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173762

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Saudi Arabia
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the flogging of Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220843
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text Whilst the latest flogging has been postponed, we remain seriously concerned by Raif Badawi’s case. The UK condemns the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in all circumstances. We have raised Mr Badawi’s case at a senior level with the Saudi authorities. The UK is a strong supporter of freedom of expression around the world. We believe that people must be allowed to freely discuss and debate issues, challenge their governments, exercise the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and speak out against violations of human rights wherever they occur. answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 21/01/2015 14:37:55 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173765

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Middle East
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote freedom of speech in the Middle East.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220842
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text Freedom of expression has been a human rights priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, from the beginning of this Parliament; and the subject of an Expert Group which advises Ministers. We raise press freedom regularly in multilateral fora, supporting relevant initiatives and resolutions, and in bilateral conversations – in both private and public. We regularly raise the importance of freedom of speech with counterparts in government across the Middle East and North Africa. Through our Arab Partnership Initiative, we are working to support the development of legitimate and inclusive institutions to improve governance, enable inclusive reform and protect fundamental freedoms such as freedom of speech. Our Arab Partnership Participation Fund has supported the training of journalists in countries across the region, including Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt to deliver un-biased reporting and work to protect freedom of speech. In Iraq, we have worked to build a legal and regulatory environment in order to allow Iraqi media to operate safely, freely and effectively. answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 21/01/2015 15:32:01 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173767

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Saudi Arabia
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the case of Raif Badawi in Saudi Arabia.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220847
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>Whilst the latest flogging has been postponed, we remain seriously concerned by Raif Badawi’s case. The UK condemns the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in all circumstances. We have raised Mr Badawi’s case at a senior level with the Saudi authorities.</p><p>The UK is a strong supporter of freedom of expression around the world. We believe that people must be allowed to freely discuss and debate issues, challenge their governments, exercise the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and speak out against violations of human rights wherever they occur.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 21/01/2015 14:42:30 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

171976

	registered interest
	date	05/01/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	NHS: Innovation
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department made in 2014 on implementing the objectives of the Innovation, Health and Wealth: Accelerating Adoption and Diffusion in the NHS report; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	219701
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/01/2015 answer text <p>We are starting to see very encouraging signs of improvement in the uptake and use of innovation in the National Health Service. Both the Department and NHS England remain committed to driving improvements in health through developing, testing and spreading innovation across the health system. Key developments in 2014 include:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>- The NICE Implementation Collaborative has continued to support faster and more consistent access to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended medicines, treatments and technologies. Significant increases in appropriate usage of drugs covered by this initiative have been demonstrated at a national level.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>- The Innovation Scorecard demonstrates that the rate of uptake and utility of new medicines recommended by NICE has significantly increased, particularly for innovative treatments such as Novel Oral Anti-Coagulants (NOACs).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The <em>Five Year Forward View </em>builds on this progress. Through its publication and implementation NHS England and its partners have committed to driving improvements in health through developing, testing and spreading innovation across the health system.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Central Suffolk and North Ipswich answering member printed Dr Daniel Poulter question first answered 12/01/2015 15:20:36 answering member 3932 label Biography information for Dr Dan Poulter
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173768

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Arms Trade: Exports
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on the sale of arms by UK companies to countries with governments which consistently violate the human rights of their citizens.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220846
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>This Government supports a responsible defence and security industry that helps meet the legitimate defence needs of other states, and contributes to their security and law and order.</p><p>We take our arms export responsibilities very seriously and aim to operate one of the most rigorous and transparent arms export control regimes in the world. All defence and dual-use exports are required to meet the UK’s strict export control legislation and adhere to the UK international commitments including international treaties and obligations.</p><p>Each application for an export licence is subject to rigorous case-by-case assessment against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. Risks around human rights violations are a key part of our assessment. We do not issue an export licence if there is a clear risk that the proposed export might be used for internal repression.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 21/01/2015 14:53:43 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

