Category: Speeches

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

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-12-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 27 February 2015 to Question 225126, what steps he is taking to ensure growth in investment to increase endoscopy unit capacity in line with the recommendations of Professor Sir Mike Richards, Gateway Reference 16973, of 8 December 2011; and what assessment he has made of progress with planning for 10 to 15 per cent year-on-year increase in lower gastro intestinal endoscopy actively in reducing waiting times and ensuring high quality care.

    Jane Ellison

    Health Education England has pledged to fund the training of 200 non-medical endoscopists, which will significantly increase endoscopy capacity in England. The first cohort will begin training in January 2016. NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team (formerly NHS Improving Quality) is working intensively with trusts that have significant endoscopy waiting lists, in order to improve performance. NHS England is also exploring ways to improve endoscopy performance through pricing changes.

  • Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Michelle Donelan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what grounds the discharge of youths from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) is based on school years rather than date of birth; and if he will change the basis for discharge from CAMHS.

    Alistair Burt

    There is no central requirement for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to use a school year rather than age as a threshold for transition.

    In December 2014 and January 2015, NHS England published new service specifications for commissioners, giving guidance and best practice on transition from CAMHS to adult services (or elsewhere). These specifications intentionally do not stipulate an age threshold for transition but states that transition should be built around the needs of the individual, not focussed on age.

    The Future in mind report recognised that transition at aged 18 years of age is not always appropriate and that there should be flexibility around age boundaries, in which transition is based on individual circumstances, rather than absolute age, with joint working and shared practice between services to promote continuity of care.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the daily rate of pay is for specialist contractors hired by her Department to advise regional school commissioners.

    Edward Timpson

    The department does not publish daily rates for specialist contractors. Doing so would prejudice commercial interests.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what role Ministers played in the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

    Anna Soubry

    The process was conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments to Public Bodies.

    Ministers at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills took active involvement in overseeing the recruitment process for the Pubs Code Adjudicator.

    The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise met the candidates judged by the panel as appointable. In accordance with the Code of Practice, a senior representative of OCPA was present at those meetings.

  • 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 2016-04-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33749, on Department for Transport: IBM, when the contracts referred to in that Answer were awarded.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    My department has 4 contracts with IBM (UK) Ltd and details are contained in the table below

    Agency

    Purpose of contract

    Award date

    DfTc

    Annual Software maintenance on IBM SPSS licensing for statistical analysis

    30/04/2014

    DVLA

    Q Radar Security Monitoring Tool

    28/09/2015

    DVLA

    IBM Software-Extended Support

    01/10/2015

    DVLA

    IBM Enterprise Licensing Agreement (ELA)

    01/01/2016
  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-05-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Iran.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The human rights situation in Iran continues to cause great concern, in particular its use of the death penalty and the restrictions on freedom of expression and belief. Although President Rouhani pledged to improve the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Iran when he was elected, we are yet to see concrete improvements.

  • Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Ian Mearns – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Mearns on 2016-07-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many appeals have been granted in a claimant’s favour following an assessment prior to a transfer from disability living allowance to personal independence payments.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    Between April 2013, when the Personal Independence Payment was introduced, and March 2016, there were 9,774 reassessment appeals which found in favour of the appellant.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45660, what estimate he has made of the number of general practices that require assistance from the new practice resilience programme.

    David Mowat

    Following the launch of the General Practice Resilience Programme in July 2016, NHS England’s local teams have been working to finalise a range of offers that can be put in place to support practice sustainability and resilience. This includes selecting which practices will receive this support, by using nationally published criteria.

    NHS England was initially due to set out which practices would be included in the first cohort to receive support through this programme, on 30 September 2016. The deadline for this assessment and report has been revised to 18 October 2016, to allow greater opportunity for practices to self-refer for assessment. The Department cannot provide an estimate of the number of general practices requiring assistance from the new practice resilience programme until this date, when NHS England will have completed its assessment and report.

    Identifying practices in need of support is challenging, as there are elements which are subjective and it can be hard to measure the nature, severity and weight of issues facing individual practices. The national criteria seek to chart a middle route between those aspects that are measurable and those less tangible issues. The nature of the issues facing a practice can be generally grouped as follows; demand, capacity and internal issues. The national criteria acknowledges the importance of local input from clinical commissioning groups and local medical committees, as well as how self-referral of general practices is legitimate as a self-declaration of their support needs.

    An earlier NHS England programme, the Vulnerable Practice Programme, launched in December 2015, identified around 900 practices as potentially vulnerable and in need of support.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Attorney General, what estimate he has made of the value of stationery that has been (a) lost and (b) stolen from The Law Officers’ Departments in each of the last five fiscal years; and what the cost was of replacing such stationery.

    Robert Buckland

    All of the Law Officers’ Departments exercise appropriate controls over the purchasing and issue of stationery to mitigate against any potential for material loss or theft. However no central records are held of stationery items that may have been lost or stolen and it is therefore not possible to make any estimates without incurring a disproportionate cost.

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-11-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs spent on discretionary payments in respect of administrative errors in each financial year since 2010-11.

    Mr David Gauke

    Information relating to complaints handling can be obtained from the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts.