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  • Alex Salmond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Alex Salmond – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Salmond on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to protect children in Yemen.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    ​We are very concerned by the impact the current conflict is having on children in Yemen. The UK is the fourth largest humanitarian donor to the Yemen crisis having pledged a total of £100m this year. This is helping to supply Yemenis with food, medical supplies, water, and emergency shelter. An enduring cessation of hostilities and peace talks remain a top priority in order to bring stability to Yemen and alleviate the suffering.

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 448, on Death of political prisoners in Iran in 1988, tabled on 13 September 2016.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 17 October 2016 (PQs 47087, 47085 and 47084).

  • Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Patrick Grady – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will issue a response to Early Day Motion 44, on Down’s syndrome, don’t screen us out campaign, tabled on 19 May 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UKNSC) has recommended that Non Invasive Prenatal Testing for Down’s, Patau’s and Edwards’ syndromes should be introduced as an additional test into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of an evaluation. Ministers are currently considering this recommendation from the UK NSC.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the £1.25 billion allocated to children and adolescent mental health services in the March 2015 Budget for the next five years has already been spent; on what that funding has been spent on; how much of the remainder of that sum is due to be allocated in each of the next four years; and on what he plans to spend that remaining budget in (a) Liverpool, Wavertree constituency, (b) Liverpool, (c) England and (d) each region.

    Nicola Blackwood

    To date, £393 million has been invested to drive an ambitious five year transformation programme to improve children and young people’s mental health. This has been invested as follows:

    2015-16

    – £75 million for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to transform local services through development and implementation of Local Sustainability and Transformation Plans; and

    – £68 million to fund further roll out and expansion of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme (CYP IAPT), improvements to perinatal mental health care, investment in inpatient services for children and young people, build workforce capability, and support innovation and development of online support.

    2016-17:

    – £119 million has been allocated to CCGs to transform local services through delivery of their Local Transformation Plans; and

    – £131 million is for workforce and system development to support local transformation plans, a proportion of this will be allocated to commissioners for CYP IAPT and perinatal mental healthcare.

    £4 million was retained by the Department to fund central projects.

    A breakdown of funding at local levels is not available centrally and has not been published.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people over the age of 18 diagnosed with (a) Asperger’s syndrome and (b) autism there are in (i) St Albans, (ii) Hertfordshire and (iii) England; and what care his Department provides for people diagnosed with those conditions.

    David Mowat

    Information on the number of people diagnosed with autistic spectrum conditions is not collected centrally.

    Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning health services for their local population. In doing so, they should have regard to best practice and guidance such as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management and the Government’s Think Autism strategy.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the attrition rate in frontline staff in the East of England Ambulance Service between August 2015 and October 2016.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    NHS Improvement (NHSI) is responsible for overseeing National Health Service trusts. NHSI advises that East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s (EEAST’s) performance has seen a sustained improvement since March 2016. However, the Trust is still not meeting the national standards for category A (immediately life-threatening) calls. In August 2016, it responded to 68.9% of Red 1 calls and 62.3% of Red 2 calls within eight minutes, against a standard of 75%. For all category A calls, it responded to 90.8% within 19 minutes, against a standard of 95%.

    NHSI advises that overall demand on the Trust’s services has increased by 4.6% over the last 12 months, although the higher acuity ‘Red’ demand has increased by approximately 15%. This substantial increase in high acuity demand represents thousands more calls needing a response against the eight-minute standard. In 2016/17, to the end of August 2016, the Trust had responded to 3,699 more high acuity patients (Red 1 and Red 2 calls) in eight minutes than in the same period in 2015/16.

    NHSI advises that staff turnover at EEAST has been steadily reducing over the last eight months. Turnover of EEAST frontline staff for the period 1 August 2015 to 30 September 2016 was 7.12%. The Trust’s reference period for reporting staff turnover is 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, and within this period turnover was 8.31%. Based on the most recent national benchmarking data for June 2016, turnover for all staff at EEAST was 9.85%, fifth lowest of the 11 English ambulance trusts.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2016 to Question 46555, what estimate he has made of the number of care home closures in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the effect of those closures on hospital services.

    David Mowat

    The Department continues to monitor the market of care providers.

    There has been no significant change in capacity in care homes in the last three years. The total number of beds for older people and those with dementia in England has remained stable at around 410,000.

    Figures from Christie & Co show a differential between fee rises for self-funders & those paid by local authorities, but we are not aware of this driving changes in provision.

    The Department continues to monitor the whole of the market of care providers and engage with the sector to better understand the challenges they face and support local authorities who purchase services.

    The Department recognises that social care has a key role to play in reducing delayed transfers of care from hospital.

    The National Health Service takes Delayed Transfer of Care seriously. As well as funding the NHS’ own plan for the future with £10 billion, we are giving local authorities access to up to £3.5 billion extra a year for adult social care.

    The Department works closely with the NHS, local government and the independent care sector to help improve transfers out of hospital, share good practice and minimise delays.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 October 2016 to Question 46555, if he will provide local authorities with an increased level of ring-fenced funding for social care in excess of that provided by the Better Care Fund.

    David Mowat

    Social care continues to be a key priority for the Government. This is why against the context of tough public sector finances the Government has taken steps to protect social care services. However, it is for local authorities to decide how to prioritise their spending based on local priorities and need.

    The Autumn 2015 Spending Review settlement announced that local authorities who are responsible for social care would have the ability to raise additional funding to spend exclusively on adult social care through an annual council tax raise of up to 2% above the existing threshold. This new funding for adult social care will be pooled with additional funding from the Better Care Fund. The Government will be making further funding available to councils for adult social care through an improved Better Care Fund, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019-20.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    NHS Improvement (NHSI) is responsible for overseeing National Health Service trusts. NHSI advises that East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s (EEAST’s) performance has seen a sustained improvement since March 2016. However, the Trust is still not meeting the national standards for category A (immediately life-threatening) calls. In August 2016, it responded to 68.9% of Red 1 calls and 62.3% of Red 2 calls within eight minutes, against a standard of 75%. For all category A calls, it responded to 90.8% within 19 minutes, against a standard of 95%.

    NHSI advises that overall demand on the Trust’s services has increased by 4.6% over the last 12 months, although the higher acuity ‘Red’ demand has increased by approximately 15%. This substantial increase in high acuity demand represents thousands more calls needing a response against the eight-minute standard. In 2016/17, to the end of August 2016, the Trust had responded to 3,699 more high acuity patients (Red 1 and Red 2 calls) in eight minutes than in the same period in 2015/16.

    NHSI advises that staff turnover at EEAST has been steadily reducing over the last eight months. Turnover of EEAST frontline staff for the period 1 August 2015 to 30 September 2016 was 7.12%. The Trust’s reference period for reporting staff turnover is 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, and within this period turnover was 8.31%. Based on the most recent national benchmarking data for June 2016, turnover for all staff at EEAST was 9.85%, fifth lowest of the 11 English ambulance trusts.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-10-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the size of increase in demand of the ambulance service in the East of England in the last 12 months; and whether his Department plans to take steps to meet that demand.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    NHS Improvement (NHSI) is responsible for overseeing National Health Service trusts. NHSI advises that East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s (EEAST’s) performance has seen a sustained improvement since March 2016. However, the Trust is still not meeting the national standards for category A (immediately life-threatening) calls. In August 2016, it responded to 68.9% of Red 1 calls and 62.3% of Red 2 calls within eight minutes, against a standard of 75%. For all category A calls, it responded to 90.8% within 19 minutes, against a standard of 95%.

    NHSI advises that overall demand on the Trust’s services has increased by 4.6% over the last 12 months, although the higher acuity ‘Red’ demand has increased by approximately 15%. This substantial increase in high acuity demand represents thousands more calls needing a response against the eight-minute standard. In 2016/17, to the end of August 2016, the Trust had responded to 3,699 more high acuity patients (Red 1 and Red 2 calls) in eight minutes than in the same period in 2015/16.

    NHSI advises that staff turnover at EEAST has been steadily reducing over the last eight months. Turnover of EEAST frontline staff for the period 1 August 2015 to 30 September 2016 was 7.12%. The Trust’s reference period for reporting staff turnover is 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015, and within this period turnover was 8.31%. Based on the most recent national benchmarking data for June 2016, turnover for all staff at EEAST was 9.85%, fifth lowest of the 11 English ambulance trusts.