Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department will make an assessment of the benefits to the UK mobile market of imposing a cap on the total amount of mobile spectrum that individual operators can hold.
Answered by Matt Hancock
Ofcom is responsible for the health of the UK mobile market, in line with its statutory duties. We expect Ofcom to consider arguments for and against spectrum caps in its forthcoming consultation on rules for the auction.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how his Department monitors the obligations it places on its subcontractors to pay bills within 30 days.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Development)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to implementing a prompt payment policy throughout the supply chain. We place a contractual obligation on our prime contractors to pay their subcontractors within 30 days.
As with all contractual issues, in relation to direct contracts between the MOD and its suppliers, we would investigate any breaches to contract conditions on a case-by-case basis. While there is currently no established method of monitoring prompt payment outside of our direct contracts, we are working to update MOD contractual conditions to strengthen the prompt payment obligation throughout the supply chain.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the Government's policy is on maintaining the provisions of European Commission Directive 2008/94/EC on the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer; and what assessment the Government has made of the effect the UK leaving the EU will have on the operation of the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Robin Walker
The Government has clearly stated that the UK does not need to be part of the EU to have strong protections for workers' rights. At every step of these negotiations we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people, seizing opportunities to make Britain a country that truly works not just for a privileged few, but for everybody.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to publish its review into supported accommodation; and whether it has carried out an impact assessment on the extension of the Local Housing Allowance cap.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Statement made today by the Secretary of State:
Full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will exempt crisis, refuge and homeless accommodation from any extension to the Local Housing Allowance cap.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Statement made today by the Secretary of State:
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to encourage a greater awareness of the (a) symptoms, (b) diagnosis, (c) research, (d) treatment and (e) support for the families of children affected by cancer.
Answered by David Mowat
Improving awareness and early diagnosis of cancer is a priority for this Government, and was clearly highlighted in the report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes (2015) by the Independent Cancer Taskforce. Earlier diagnosis makes it more likely that patients will receive effective treatments. We have committed to implementing recommendation 24 of the report that by 2020, everyone referred with a suspicion of cancer will receive either a definitive diagnosis or the all-clear within four weeks. This standard will be underpinned by investment of up to £300 million more in diagnostics each year by 2020.
In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline, ‘Suspected cancer: recognition and referral’ includes new recommendations for childhood cancers. NICE also addressed generally, non-site specific symptoms of concern in children and young people, recommending that GPs should take into account the insight and knowledge of parents and carers when considering making a referral for suspected cancer.
The Department’s National Institute for Health Research operates the UK Clinical Trials Gateway: www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk. This publicly available website pulls through information about clinical trials and other research from several different United Kingdom registers, including research on childhood cancers.
Over the last four decades there have been major advances in the development of successful treatment strategies for childhood cancers, and much of this has been due to the use of standardised protocols in clinical trials and centralisation of care. NICE Improving Outcomes Guidance for Children and Young People serves to assist National Health Service trusts in planning, commissioning and organising services for children and young people with cancer. It recommends, among other things, that all care must be provided in age-appropriate facilities. The treatment children receive will depend on the type of cancer they have, and the most common treatments include surgery to remove the tumour, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to destroy cancer cells, and stem cell and bone marrow transplants. In 2012, the Government provided £250 million to build two proton beam therapy centres in England (at University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester), the first of which will be fully operational in 2018.
The Government is working closely with cancer charities to ensure children get the support they need during and after their treatment. Last year we announced everyone diagnosed with cancer in England will benefit from an individually tailored recovery package by 2020, a key recommendation by the independent Cancer Taskforce. The recovery package, developed by Macmillan Cancer Support, will signpost people to rehabilitation and financial support services to help with the costs of cancer.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department takes to ensure prompt payments by companies in receipt of defence contracts.
Answered by Harriett Baldwin - Shadow Minister (Development)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is committed to paying all of its suppliers promptly, and we place a contractual obligation on our prime contractors to pay their subcontractors within a 30 day period.
MOD payment performance is published on gov.uk at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministry-of-defence-supplier-invoicing-and-payment-information.
This shows that during the first quarter of 2016-17, the MOD paid 96.5% of its invoices within five days and 99.9% within 30 days.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps his Department is taking to secure the free movement of volunteer workers from the EU.
Answered by David Jones
The Prime Minister has been clear that free movement cannot continue as it has in the past and one of the opportunities of Brexit is that we will be able to control the number of people coming to Britain from the EU. The precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals, including volunteers, is yet to be determined. We will be considering all options available to us based on the best available evidence.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether his Department plans to protect the free movement rights of volunteers coming to the UK from the EU after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by David Jones
The Prime Minister has been clear that free movement cannot continue as it has in the past and one of the opportunities of Brexit is that we will be able to control the number of people coming to Britain from the EU. The precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals, including volunteers, is yet to be determined. We will be considering all options available to us based on the best available evidence.
Asked by: Richard Arkless (Scottish National Party - Dumfries and Galloway)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, whether his Department has estimated the number of EU citizens who come to the UK each year to take up voluntary work.
Answered by David Jones
The Prime Minister has been clear that free movement cannot continue as it has in the past and one of the opportunities of Brexit is that we will be able to control the number of people coming to Britain from the EU. The precise way in which the Government will control the movement of EU nationals, including volunteers, is yet to be determined. We will be considering all options available to us based on the best available evidence.