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  • Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Conor McGinn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average time was from a patient being declared fit to leave hospital to their discharge in (a) St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust, (b) each health trust in Merseyside and (c) England in the last period for which figures are available.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not available in the format requested.

    Official statistics for NHS trusts in England are published by NHS England on the number of patients delayed on the last Thursday of each month and the total delayed days during the month for all patients delayed throughout the month. The latest publication of this data was for delays occurring in November 2015 and was published on 14 January 2016.

    It is not possible to calculate a waiting time for discharge from these data.

  • 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 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people under 18 have been admitted to hospital as a result of self-harm in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    While information on the number of children and young people admitted to hospital as a result of self-harm is not available, the table below shows the total number of admissions in each year from 2009-10 to 2014-15.

    The table provides a count of finished admission episodes with an external cause of self-harm and a patient age between 0-17 years for 2009-10 to 2014-15. This is a count of admissions, not people as the same person may have been discharged on more than one occasion during the same year.

    Year

    2009-10

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    Admissions

    12,944

    13,995

    13,231

    14,780

    19,577

    19,647

    Source Hospital Episode Statistics data

    In 2013, specific guidance around the recording of self-harm codes on patients admitted via accident and emergency was issued to all providers. This may explain the increase between 2012-13 and 2013-14; which means that figures between these two years cannot be fairly compared.

  • Mrs Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mrs Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Madeleine Moon on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to respond to the letter sent to him dated 23 February 2015 on prescription charges for people with long-term conditions by the Chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Respiratory Health, Parkinson’s, Motor Neurone Disease, HIV and AIDS, Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia and Heart Disease.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department responded to the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Respiratory Health’s letter of 23 February 2015 on 2 April 2015.

  • Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what dates ACAS conciliation talks between his Department and the BMA on the junior doctors’ dispute have taken place; at what time each such meeting started and finished; and for what dates future such meetings are planned.

    Ben Gummer

    The first round of ACAS meetings took place on 26 to 30 November 2015 and resulted in strike action being postponed. Following the ACAS meetings, the Department, NHS Employers and the British Medical Association (BMA) continued to discuss proposed changes to the junior doctor contract.

    Constructive talks ran until 4 January when the BMA announced that, contrary to the understanding of the management side negotiators, they did not feel that enough progress had been made and announced further dates for industrial action in January and February.

    The Department and NHS Employers asked the BMA to agree to ask ACAS to return to the talks. Meetings were held with ACAS on the 8, 14 and 15 of January. Further meetings were scheduled this week.

    We are pleased that on 19 January 2016 the BMA agreed to suspend further action planned for 48 hours from 26 to 28 January, with cover for emergency care. However, they have not agreed to suspend action planned for 10 February when junior doctors will withdraw their labour, including from providing any emergency care.

    The Government and junior doctors want to do the same thing by improving patient care at weekends and we look forward to further constructive discussions.

  • Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Oliver Colvile – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to simplify and make more accessible the diagnostic pathway in order to improve speed of diagnosis and access to support.

    Jane Ellison

    In September 2015, the NHS England Board approved the development of a personalised medicine strategy for the National Health Service which will be based around four overarching principles: the prediction and prevention of disease; more precise diagnoses; targeted and personalised interventions; and a more participatory role for patients.

    The strategy will build on the 100,000 Genomes Project, which is moving the NHS to a new model of diagnosis and treatment based on the understanding of underlying genetic causes and drivers of disease and a comprehensive phenotypic characterisation of the disease (rather than deduction from symptoms and individual diagnostic tests). Personalised medicine informs the selection of the most appropriate treatment and better outcomes for individual patients – the right drug at the right time, earlier screening and treatment, smarter monitoring and the adjustment of treatments.

    Furthermore, the Independent Cancer Taskforce recognised the need for more accessible molecular diagnostic provision in their report ‘Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes’ published in July 2015. In September 2015, the Department confirmed a commitment from NHS England to implement the Taskforce’s recommendations on molecular diagnostics.

    NHS England is currently working with partners across the healthcare system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations of the Taskforce, and has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead on implementation, as well as new cancer vanguards to redesign care and patient experience.

    She has set up a new Cancer Transformation Board to implement the strategy, and this met for the first time on Monday 25 January 2016. There will also be a Cancer Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Harpal Kumar, to oversee and scrutinise the work of the Transformation Board. Timeframes and phasing for implementation will be dependent on the final financial settlement reached as a result of the spending review.

  • Guto Bebb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Guto Bebb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Guto Bebb on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the effects of nivolumab on one year survival rates for lung cancer.

    George Freeman

    Nivolumab is currently marketed in the European Union under the brand name Opdivo.

    The data available when Opdivo was licensed in 2015 indicated overall survival among patients given the product was around nine months, whereas among the patients given docetaxel, another cancer medicine, it was six months.

  • Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Christopher Chope – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which EU countries her Department has recorded as not complying with the Dublin Convention in their treatment of asylum seekers and other claimants for international protection.

    James Brokenshire

    The Government accepts that the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in the case of MSS v Belgium and Greece (21 January 2011) prevents the return of asylum seekers to Greece under the Dublin Regulation until the situation there has improved.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had on increasing the number of armed response (a) officers and (b) vehicles in the West Mercia police force area.

    Mike Penning

    It is for Chief Officers in conjunction with Police and Crime Commissioners to determine the number of armed response officers and vehicles in their areas based on a thorough assessment of threat and risk. As announced in the Police Grant Report for England and Wales Written Ministerial Statement on 17 December 2015, this Government will provide £34 million in 2016-17 to enable a national uplift in armed policing capability and capacity to respond more quickly and effectively to a firearms attack. Decisions over where this money will be distributed are yet to be made, however for reasons of national security we do not publically disclose the detailed allocation of funding for counter terrorism by force area or by capability.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions the National Crime Agency has used the European Arrest Warrant system in the last two years.

    James Brokenshire

    The National Crime Agency issued 219 European Arrest Warrants( EAWs) in 2013, and issued 228 EAWs in 2014.

    The National Crime Agency received 5,522 EAWs in 2013, and received 13,460 EAWs in 2014. The substantial increase in the number of EAWs received between 2013 and 2014 is due to the preparatory work necessary for connection to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II).

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the rules are on the use, style and designation in UK passports of UK titles of honour, such as knighthoods, granted to both UK and dual nationals by one of Her Majesty’s Commonwealth Realms as well as titles of honour granted by Commonwealth states where the Queen is not Head of State; and whether those rules have been amended or revised in the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    British titles of nobility bestowed by the Queen are presented on the biographical page of the British Passport. These include members of the House of Lords, holders of knighthoods and baronetcies as well as Dames of the Realm.

    The response to parliamentary question 19413 on the 15 November 2015 provided information on awards offered by other countries. Her Majesty’s Passport Office guidance states that a title may be recorded as an observation on the British passport to recognise the holder is also known by another name.

    Her Majesty’s Passport Office policy on titles has not been revised in the last five years. Published guidance can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/118548/titles-included-in-passports.pdf