Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of the Minister for Disabled People's replies to correspondence from hon. Members have taken longer than (a) five, (b) 10, (c) 15 and (d) 20 working days in each month of the last two years.
Answered by Steve Webb
The Cabinet Office publishes information on the performance of Departments and agencies on handling correspondence from hon. Members and peers annually by way of a written statement.
The information for the last two years that is available, 2012 and 2013, is in the Official Report 13 May 2013: Column 23WS and 13 May 2014: Column 17WS
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many full-time equivalent staff worked on his Department's ministerial correspondence in each year since 2010.
Answered by Steve Webb
Many staff across the Department spend a proportion of their time working on ministerial correspondence.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to enable social enterprises to compete for government contracts.
Answered by Rob Wilson
The government supports social enterprises and public service mutuals (the vast majority of which are social enterprises) to access government contracts in a number of ways, such as encouraging commissioners to consider different ways of procuring through the Social Value Act and the Commissioning Academy.
The £10m Investment and Contract Readiness Fund also provides business support to social enterprises looking to take on social investment and public sector contracts, whilst the £10m Mutual Support Programme provides further comprehensive support for public service mutuals.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 15 December 2014 to Question 217880, if he will estimate the number of patients with bladder cancer who have had treatment delayed due to a shortage of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin drugs, including OncoTICE.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department does not hold centrally information on the number of patients whose treatment for bladder cancer will be affected, or whether patients currently receiving Bacillus Calmette-Guérin treatment for bladder cancer have had their treatment suspended because of a shortage of vaccine supplies.
We are working closely with the suppliers to help ensure that supplies are available for United Kingdom patients. We are also in close contact with the British Association of Urological Surgeons who have issued advice for clinicians.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from the Scottish Government on a possible exemption for the NHS in Scotland negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment partnership (TTIP) and the NHS have been discussed with the Scottish Government at official and Ministerial level.
Both the European Commission and US negotiators have explicitly ruled out public services from the scope of any market liberalisation in TTIP, and it has therefore not been necessary to discuss any exclusions related to specific public services. The Scottish Government’s ability to determine how publically funded health services in Scotland are provided will not be affected. It will be completely up to the Scottish Government to take decisions on which providers deliver health care services in the best interests of their patients.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications of the findings of the Audit Scotland report on preparations for the implementation of the Scotland Act 2012, published in December 2014, for implementation of the Scottish rate of income tax.
Answered by Danny Alexander
HM Revenue and Customs is on track to introduce the Scottish rate of income tax in April 2016. I am pleased that the report from Audit Scotland recognises the arrangements they have made to involve the Scottish Government in decisions relating to the implementation of the Scottish rate, and HMRC and the Scottish Government will continue to work closely together to ensure smooth operation of the new provisions after introduction.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential costs to the banking sector of changing the current seven-day period for switching bank accounts to a five-day period.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Chancellor’s Autumn Statement confirmed that the Government has asked the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to look at the question of a 5-day switching period, as part of its current review of the switching service, and to advise on this question before Budget 2015.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on (a) its policy on the extraction of shale gas and (b) the recommendation in the Smith Commission Report to devolve shale gas mineral access rights to the Scottish Parliament.
Answered by Matt Hancock
DECC Ministers meet regularly with the Scottish Government to discuss a range of issues. As has been the case with successive administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that OncoTICE is readily available to treat patients who have cancer of the bladder.
Answered by George Freeman
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 1 December 2014 to Questions 216172, 216173 and 216174 concerning shortages of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin bladder instillations, one of which is OncoTICE.
Asked by: Cathy Jamieson (Labour (Co-op) - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients have had delays in treatment for cancer of the bladder as a result of shortages of the drug OncoTICE in each of the last two years.
Answered by George Freeman
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Luciana Berger) on 1 December 2014 to Questions 216172, 216173 and 216174 concerning shortages of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin bladder instillations, one of which is OncoTICE.