Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take to further develop UK trade with Turkey over the next five years.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government will continue to develop trade with Turkey through Ministerial and high-level engagement including the UK-Turkey Joint Economic Committee (JETCO); High Value Opportunity (HVO) and other campaigns that position UK companies as partners of choice; partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey; and the GREAT campaign.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2015 to Question 226581, what support her Department provides to primary schools to ensure that the free school meals offered by those schools are healthy.
Answered by David Laws
The new School Food Standards came into force in January 2015 ensuring schools provide heathy meals throughout the week. The Department for Education provides guidance on the standards[1] and funds the implementation support service, including a menu checker service helping schools to provide hot, healthy menu choices for all their pupils. The School Food Plan website also provides a range of support and advice on providing healthy food in schools.[2]
[1] www.gov.uk/school-meals-healthy-eating-standards
[2] http://whatworkswell.schoolfoodplan.com/
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many Start Up loans have been awarded since the introduction of that scheme in each parliamentary constituency; and what the total value of those loans is in each parliamentary constituency.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Information on the number of Start Up Loans awarded in each constituency and the total value of loans made in each constituency is attached.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of waste of unused drugs in the NHS; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by George Freeman
Information is not held centrally on the annual cost or amount of unused or unnecessary medicines in the National Health Service.
The Department commissioned the York Health Economics Consortium and the School of Pharmacy at the University of London to carry out research to determine the scale, causes and costs of waste medicines in England. The report, Evaluation of the Scale, Causes and Costs of Waste Medicines, was published in November 2010 and is available at:
http://eprints.pharmacy.ac.uk/2605/1/Evaluation_of_NHS_Medicines_Waste__web_publication_version.pdf
This found that the gross cost of unused prescription medicines in primary and community care in the NHS in England in 2009 was estimated to be £300 million a year and that up to £150 million of this was avoidable.
A number of initiatives, led by NHS England, are currently underway to optimise the use of medicines in the NHS and better empower patients.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on VAT liability for (a) franchisees of LighterLife UK and (b) LighterLife UK.
Answered by David Gauke
It is not for the government to comment on a civil matter between the franchisees and LighterLife UK.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to support the development of business and skills that will assist the UK in further developing trade links with Turkey.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The Government is supporting the development of trade links with Turkey through Ministerial and high level official engagement including the Joint Economic Committee (JETCO) with Turkey, High Value Opportunity (HVO) campaigns that position UK companies as partners of choice, partnership with the British Chamber of Commerce in Turkey and the GREAT campaign.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the decision by Oxford Cambridge and RSA not to redevelop GCSE and A Level Turkish on the ability of students to acquire skills in Turkish; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government has been clear that it wants to see all pupils provided with the opportunity to take a core set of academic subjects, including modern foreign languages. There are considerable benefits to learning a second language and the Government is keen to see the range of languages at GCSE and A level preserved. It is, however, up to Awarding Organisations to decide which languages they want to continue offering as reformed GCSEs and A levels.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received from LighterLife UK franchisees on that company's business practices.
Answered by Jo Swinson
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has received no representations from LighterLife UK franchise on that company’s business practices.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations he has received on LighterLife UK's business practices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Swinson
My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has received no representations on LighterLife UK's business practices.
Asked by: Nick de Bois (Conservative - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides to primary schools to ensure that all infants take up the provision of free school meals.
Answered by David Laws
The Department for Education has provided substantial support to help schools deliver this policy. More than £1 billion of revenue funding is being provided to schools over two years on top of almost £175 million capital funding allocated this year to support them in improving their kitchen and dining facilities. The department has also allocated £22.5 million transitional funding in 2014-15 to help schools with 150 pupils or fewer to implement the policy. All this funding has been provided to ensure that the meals provided are of high quality, and particularly that all schools are able to offer hot meals.
The department has also set up an implementation support service, staffed by school food experts, which schools can contact for advice and support to help them to increase take-up of meals by their infant pupils.
Over 1.6 million infant pupils (85.2% of all infant pupils) took a free school meal on autumn census day in 2014. This is a rise of 1.3 million from the 0.3 million infant pupils who were estimated to have taken a free school meal in the January 2014 school census.