Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether he has conducted a public interest consultation exercise or sought ministerial representations on the public interest in relation to the Serious Fraud Office's investigation into GPT Special Project Management Ltd.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General and I meet the Director frequently to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Serious Fraud Office announced in August 2012 that the Director had opened a criminal investigation into allegations concerning GPT and aspects of the conduct of their business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however it would not be appropriate to give a running commentary on the progress of current investigations.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether the Serious Fraud Office has sought his assistance with securing evidence from the Ministry of Defence in relation to its investigation into GPT Special Project Management Ltd.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General and I meet the Director frequently to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Serious Fraud Office announced in August 2012 that the Director had opened a criminal investigation into allegations concerning GPT and aspects of the conduct of their business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however it would not be appropriate to give a running commentary on the progress of current investigations.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, how many meetings staff from the Serious Fraud Office have had with officials of the Ministry of Defence in relation to its investigation into GPT Special Project Management Ltd; and on what dates those meetings took place.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General and I meet the Director frequently to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Serious Fraud Office announced in August 2012 that the Director had opened a criminal investigation into allegations concerning GPT and aspects of the conduct of their business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however it would not be appropriate to give a running commentary on the progress of current investigations.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, whether any representations have been made to him or to the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) stating that the public interest would be served by entering into a Deferred Prosecution Agreement in relation to the SFO's investigation of GPT Special Project Management Ltd.
Answered by Robert Buckland
The Attorney General and I meet the Director frequently to discuss a variety of issues. However, as was the case with previous Administrations, it is not the Government’s policy to provide details of all such meetings.
The Serious Fraud Office announced in August 2012 that the Director had opened a criminal investigation into allegations concerning GPT and aspects of the conduct of their business in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, however it would not be appropriate to give a running commentary on the progress of current investigations.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the protection of personal data held by private companies operating Government-shared services.
Answered by Lord Maude of Horsham
As with all outsourcing arrangements, security and information assurance measures are being implemented in line with the Government’s Information Assurance Standards, Good Practice Guides, Government Security Policy Framework and Data Protection Act. These Government security requirements were introduced under the previous Government and applied to outsourcing then. All shared services data will be handled, processed and transmitted in accordance with these security requirements, taking into consideration clients’ security policies.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many fracking project licences the Government has issued.
Answered by Matt Hancock
There is no such thing as a fracking project licence.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, for what reason the UK abstained from voting on the motion entitled, Ensuring respect for international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem at the 21st Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
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) issued a press release on 23 July stating that:
"Today's UN Human Rights Council resolution will not help achieve a lasting ceasefire. It is fundamentally unbalanced and will complicate the process by introducing unnecessary new mechanisms.
The UK could not support this resolution, but recognising the strength of feeling about the loss of life and the desire by a large number of members of the Council to express that feeling in a resolution, the UK joined other EU nations in abstaining in the vote."
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the number of avoidable deaths from breast cancer and to improve survival rates for that disease.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Achieving earlier diagnosis of cancer is key to our ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014-2015 and improve cancer outcomes and survival, including for breast cancer. Improving Outcomes: A Strategy for Cancer, published in January 2011, set out the Government’s ambition to close the gap in survival outcomes by 2014-15 and the strategy is backed with more than £750 million over this spending review period (four years) including more than £450 million to achieve early diagnosis.
Specifically on breast cancer, following successful local and regional pilots, a national breast cancer campaign targeting women aged 70 years plus ran in England only from 3 February to 16 March 2014. The campaign included television, press, direct mail and out-of-home media advertising and the key message was: ‘1 in 3 women who get breast cancer are over 70, so don’t assume you’re past it.’ The campaign was targeted at women over 70 as breast cancer survival is lower in this group than in younger women. In addition, as part of a major trial, we are extending the breast screening programme to women aged 47-49 and 71-73.
The Be Clear on Cancer campaign on breast cancer in women over 70 has been successful in raising awareness of symptoms. Since this time last year, the number of patients seen by a specialist for investigation of unusual breast symptom has risen by almost 20%.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions he has had with energy companies on retail and wholesale energy prices.
Answered by Michael Fallon
DECC Ministers and officials regularly have discussions with energy companies about a range of market issues.
In a competitive market, pricing decisions are a commercial matter for companies.
Consumers can put pressure on companies to reduce prices by switching to the best deal for them.
Asked by: Anas Sarwar (Labour - Glasgow Central)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will take steps to ensure the Government is represented at the highest level at the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change in Lima.
Answered by Lord Barker of Battle
Details on the UK delegation to the 20th United Nations Annual Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) in Lima are yet to be confirmed, but the delegation will include Ministers and senior officials from the Government. The full list of participants in the conference will be published on the UNFCCC website when the COP has concluded, and this will include details of the UK delegation.