Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to implement HPV vaccinations for (a) boys and (b) men who have sex with men.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is advised on all immunisation matters by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI is considering the potential extension of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme to include adolescent boys and men who have sex with men (MSM).
Following provisional advice issued by the JCVI last year that the HPV vaccine should be offered to MSM aged 16-40 years attending Genito-Urinary Medicine and HIV clinics, if it can be delivered at a cost effective price, the JCVI hopes to consider further evidence on this later this year. A final statement will be issued by the JCVI following the completion of the work and the development of its final advice.
The JCVI’s advice on a vaccination programme for boys will take into account Public Health England modelling work on the impact and cost-effectiveness of such a programme. This is a complex piece of work and the JCVI may not be in a position to provide final advice until 2017.
We look forward to receiving the JCVI’s final advice on these important issues in due course.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will trial the HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men in selected sexual health clinics to assess likely take up and budgetary implications.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government is advised on all immunisation matters by the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). At its February 2015 meeting, the JCVI endorsed the view of its human papilloma virus (HPV) Sub-committee. This was that, in response to the results of the stakeholder consultation it conducted on its provisional advice on HPV vaccination for men who have sex with men (MSM), and before giving its final advice, it should wait for Public Health England’s (PHE) modelling team to incorporate all the necessary changes and sensitivity analyses agreed following the consultation and the peer review.
PHE estimates that this additional work would take several months, meaning the JCVI may not be in a position to re-consider its position until its meeting in October 2015. A final statement will be issued by the JCVI following the completion of these additional analyses and the development of a final position by the Committee.
There are two north London genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinics that have trialled offering HPV vaccination for MSM (initially those under 28 years old) since November 2012, and which now offer vaccination as an ongoing service. This work has measured the uptake and acceptability of HPV vaccination and observed the effect on other sexual health outcomes in this population. Findings to date have demonstrated high uptake rates for the vaccine and will be considered by the JCVI.
We are doing preliminary work with stakeholders to assess likely uptake and budgetary implications in anticipation of JCVI’s final advice.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects to receive the final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters agreed at its October 2014 meeting that further consultation was needed with stakeholders before finalising its advice to Ministers on the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination of men who have sex with men (MSM). It held a stakeholder consultation between 12 November and 7 January and we understand that JCVI considered the outcome of the consultation at its meeting on 4 February 2015, as it reviewed its provisional advice on MSM.
Any implementation of a HPV vaccination programme for MSM will be dependent on JCVI’s final advice. As JCVI is an independent body, we do not know exactly when it will issue its final advice on HPV vaccination of MSM, but work is ongoing within the Department to consider the provisional advice.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many applications for 65+ Guaranteed Growth Bonds his Department estimated it would receive; how many applications for such bonds have been received; what estimate he made of how much time it would take to process each application for such bonds; and how long it is taking to process each such application.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
HM Treasury estimated that £10bn of the 65+ bond would help over a million pensioners.
The original scheme was extended on Sunday 8 February the Chancellor announced the Government will extend the availability of the Bonds. Following the unprecedented demand - which has made this the biggest sale of any retail financial product in Britain's modern history - the Bonds will now be on sale until 15 May 2015.
Applications are received through the internet, by phone and by post, and have different processing times. Transactions undertaken over the internet and by phone receive a debit card receipt confirming that the funds have been taken within a few hours, and they will receive an email confirmation within two days. It takes between 7 and 10 days to process a postal application, this timeframe includes 2 days for the postal delivery service.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when the HPV vaccination programme for men who have sex with men will commence; and whether a delivery partner has been secured for that programme.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, agreed at its October meeting that further consultation was needed with stakeholders before finalising its advice to ministers on the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination of men who have sex with men (MSM). It held a stakeholder consultation between 12 November and 7 January and we understand that the JCVI considered the outcome of the consultation at its meeting on 4 February 2015, as it reviewed its provisional advice on MSM. Any implementation of an HPV MSM vaccination programme and securing a delivery partner will be dependent on the JCVI’s final advice. We look forward to receiving the JCVI’s final advice in due course.Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on access to legal aid in family courts of the evidence given on 1 December 2011 to the Justice Committee by the President of the Family Division.
Answered by Mike Penning
Ministers and officials regularly meet with members of the senior judiciary to discuss policy and operational matters.
The Government will respond to the report of the Justice Committee’s inquiry into the impact of changes to civil legal aid under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 once it is published.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the military capability of Hamas.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We assess that Hamas maintains the ability to launch rocket attacks and armed attacks through tunnels on Israel from within Gaza.
We call on Hamas to renounce violence, recognise Israel and accept previously signed agreements.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Palestinian Authority on its accession to the International Criminal Court.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) spoke to Palestinian Authority President Abbas about this issue on 7 January.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what events he and his ministerial team are supporting on World AIDS Day.
Answered by Jane Ellison
I will attend a Terrence Higgins Trust event on 24 November and I am hosting an event for Wandsworth Oasis, an HIV charity serving my constituency on 27 November. I will also be attending the European Union Health Council on 1 December, and will raise the issue with ministerial colleagues. Other Ministerial plans are still to be finalised.
Asked by: Mike Freer (Conservative - Finchley and Golders Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many super-fast broadband not-spots have been identified in (a) the London boroughs and (b) Finchley and Golders Green constituency.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Ofcom’s Communications Market Report states that 92% of premises in Greater London were able to receive NGA broadband in June 2014 (Figure 5.4 http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/cmr/cmr14/2014_CMR_Wales.pdf). Superfast broadband coverage data is not currently available at the London borough level. Ofcom does, however, publish a postcode list (currently for 2013) where individual non-NGA postcodes can be identified (http://data.gov.uk/dataset/broadband-coverage).