Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions she has had with the Ethiopian government on the implications for her Department's supported programmes in Oromia of the response of that government to protests in that region.
Answered by Nick Hurd
I visited Ethiopia on the 17th of June and held discussions with senior Ministers in the Ethiopian Government, reiterating our concerns about the response to the protests in Oromia. I emphasised that civil and political rights are an important aspect of DFID’s Partnership Principles assessments, which inform decisions on the shape of our programme.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish the findings of its forthcoming review on personal independence payments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to his previous Question UIN39987.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that the proposed EU-Canada trade agreement is not implemented until it has been fully scrutinised by national parliaments.
Answered by Anna Soubry
The EU–Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) could be worth up to £1.3 billion per year to the UK economy. The Government is therefore keen to see the agreement implemented as soon as possible.
The Government considers, along with other Member States, that CETA is a “mixed agreement”. This means that CETA can only take full effect once the UK has decided to ratify it. As part of that ratification process, the complete draft text of the agreement would be laid before Parliament for 21 sitting days. In addition, the Government will ensure the proposals for a Council decision on signature, and subsequently conclusion, will be subject to scrutiny in both houses of the UK Parliament.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with stakeholders on the terms of reference of the forthcoming review on personal independence payments.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department has regular discussions with stakeholders on all aspects of Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
PIP is subject to two statutory, independent reports on the operation of assessments which determine ability to carry out daily living activities or mobility activities. The terms of reference for the second report, due to be published by April 2017, will be subject to the statutory criteria and will be published in due course.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the advice on mobile telephone safety on the NHS Choices webpages, what the evidence base is for the recommendation that children should only use mobile telephones for essential purposes and keep all calls short.
Answered by Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) keeps the scientific evidence regarding the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones on public health under review, and advises on the measures that should be taken to protect the public.
Precautionary advice to discourage the non-essential use of mobile phones by children dates from the year 2000 and was motivated by concerns that, if there are unrecognised adverse health effects from the use of mobile phones, children may be more vulnerable. The advice was accepted by government and has been continued by Public Health England, including after its 2012 comprehensive review of research evidence, which found no convincing evidence that exposures to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields below the international guideline levels cause health effects in either adults or children. The precautionary advice is based on the potential for health effects, rather than proven identifiable evidence of harm.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will discuss with his US counterpart the potential implications for his policies of work undertaken by the US National Toxicology Program on links between mobile telephone use and levels of cancer risk; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Government looks to Public Health England (PHE) to review the scientific evidence regarding the effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields from mobile phones on public health, and to advise on the measures that should be taken to protect the public. Among the available evidence are the recently-released partial findings from a study carried out by the United States National Toxicology Programme, which involved rats exposed at levels substantially above those to which the public are exposed when using mobile phones. PHE has welcomed the first results of the study but consider the findings far from definitive with regard to any relationship between the use of mobile phones and cancer in humans.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 25 May 2016 to Question 37646, what preparatory work NHS England is undertaking on Translarna; and whether a date has been set for a commercial meeting between NHS England and PTC Therapeutics after that preparatory work.
Answered by George Freeman
Further to the answer given in Question 37646, NHS England has been undertaking the detailed preparatory work required to meet the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence’s request that NHS England and the supplier, PTC Therapeutics, work towards agreeing an acceptable managed access arrangement for Translarna (ataluren) by 7 July 2016.
NHS England will be meeting with the supplier when it has concluded this preparatory work. There have not been any commercial meetings with PTC Therapeutics in the period since 15th April 2016 - however, NHS England is in regular contact with the supplier and will be agreeing mutually convenient times to meet.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to accelerate the family reunification process for unaccompanied children in Europe with family in the UK.
Answered by James Brokenshire
The Government continues to work with key EU Member States to ensure the Dublin Regulation family reunification process works effectively.
Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agreed single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and we have seconded an asylum expert to the French administration to facilitate the improvement of all stages of the process. The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and of the family reunion process.
We are also providing support to the Dublin Units in Greece and Italy bilaterally and through European Asylum Support Office. On 4 May we announced the Government will work with local authorities on plans to resettle unaccompanied children from Europe. We are looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests.
We will work closely with local authorities to implement this initiative. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in the UK, as well as ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We will also consult relevant Non-Governmental Organisations, the UNHCR, UNICEF and Member States.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will reconsider the proposal to privatise the Land Registry; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Anna Soubry
A government consultation seeking views on options to move operations of the Land Registry to the private sector closed on 26 May. Government is currently considering the responses but no final decisions have been made.
Asked by: David Anderson (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what proportion of coal burnt in UK coal-fired power stations in each of the last three years was mined in the UK.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This can be estimated by subtracting the amount of steam coal imports (mainly used by coal-fired power stations) by the total amount of coal used in electricity generation. Please see the table below:
| Imports of steam coal (thousand tonnes) | Coal used in generation (thousand tonnes) | UK produced coal used for generation * (thousand tonnes) | Proportion of UK produced coal used for generation % |
2013 | 42,995 | 50,041 | 7,046 | 14.0% |
2014 | 35,294 | 38,400 | 3,106 | 8.0% |
2015 (provisional) | 20,631 | 29,342 | 8,711 | 29.6% |
* This includes stocks from earlier years.
Source:
Energy Trends tables 2.1 and 2.4, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/solid-fuels-and-derived-gases-section-2-energy-trends.