Norman Baker

The Ministerial Code requires former Ministers to seek advice from the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about all appointments and employment they intend to take up in the two years after leaving ministerial office. These rules have applied under successive Governments, and there are no plans to revise them.

The Ministerial Code requires former Ministers to seek advice from the independent Advisory Committee on Business Appointments about all appointments and employment they intend to take up in the two years after leaving ministerial office. These rules have applied under successive Governments, and there are no plans to revise them.

The Duke of York announced that he was relinquishing his role as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment in July 2011. Since 1st January 2012, HRH honoured two pre-existing commitments approved by the Royal Visits Committee (see below) through to the end of March 2012 in support of UK Trade & Investment objectives.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) constantly keeps its delivery arrangements under review to ensure that funding of skills programmes is efficient and effective, as well as responsive to policy priorities to increase take-up of apprenticeships and traineeships for young people.

The Skills Funding Agency works closely with the Education Funding Agency on the funding of Further Education college provision and funding of apprenticeships and traineeships for 16-19 year olds. We have recently appointed Peter Lauener as joint Chief Executive of both agencies to make the most of the clear synergies between the two agencies. This exemplifies the commitment we have to promoting joined up Government. The Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency share a number of services to ensure they function as efficiently as possible.

The Skills Funding Agency has recently been through significant restructuring exercises reducing staffing levels by 50% and administration budget by 37%. In addition the regional office structure was reduced from 54 offices to six offices.

There has been correspondence between the Charity Commission, the trustees and the Attorney General’s Office over the National Fund.

The Fund is operated in accordance with its rules and section 9 of the Superannuation and Other Trust Funds (Validation) Act 1927. It is accumulating as the original donors intended.

Options are being considered for the future of the Fund, consistent with its object of extinguishing or reducing the national debt. These include a possible application to the court for directions. The consideration of these options includes looking at the history of donations to the Fund. Whilst this work is on-going, it would not be appropriate to comment further.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Since 2011 there have been no visits undertaken by HRH The Duke of York wholly or partially on behalf of the Department of Education. Since relinquishing his role as the United Kingdom’s Special Representative for Trade and Investment in 2011, The Duke of York has travelled officially on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government, as part of the programme of visits for the Royal Family approved by the Royal Visits Committee. Some of the visit programmes may have included events linked to education but this information is not held by this Department.

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bassetlaw, John Mann, on 11 September 2014, Official Report, column 723W.

Cannabis is a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and is listed in Schedule 1 under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Cannabis in its raw form is not authorised as a medicinal product in the United Kingdom and no assessment has been made by the Government of its potential medicinal benefits.

Sativex is the first cannabis-based medicine (oral spray) to be recognised by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to have medicinal properties and is placed in Part I of Schedule 4 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. This distinguishes it from cannabis in its raw form which continues to remain a Class B and Schedule 1 controlled drug under UK legislation. A person can lawfully possess Sativex under a prescription issued by a qualified healthcare professional.

However, Sativex remains a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 Act and Class B drug offences, including unlawful possession, supply, possession with intent to supply etc, continue to apply to Sativex.

Information on the number of people given a particular medicine or type of medicine is not available.

Information on the number of packs of opiate-based medicines dispensed by National Health Service hospital pharmacies in England for 2013-14 is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Number of packs dispensed in hospital pharmacies

¹ Includes Opium, Pentazocine

Source: Hospital Pharmacy Audit Index (HPAI) provided by IMS Health

Information on the number of opiate-based medicines items dispensed on prescription in the community in England in 2013-14 for treatments under the following British National Formulary (BNF) chapters is shown in table 2.

Table 2: Prescription items dispensed in the community

² Includes Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide, Methadone Hydrochloride, Diamorphine Hydrochloride

³ Includes Pentazocine Hydrochloride, Morphine Tartrate and Cyclizine Tartrate, Dextromoramide Tartrate, Papaveretum, Morphine Hydrochloride, Pentazocine Lactate, Oxycodone, Powdered Opium

Source: Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre

Information on opiate-based medicines not provided through the NHS e.g. those bought over the counter or provided by private hospitals, is not collected.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published an updated clinical guideline on the management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care in October 2014, in which Sativex (nabiximols) is not recommended for treating spasticity.

National Health Service commissioners must consider requests to fund Sativex in line with the NHS Constitution.

The UK works closely with Tony Blair as the Quartet's Special Representative in our joint efforts to support the peace process. Tony Blair visited Gaza last month to meet Palestinian Gaza-based Ministers and local business and community leaders. I met Tony Blair on 9 March to discuss how to make progress on Gaza and the Middle East Peace Process.

The Quartet has an important role to play in bringing Israelis and Palestinians together as we urgently seek to move the peace process forward.

We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in Tibet, particularly the reported restrictions being placed on freedom of expression, association and assembly.

