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100071

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed the effectiveness of the combination of the Azure payment card and support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in enabling refused asylum seekers to meet their basic needs.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL2277
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Azure card is issued to destitute failed asylum seekers accommodated under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because they are temporarily unable to leave the United Kingdom. The card can be used at most of the main supermarket chains to purchase food and other essential items. The performance of the card is kept under regular review but the Government is satisfied that it is an effective way of ensuring that recipients are able to meet their essential living needs and are not left destitute.</p><p> </p><p>The Government therefore has no plans to abolish the card or change legislation to allow people supported under section 4 to receive cash instead.</p><p> </p><p>The total administrative costs of the card scheme since it was introduced in 2009 are approximately £1,515,000. Estimated administrative costs for the current financial year are £200,000.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report about asylum procedures in December 2013 (cm 8769). A response to the Committee’s views on section 4 support was set out on page 18-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL2278 HL2279 HL2280 HL2281 question first answered 28/10/2014 15:17:54 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

100072

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to abolish the Azure payment card and amend legislation to enable the provision of cash support for all refused asylum seekers until they are either given status in the United Kingdom or return to their country of origin.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL2278
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Azure card is issued to destitute failed asylum seekers accommodated under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because they are temporarily unable to leave the United Kingdom. The card can be used at most of the main supermarket chains to purchase food and other essential items. The performance of the card is kept under regular review but the Government is satisfied that it is an effective way of ensuring that recipients are able to meet their essential living needs and are not left destitute.</p><p> </p><p>The Government therefore has no plans to abolish the card or change legislation to allow people supported under section 4 to receive cash instead.</p><p> </p><p>The total administrative costs of the card scheme since it was introduced in 2009 are approximately £1,515,000. Estimated administrative costs for the current financial year are £200,000.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report about asylum procedures in December 2013 (cm 8769). A response to the Committee’s views on section 4 support was set out on page 18-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL2277 HL2279 HL2280 HL2281 question first answered 28/10/2014 15:17:55 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

100073

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they have spent on administering the Azure card system since its inception.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL2279
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Azure card is issued to destitute failed asylum seekers accommodated under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because they are temporarily unable to leave the United Kingdom. The card can be used at most of the main supermarket chains to purchase food and other essential items. The performance of the card is kept under regular review but the Government is satisfied that it is an effective way of ensuring that recipients are able to meet their essential living needs and are not left destitute.</p><p> </p><p>The Government therefore has no plans to abolish the card or change legislation to allow people supported under section 4 to receive cash instead.</p><p> </p><p>The total administrative costs of the card scheme since it was introduced in 2009 are approximately £1,515,000. Estimated administrative costs for the current financial year are £200,000.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report about asylum procedures in December 2013 (cm 8769). A response to the Committee’s views on section 4 support was set out on page 18-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL2277 HL2278 HL2280 HL2281 question first answered 28/10/2014 15:17:55 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

100074

	registered interest
	date	21/10/2014
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Finance
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their forecast annual cost for administering the Azure card payment scheme in the coming year.
	tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
	uin	HL2280
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Azure card is issued to destitute failed asylum seekers accommodated under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 because they are temporarily unable to leave the United Kingdom. The card can be used at most of the main supermarket chains to purchase food and other essential items. The performance of the card is kept under regular review but the Government is satisfied that it is an effective way of ensuring that recipients are able to meet their essential living needs and are not left destitute.</p><p> </p><p>The Government therefore has no plans to abolish the card or change legislation to allow people supported under section 4 to receive cash instead.</p><p> </p><p>The total administrative costs of the card scheme since it was introduced in 2009 are approximately £1,515,000. Estimated administrative costs for the current financial year are £200,000.</p><p> </p><p>The Government published its response to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report about asylum procedures in December 2013 (cm 8769). A response to the Committee’s views on section 4 support was set out on page 18-19.</p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Bates grouped question UIN HL2277 HL2278 HL2279 HL2281 question first answered 28/10/2014 15:17:56 answering member 1091 label Biography information for Lord Bates
	tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

419209

	registered interest
	date	16/09/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	NHS: Drugs
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of comments by the NHS National Clinical Director for Specialised Services in July stating that the NHS was unlikely to be able to afford increasing costs for specialised drugs, whether they plan to investigate why NHS England Specialised Services have not received any additional funding to spend on new products through the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme, and where those available funds have been spent within NHS England.
	tabling member printed	Lord Willis of Knaresborough
	uin	HL2282
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2015 answer text <p>The following table includes information on aggregate payments received by the Department since the beginning of the Pharmaceutical Scheme 2014. The Department publishes quarterly information on the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) sales and payments on the Government’s website at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pprs-quarterly-net-sales-and-payment-information</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year and Quarter (Q)</p></td><td><p>Aggregate Payments Received by the Department of Health</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q1</p></td><td><p>£74 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q2</p></td><td><p>£76 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q3</p></td><td><p>£79 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014 Q4</p></td><td><p>£81 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015 Q1</p></td><td><p>£208 million</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015 Q2</p></td><td><p>£209 million</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department ensures that all the income it receives from PPRS payments in England is reinvested in the National Health Service for patients’ benefit. The Department includes the expected PPRS payments in setting the NHS England allocations in advance of each year.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As a statutory organisation, it is for NHS England to ensure that its actions are in line with its statutory duties. NHS England is responsible for allocating its overall budget (which includes expected income from PPRS payments in England) across commissioning areas, including specialised commissioning and clinical commissioning groups. Following normal Government accounting rules, there is no separately identified or ring-fenced funding stream associated with the PPRS payments.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government believes that NHS commissioners and providers are best placed to decide how to allocate their budgets to deliver improvements in the outcomes for patients. The PPRS includes a number of commitments for improving patient outcomes by improving access to clinically and cost effective medicines.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Lord Prior of Brampton grouped question UIN HL2281 question first answered 22/09/2015 10:32:21 answering member 127 label Biography information for Lord Prior of Brampton
	tabling member	4151 label Biography information for Lord Willis of Knaresborough