Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to increase co-ordination and accountability for intellectual property policy by establishing a cross-industry partnership between the Intellectual Property Office and the Creative Industries Council.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Creative Industry Council is co-chaired by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Nicola Mendelsohn (Vice President Europe, Middle East and Africa, Facebook). As an agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Intellectual Property Office develops intellectual property policy to support innovation and growth, and is already fully engaged in the work of the Creative Industries Council, including the intellectual property workstream.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to the discussion paper, Follow the Money: financial options to assist in the battle against online IP piracy, published by the hon. Member for Hove in June 2014, what steps the Government has taken to (a) ensure that initiatives to tackle intellectual property offences by cutting advertising revenue streams have an international focus and (b) promote further collaboration between the Intellectual Property Office and equivalent bodies in other countries.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Government has formed an Advertising Working Group, chaired by the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), which includes representation from international brand holders, online advertisers and law enforcement. Its remit encompasses advertising revenue streams that originate from all territories. The Police IP Crime Unit’s Infringing Website List contains websites owned and hosted internationally and ensures that advertisers adopt a global approach to reduce advertising on websites accused of hosting and facilitating the use of copyright infringing material.
The IPO works closely with equivalent bodies such as the EU Observatory, the Commission and national IP Offices, as well as international law enforcers such as Europol and Interpol, to share our experiences and highlight best practice to help counter the international threat from online IP piracy.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of hospice and end of life care.
Answered by Norman Lamb
NHS England published its Actions for End of Life Care 2014-16 in October 2014 which sets out plans to improve the commissioning and provision of end of life care services nationally, including services commissioned from hospices. This work includes:
- actions to help individuals to be empowered, informed and engaged in decisions about their care;
- actions to support health and care professionals in providing end of life care, including fostering closer partnership working; and
- actions to support local commissioners to commission high quality, personalised end of life care services.
It is for local commissioners to ensure the right services, including end of life care services, are commissioned to meet the needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to develop policy on digital single economies.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
In January the Government published its vision for a European Digital Economy. The UK has called on the EU to create an open, flexible digital single market with a regulatory framework that reflects the dynamic nature of the digital economy. The DCMS is now working to develop detailed proposals on specific elements of an anticipated Digital Single Market package, including on telecommunications, audio-visual services and copyright.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase weekend and late night access to GP services.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Government is committed to improving access to general practitioner (GP) services.
The Prime Minister’s £50 million Challenge Fund is currently improving GP services for millions of patients across England. This includes pilot sites offering evening and weekend appointments, as well as better use of technology.
Last September the Prime Minister announced £100 million to fund a second wave of pilots in 2015/16 and NHS England invited practices to bid for funding. Successful bids are expected to be announced shortly.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has conducted or commissioned research on the effect of limiting bus lane access on speed of traffic flow.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department has not carried out any recent assessment of the impact of bus lanes on traffic flow. However, in 2004 we published ‘Bus Priority: The Way Ahead (Resource Pack Edition 2)’ which was the final report of a 4-year research project comprising the analysis of case studies about bus priority projects on UK roads.
Provision of bus priority facilities, including bus lanes, are for the relevant local authority. Assessment and monitoring of the impact of bus lanes on traffic is for the authority concerned to carry out. In relation to Manchester, the responsible authority is Transport for Greater Manchester.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on the creation of a new Intellectual Property Education Co-ordinator role.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
There is not a single Intellectual Property Education Coordinator role. The Intellectual Property Office acts as a co-ordinator for Intellectual Property (IP) Education work and has a team dedicated to IP education and awareness raising. This team is working closely with industry and across government to raise understanding of and respect for all forms of intellectual property.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what progress his Department has made on (a) providing further resources for and (b) expanding the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
In November 2014 the Government announced a further £3m of funding for the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU), securing its future until 2017. This investment will ensure the City of London Police continue to focus on the important area of online crime.
PIPCU’s steering board regularly review its progress against key performance measures. Their role is to review its operational effectiveness and to consider areas of expansion if required.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans he has to make provision for alternate means of electricity generation (a) to replace ageing nuclear power stations and (b) to meet the reduction in carbon emissions required by the Industrial Emissions Directive.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government has a range of measures in place to secure investment in new electricity generation capacity. As part of our reforms to the electricity market we have introduced a Capacity Market which will ensure we have sufficient reliable capacity on the system to meet demand, and Contracts for Difference to ensure we get the investment we need in low carbon capacity to meet our carbon reduction objectives.
The Government is supporting industry’s construction of new nuclear power plants via facilitative actions. Industry is currently planning a capacity of 16GW or more by 2030, exceeding the 9.4GW capacity of the existing nuclear fleet.
Asked by: Mike Weatherley (Conservative - Hove)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress has been made on securing an emergency brake for any member state on future EU legislation affecting financial services.
Answered by David Gauke
The Government is continually working to ensure that UK interests are fully reflected in EU negotiations on financial services legislation, which are particularly important to the UK given the size of our financial services industry. In negotiations on the creation of a banking union for the single currency, the Government secured important safeguards for the single market, including a new double majority voting system at the European Banking Authority, and protection against UK financial liability through the new Single Resolution Mechanism. As we work with other Member States to improve the functioning of the EU, increase Europe’s competitiveness and complete the single market, we will continue to ensure that the UK’s interests in financial services are fully protected.