Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that the statutory maximum grant available for a Disabled Facilities Grant increases in line with inflation.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Government has invested just over £1 billion in the Disabled Facilities Grant since 2010. When the cost of the adaptation exceeds the maximum limit, local authorities have the discretion to provide additional funding. The future funding of the Grant is a matter for the Spending Review.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of accessible homes for people with (a) muscular dystrophy, (b) neuromuscular conditions and (c) other progressive conditions.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
The Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund will provide up to £315 million over 5 years for specialised housing for older and disabled people. Phase 1 of the fund will deliver over 4,000 new affordable homes and the bids for phase 2 are currently being assessed.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the Government's response to the consultation, No voice heard, no right ignored, a consultation for people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health conditions, which closed on 29 May 2015.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Cabinet Office guidance recommends that government departments publish consultation responses within 12 weeks of the consultation closing. To allow the Government to fully consider the broad range of the consultation responses received, the Department intends to respond in the autumn whilst Parliament is sitting, rather than during the recess period.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of research funding into pancreatic cancer in each of the last five years; how that figure compares to funding for research on other cancer types; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has had no such discussions.
Expenditure by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on cancer research is shown in the following table.
£ million
2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
100.9 | 104.1 | 133.2 | 129.9 |
A figure for 2014/15 is not yet available. Data is not available for total NIHR research spend on specific cancer sites as site-specific data cannot be disaggregated from total expenditure through NIHR research infrastructure funding streams.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR has recently awarded £290,986 to University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a phase II trial of endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation of cystic tumours of the pancreas.
The NIHR Research Design Service is available to help prospective applicants, including applicants in pancreatic cancer research, develop and design high-quality proposals for submission to NIHR itself and also to other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research. The service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing grant applications in these fields, including advice on research methodology, clinical trials, patient involvement, and ethics and governance.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the quality and quantity of research into pancreatic cancer.
Answered by George Freeman
My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health has had no such discussions.
Expenditure by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) on cancer research is shown in the following table.
£ million
2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 |
100.9 | 104.1 | 133.2 | 129.9 |
A figure for 2014/15 is not yet available. Data is not available for total NIHR research spend on specific cancer sites as site-specific data cannot be disaggregated from total expenditure through NIHR research infrastructure funding streams.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including pancreatic cancer. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR has recently awarded £290,986 to University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust for a phase II trial of endoscopic ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation of cystic tumours of the pancreas.
The NIHR Research Design Service is available to help prospective applicants, including applicants in pancreatic cancer research, develop and design high-quality proposals for submission to NIHR itself and also to other national, peer-reviewed funding competitions for applied health or social care research. The service provides expert advice to researchers on all aspects of preparing grant applications in these fields, including advice on research methodology, clinical trials, patient involvement, and ethics and governance.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government has taken to ensure that local councils provide adequate support and assistance to single homeless people when they approach their council for help.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
By law local authorities have a duty to provide advice and information to anyone asking for help.
To help them discharge that important duty, we have, among other sources of support, provided £10 million funding to the National Homelessness Advice service to support frontline staff, and introduced the £8 million Help for Single Homeless Fund which will help 22,000 people in 168 areas across England by April 2016.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the relationship between ring-fencing his Department's science budget and the UK's science research capability.
Answered by Nick Boles
This Government recognises the value of science and innovation as a crucial driver of UK economic success. We protected the science ring-fence over the last Parliament and are investing £6.9 billion in science capital from this year to 2021, including £2.9 billion on Grand Challenges at the forefront of global research. A Spending Review later this year will examine where best to make robust investments in science and research that bring economic growth.
We are not able to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of science investment specific to Yorkshire but research suggests that the returns on public investment are high and that for every one pound the government spends on research and development, private sector productivity rises by twenty pence per year in perpetuity. There is also evidence that public sector investment leverages in additional private sector investment.
This Government is committed to rebalancing the economy of our country and building a Northern Powerhouse. Science in Yorkshire is benefiting from a range of initiatives including the recent Engineering and Physical Science Council’s £24M investment in a Quantum Technology Hub based in York – designed to exploit an expanding area of technological development. The table below provides breakdown of investment over the last five years for which we have data.
RCUK Regional and Devolved Administration Spend 2005/06-2013/14 (£k) Yorkshire & Humberside | |||||||||
2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
|
|
|
| |
151,183 | 137,486 | 139,644 | 135,528 | 142,005 |
|
|
| ||
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much his Department has spent on investment on science in Yorkshire in each of the last five years; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of that investment in boosting the economy in Yorkshire.
Answered by Nick Boles
This Government recognises the value of science and innovation as a crucial driver of UK economic success. We protected the science ring-fence over the last Parliament and are investing £6.9 billion in science capital from this year to 2021, including £2.9 billion on Grand Challenges at the forefront of global research. A Spending Review later this year will examine where best to make robust investments in science and research that bring economic growth.
We are not able to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of science investment specific to Yorkshire but research suggests that the returns on public investment are high and that for every one pound the government spends on research and development, private sector productivity rises by twenty pence per year in perpetuity. There is also evidence that public sector investment leverages in additional private sector investment.
This Government is committed to rebalancing the economy of our country and building a Northern Powerhouse. Science in Yorkshire is benefiting from a range of initiatives including the recent Engineering and Physical Science Council’s £24M investment in a Quantum Technology Hub based in York – designed to exploit an expanding area of technological development. The table below provides breakdown of investment over the last five years for which we have data.
RCUK Regional and Devolved Administration Spend 2005/06-2013/14 (£k) Yorkshire & Humberside | |||||||||
2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
|
|
|
| |
151,183 | 137,486 | 139,644 | 135,528 | 142,005 |
|
|
| ||
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what his policy is on the future of ring-fencing science revenue spending.
Answered by Nick Boles
This Government recognises the value of science and innovation as a crucial driver of UK economic success. We protected the science ring-fence over the last Parliament and are investing £6.9 billion in science capital from this year to 2021, including £2.9 billion on Grand Challenges at the forefront of global research. A Spending Review later this year will examine where best to make robust investments in science and research that bring economic growth.
We are not able to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of science investment specific to Yorkshire but research suggests that the returns on public investment are high and that for every one pound the government spends on research and development, private sector productivity rises by twenty pence per year in perpetuity. There is also evidence that public sector investment leverages in additional private sector investment.
This Government is committed to rebalancing the economy of our country and building a Northern Powerhouse. Science in Yorkshire is benefiting from a range of initiatives including the recent Engineering and Physical Science Council’s £24M investment in a Quantum Technology Hub based in York – designed to exploit an expanding area of technological development. The table below provides breakdown of investment over the last five years for which we have data.
RCUK Regional and Devolved Administration Spend 2005/06-2013/14 (£k) Yorkshire & Humberside | |||||||||
2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
|
|
|
| |
151,183 | 137,486 | 139,644 | 135,528 | 142,005 |
|
|
| ||
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to the Fifth Report of the Education Committee, Session 2014-15, HC 145 on Life Lessons: PSHE and SRE in schools.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Government wants all young people to leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. We agree with the Committee that high-quality physical, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and sex and relationships education (SRE) has a vital role to play in this. We are carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations and how best to address this.