Category: Speeches

  • Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michael Dugher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Dugher on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee since May 2015.

    Alistair Burt

    Ministers and officials in the Department meet with representatives of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) on a regular basis to discuss issues such as drug reimbursement, remuneration and service developments and amendments to legislation. We have been in discussions with the PSNC since December 2015 regarding the Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26471, whether the UK cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme plans to assess the potential link between oil and gas activities and related seismic testing and the movement of sperm whales to North Sea waters.

    George Eustice

    The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme is currently working with experts from Germany and The Netherlands to carry out an assessment of all the potential factors, natural and/or human-induced, that may have contributed to the recent sperm whale strandings.

  • Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Debbie Abrahams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many stroke survivors are in receipt of social care funded by their local authority.

    Alistair Burt

    Information collected as part of the Short and Long Term (SALT) data return indicates that in 76 out of 152 local authorities in England 10,545 people who have a reported health condition of stroke received support from their local authority in 2014/15. However, recovering from having a stroke might not be the reason people are receiving this support from their local authority as they might have other conditions as well. The reason for the partial data return is that this is a voluntary data collection by local authorities.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the number of women in prison.

    Caroline Dinenage

    As the Prime Minister has made clear, this government is committed to improving the treatment of female offenders. We are looking into options including tagging, problem solving courts and alternative resettlement units to improve our care for female offenders. This is particularly important if they are pregnant or have young children.

    We are working with local areas to encourage a more effective joined-up multi-agency approach to address the often complex needs of female offenders. We have awarded £200k in grant funding to pilot the development of these partnership models. It is hoped that this early intervention will allow the diversion of some offenders and the use of robust alternatives to custody, where appropriate.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much central government funding has been provided to each combined authority in each year since those combined authorities have been established.

    Andrew Percy

    The funding provided to combined authorities is agreed through Devolution Deals and City Deals (where applicable). These deals are individually negotiated agreements that include funding as well as the devolution of additional powers and flexibilities. The funding shown below has been provided directly by the government to each combined authority since they were established.

    Combined Authority

    Financial year

    Overall total (£m)

    Greater Manchester 1/4/2011*

    2011/12

    223.9

    2012/13

    59.6

    2013/14

    81.1

    2014/15

    182.6

    2015/16

    241.9

    2016/17

    290.3

    North East 15/4/2014*

    2014/15

    27.4

    2015/16

    117.1

    2016/17

    132.0

    West Yorkshire/ Leeds 1/4/2014*

    2014/15

    72.3

    2015/16

    120.0

    2016/17

    182.6

    Tees Valley 1/4/2016*

    2016/17

    15.7

    West Midlands 17/6/2016*

    2016/17

    85.1

    Sheffield City Region 1/4/2014*

    2014/15

    26.0

    2015/16

    82.6

    2016/17

    101.2

    Liverpool City Region 1/4/2014*

    2014/15

    28.3

    2015/16

    60.1

    2016/17

    98.9

    *Date established

    “

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of full-time equivalent officials in his Department employed on cases of mandatory reconsideration; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs currently has 627 full-time equivalent officials employed on mandatory reconsiderations.

  • Bill Esterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Bill Esterson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent discussions he has had on the statutory pubs code, and the Government’s policy on pubs, with people or bodies concerned with the pubs industry.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Since I was appointed Community Pubs Minister on 20 May 2015, I have met with senior representatives from a broad range of bodies within the pubs industry. These include the British Beer and Pub Association, the Campaign for Real Ale, Punch Taverns, the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, the British Institute of Innkeeping, the Perceptions Group and the Pubs Advisory Service. I have also met with my rt Hon Friend the Member for Halesowen and Rowley Regis (James Morris), and one of his constituents, to engage with the wide range of issues affecting the pub and brewing industry.

    British pubs have always been at the heart of our local communities, and we are empowering people to preserve them, as well as other local landmarks and places of interest. On 11 September 2015, we took forward our Manifesto commitment by announcing the £1.5m Pub Loan Fund which will help community groups towards the cost of acquiring local pubs threatened with closure.

    This is in addition to local people being able to nominate any local building or land they love as an ‘asset of community value’ and then, if it comes up for sale, having 6 months to raise the funds to bid to buy it. So far more than 800 pubs have been listed.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Bridget Phillipson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2015-11-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2015 to Question 12715, what steps his Department plans to take to increase the number of (a) pupils from state-funded schools and (b) pupils from state-funded schools who receive free school meals who enter higher education.

    Joseph Johnson

    We have already taken significant steps to widen participation in higher education. In particular, from 2015/16, we have removed the cap on student numbers, enabling more people than ever before to benefit from higher education. We have also established a stronger framework with increased responsibility placed on providers to widen access. The Director of Fair Access has agreed 183 Access Agreements for 2016/17 containing an estimated £745m to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds – up from £404m in 2009/10.

    The Green Paper Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, CM 9141 sets out additional steps the Government plans to take to increase the proportion of students from disadvantaged background entering higher education including through the new guidance that we plan to issue to the Director of Fair Access, and through the social mobility taskforce being set up by Universities UK.

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many leases of what tenure are planned for the new homes to be built on the direct commissioning sites at (a) Northstowe, (b) Old Oak Common, (c) Daedelus Waterfront, (d) Connaught Barracks and (e) Lower Grayling Well.

    Brandon Lewis

    The holding costs for the site relate to the entirety of the site and are consistent with the legal and health and safety obligations of the Homes and Communities Agency as land owner.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of sepsis there were in each region of England in each of the last five years.

    Ben Gummer

    Data for finished discharge episodes (FDEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis for patients in each government office region of residence in England, in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15 are provided below.

    These figures relate only to hospital admissions and do not include those patients who were diagnosed in a primary care setting, or those who attended hospital as an Outpatient.

    This is not a count of patients as the same patient may have had more than one episode of care within the same year.

    Count of FDEs1 with a primary or secondary diagnosis2 of sepsis3 for patients in each government office region of residence for 2010-11 to 2014-154. Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

    Government office region

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    North East

    4,798

    5,074

    5,655

    6,275

    7,388

    North West

    13,258

    13,109

    14,708

    17,221

    20,922

    Yorkshire and The Humber

    9,182

    9,189

    10,146

    11,338

    12,857

    East Midlands

    7,316

    8,115

    9,831

    10,863

    12,998

    West Midlands

    7,772

    7,915

    10,518

    12,297

    13,812

    East of England

    10,380

    10,432

    11,647

    13,108

    16,029

    London

    14,894

    15,223

    15,580

    17,860

    19,723

    South East

    13,945

    15,344

    16,604

    19,239

    21,378

    South West

    8,013

    8,292

    9,805

    10,967

    12,722

    England – Not Otherwise Specified

    48

    83

    75

    84

    102

    Unknown/Non-England

    2,275

    8,239

    9,716

    3,570

    3,841

    Total

    91,881

    101,015

    114,285

    122,822

    141,772

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

    The increasing incidence of sepsis is likely to be due to people living longer and more medical and surgical interventions being performed. People with series co-morbidities are more likely to survive their illness, and for a longer period of time than in previous decades, which leads to much of the hospital-acquired sepsis that now occurs.

    Notes:

    1Finished Discharge Episode (FDE) – A discharge episode is the last episode during a hospital stay (a spell), where the patient is discharged from the hospital or transferred to another hospital. Discharges do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one discharge from hospital within the period.

    2Number of episodes in which the patient had a primary or secondary diagnosis – The number of episodes where this diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 7 prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.

    3ICD-10 codes for Sepsis – A02.1 Salmonella sepsis, A20.7 Septicaemic plague, A21.7 Generalized tularaemia, A22.7 Anthrax sepsis, A26.7 Erysipelothrix sepsis, A28.0 Pasteurellosis, A28.2 Extraintestinal yersiniosis, A32.7 Listerial sepsis, A39.2 Acute meningococcaemia, A39.3 Chronic meningococcaemia, A39.4 Meningococcaemia, unspecified, A40.- Streptococcal sepsis, A41.- Other sepsis, A42.7 Actinomycotic sepsis, B37.7 Candidal sepsis, O85.X Puerperal sepsis, P36.- Bacterial sepsis of newborn
    The following pair of codes is a dagger/asterisk code pair (D and A) which must be present together:
    A39.1 Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome; E35.1 Disorders of adrenal glands in diseases classified elsewhere

    4Assessing growth through time (Admitted patient care) – HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information.

    Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013.