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  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote good governance in the Palestinian Authority.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) works closely with other government departments to promote good governance in the Palestinian Authority (PA). In particular, the Department for International Development has helped improve the capacity and accountability of the PA including through technical assistance. The FCO also funds projects to improve accountability and to strengthen the role of civil society organisations, and the UK’s Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) supports greater civilian oversight of the Palestinian Authority’s Security Forces.

  • Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic assessment he has made of relations between the Philippines and the UK since the appointment of President Rodrigo Duterte in June 2016.

    Alok Sharma

    This year marks the 70th anniversary of UK-Philippine diplomatic relations, and the Philippines will continue to remain an important partner for the UK in South East Asia. Our bilateral relationship is strong, and based on areas of shared interest such as regional and global security, trade and investment, science and innovation and education.

    The UK Government’s view on the importance of human rights and the rule of law is clear, consistent and well known, including in the Philippines. Our Ambassador has repeatedly raised UK concerns over the rising death toll associated with the Philippine Administration’s war on illegal drugs with the Government of the Philippines and others. We are also concerned by President Duterte’s stated desire to reinstate the death penalty. The UK raised these concerns at the September session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and will continue to raise these issues with the Philippine Administration.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many pregnant women have been offered personal birth budgets since February 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Personal budgets for maternity services is one of the recommendations in Better Births, the report of the independent review of maternity services. Implementation of the review is being taken forward through the Maternity Transformation Board.

    NHS England is working with seven Maternity Choice and Personalisation Pioneers, encompassing 36 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in total, to develop and test ways of improving choice in maternity services. The pioneer sites, each made up of clusters of CCGs, are working to widen choice across CCG boundaries and deepen choice by providing opportunities for new providers.

    The first stage of this is the development of Personal Maternity Care Budgets (PMCBs) as mechanisms to empower women to take control in choosing who provides their care. Unlike Personal Health Budgets, PMCBs do not offer the option of direct payments to women. They are intended instead to provide a visible, transparent and active mechanism for women to choose where they wish to receive their antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care and will facilitate the flow of money between providers, depending on these choices.

    NHS England is working with pioneers on the design of PMCBs and the pioneers are also developing local implementation plans, including support tools for women, general practitioners, midwives and other relevant healthcare professions, to help women make meaningful choices, with the aim of rolling them out progressively in the seven Pioneer areas from November 2016. Their impact will be evaluated to inform the promotion and adoption of PMCBs across the country.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions Ministers of his Department have had with Ministers of the Department for Justice on the investigation of stillbirths and neonatal deaths.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    No recent meetings have been held with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice to discuss this subject.

    By law coroners can only investigate deaths of a baby when they have lived independently of their mother. Coroners have no role in investigating stillbirths, and there are no plans to change this. If there is doubt as to whether a baby was stillborn or lived independently of their mother the loss should be reported to the coroner to consider whether an investigation should be carried out.

    We are providing £500,000 of funding, via the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, for the development of a new system – the Standardised Perinatal Mortality Review Tool – which once complete will be used across the National Health Service to enable maternity services to review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death. We have also asked the new independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch, established in April 2016, to consider a particular focus on maternity services in its first year.

    On 17 October my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced a comprehensive package of measures designed dramatically to improve the safety of maternity care in the NHS, with a particular focus on learning and supporting the NHS to become the world’s largest learning organisation. The announcement introduced the commitment to consult on a new voluntary alternative to litigation for families affected by severe birth injury (Rapid Resolution and Redress (RRR)).

    RRR will provide an independent and thorough investigation of all instances of severe avoidable birth injury (around 500 cases per year), and for eligible cases the option to join an alternative system of compensation that offers support and regular payments without the need to bring a claim through the courts. We will be consulting to ensure the policy design best meets the needs of families.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the NHS plans to publish Sustainability and Transformation Plans in full or summary form.

    David Mowat

    It is for each Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) area to fully update their local communities. We expect that areas will publish a version of their STPs between late October and the end of the year. We would also expect that most areas will undertake public engagement during this period.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress the NHS has made on piloting the recommendations of the National Maternity Review since that review was published in February 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    In its report, Better Births, the National Maternity Review set out a vision for future maternity services which provide safe, personalised, kind, professional and family friendly care. The Maternity Transformation programme was established in July to take forward the recommendations of the Review. It brings together partners from across the system and is independently chaired by Sarah-Jane Marsh, chief executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital. A comprehensive programme of work is being developed to implement the vision set out in Better Births, early progress includes:

    – The formation of Local Maternity Systems (LMS) to bring commissioners and providers together and develop a local shared vision for improved maternity services and outcomes;

    – The creation of Early Adopters where NHS England is considering applications from LMS to implement key elements of Better Births including personalised care planning, continuity of carer, better postnatal and perinatal mental health care, innovations to the payment system and delivering safer care; and

    – The selection of seven Maternity Choice Pioneers who are working to test ways of improving choice and personalisation for women accessing maternity services and roll out Personalised Maternity Care Budgets.

    On 17 October my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health announced a series of initiatives to help us meet our ambition to halve by 2030 the rate of stillbirths, neonatal deaths, maternal deaths and brain injuries that occur during or soon after birth, with the

    publication of the Safer Maternity Care action plan. Further detail of the plan can be found here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safer-maternity-care

    “

  • Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Clive Efford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Efford on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has made an assessment of the procedures that Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group followed when it took its decision to award the contract for musculoskeletal services to Circle Holdings PLC; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The procurement of local health services by means of competitive tendering is a matter for the local National Health Service.

    We are informed by NHS England that Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group follows standard NHS procurement procedures and these procedures were followed for this procurement.

  • Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Louise Ellman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Ellman on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to alter the terms of reference of the Expert Working Panel Group Inquiry into Primodos.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The terms of reference of the Commission on Human Medicines’ Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests were reviewed by the Group at their first meeting on 14 October 2015, endorsed by the Commission on Human Medicines and formally adopted by all members, invited experts and observers of the Expert Working Group at their second meeting on 4 December 2015.

    On 13 October 2016 at a Backbench Business Committee debate secured by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hormone Pregnancy Tests, the Government committed to respond in detail to the concerns raised by the APPG, which include the terms of reference of the Expert Working Group on Hormone Pregnancy Tests, and to then meet with the APPG to discuss these concerns.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    No assessment has been made. These are matters for the local National Health Service.

    We are advised by NHS England that effectiveness of the Healthier Together programme will be continually monitored throughout the implementation phase. The aim of the programme is to improve standards and quality of care for all patients across Greater Manchester. To support this, a “Healthier Together Dashboard” has been developed and is now operational. The Dashboard allows real time tracking of compliance with the Healthier Together standards.

    This began with the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit standards for emergency general surgery. These are being monitored and improved within and across sectors, to demonstrate how compliance with standards will be improved. The next stage will add National Cardiac Arrest Audit information.

  • Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the status is of the Healthier Together programme in Greater Manchester.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    These are matters for the local National Health Service.

    We are advised by NHS England that the Healthier Together programme has now moved into implementation and is part of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership. The recently appointed Chief Officer for the Partnership has assumed the role of Programme Sponsor to oversee the implementation phase.

    All areas of Greater Manchester are developing detailed plans and business cases for the transfer of care for high risk elective general surgery patients to the hub sites from 1 April 2017. This is a new way of working whereby current teams from different hospitals will work under single governance and leadership to achieve the required quality and safety standards for patients.