171823

	registered interest
	date	02/01/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Medical Treatments
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Minister for Life Sciences' announcement on 20 November 2014 on considering how to speed-up patient access to medicines, devices and diagnostics, what discussions his Department has had with (a) NICE and (b) NHS England on that matter.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	219612
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/01/2015 answer text <p>The review of the pathways for the development, assessment, and adoption of innovative medicines and medical technology will consider how to speed up access for National Health Service patients to cost-effective new diagnostics, medicines and devices. Officials have already had preliminary discussions with both the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England, and these will continue as the review progresses.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Mid Norfolk answering member printed George Freeman question first answered 09/01/2015 14:34:15 answering member 4020 label Biography information for George Freeman
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173399

	registered interest
	date	13/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Religious Freedom
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote freedom of religion internationally.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220566
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/01/2015 answer text <p>The promotion and protection of the right to freedom of religion or belief is one of the UK’s human rights priorities. We actively raise individual cases and work to combat discriminatory legislation and practices through multilateral systems and targeted project work.</p><p>As an example of our bilateral work, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) has raised our concerns regarding misuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on several occasions, most recently in December 2014. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised our concerns with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 13 November. The Parliamentary-Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), also raised the misuse of these laws with Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the UK in October.</p><p>We are active in our project work in a wide range of countries and we will continue to be active bilaterally, multilaterally, through project work and in providing training to our staff to tackle religious persecution internationally.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 19/01/2015 15:55:28 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

172896

	registered interest
	date	09/01/2015
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Literacy: Primary Education
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that every child can read by the time they finish primary school.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220284
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/01/2015 answer text <p>The new primary national curriculum for English, introduced in September 2014, sets more rigorous and challenging content. It has been designed to ensure that all children can leave primary school fully literate and ready to progress to secondary school.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have strengthened the requirements on learning to read through systematic synthetic phonics as evidence shows this to be the most effective way of teaching all children to read. We have introduced the phonics screening check at age 6 to determine which children require additional support. The result from this year’s phonics screening check show that, three years on from its introduction, 100,000 more six-year-olds (based on 2014 cohort numbers) are now on track to become confident readers. Between September 2011 and October 2013 the Government provided up to £3,000 in match funding to each state funded school with pupils in Years 1 and 2 to enable them to buy effective, systematic synthetic phonics resources and training for their teachers. Through this scheme over 14,000 schools claimed a total of over £23.7 million.</p><p> </p><p>The new national curriculum places a greater focus on the importance of accurate spelling and grammar so we have introduced a new Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test at Key Stage 2. The 2014 Key Stage 2 results show that our reforms are already having an effect; a record proportion of children (89%) reached the expected standard of reading. Attainment in reading has increased for disadvantaged pupils to 78% in 2013, up from 73% in 2011.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Mr Nick Gibb question first answered 14/01/2015 15:07:58 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173766

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Saudi Arabia
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to promote freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220841
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>The UK is a strong and leading supporter of freedom of expression around the world. We continue to raise a range of human rights issues with the Saudi authorities including the right to freedom of expression. Earlier this month we raised freedom of expression at a senior level with the Saudi authorities.</p> answering member constituency Bournemouth East answering member printed Mr Tobias Ellwood question first answered 21/01/2015 16:56:18 answering member 1487 label Biography information for Mr Tobias Ellwood
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

173763

	registered interest
	date	14/01/2015
	answering body	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept id	16
	answering dept short name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	answering dept sort name	Foreign and Commonwealth Office
	hansard heading	Corporal Punishment
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the use of corporal punishment for penal purposes.
	tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
	tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
	uin	220844
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/01/2015 answer text <p>The UK Government condemns all forms of judicial corporal punishment. We believe it amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and is incompatible with international human rights law and the obligations of States Parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Convention against Torture. Where we have concerns, we raise these with the appropriate authorities. As part of the UK’s global strategy on torture prevention, Ministers and senior officials frequently raise concerns about torture in multilateral fora, including on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Convention Against Torture on 10th December 2014.</p> answering member constituency Aylesbury answering member printed Mr David Lidington question first answered 21/01/2015 13:54:46 answering member 15 label Biography information for Sir David Lidington
	tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman