Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people of each (a) gender and (b) ethnicity were sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    The information requested is not available between 2010/11 and 2013/14 as comparable data was not collected during these years due to changes in the way the data was categorised and collected and variations in the number of organisations which reported in some years. Data for 2014/15 are provided in the table below.

    Number of detentions and short term orders under the Mental Health Act 1983 by gender and ethnic group: 2014/15

    Detentions

    Short-term orders

    Detentions and Orders

    41,592

    19,648

    Male

    22,016

    10,651

    Female

    19,566

    8,989

    White

    30,322

    14,954

    Mixed

    938

    444

    Asian or Asian British

    2,714

    924

    Black or Black British

    4,368

    1,438

    Other Ethnic Groups

    1,219

    531

    Source: Mental Health Minimum Data Set/Mental Health & Learning Disabilities Data Set 2014/15

    Notes:

    1. The numbers in this table represent the number of uses of the Mental Health Act 1983, not the number of individuals who were subject to the Act.
    2. Mental Health Minimum Data Set (MHMDS) is not the official data source for statistics about uses of the Mental Health Act 1983 but it is the only one that provides national information about gender and ethnic group. The MHMDS are known to under represent uses of the Mental Health Act 1983.
    3. The data source for official statistics about uses of the Mental Health Act 1983 is the KP90 collection, with figures published in the annual statistical release: Inpatients Formally Detained in Hospitals Under the Mental Health Act 1983 and Patients Subject to Supervised Community Treatment, England. Therefore, the data in the table may differ from data in the official published statistics.
    4. Counts by ethnicity and gender may not sum exactly to the overall total because for some people this information was invalid or not recorded.
    5. Detentions includes: detentions under Part ll, detentions under Part lll, detentions under previous legislation (Fifth Schedule) and other Acts, detentions subsequent to admission, detentions following use of a Place of Safety Order and detentions following revocation of a Community Treatment Order.
    6. Short-term orders are defined as those of no greater than 72 hours’ duration and involving uses of sections 4 and 5 and sections 135 and 136.

  • David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to encourage large businesses to switch to carbon neutral energy sources.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Department has taken significant steps to encourage large businesses to switch to carbon neutral energy sources. With regard to heat, the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) supports households, businesses, public bodies and charities in transitioning from conventional forms of heating to renewable sources of heat. In November, the Government renewed its commitment to the transition to a low carbon economy by confirming a continued budget for the RHI. The overall budget for the RHI is to rise from £430m in 2015/16 to £1.15bn in 2020/21.

    With regard to electricity, our policies secured an estimated £42 billion of investment in low carbon generation between 2010 and 2014 alone, with more in the pipeline for the future.

    Large and energy intensive businesses are incentivised to reduce their emissions – including through use of low-carbon energy sources – through the EU Emissions Trading System. The Government is also working with the eight most energy intensive sectors to produce decarbonisation action plans, drawing on a set of roadmaps published last year.

    Of course, the lowest carbon energy is the energy that isn’t used and the Department also has a number of initiatives to encourage energy efficiency in business, including the announcements concerning a new carbon and energy reporting regime made by my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer at the Budget.

    With regard to large businesses switching to carbon neutral energy sources for transport, that is ably supported by my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Transport.

  • Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on levels of pension saving of the introduction of the lifetime ISA.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Lifetime ISA is a complement to the existing pension system. It will provide savers with greater choice and flexibility in how they save for retirement.

    From April 2017, people aged 18 to 40 will be able to save up to £4,000 each year into a Lifetime ISA and receive a 25% bonus from the Government.

  • Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rob Marris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rob Marris on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what date NHS Improvement plan to respond to the email it received from the hon. Member for Wolverhampton South West on 13 May 2016, reference ZA4209, on delay.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Improvement replied to the email of 13 May that it received from the hon. Member on 28 June 2016.

    In April 2016 NHS Improvement brought together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England’s Patient Safety team, the National Reporting and Learning System, NHS England’s Advancing Change team and its Intensive Support Teams.

    NHS Improvement advise that they are strengthening their regional presence and refining their processes, including how they respond to queries. Their aim is to respond to letters and other correspondence from hon. Members within the Whitehall standard of 18 working days.

    The Department has no record of having received an email from the hon. Member on 9 June 2016.

  • Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Tim Farron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Farron on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department remains committed to a target of delivering one million homes by 2020; and what recent projections his Department has made on whether this target will be met.

    Gavin Barwell

    The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that we need to build more homes. We remain committed to delivering one million new homes, having doubled the housing budget to help us to so.

    Since the end of 2009, we have delivered 900,000 new homes, and in the year to March 2016 permissions were granted for 265,000 homes, up 8% on the previous year, thanks to the reformed planning system.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have had (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful laser eye surgery in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    Corrective laser eye surgery (surgery to correct a refractive error) is not routinely carried out on the National Health Service other than for exceptional clinical reasons. Refractive errors can be successful corrected with glasses or contact lenses. Data is not collected on the number of corrective laser eye surgery procedures carried out in the independent sector or on the number of successful or unsuccessful procedures.

    The following table, provided by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, shows a count of Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) for those diagnosed with disorders of refraction and accommodation who underwent corrective laser eye surgery between 2009-10 to 2013-14. This data includes a range of laser eye surgery procedures and is therefore not exclusive to corrective laser eye surgery.

    Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

    Year

    FAEs

    2009-10

    318

    2010-11

    241

    2011-12

    276

    2012-13

    176

    2013-14

    195

    Source:Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

  • Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2015-12-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department and NHS England are taking to ensure that autism diagnosis waiting times for (a) children and (b) adults meet NICE guidance (a) in Halton and (ii) nationally.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department issued new statutory guidance in March this year for local authorities and National Health Service organisations to support the continued implementation of the 2010 Autism Strategy, as refreshed by its 2014 Think Autism update. This sets out what people seeking an autism diagnosis can expect from local authorities and NHS bodies.

    The Department has also discussed with NHS England the difficulties that people on the autistic spectrum can have in getting an appropriate diagnosis in a timely manner. With support from the Department, NHS England and the Association of Directors of Social Services will undertake a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to discuss good practice in meeting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Quality Standard 51 Autism, and those that do not, with the aim of supporting more consistent provision. The Quality Standard, which applies to children, young people and adults, recommends that there should be a maximum of three months between a referral and a first appointment for a diagnostic assessment for autism. We expect the NHS to be working towards meeting the recommendations.

    We understand that NHS Halton CCG is working on improvements to the paediatric neurological pathway which incorporates children with autism. This will see the Child Development Centre (CDC) in Halton become a single access point of assessment for the most complex children. It is expected that the CDC will ensure that the first appointment for a child referred to them is well within the three months recommended by NICE.

    The service commissioned by Halton CCG will also comply with NICE guidelines by ensuring that the appropriate mix of clinicians is available for a multi-disciplinary assessment, which also includes Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

    In regard to adults, NHS Halton CCG is currently meeting its statutory requirements with autism by purchasing a diagnostic service on a cost per case basis from our provider of mental health services, 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The CCG is working with other partners who receive the same service from the same provider with a view to pooling resources to commission a diagnostic and post diagnostic service.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the planned replacement of student bursaries by loans, how many grants for higher cost students will be made to universities in respect of degree courses in nursing in 2017–18.

    Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

    Institutional autonomy and academic freedom are key strengths of our higher education system. To protect these, the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 prohibits Ministers from being involved in decisions about funding for individual institutions or particular courses. Details on teaching grant funding will be set out in the normal way in the annual grant letter from ministers to The Higher Education Funding Council.

    As part of the changes announced at the Spending Review, we will lift the cap on the number of students that can get on to nursing courses and provide nursing students with access to around 25% more financial support. We expect this reform to enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this parliament.

  • David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Hanson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Hanson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average hourly earnings of (a) female, (b) male, (c) full-time and (d) part-time employees of her Department were in each of the last five years.

    Karen Bradley

    The average hourly pay for Civil Servants in the Home Office by gender and part and full time workers, for each of the last five years is in Table 1.

  • Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average frequency of mandatory reporting is for people on temporary admission who travel from Oxfordshire to London to report at Eaton House, Hounslow.

    James Brokenshire

    Immigration Enforcement retains a record of tickets that are issued to people on temporary admission for the purpose of travel to report at an Immigration Reporting Centre.

    Immigration Enforcement does not keep a record of the area from which those individuals have travelled. We are required to provide a travel ticket if the subject resides more than 3 miles away from the reporting centre and is in receipt of Asylum Support. We do not routinely provide travel tickets for anyone else who reports unless they reside over 25 miles away and there is an exceptional reason to do so. Each case is assessed and considered on its own merit.