Category: Speeches

  • Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Geoffrey Cox – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Geoffrey Cox on 2016-02-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives from the health sector on the development of services to treat arthritis and musculoskeletal disorders.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department is in regular contact with stakeholders, such as Arthritis Research UK, and hosted a roundtable with them in November. The group is in the process of producing a toolkit for commissioners to support commissioning of physical activity interventions for people with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions.

    Whilst the Department has no plans to publish an arthritis action plan, NHS England and Public Health England are taking forward a number of projects.

    Specifically on MSK conditions, the National Health Service National Clinical Director for MSK, Peter Kay, has been working in partnership with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance, to develop new MSK clinical networks across England to build consensus on the way forward for models of care. In addition, in February 2015, Public Health England, in partnership with NHS England and the Department, ran a local pilot campaign to raise public awareness of the signs and symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis in Nottingham City and Hardwick Clinical Commissioning Group. The aim of the campaign was to support earlier diagnosis and thereby enable treatment to begin earlier to improve the quality of life for people with the condition. The results of the campaign are currently being evaluated.

  • John Cryer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Cryer – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Cryer on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many meetings he or other Ministers of his Department have had with representatives of Care UK, BUPA, Virgin Care, The Practice, United Health/Optum, Serco, Nestor Primecare, General Healthcare (BMI Netcare), Spire/Classic, HCA International, Ramsay and Capio in each month of (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014, (f) 2015 and (g) 2016 to date.

    Ben Gummer

    Information regarding all meetings between Departmental Ministers and external organisations is included in the Transparency Data, published quarterly. This can be accessed at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=department-of-health&publication_type=transparency-data.

    “

  • Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Kevin Brennan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many jobs each of the 56 science capital projects his Department has funded since 2007 has created.

    Joseph Johnson

    BIS’s investment in science capital projects supports the UK’s world class research base, which directly employed around 260,000 researchers in 2013 and delivers a significant return to the economy. Further jobs are supported by investment, for example through construction of advanced facilities or improved Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths skills. However, job creation is not the primary aim of science capital projects, and has not been measured for each project, so it is not possible to provide the information requested.

    The Government recognises that research is vital to our wellbeing and future economic success. This is why the science capital budget was increased to £1.1bn in 2015/16 and will rise with inflation to a total of £6.9bn over the period 2015 to 2021.

  • Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Alex Chalk – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Chalk on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support the Government is providing to GPs to help them with the cost of insuring work carried out outside normal hours.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department and NHS England are working on proposals for discussion with the profession, medical defence organisations, the commercial insurance industry and the NHS Litigation Authority.

    This will consider:

    ― how personal costs of indemnity and clinical insurance can be contained – provided certain clinical governance standards are met, with the objective of reducing the overall costs to the individual;

    ― the funding routes for indemnity in different models of care; and

    ― with a specific focus on new models of care such as Primary and Acute Community Services and Multi-Speciality Community Providers and the scope for corporate indemnity, freeing up individuals working in those new models from the burden of personal indemnity costs.

    NHS England created the Winter Indemnity Scheme which ran from December 2015 until March 2016, making £2 million available to cover the cost of additional indemnity premiums for doctors to undertake additional out of hours sessions. This was in response to increased demand for appointments during the winter period.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Leader of the House

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Leader of the House, if he will make it his policy to bring forward proposals on timetabling for Private Members’ Bills

    Chris Grayling

    The Procedure Committee has recently conducted an inquiry into Private Members’ Bills and published its report on 18th April. The Government thanks the Committee for its work in this area and is carefully considering the Committee’s recommendations. The Government aims to respond to the Committee within two months, which is the standard time for responding to Select Committee reports.

  • Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Helen Goodman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Goodman on 2016-09-02.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters have been sent by HM Revenue and Customs contractor Concentrix asking tax credit claimants for (a) proof of single status, (b) hours worked and (c) evidence of childcare in each tax year since 2013.

    Mr David Gauke

    From November 2014 to the end of August 2016 Concentrix sent

    a) 381k letters for proof of single status.

    b) 254k letters asking for hours worked.

    c) 312k letter sent for evidence of childcare.

    Information relating to individual tax years is not available.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting times are from referral to first appointment for (a) children and (b) young people experiencing acute mental health problems in (i) Birmingham and (ii) the UK.

    Nicola Blackwood

    The information requested is not held centrally.

  • Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Douglas Carswell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what measures the Government plans to take to address the concerns expressed by the Independent Monitoring Board in its report, HMP Winchester, Annual Report June 2014 to May 2015, published on 2 November 2015.

    Andrew Selous

    The HMP Winchester IMB Annual Report acknowledges the professionalism and commitment of the Governor and his staff at HMP Winchester, who manage a challenging and diverse population. We are currently recruiting prison officers to fill vacancies at Winchester, and new officers are due to start work in the new year. Should a serious incident occur at Winchester or any other prison, the situation would be constantly risk assessed as it develops to ensure the best and most appropriate response. National resources are available to provide assistance at any time, if additional resources are needed.

    A wide ranging programme of work has been initiated to counteract New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) in prisons. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) continues to work hard to source more work for prisoners across the entire prison estate. This includes working with local and national businesses as well as other Government Departments.

    I wrote to Winchester’s Independent Monitoring Board Chair on 3rd November, providing a full response to the concerns raised.

  • Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Helen Hayes – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-12-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what rights protected in the Human Rights Act 1998 the Government plans not to include in the proposed British Bill of Rights.

    Dominic Raab

    We have been clear that the Bill of Rights will remain faithful to the basic principles which we signed up to in the European Convention on Human Rights. Our focus will be on mitigating the expansion of rights by the Strasbourg Court and the Human Rights Act. This government is as committed as any to upholding such rights, which underpin any civilised society, but we also want to prevent abuse of the system.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff at HS2 Ltd and his Department have gone through or are going through disciplinary or employment tribunal process since HS2 Ltd was formed.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Part A

    Within HS2 Ltd, 4 staff have gone through a disciplinary process since March 2013. Only one of these cases has proceeded to an Employment Tribunal. There are no central records prior to this date.

    Part B

    Within the Department for Transport (excluding its Agencies), there have been 49 disciplinary cases and 12 Employment Tribunals since April 2013. Information prior to this date is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.