We are troubled by reported episodes of violence during popular protests in Tibet. We believe meaningful dialogue is the best way to address underlying grievances.

There has never been a cost to HM Government for the reception hosted by HRH The Duke of York at Davos.

The Government believes it would not be appropriate to provide daily bank statements to the House Library for both efficiency and confidentiality reasons, but will provide copies of the annual accounts for the Donations & Bequests Fund for the past 10 years.

Given below is a list of gifts from members of the public made for the purpose of reducing the national debt in each of the last three years, with the nature and value of each gift. Over the last three years there have been 39 such gifts; 16 in 12/13, 16 in 13/14, and 7 in 14/15. The Treasury is a passive receiver of donations and bequests. It does not actively pursue possible donations.

1. The Sovereign has received no direct benefit from bona vacantia since 1988. The Privy purse benefited by £339k in 1984/85, £468k in 1985/86, £418k in 1986/87 and £497k in 1987/88.

Since 1988 proceeds from bona vacantia have been used to pay late claims and the balance has been divided between three charities established to receive these funds which are the Duchy of Lancaster Benevolent Fund (supporting charities within the County Palatine or where the Duchy has landed or historical interests in England and Wales), the Jubilee Trust (which supports The Queen's Chapel of the Savoy and other heritage buildings owned by the Duchy) and the Duke of Lancaster Housing Trust (which provides rural affordable housing).

b). The Duchy has not kept a record of any specific bequests in favour of the Duchy in the course of the last 30 years. If such a bequest were to be received, and in the absence of specific conditions attached to it, it is highly likely that the funds would be transferred to one of these Duchy charities.

In our response to the new psychoactive substances expert panel’s report, published on 30 October 2014, the Government set out a timetable for delivery of a number of the actions we are taking both under the present Parliament and beyond. Some of these have already been delivered. For example, Public Health England (PHE) has already delivered a new toolkit to help local areas to prevent and respond to the use of NPS. Other actions are underway, such as work with key enforcement partners to issue and/or update guidance to further tackle the supply of NPS generally as well as in "headshops". In addition, the Government continues to ensure that the Misuse of Drugs 1971 controls keep pace with the evolving NPS market. This includes controlling MT-45 and 4,4’-DMAR as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Work has begun on developing legislative proposals for a general ban on new psychoactive substances similar to that introduced in Ireland. The Government is moving swiftly so that new legislation is ready to be introduced at the earliest opportunity, notwithstanding the lack of appropriate legislative vehicle in this Parliament. In addition, statutory consultation has been initiated with the ACMD on the legislative proposal to adopt a new definition to ban all synthetic cannabinoids based on their effects on the brain.

In our response to the new psychoactive substances expert panel’s report, published on 30 October 2014, the Government set out a timetable for delivery of a number of the actions we are taking both under the present Parliament and beyond. Some of these have already been delivered. For example, Public Health England (PHE) has already delivered a new toolkit to help local areas to prevent and respond to the use of NPS. Other actions are underway, such as work with key enforcement partners to issue and/or update guidance to further tackle the supply of NPS generally as well as in "headshops". In addition, the Government continues to ensure that the Misuse of Drugs 1971 controls keep pace with the evolving NPS market. This includes controlling MT-45 and 4,4’-DMAR as Class A drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

Work has begun on developing legislative proposals for a general ban on new psychoactive substances similar to that introduced in Ireland. The Government is moving swiftly so that new legislation is ready to be introduced at the earliest opportunity, notwithstanding the lack of appropriate legislative vehicle in this Parliament. In addition, statutory consultation has been initiated with the ACMD on the legislative proposal to adopt a new definition to ban all synthetic cannabinoids based on their effects on the brain.

The Coalition Government promotes a balanced and evidence-based approach to drug policy within the UN drug control conventions. As Ambassador Brownfield made clear, it is important that the international community respects the
integrity of UN conventions in this area. We will continue to champion our balanced drug strategy, which since 2010 has focused on reducing demand, restricting supply, and building recovery. This includes at international forums, including the forthcoming UN General Assembly Special Session on drugs in 2016.

The coalition government has regular conversations with the US Government through a range of bilateral and multilateral forums. We continue to work with the US to promote a modern, balanced and evidence-based international approach to drugs within the UN drug control conventions.

Home Office Ministers have meetings with a wide variety of international partners, as well as organisations and individuals in the public and private sectors, as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of these meetings are passed to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis and are subsequently published on the Gov.uk website: http://data.gov.uk/dataset/ministerial-data-home-office.

The Ministry of Justice was aware of the relationship between Quora and Killarney-Comércio Internacional, Lda during commercial negotiations and before exchange of contracts. The application for planning permission was submitted under both names. The disposal, including due diligence, is carried out in accordance with central guidance on the disposal of surplus property assets and we will ensure we get the best value for the taxpayer. We remain in commercial negotiations as the sale has not yet been completed.

Whitbread PLC is not a party to the contract.