Category: Speeches

  • 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 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the King’s Fund Quarterly Monitoring Report 19, published in May 2016; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    We recognise that very real financial and operational challenges face our health and care services. However, we are committed to a sustainable future for our National Health Service.

    The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the NHS by again committing to increase health funding each year in this parliament, in spite of the continuing fiscal challenges.

    By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared with 2014-15, to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the NHS Five Year Forward View – to transform services across the country. And we will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more this year (2016-17), over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six-year period.

    It is not, however, down to funding alone. The health system needs to match the increase in funding with service transformation and it is vitally important that we continue to strive for efficiency and give support to the development of new, more integrated, models of care; to the use of technology and transparency of data to drive up quality and choice for patients; to local areas to determine what is right for them through devolution; and to drive up the focus on prevention.

    The NHS achieving 2-3% net efficiency gains each year until 2020-21 would represent a strong performance but it is achievable. We have already begun introducing measures to help spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently and reduce waste immediately and for the future – making sure every penny possible is spent on patient care.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the level of potential savings to NHS budgets were the targets set out in the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy to be met.

    Andrew Jones

    We have published a report commissioned on the health benefits of active travel “Claiming the Health Dividend: A summary and discussion of value for money estimates from studies of investment in walking and cycling” https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/371096/claiming_the_health_dividend.pdf.

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

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 46284, what assessment she has made of the effect of apprenticeship standards on the productivity and growth of the UK economy.

    Robert Halfon

    Apprenticeships are a crucial way to develop the skills needed by employers. There is strong evidence that apprenticeships are already a good prospect for investment in terms of returns to individuals, to businesses and to Government. For each pound the Government invests in Level 2 and Level 3 adult apprenticeships, we receive economic benefits of £26 and £28 respectively over the rest of the learners’ working lives.

    By increasing the quality and quantity of apprenticeships to reach our commitment of 3 million starts in England by 2020, our goal is to secure greater benefits for more apprentices, employers and our economy. To increase numbers and improve access, we are focussing the work of the National Apprenticeships Service on communicating the benefits, and building strong relationships with a wider range of employers and intermediaries.

    The 2020 Vision sets out the key elements of our strategy to further address skills shortages and stimulate economic growth through reforms to apprenticeships. .

    Our strategy gives employers the opportunity to develop new apprenticeship standards to meet the skills needs of their sector. By increasing the relevance and quality of apprenticeships and developing the skills of workers, standards will ensure employers have the opportunity to develop and access the skills they need.

    We are focusing development of apprenticeship standards where employers identify a skills need and demand exists, subject to suitability. In giving employers this freedom, we have seen increased appetite for standards at higher levels, where we know they add the most value. We have also seen standards developed in sectors where they have not been used before, ensuring the benefits are felt across the economy.

  • Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Louise Haigh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2015-10-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of senior civil servants from her Department are from a lower socio-economic background.

    Nick Gibb

    The Department for Education does not collect or hold socio-economic data about members of its Senior Civil Service.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role NHS England has in the development of the Accelerated Access Review.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review (AAR), chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include certain off-patent repurposed drugs, as opposed to the routine availability of medicines or medical technologies.

    Prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR, the Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS including the Innovation, Health and Wealth report. As a result, building upon the lessons of previous reviews is explicit with the terms of reference of the AAR.

    The AAR has regular meetings with senior officials from NHS England via a steering group as recommendations are being developed. In addition, some staff from NHS England have been assigned to support the review team.

    Sir Hugh is still in the process of developing final recommendations which will be published in spring 2016. In his Interim Report published in October, Sir Hugh sets out a proposition on “galvanising the NHS”. This involves supporting the NHS to adopt innovation, more rapidly through better practical support, stronger incentives and the potential streamlining of local structures.

    The Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR. It was clear that whilst progress has been made on the uptake of innovation in the NHS there is still much to do. Sir Hugh and the head of the External Advisory Group, Professor Sir John Bell, set out the case for uptake of innovation in the recently published AAR Interim Report.

    The AAR has senior level contact with officials working on Lord Carter’s review of NHS efficiency to ensure that information is shared between the two teams.

  • Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-01-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking at EU level to make sanitary products exempt from VAT.

    Mr David Gauke

    I have, following the recent Parliamentary debate on this issue, written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products, and that this should be considered in the context of the Commission’s Action Plan on VAT initiatives. That Action Plan is now expected to emerge in March 2016.

  • Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Andrew Percy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much UK aid has been provided to (a) Bougainville and (b) Papua New Guinea in each of the last three years.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    UK official development assistance to Papua New Guinea in calendar years 2012, 2013 and 2014 (the most recent years for which full data is available) was £1.3 million, £1million and £1.1 million respectively. Disaggregated data for funding specifically to Bougainville is not available.

  • Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Stephenson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many dogs were destroyed following violent behaviour in each of the last three years.

    George Eustice

    The numbers of dogs destroyed as a result of being dangerously out of control (section 3 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991) are not held centrally. Such records would be held by each police force.

  • Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-03-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to investigate further the allegations of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham as covered by the Jay Report to establish more precisely the number of children involved.

    Lord Bates

    Professor Alexis Jay’s report into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham provided a terrible account of the appalling failures by the Council, the police and other agencies to protect vulnerable children. Following publication of the Jay report the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police, David Crompton, asked the National Crime Agency (NCA) to carry out an independent investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham over the period covered by the Jay report (1997-2013). In response the NCA launched Operation Stovewood which has three priorities. They are to deliver a victim-focused investigation, to work to identify and bring all offenders to justice and, thirdly, to work with partners and help to build confidence in local agencies. Operation Stovewood is ongoing and has a number of designated suspects and hundreds more potential suspects still to investigate.

  • Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Will Quince – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Will Quince on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34465, if his Department will take steps to allow web-users to include honours when completing government online forms.

    Mr David Lidington

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a number of online forms to collect information from users for the delivery of a service.

    In creating forms for British nationals we follow the Government Digital Service design pattern guidance, ‘How to structure web forms for GOV.UK services’ – https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-centred-design/resources/patterns/form-structure.html.

    The guidance requires the FCO only to collect information necessary to deliver a service. Information on honours is therefore not collected.

    We regularly analyse our online services to ensure they capture the necessary data, and our services are assessed to meet the Digital Service Standard before they go public.