First elected: 7th June 2001
Left House: 30th March 2015 (Retired)
Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
These initiatives were driven by Tony Cunningham, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Tony Cunningham has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Tony Cunningham has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Tony Cunningham has not co-sponsored any Bills in the current parliamentary sitting
The Department has a strong package of policies delivering assistance to those in need, including: the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Warm Home Discount and the Big Energy Saving Network. The Government also provides financial support through Winter Fuel Payments and Cold Weather Payments. The All-Party Parliamentary Group and Ministerial Roundtable on heating oil and LPG supply will continue working to determine whether further action is required.
The Department does not have plans to include oil and LPG boilers as measures available under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
The Green Deal is not funded through a levy.
There were 52,214 Green Deal Assessments in off-gas grid properties in Great Britain up to 30th September 2014, representing around 15 per cent of all properties with a Green Deal Assessment*.
However, the Department does not publish breakdowns of measures by property type.
*Source, Table 1.4 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/green-deal-energy-company-obligation-eco-and-insulation-levels-in-great-britain-quarterly-report-to-september-2014
The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is open to applications from owners or occupiers of a residential property in England or Wales. The scheme does not distinguish between applicants from rural or urban areas, or between applicants who are on or off gas grid. Over 25,000 households have received vouchers to date.
DFID’s Commercial training focuses on improving commercial capability across the department, in-line with the requirements of the Civil Service Reform plan as stated in DFID Annual Report and Accounts 2013–14. To date, ninety nine DFID Senior Civil Servants have completed the training.
Since 1st June 2014, when the scheme first started, 253 staff members have demonstrated sufficient expertise and knowledge, through a rigorous process of accreditation, into the Programme Management Cadre. They include three Senior Civil Servants and 15% have been senior advisors or team leaders. As would be expected, the remaining are made up of programme managers across the department.
Programme Management Training within DFID started in 2013 since when over 400 have attended a three day Delivering Effective Aid Programme. Following the introduction of the Smart Rules and the new programme management architecture, the course has been modified and a further 200 have attended from all grades across the department. Each month one course is held in the UK (alternating between London and Glasgow) and one course is held in a country programme.
Table A3.1 in Annex A3 the Independent Commission on Aid Impact Report 34 on ‘How the Department for International Development (DFID) Learns’ lists the 13 technical advisory professions. There are also 7 heads of corporate professions (Communications, Finance, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Information Technology, Knowledge and Procurement & Commercial); a Head of Policy Profession and a Head of Programme Management Profession.
We do not provide personal information on individuals and cannot give precise details on the qualifications of each Head of Profession as requested.
All the Heads of the Advisory, Programme and Policy Professions have completed essential DFID internal programme management courses (or the equivalent in a European donor), and have at least 5 years programme management experience. Several hold post-graduate qualifications in fields related to programme management as well as qualifications in their technical area. In addition three of the heads of the Corporate professions are qualified in PRINCE (Projects in Controlled Environments).
Tackling undernutrition in the first 1,000 days of life is central to DFID’s strategy to improve child health and wellbeing, and tackling micronutrient deficiencies is a key part of that strategy. Details of DFID’s bilateral support is published on its Development Tracker website: http://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/.
In addition to bilateral programmes, DFID provides support to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement and the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), all of which contribute to tackling micronutrient deficiencies in WHO high burden countries.
Details of DFID’s spend by sector, including Infrastructure, is shown in Table 11 of our publication ‘Gross Public Expenditure Tables 2013/14’, which is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/statistics-on-international-development-2013-to-2014-gpex-tables. Figures for 2014/15 will be published in the autumn.
We do not collect the information in the form requested however DFID promotes affordable housing centrally through the Community-Led Infrastructure Finance Facility (CLIFF) that works across 14 countries in Africa and Asia. By December 2015, CLIFF will have constructed 28,000 new core housing units and improved access to water and sanitation services for up to 445,000 people. CLIFF does not currently work in Sierra Leone.
The meningitis B (MenB) vaccine has already been developed by Novartis. Implementation of the MenB programme is dependent on the vaccine being obtained at a cost effective price as recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
The Department is continuing to negotiate with the manufacturer and the content of these negotiations is confidential. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) completed its purchase of Novartis’s non-influenza vaccine business on 2 March 2015 and therefore, further negotiations are continuing with GSK.
The Department’s Director General for Innovation, Growth and Technology is leading negotiations with the manufacturer for the supply of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero. The most recent negotiating meeting took place on 8 December 2014 and, following subsequent technical discussions, the next such meeting will take place shortly.
The independent cost-effectiveness analysis of the use of the meningococcal B vaccine, Bexsero took account of the incidence and case fatality rates of all meningococcal disease, including meningococcal W in England during the period 2005-06 to 2011-12. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) considered that these data gave a reasonable range. JCVI are the independent experts responsible for advising the Government on immunisations following due consideration of the evidence on the burden of disease, vaccine safety and efficacy and cost effectiveness.
Further information is available in Christensen H, Trotter CL, Hickman M, Edmunds WJ. Re‑evaluating cost effectiveness of universal meningitis vaccination (Bexsero) in England: modelling study. BMJ 2014; 349: g5725.
Senior officials in the Department and Her Majesty's Treasury have discussed the business case for meningococcal B immunisation.
On 21 March 2014, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended that there should be a national Meningococcal B immunisation programme for infants, if the vaccine, Bexsero ®, could be purchased at a cost-effective price. The Treasury is working closely with the Department of Health on this business case. The Government would like to secure the vaccine from the supplier at the cost-effective price recommended by the JCVI.
The Government received more than 5,000 responses to the consultation which are being considered, alongside the review by Department for Work and Pensions into existing provision. The Government will make a decision based on this analysis in time for the provisional local government finance settlement due shortly.
The receipt of legal aid is considered to be personal data and the Department has obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 which would prevent it from disclosing this type of information. Furthermore, the Legal Aid Agency is further prohibited by statute from disclosing information relating to the provision of legal aid in individual cases (under section 34 of the LASPO Act 2012, section 20 of the Access to Justice Act 1999, and before this under section 38 of the Legal Aid Act 1988).