Category: Speeches

  • John Baron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Baron – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Baron on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how cancer indicators for clinical commissioning groups ratings will be established and employed.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is committed to reworking the clinical commission group (CCG) assurance framework for 2016-17 to reflect the triple aim of closing the gap on health inequalities, improving the quality of care and achieving financial sustainability, in addition to the themes of the Five Year Forward View: prevention; patient and community engagement; clinical priorities; and development of new care models.

    Cancer has been identified as one of these clinical priorities, and metrics will be selected which reflect the strategic priorities laid out by the independent Cancer Taskforce, including early diagnosis and supporting people to live well, with, and, beyond cancer.

    The assessment framework brings together the assurance framework and key metrics, and will incorporate future transformation as well as current performance. It will drive improvement rather than just assure and assess.

    CCGs will receive an overall annual rating and, within the framework, will be rated for six clinical priorities of: cancer, dementia, diabetes, mental health, maternity, and learning difficulties.

    CCGs will be rated on the same four point scale used by the Care Quality Commission: outstanding, good, requires improvement, or inadequate. The ratings for the clinical priority areas will be made by independent expert committees.

    The metrics are currently in development and NHS England expects to publish a set for consultation in December 2015, at around the same time as the planning guidance, with a final version in March 2016. The assessment framework will come in to operational effect from 1 April 2016 and initial ratings in the six clinical priority areas will be published in June 2016.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mark Pritchard – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will introduce tele-teaching in prisons and young offending facilities to improve general education and reduce reoffending rates.

    Andrew Selous

    A review of the quality of education in adult prisons and young offender institutions for 18-20 year olds is currently being led by Dame Sally Coates and will report in due course. Options for improving education outcomes will be considered, including looking at the most effective use of Distance Learning and ICT. Dame Sally is due to report later this year.

    The review of the youth justice system in England and Wales being led by Charlie Taylor will also consider education in the youth secure estate and will conclude later this year.

  • Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stella Creasy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stella Creasy on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens reported themselves to the British Consulate in Ibiza as victims of crime in each of the last five years; what the nature of those crimes was; whether those crimes involved sexual violence or harassment; and what prosecutions resulted from those reports.

    Mr David Lidington

    Consular staff routinely record all those cases in which we have provided assistance to British nationals oversees. However, our records do not specifically identify whether those requesting assistance were victims of crime.

    Since 2012, the British Consulate in Ibiza recorded the following cases which are those most likely to have involved victims of crime. Where the number of reported cases is less or equal to five, these are annotated as ‘Less than 5’ to avoid the risk of identifying the individuals concerned.

    It is not mandatory for victims to provide information about any potential prosecutions, so we do not hold information on the number of prosecutions that arose from these cases

    Rape & sexual assault
    2011 8
    2012 8
    2013 7
    2014 7
    2015 Less than 5

    Assault – General
    2011 16
    2012 36
    2013 14
    2014 Less than 5
    2015 0

    Domestic Violence
    2011 0
    2012 0
    2013 0
    2014 Less than 5
    2015 5

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    In the last 12 month period DFID has spent £84.30 on Industrial Tribunals.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a deposit return scheme for single use drinks containers to reduce litter.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra analysed the costs and benefits of implementing a deposit return system (DRS) for single use drink containers as part of the 2011 Review of Waste Policy in England, and sought views in the 2012 consultation on higher packaging recycling targets.

    This work showed that introducing a DRS may increase recycling and reduce litter but might impose additional costs on businesses, consumers and local authorities (which would lose revenue from recycling). However, we lack evidence to quantify these benefits and costs appropriately. The current approach has driven a significant increase in packaging waste recycling rates, from less than 47% in 2003 to nearly 65% in 2013.

    Last year, the Scottish Government published a feasibility study and a call for evidence investigating the implementation of a DRS for single use drink containers in Scotland. This valuable work highlighted significant uncertainties regarding the impacts and benefits that a DRS would have, notably regarding costs, environmental quality and littering, and existing waste collection systems. The Scottish Government is doing further work on the topic and we will review any new evidence arising from this in due course. However, in the meantime, we will continue to focus on improving existing waste collection and recycling systems, and developing a new National Litter Strategy for England to help coordinate and maximise the impact of anti-litter activity by local government, industry and others.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make available financial, activity and outcome data on the additional resources provided to enable prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection to meet the release test since 2012.

    Andrew Selous

    The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) is not able to disaggregate spending on IPP prisoners from spending on all prisoners.

    Supporting IPP prisoners in progressing towards release once they have completed their tariff is a priority. In particular, there is considerable focus on getting IPP prisoners access to any accredited programmes and other interventions designed to help them reduce their risk of harm.

    In December 2014, NOMS established a Progression Regime in closed conditions for IPP and life sentence prisoners who are not eligible for open conditions. This provides such prisoners with an alternative way to demonstrate reduced risk to the Parole Board.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to ensure that NHS staff receive religious literacy training.

    Ben Gummer

    Religion or belief (or lack thereof) is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Public authorities, including all National Health Service organisations, must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited under that Act towards people sharing that protected characteristic in discharging their public functions. Employers have a responsibility to ensure that their employees do not behave unlawfully and should take all reasonable steps to prevent unlawful acts from happening. Employees can also be personally liable for any unlawful conduct.

    NHS organisations are subject to duties under the Equality Act in their own right. They are also directly subject to regulation by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. To help them meet their statutory equality duties, NHS England published an Equality Delivery System for the NHS (https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/gov/equality-hub/eds/) which became part of the NHS Standard Contract from 2015.

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  • Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Henry Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential benefits of requiring CCTV animal welfare standards monitoring in slaughterhouses; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    The Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) was commissioned by GB governments to produce an independent assessment of the benefits of CCTV in slaughterhouses. The report was published in February 2015. It concluded that CCTV can offer some real benefits but it cannot replace the need for businesses to have proper monitoring procedures in place on the ground. The FAWC report did not recommend legislation. However, the Government is keeping the issue under review.

  • Mrs Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mrs Cheryl Gillan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Cheryl Gillan on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when it is planned that the independent regulatory body to whom the High Speed 2 Interim Construction Commissioner will report and be held accountable will be appointed; who will make up that body; and who will decide who is appointed to that body.

    Andrew Jones

    The Secretary of State will consider and approve proposals for membership of the independent panel following Royal Assent of the High Speed Rail (London to West Midlands) Bill.

  • Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Durkan – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2015-11-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the closure to new medicines on the Cancer Drugs Fund list on patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia.

    George Freeman

    Neither the Department nor NHS England has made any such assessment. NHS England has advised that, although it is not considering new applications to the national Cancer Drugs Fund list at this time, there have been no new drugs launched for chronic myeloid leukaemia in the past 12 months.