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Category: Speeches

  • Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Karl McCartney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karl McCartney on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will estimate the additional new housing required to address demand caused by immigration from (a) other EU member states and (b) non-EU member states in each year to 2030.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Department has not made an estimate of the additional new housing needed to provide accommodation for immigrants from EU and non-EU countries.

    Housing needs are assessed by local authorities based on local need, and Government does not set figures.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vacant posts at each grade there are at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham.

    Mr John Hayes

    The current vacancies at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham are as follows:

    • Maritime Operations Controller – 1
    • Maritime Operations Specialist – 3
    • Maritime Operations Officer/Senior Maritime Operations Officer – 9.5
  • Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is (1) their policy, or (2) the policy of NHS England, that primary care centres should be amalgamated into larger units.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    As part of the New Care Models Programme, NHS England is supporting local health and care commissioners and providers to come together to improve the health and care they provide. This includes the development of population-based care models known as integrated Primary and Acute Care Systems and Multispecialty Community Providers (MCPs). Where and how to develop new care models are decisions taken by local partnerships, in response to local conditions. The Programme is not directing or requiring the amalgamation of primary care centres.

    There are 14 MCP vanguards, with a single organisation accountable for joined-up General Practitioner (GP) and community services and some specialist care, mental health services, and social care for a defined population. The building blocks of a MCP are the ‘care hubs’ of integrated teams. Each typically serves a community of around 30,000-50,000 people. These hubs are the practical, operational level of any model of accountable care provision. The wider the scope of services included in the MCP, the more hubs you may need to connect together to create sufficient scale. All 14 MCP vanguards now serve a minimum population of around 100,000.

    The majority of GP practices are already working in practice groups or federations. This provides opportunities to expand services, stabilise practice income and work at scale, which has benefits for patients, practices and the wider system. These include economies of scale, quality improvement, workforce development, enhanced care and new services, resilience and system partnerships.

    A new voluntary MCP contract will be introduced from April 2017, to integrate general practice services with community services and wider healthcare services. Measures from the GP Access Fund and vanguard sites that are currently piloting this approach, will be learned from to support mainstreaming of proven service improvements across all practices, and funding will be provided for local collaborations to support practices to implement new ways of working.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chi Onwurah – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2015 to Question 11786 and the Answer of 12 October 2015 to Question 10360, on universal credit, whether a box for universal credit exists on NHS charges claim forms.

    Alistair Burt

    Some NHS Help with Health Costs claim forms, for example HC5 refund claim forms, have been amended to include a specific tick box to enable Universal Credit recipients to claim entitlement.

    Form HC1 (NHS Low Income Scheme application form) has been amended to include a sentence about Universal Credit, to advise those applying that until 31 October 2015, anyone in receipt of Universal Credit does not need to complete the form, as they will already be entitled to Help with Health Costs.

    Other forms, including: NHS prescription forms (FP10); dental treatment claim forms (FP17) and claims for NHS funded sight tests (GOS 1) and for vouchers for glasses or contact lenses (GOS 3) will be amended to include a Universal Credit box in due course.

    A patient can make a claim for entitlement by ticking the “gets income based Jobseekers Allowance” on relevant forms. Guidance for both the public and healthcare practitioners (such as pharmacists, dentist and opticians) has been included on NHS Choices with links from the Universal Credit webpages on Gov.uk.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that emergency care is prioritised following the implementation of seven day services in the NHS.

    Ben Gummer

    More seven day services in hospital will be achieved through the delivery of four clinical standards that describe the urgent and emergency care patients should expect to receive seven days a week.

  • Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ann Clwyd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ann Clwyd on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has discussed with his Kurdish counterparts the detention of Esa Barzani and other critics in Kurdistan.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    While we have not made representations on this particular case, during recent visits to Iraq, The Rt Honourable Baroness Anelay of St Johns and I discussed the human rights situation with ministers and senior officials from the Kurdistan Regional Government as well as civil society representatives. Officials at the British Consulate General in Erbil regularly raise human rights concerns with the Kurdistan Regional Government.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-02-01.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress he is making on his Department’s review of business rates; and when he plans to report the findings of that review to the House.

    Mr David Gauke

    The Government received a large number of responses to the business rates review. The review will be fiscally neutral and will report at Budget 2016.

  • Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Steve Rotheram – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Rotheram on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the work experience provision for 14 to 19 year-olds in education.

    Nick Boles

    It is essential that we ensure young people leave school or college prepared for life in modern Britain. This will be achieved through a range of reforms, including improving the quality of existing qualifications and giving employers greater influence over the content of courses.

    We ensure schools and colleges have the freedom and autonomy to decide how best to put in place work experience provision for 14-19 year olds. In August 2013 the government reformed the post-16 curriculum and funding system to incentivise education and training providers to offer high quality work experience to young people as part of 16-19 study programmes.

    Work experience elements of study programmes and traineeships are now inspected and reported on as an integral part of the inspection of provision for 16-19 year olds (and up to age 24 for traineeships) against the Common Inspection Framework for Further Education and Skills 2015.

    Our focus is on ensuring sufficient support is in place, and we have recently announced new funding for our careers strategy which will include continued funding for The Careers and Enterprise Company to help young people access the best advice and inspiration, for example by building on the national network of enterprise advisers to broker strong local links between schools, colleges and employers.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2016 to Question 23980, on employment plans: mental illness, whether he plans to introduce new measures of support for people with mental health problems before the end of the three year period of voluntary trials.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The 2015 Spending Review announced at least £130 million a year in steady state funding on the new Work and Health Programme, which we plan to launch in 2017. With this new programme we plan to restructure our current provision to focus on providing the best possible support for claimants with health conditions or disabilities, including those with mental health conditions.

    In addition, the Prime Minister has already announced plans to significantly improve the support that helps people with mental ill health retain or regain employment:

    • Over £300 million will be provided to double access to talking therapies for people suffering from conditions like anxiety or depression.
    • £50 million will be spent to double the reach of Individual Placement and Support Programmes, which find work for people with mental illness.
    • over £50 million is being invested to more than double the number of IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) employment advisors, so that they are linked in to every talking therapy service in the country.
    • 29,000 more people with mental health conditions will be helped to find or stay in work thanks to increased access to these therapies.
  • Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Phil Boswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phil Boswell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to Skills Funding Agency statistics on Apprenticeship Achievements by framework code, level and gender, 2002-03 to 2013-14, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the reduction in the proportion of engineering apprenticeships which were undertaken by women between 2002 and 2014.

    Nick Boles

    The proportion of apprenticeship starts by women on the Engineering apprenticeship framework in England decreased from 4.6 per cent in 2002/03 to 3.8 per cent in 2013/14. The volume of apprenticeship starts on this framework by women actually increased by over ten percent over this period, but there was a larger proportionate increase in male apprentices in this period.

    We are encouraging more young women to enter science and engineering careers, including apprenticeships. The annual Tomorrow’s Engineers Week (TEWeek) acts a focal point to encourage them to consider a career in engineering. The Your Life campaign inspires young people to study maths and physics as a gateway to STEM careers. The STEM Ambassadors programme is a network of over 28,000 volunteers working with schools across the UK, 40% of whom are women.

    We are taking action to support the growth of apprenticeships in all areas to meet our commitment to 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. We will launch a new communications campaign in May aimed at promoting the benefits of apprenticeships. Our promotional campaigns include role models of successful female apprentices in sectors where they are under-represented.