The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Sheridan on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what impact assessment he made before introducing the 30 hour rule in the criteria for the access to work grant; and what impact assessment is now being made.
Mike Penning
Once the Access to Work review is completed a full impact assessment will be conducted.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will revise the Government’s Responsibility Deal to include sugar in the list of ingredients that companies should work with caterers to reformulate in meals as part of the H4 pledge on Healthier Staff Restaurants.
Jane Ellison
There are 169 organisations currently signed up to the H4 pledge which includes a requirement for employers to work with caterers to reformulate recipes to ensure staff meals are lower in fat, salt and energy and do not contain artificial trans fats. There are currently no plans to include sugar in this list of ingredients. However, as part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, 11 catering companies have signed up to take a range of actions to help people consume fewer calories, including through reformulation to reduce sugar content.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress is being made towards meeting the health goals in the Government’s No Second Night Out Strategy.
Jane Ellison
We have met the health goals set out in the No Second Night Out Strategy. Action has included setting up the Homeless Hospital Hospitals Discharge Fund to improve hospital discharge arrangements and provide new post-discharge respite care facilities for homeless people, and publishing guidance (Commissioning Inclusive Services) for local Health and Wellbeing Boards.
Work continues on improving the physical and mental health outcomes of rough sleepers and we are investing £40 million in 2015-16 to refurbish existing hostels to support health improvement and reduce the demand on health services through a new Homelessness Change programme. This sits alongside Platform for Life, a new programme providing shared accommodation for young people at risk of homelessness, so they have a stable platform for work and study.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to ensure that local authorities in England pursue continuous improvement in the proportion of their eligible population being (a) offered and (b) taking up NHS health checks.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England (PHE) has set out a long-term aspiration of achieving an uptake of 75% and encourages areas to offer the NHS Health Check to 20% of the local population each year. In 2014-15, PHE has set a short term ambition of working towards achieving a 66% uptake and offers to 20% of the eligible population.
PHE is developing an improvement offer, tailored to the needs of local areas, to support local action. PHE will also enable local authorities to overcome common issues that affect offers by actively disseminating learning on information governance and data flows.
To support improvement in uptake PHE will work to inform the public’s understanding of the programme. In recent weeks PHE has launched NHS Health Check content on NHS Choices and is planning to extend this by developing a directory of services for England.
Research and evaluation on applying behavioural insights to maximise uptake is also taking place. In the coming months PHE will support a network of local authorities to test and disseminate learning on the approaches that maximise uptake.
The quarterly publication of both offer and uptake data brings transparency to local delivery of the programme. This enables local councillors, Healthwatch and the public to use existing local government mechanisms to scrutinise activity and encourage improvements in both performance and quality.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how members of the public can contact their regional Health, Work and Wellbeing coordinator; how much those coordinators are paid; by what body they are paid; and what those coordinators’ roles entail.
Jane Ellison
Health, Work and Wellbeing Coordinators were jointly funded by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health. This funding ceased in 2012.
One of Public Health England’s (PHE) priorities is improving health in the workplace. It has 15 local centres, where responsibility for local co-ordination sits.
Contact details for PHE’s local centres can be found on the web at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/phe-centre-addresses-and-phone-numbers/phe-local-and-regional-contact-details.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he or other Ministers of his Department have visited a foodbank in order to assess the contribution of foodbanks to public health and nutrition.
Dr Daniel Poulter
No Departmental Ministers have made a visit to a food bank since May 2010 on official Departmental business, but this does not preclude visits in their personal capacities or as constituency MPs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people who are homeless are (a) able to access hepatitis C services and (b) supported in completing treatment for that condition.
Jane Ellison
The commissioning of local Hepatitis C services, including bespoke services for homeless people or other at-risk groups, is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS England expects that decisions made by local CCGs will take account of the needs of their local populations.
A range of materials has been published to help CCGs commission relevant services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on improving uptake of testing and diagnosis for hepatitis C in risk groups. Public Health England has published a commissioning template to support commissioning of hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment services. Guidance for commissioning bespoke services for homeless people has been published by the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health.
The Department supports the Inclusion Health programme which champions the health and health care of vulnerable groups, including homeless people. The programme seeks to improve the health data for these groups, and set out practical steps for assessing needs (e.g. through Joint Strategic Need Assessments) and commissioning services. We are also involved in funding work in this area through the Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund to improve hospital discharge arrangements for people who are homeless (£10 million 2013-14) and £40 million capital fund for hostel refurbishment with a focus on improving health outcomes (2014-15).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that hepatitis C services are prioritised at local level.
Jane Ellison
Commissioning of local hepatitis C services is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS England expects that decisions made by local CCGs will be based on clinical insight and take account of the needs of the local population overall.
Public Health England supports work on local prioritisation of hepatitis C services by producing factsheets for local government, publishing a template to support commissioning by estimating the number of people infected with hepatitis C locally and the costs of treatment. Public Health England is also developing local liver profiles (to be published) at local authority level which includes key local statistics and prevention guidance on hepatitis C and questions which should be asked locally by local authority Health and Wellbeing Boards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment rates among (a) South Asian populations, (b) homeless people, (c) injecting drug users and (d) other at-risk groups.
Jane Ellison
The commissioning of local Hepatitis C services, including bespoke services for homeless people or other at-risk groups, is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS England expects that decisions made by local CCGs will take account of the needs of their local populations.
A range of materials has been published to help CCGs commission relevant services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on improving uptake of testing and diagnosis for hepatitis C in risk groups. Public Health England has published a commissioning template to support commissioning of hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment services. Guidance for commissioning bespoke services for homeless people has been published by the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health.
The Department supports the Inclusion Health programme which champions the health and health care of vulnerable groups, including homeless people. The programme seeks to improve the health data for these groups, and set out practical steps for assessing needs (e.g. through Joint Strategic Need Assessments) and commissioning services. We are also involved in funding work in this area through the Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund to improve hospital discharge arrangements for people who are homeless (£10 million 2013-14) and £40 million capital fund for hostel refurbishment with a focus on improving health outcomes (2014-15).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what incentives are in place to improve the uptake of hepatitis C treatment nationally.
Jane Ellison
Clinical commissioning groups have considerable local flexibility to introduce incentives where they wish to prioritise a particular issue, based on their population needs. There are no national incentives in place to support improved uptake of hepatitis C treatment in England.