Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions officials of his Department have had with officials of the Northern Ireland Executive on (a) the Autumn Statement 2015 and (b) the settlement letter referring to the costs of Northern Ireland's non-domestic renewable heat incentive scheme.
Answered by David Gauke
Treasury officials regularly discuss matters of mutual interest with their counterparts in the devolved administrations. At relevant points in time, those discussions will have covered each of the matters highlighted.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether AME funding for the Northern Ireland non-domestic renewable heat incentive continued on an interrupted basis from 1 April 2015 to 30 September 2015.
Answered by David Gauke
The Treasury’s role is to set an annual budget allocation for renewable heat schemes in Northern Ireland proportionate to the budget provided to the department which manages similar schemes in Great Britain. Administering the scheme, including the disbursal of payments to recipients, is the responsibility of the relevant Northern Ireland Executive departments.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether any misuse of funds attached to the uptake of the Northern Ireland non-domestic renewable heating incentive was confined to devolved spending only and did not entail use of AME funds.
Answered by David Gauke
All spending on the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive is ‘devolved spending’ in respect of the Northern Ireland Executive’s devolved responsibilities.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether (a) his Department and (b) the National Audit Office were notified that the Northern Ireland Department for Finance and Personnel had declined to give retrospective approval for spending on the non-domestic renewable heat incentive scheme from 1 April 2015 to 30 September 2015.
Answered by David Gauke
Neither the Treasury, nor the NAO, would expect to be notified of interactions between departments of the Northern Ireland Executive in relation to internal Northern Ireland Executive spending approval processes.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions the then Chief Secretary to the Treasury had with Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive on (a) the Autumn Statement 2015 and (b) his subsequent Settlement Letter referring to the costs of Northern Ireland's non-domestic renewable heat incentive scheme.
Answered by David Gauke
Chief Secretaries to the Treasury regularly discuss matters of mutual interest, including annual fiscal events, with Northern Ireland Finance Ministers. However, no such discussions took place on the costs of Northern Ireland renewable heating schemes, including in the context of the settlement letter which followed the 2015 Spending Review and Autumn Statement.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether discussions between Ministers of his Department and Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive on budgetary challenges facing the Executive during 2015 included the escalated spending exposure under the Northern Ireland non-domestic renewable heat incentive scheme.
Answered by David Gauke
Treasury ministers did not discuss the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme with Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive in 2015. The Treasury’s role is to set a budget allocation for renewable heat schemes in Northern Ireland proportionate to the budget provided to the department which manages similar schemes in Great Britain. It is for the Executive to meet any costs in excess of that budget from its block grant or the other resources available to it.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what treatment options are available for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who stop responding to Herceptin (trastuzumab).
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The available treatment option for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer who stop responding to trastuzumab (Herceptin) is trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla).
Trastuzumab emtansine is currently only available through the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) in England. However, on 29 December 2016 the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published draft guidance that did not recommend its use in the National Health Service in England. If the final NICE guidance remains negative, from 90 days after the publication of the final guidance, patients already receiving the drug via the CDF will continue to receive it until the patient and their prescribing physician consider it appropriate to discontinue treatment. However, no new patients will be able to receive it from that point and the treatment options for those patients will still be standard cytotoxic chemotherapy.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to consult non-governmental organisations on the next stages of policy development in relation to her Department's recent programme of multilateral and bilateral development reviews.
Answered by Rory Stewart
In the Civil Society Review we set out how we will engage with Non-Governmental Organisations in the future, for example we will host an annual civil society open day and UK regional roadshows to ensure we involve a broader range of organisations. NGOs contributed views to the Multilateral Development Review and Bilateral Development Review. Ministers and officials also consulted BOND, the body that represents UK international development NGOs. We will continue to work closely with them and will discuss the next steps on both reviews in due course.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department will continue to fund (a) the European Commission Development Cooperation Instrument, (b) the European Development Fund and (c) ECHO after the UK has left the EU.
Answered by Rory Stewart
Leaving the EU means we will want to take our own decisions about how to deliver the policy objectives previously targeted by EU funding. Over the coming months we will consult closely with stakeholders to ensure that any ongoing funding commitments best help the world’s poorest and deliver value for money for UK taxpayers.
Asked by: Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Foyle)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the discussions between Ministers and officials of his Department and HM Treasury on budgetary challenges facing the Northern Ireland Executive during 2015 included the escalated spending exposure under the Northern Ireland non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Ministers and officials of the Northern Ireland Office engage regularly with HM Treasury to discuss matters of mutual interest in relation to Northern Ireland. However, I am not aware of any specific discussions on the costs of the Northern Ireland renewable heating scheme during the period in question.