from 1 March 2015.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officer grade staff were employed in each private sector prison in (a) March and (b) June 2014.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service do not hold this staffing information on prisons run by private contractors. However, the private contractors have been contacted with a request for this information. I do not have this at the current time, but when I do receive it, I will write to you again with further information.
It is a basic expectation of all prisons that they manage their staffing levels so that they are safe and able to provide appropriate custodial and other services.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
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 protect the rights of Ghoncheh Ghavami in Iran.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We are deeply concerned by the detention of Ghancheh Ghavami, and have pressed the Iranian Government repeatedly over her welfare and our concerns about due process in her case. Both the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) discussed this matter with President Rouhani and Foreign minister Zarif respectively in September. The UK’s non resident Charge d’Affaires continues regularly to raise the case with his Iranian counterpart, including most recently on 9 November. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is providing consular assistance to Ms Ghavami’s family at this difficult time.Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the human rights protections afforded to British citizens visiting countries that (a) are and (b) are not parties to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Answered by David Lidington
Countries party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are legally bound to secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in Section 1 of the Convention. There is legal recourse to the European Court of Human Rights for all persons within the jurisdiction of a state party who believe their rights to have been violated by a state party whilst they were within the jurisdiction of that State, and they have exhausted their domestic remedies in that State. The Court’s judgments are binding on the state against which the case was brought, though in practice implementation differs from country to country.
The situation in countries which are not party to the ECHR will depend on the provisions of domestic law and the international legal obligations applicable to the state in question which will vary depending on the human rights provisions in treaties to which that country is a party.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times he has exercised his powers under the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Constitution and Functions) and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (Functions) Regulations 2013 to refer an unlicensed indication of a drug for a NICE technology appraisal.
Answered by George Freeman
Since the ‘National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Constitution and Functions) and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (Functions) Regulations 2013’ came into force on 1 April 2013, the Department has not asked the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to develop under Regulation 7 any technology appraisal guidance on the use of an unlicensed drug. The Department has, however, under Regulation 5, asked NICE to develop guidance and recommendations on the use of a combination therapy for use in the treatment of ovarian cancer outside the terms of its marketing authorisation.
Asked by: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with (a) charities and (b) clinicians who support the Off-patent Drugs Bill.
Answered by George Freeman
Departmental Ministers have met with the hon. Member for Cardiff North (Jonathan Evans), with regard to his Off-Patent Drugs Bill and officials have also had discussions with Breast Cancer Campaign to understand their concerns around the prescribing of off-patent drugs and the implications for patients.
We are in the process of setting up a round-table discussion with key stakeholders, NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to review the evidence and develop a strategy to better support use of off-label medicines in areas where the evidence suggests that they can deliver patient benefit.