The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has a secure reporting mechanism, SFO Confidential, which can be accessed through its website.

The information requested is attached. It provides a count of the number of finished admission episodes with a primary diagnosis of T36-T50 for male and female adults and children for the year 2013-14. Explanatory footnotes have also been provided.

It should be noted that this is not a count of patients as the same patient may have been admitted more than once in a year.

The CPRD GOLD primary care database (former GPRD) includes information about all prescriptions issued in primary care for a subset of approximately 8% of the United Kingdom population. This database has previously been used to study prescribing of anxiolytic, hypnotic and psychotropic medication, commonly referred to as tranquilisers.

It would be possible to use the database to estimate the number of patients in the UK with a long-term dependency on prescription tranquilisers. However, as dependence will not be systematically identified by general practitioners, expert clinician advice would also be required to develop a definition. This could be based on frequency of prescribing and medication strength but could also include clinical codes for medical conditions including indications for these products, drug dependency and substance abuse, if recorded.

This work would represent a research project and as such, a scientific protocol would need to be submitted to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s Independent Scientific Advisory Committee for assessment and possible approval.

Even with such an approach, the rate of drug dependency in the population could only be estimated, and in order to assess whether this estimate was a true representation of the actual rate of drug dependency in this population, a validation study would be encouraged.

The Department is looking into the feasibility of commissioning further research on patterns of long-term prescription of dependency-forming medicines, including analyses of relevant prescribing data.

We will continue to review the impact of benchmarking. There is no evidence that connects changes within the prison sector to the number of suicides in prisons, which has been much too high in recent months. Suicides have happened in prisons where there have been no staffing changes, as well as ones where there have been staffing changes, and in prisons where there have been good inspection reports and poor inspection reports. This is an issue in our prisons and a broader issue in society as a whole, and we must all work hard to deal with it.

The public health responsibilities which were transferred to local authorities by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 include the commissioning of specialist treatment for people who are dependent on drugs including prescribed medicines. The responsibility of clinical commissioning groups in this area is medicines management, which includes ensuring good prescribing practice, ensuring that prescribers are supported to manage withdrawal in non-complex cases and facilitating referral to specialist help where appropriate.

Public Health England (PHE) is supporting several local authorities that have expressed an interest in developing their support for people affected by addictions to medicines. This pathfinder work is locally designed and led.

PHE is assisting each area to develop their work plans, establish management, monitoring and oversight as well as working with them to ensure that appropriate clinical governance is in place. It will subsequently work with them to support delivery and monitor outcomes.

Information is not held centrally on the number of people prescribed particular medicines or the duration of treatment.

The public health responsibilities which were transferred to local authorities by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 include the commissioning of specialist treatment for people who are dependent on drugs including prescribed medicines. The responsibility of clinical commissioning groups in this area is medicines management, which includes ensuring good prescribing practice, ensuring that prescribers are supported to manage withdrawal in non-complex cases and facilitating referral to specialist help where appropriate.

Public Health England (PHE) is supporting several local authorities that have expressed an interest in developing their support for people affected by addictions to medicines. This pathfinder work is locally designed and led.

PHE is assisting each area to develop their work plans, establish management, monitoring and oversight as well as working with them to ensure that appropriate clinical governance is in place. It will subsequently work with them to support delivery and monitor outcomes.

Information is not held centrally on the number of people prescribed particular medicines or the duration of treatment.

The public health responsibilities which were transferred to local authorities by the Health and Social Care Act 2012 include the commissioning of specialist treatment for people who are dependent on drugs including prescribed medicines. The responsibility of clinical commissioning groups in this area is medicines management, which includes ensuring good prescribing practice, ensuring that prescribers are supported to manage withdrawal in non-complex cases and facilitating referral to specialist help where appropriate.

Public Health England (PHE) is supporting several local authorities that have expressed an interest in developing their support for people affected by addictions to medicines. This pathfinder work is locally designed and led.

PHE is assisting each area to develop their work plans, establish management, monitoring and oversight as well as working with them to ensure that appropriate clinical governance is in place. It will subsequently work with them to support delivery and monitor outcomes.

Information is not held centrally on the number of people prescribed particular medicines or the duration of treatment.

NHS England has advised that it expects to publish the third quarter figures for Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) notifications and individual CDF requests for 2014-15 on its website at: www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/pe/cdf/ by the end of February 2015.

Since October 2010, over 60,000 patients in England have benefitted from the CDF.

UK Visas and Immigration has enhanced the visa service provided to visitors to the UK from China by improving our visa application centres, introducing online applications for independent travellers and introducing a comprehensive range of premium services,

including a new, 24-hour service. The 24-hour service is also available in India, and it will be launched in other key markets later this year.

I welcome the approach that Lancaster university and other universities are taking. Clearly, we welcome legitimate students who are studying at our universities, and I am pleased that there has been a 4% increase in student visa applications from Chinese students. Our approach is very much about controlling immigration while attracting the brightest and best, including students to study at our universities.

My hon. Friend is right to point out the importance of economic development. In respect of our bilateral programme, we work on three key areas, and one of those, of course, is indeed wealth creation. We are promoting private sector development that can contribute to state and peace building by increasing fiscal sustainability and reducing unemployment and poverty.

The National Planning Framework Policy states that in preparing local plans local authorities should support the expansion of high-speed broadband and engage with developers and providers. In December 2014 we published “Better Connected”, a guide agreed between housing developers and utility companies which includes voluntary performance standards for the connection of broadband. Separately Government is also considering whether new buildings should be required to provide certain technology to ensure connections to broadband infrastructure.

Since 2010, we have helped create over 360 town teams, given over £18 million to towns - funding successful initiatives such as ‘Love your Local Market’. We have increased business rate discounts for 300,000 businesses, strengthened the role of Business Improvement Districts, introduced new permitted development rights and are tackling aggressive parking enforcement.

My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the importance of investing in our coastal communities, and that is what we have done through our coastal communities fund. So far more than 200 projects have benefited, creating or safeguarding more than 16,000 jobs. I know that Fleetwood received a boost from the fund last year, when Wyre council was given a grant to develop new tourist attractions, but I want to see more happen to help my hon. Friend’s constituents and to help our coastal communities, of which Fleetwood is such an important part.

The Environment Agency inherited jurisdiction over flood defences within the Lancaster and Fleetwood constituency that were previously maintained by the National Rivers Authority, and prior to that North West Water. Several Acts of Parliament have accompanied these changes.

The Environment Agency understands that responsibilities and obligations from predecessor bodies have been consolidated and remain in place.

Coastal jurisdiction is split between local authorities for coast protection and the Environment Agency and its predecessors for sea defences. This position was clarified by the Shoreline Management Plan 2010.

Inland, the Environment Agency has a role in managing flood risk from “main rivers” (as defined by Defra). This can include maintenance of flood risk management assets on a permissive and affordable basis and in line with Treasury Rules and Defra Guidance. Maintenance work is undertaken as identified by the Catchment Flood Management Plans that guide the level of work needed at a particular location.

I can reassure my hon. Friend that the Government have now allocated a total of £175 million to support the universal infant free school meal policy with extra capital. In addition, local authorities have the £1.2 billion maintenance budget from the Department each year, and they are at liberty to use it in any way they want.