Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to take into account the skills and qualifications of non-EEA nationals applying for entry clearance under Appendix FM; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Whilst skills and qualifications of non-EEA nationals applying for entry clearance under Appendix FM to the Immigration Rules are generally not taken into account, there is provision within the Rules that they can be where there are exceptional circumstances.
Paragraph 21A of Appendix FM-SE, inserted by HC 290, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statement-of-changes-to-the-immigration-rules-hc290-20-july-2017, sets out objective criteria by which decision makers will in such cases, assess an applicant’s relevant skills and qualifications within the context of previous or prospective employment or self-employment income.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, in addition to recently announced humanitarian assistance, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the immediate and the long-term development needs in Zimbabwe are met after Cyclone Idai.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
The UK has committed £2.45 million which will go towards supporting water and sanitation, child protection and cash grants in cyclone affected areas. In addition UK will continue to focus on poverty reduction, humanitarian assistance including helping people to cope with pre-existing drought and economic crisis.
In addition to the recently announced humanitarian assistance, UK Aid operates an extensive programme in Zimbabwe, working to support the poorest and most vulnerable as well as at the same time helping lay the foundations for a more prosperous, peaceful and democratic Zimbabwe, driving growth and poverty reduction. DFID’s priorities in Zimbabwe are:
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to support climate change resilience programes in Zimbabwe after Cyclone Idai.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Business and Trade)
UK Aid supports climate change resilience in 30 of Zimbabwe’s 59 rural districts. The UK is helping over a million people to cope with the effects of climate change through the adoption of more climate-resilient agricultural practices, diversifying livelihoods, and developing plans and policies for climate resilience.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to introduce guidance on statutory firearms licensing.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government intends to launch a public consultation on the introduction of statutory guidance to the police on firearms licensing before summer re-cess. The statutory guidance will be issued after conclusion of the consulta-tion, and will be informed by it.
The consultation will be open to the public, including representatives of the shooting community. The Home Office will absorb the costs of the consultation as part of its responsibility for firearms licensing policy.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans does he have to consult representatives of the shooting community to help ensure the effectiveness of licensing arrangements under statutory firearms licensing guidance.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government intends to launch a public consultation on the introduction of statutory guidance to the police on firearms licensing before summer re-cess. The statutory guidance will be issued after conclusion of the consulta-tion, and will be informed by it.
The consultation will be open to the public, including representatives of the shooting community. The Home Office will absorb the costs of the consultation as part of its responsibility for firearms licensing policy.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) steps he has taken and (b) resources he has allocated to open a public consultation on statutory firearms licensing guidance by July 2019.
Answered by Nick Hurd
The Government intends to launch a public consultation on the introduction of statutory guidance to the police on firearms licensing before summer re-cess. The statutory guidance will be issued after conclusion of the consulta-tion, and will be informed by it.
The consultation will be open to the public, including representatives of the shooting community. The Home Office will absorb the costs of the consultation as part of its responsibility for firearms licensing policy.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has for the UK's future immigration system.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In December 2018, the Government set out its proposals for a future immigration system in its White Paper “The UK’s future Skills-based Immigration System.”
The new system will be focused on those with the skills this country needs, who will bring the most benefit to the United Kingdom. The system will support the UK economy, and our public services, while enabling us to control migration.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on bringing forward the release of the revised NICE guidelines on ME, due to be published in October 2020.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and responsible for developing its guidelines in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE expects to publish its final updated guideline in October 2020 with a consultation on draft guidance starting in April 2020.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on issuing an interim warning on the potential dangers of graded exercise therapy (GET) as a treatment for ME, prior to issuing its revised guideline in October 2020.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for developing its guidance in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE takes into account the best available evidence in determining whether to recommend a treatment.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of medical training bodies on ensuring that training programs for doctors, nurses and other health professionals include the most up to date guidance on diagnosis and appropriate treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ministers at the Department regularly meet with medical training bodies including the General Medical Council, to discuss many issues. However, there have been no recent discussions with medical training bodies to discuss the guidance on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
In terms of training, the General Medical Council sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that new United Kingdom medical graduates must be able to demonstrate and Royal Medical Colleges, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) set the standards for postgraduate medical education in general practice. General practice is where most patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/ME are likely to be managed, and the condition is identified as a key area of clinical knowledge in the RCGP Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) content guide.
The AKT is a summative assessment of the knowledge base that underpins general practice in the UK within the context of the NHS and is a key part of general practitioners’ qualifying exams.
On 20 September 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence announced its decision to undertake a full update of the guideline, ‘Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children’, following a review of the latest available evidence on the diagnosis and management of CFS/ME and a public consultation. New guidance is expected in October 2020. More information on this decision can be found at the following link: