Tag: Nigel Adams

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department plans to take in preparation for the European Commission’s review of the Artist’s Resale Right.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The European Commission has not yet set a date for a periodic review of ARR. When this happens, the Intellectual Property Office will draw on existing material and consult afresh with its stakeholders for the latest evidence to inform the review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what consideration she has given to extending the support of biomass after 2027 to treat it equally with other low-carbon technologies.

Andrea Leadsom

We see the use of conversions of coal to biomass as a transitional technology. It has played a useful role in decarbonising the grid while other, lower carbon forms of energy generation, such as offshore wind continue to develop and lower their costs. Government support for biomass conversions are restricted to 2027 under the Renewables Obligation and Contract for Difference, however all other biomass technologies are eligible for the full 15 year life of the contract. We have no current plans to change those dates.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the recommendations of the Health Quality Improvement Partnership National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, what steps his Department is taking to encourage clinical commissioning groups to take a more proactive approach towards rheumatology commissioning.

Jane Ellison

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP) is managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). The first annual report of the National Clinical Audit of Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis was published on 22 January 2016. NCAPOP audits help drive improvement by providing local trusts with individual benchmarked reports on their performance against a range of measures, feeding back comparative findings to help participants identify necessary improvements for patients. The Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis audit has set recommendations for local NHS services including: improved support and training for primary care; increased clinical capacity in rheumatology services; and to improve the collection of outpatient data.

Following the first national Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care. More information can be found at the following link:

www.hqip.org.uk/national-programmes/a-z-of-nca/arthritis-rheumatoid-and-early-inflammatory

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 36652 on biofuel, whether her Department has undertaken to consider whether it is appropriate for biomass conversions to compete alongside offshore wind or the allocation pot for established technologies.

Andrea Leadsom

We have not set out our plans in respect of biomass conversions. We will set out more details in relation to future Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation rounds in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the names of all insurers which have Flood Re-compatible products available to consumers on the day of launch of the Flood Re-scheme before that day.

Rory Stewart

Flood Re is on target to start operating on 4 April. Flood Re will publish a list of participating insurers shortly before its launch.

For the first time it offers the prospect of available and affordable flood insurance to households at high flood risk.

The insurance market will continue to adapt after Flood Re is launched – it will be important for people to continue to shop around for the best deal.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what representations he has received on the potential merits of requiring search engines to change their algorithms to reduce the visibility of illegal streaming websites.

Joseph Johnson

My noble Friend the Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property, Baroness Neville-Rolfe, chairs regular roundtable meetings between the UK’s leading search engine providers, representatives of the music and film industries, and government officials.

Since the instigation of these roundtables, Google, Yahoo! and Bing have all taken steps to reduce the prominence of copyright infringing websites in their search results. These steps have included algorithm changes as well as changes to the autocomplete suggestions offered to users.

The discussions are supported by research undertaken by OFCOM which has shown a decrease in the prominence of the most infringing websites (as measured by the number of notifications Google have received about infringing content for those sites).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) demographic factors, (b) deprivation level factors and (c) factors of difference in distance from target market forces he took into account when determining the funding allocated for (i) Vale of York CCG, (ii) NHS West Cheshire, (iii) NHS North East Essex, (iv) NHS South Warwickshire, (v) NHS Canterbury and Coastal, (vi) NHS Lincolnshire West and (vii) NHE East Riding of Yorkshire.

Alistair Burt

Responsibility for clinical commissioning group (CCG) allocations rests with NHS England and the funding allocated to all CCGs is based on the CCG allocations formula. This is based on advice provided by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation (ACRA). ACRA is an independent committee and reports jointly to the Secretary of State for Health (in regard to public health allocations) and NHS England in regard to CCG and primary care allocations. The formula was initially approved by NHS England in 2013 and they have now reviewed and updated the formula for 2016-17 onwards.

The formula is based on the size of the population of each CCG and adjustments, or weights, per head for relative need for health care services and unavoidable costs between CCGs. The weights per head are based on the following:

― need due to age (typically, the more elderly the population, the higher the need per head, all else being equal);

― additional need over and above that due to age (this includes measures of health status and a number of proxies for health status such as deprivation);

― an adjustment for unmet need and health inequalities;

― unavoidable higher costs of delivering health care due to location alone, known as the Market Forces Factor (this reflects that staff, land and building costs are higher in for example London than other parts of the country); and

― an adjustment for the higher costs of providing emergency ambulance services in sparsely populated areas, and an adjustment for the higher costs of unavoidably small hospitals with 24 hour accident and emergency services in remote areas.

The final step of the allocations process is to determine how quickly to move CCGs from their current allocation to the target allocation determined by the formula. The objective is to reduce the ‘distance from target’ so that areas furthest below their target allocation receive the biggest increases. This needs to balance against the need to ensure service stability for those areas above target, and that increases are not so large that resources are not used efficiently. The approach also takes account of the distance from target in each area for primary care and specialised services so that the overall funding position for the area is taken into account.

NHS England recently published a technical guide to allocations which sets out all the individual factors used in determining the allocation levels. The guide is available here:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/04/allocations-tech-guide-16-17/#

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make representations to her EU counterparts and the European Commission on amending provisions related to take-down notices in the Electronic Commerce Directive 2002.

Matt Hancock

Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the European Union and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. During this period the Government will continue to negotiate, implement and apply EU legislation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-05-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, by what technical mechanisms her Department plans to take coal-fired power plants offline.

Andrea Leadsom

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced that the Department will be launching a consultation on proposals to end unabated coal generation by 2025. Options will be set out in that consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Creative Industries Council in its report entitled Create Together, published in July 2016, on clarifying the role of safe harbours and rights holders’ remuneration.

Joseph Johnson

The Create Together strategy produced by the industry members of the Creative Industries Council is a strategy for building on the economic success of the UK’s creative sector. It is one which the Government supports. Government is currently reviewing specific recommendations within the strategy, including on safe harbour. We are strongly committed to working constructively with industry on these issues.

The Government agrees that it should not be possible to benefit from encouraging the posting of copyright infringing content through safe harbours, and that the rules governing who is responsible for such content should be clear. In developing the UK’s copyright framework going forward, we will consider whether the current situation is providing the right mix of incentives and protections.