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Category: Speeches

  • Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

    Alistair Burt

    The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

    Table: The number of referrals entering treatment1 in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined2.

    Total number of referrals entering treatment3

    Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4

    Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)

    Organisation name

    NHS Warrington CCG

    3,265

    31

    28

    All North West CCGs combined

    123,445

    44

    24

    Notes:

    1In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

    2CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

    3In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

    4The mean was used as the average.

    5Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

    Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

    Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

    Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

    Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

  • David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    David Davis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Davis on 2016-03-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will place a copy of his Department’s (a) civilian casualty review procedure and (b) standard operating procedure in the Library.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I am withholding publication of the UK Armed Forces’ Incident Reporting Standing Operating Procedure, which contains the civilian casualty review process, as disclosure would or would be likely to prejudice the capability, effectiveness, or security of our Armed Forces.

    The UK takes all allegations of civilian casualties very seriously. Robust processes are in place to review reports of civilian casualties and to launch investigations where required.

  • Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Naseby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Naseby on 2016-04-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what definition of lobbying” is used by the Department of Health in its grant application process.”

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department does not provide definitions of specific words used in the grant application processes, used by Voluntary Sector organisation. The Department policy clearly states that grants will not be awarded if there is any indication within the application that some or all of any funding awarded will be used to support political activities.

    Grants Hub issued award letters have a standard term in the award letter which reinforces that no aspect of the activity being funded by the Department should be party political in intention, use or presentation.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the UN Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict, published in April 2016, if his Department will support the immediate establishment of an international, impartial investigation into reported international humanitarian law violations by all parties in the conflict.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government has been clear that we want to see thorough and conclusive investigations where allegations have been made against parties to the conflict in Yemen regarding international humanitarian law. The Saudi Arabian government has its own internal procedures for investigations and they announced more detail on how they investigate such incidents earlier this year and that any lessons learned would be acted upon. We note the announcement on 6 June of the UN Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, that the United Nations and the Saudi-led Coalition will jointly review the cases and numbers in the Children and Armed Conflict Report.

  • Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Alistair Carmichael – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alistair Carmichael on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the effect of Ofgem’s plans to introduce a Partial View in the Confidence Code Review 2016 on the proportion of the cheapest energy tariffs that will potentially be hidden from consumers using accredited price comparison websites.

    Jesse Norman

    It is vital that customers trust price comparison websites, as they offer real opportunities for improving competition and I expect price comparison websites to be clear to consumers when they are not providing a whole market tariff comparison.

    Ofgem are currently consulting on proposals to allow price comparison websites to only show those tariffs that consumers can switch to through the price comparison website as a default, but they must also provide quick and easy access to a webpage showing all tariffs available on the market. The consultation closes on 28 September and is available online at

    https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/08/whole_of_market_consultation.pdf

    “

  • Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jamie Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2016-10-17.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will meet the hon. Member for Copeland to discuss the effect of the exit payment cap on nuclear workers in Copeland constituency.

    Mr David Gauke

    The government announced in May 2015 that it intends to take forward its manifesto commitment to end six-figure exit payments for public sector workers. The Enterprise Act, which contains provisions for the £95,000 public sector exit payment cap, received Royal Assent on 4 May 2016.

    Public sector exit payments cost around £2 billion a year and it is important that they are fair, proportionate and provide value for money to the taxpayer that funds them. The proposed cap, amounting to 3.5 times the average public sector salary, will still offer a significant level of compensation and support to an employee, and will apply to only a small percentage of public sector exits. The exit payment cap will apply to organisations classified as within the public sector by the Office for National Statistics, with a small number of exceptions.

    I am aware that the hon. Member for Copeland is discussing the effect of the cap on nuclear workers in his constituency with my noble friend the Minister of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). That is the appropriate route for these discussions as BEIS is the department responsible for the nuclear industry.

  • Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-11-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people referred to the Work Programme since 2011 who had no classifiable qualifications at the time of their referral achieved a qualification before leaving that programme.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested, in the above three questions, is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

  • Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jamie Reed – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-11-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the NHS vanguard sires are supporting the needs of people with inflammatory arthritis.

    Jane Ellison

    NHS England is working to support and stimulate the creation of a number of major new care models, led by the vanguard sites, which can be deployed in different combinations locally across England. These models are designed to overcome the traditional divide between primary care, community services and hospitals, as well as social and mental health care, which is increasingly a barrier to the personalised, coordinated and integrated services patients need.

    Improving continuity of care in this way is particularly relevant for patients with long term conditions (LTCs), such as inflammatory arthritis. A number of the vanguard sites (such as those introducing multispecialty community provider models and integrated primary and acute care system models) are focusing on the care of patients with LTCs. More information can be found at the following link:

    www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/new-care-models/

    “

  • Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Louise Haigh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans she has to provide aid to people in (a) Madaya and (b) other cities under attack by armed forces of the government of President Assad.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK has been at the forefront of the response to the crisis in Syria and the region. We have pledged over £1.1 billion, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. We also co-sponsored and lobbied hard for the passage of UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which call on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places. We are working to bring about an inclusive political solution to end the conflict in Syria through our engagement in the International Syria Support Group, with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, and with the Syrian Opposition.

    The UK has provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya.

    On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the hard to reach town of Madaya, and the besieged areas of Foah and Kefraya. Two further convoys have been given permission. The convoy is expected to meet survival needs of the 40,000 persons inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya. DFID funding to UN agencies is directly supporting the current convoy with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits.

    The UK worked with partners in the UN Security Council to put humanitarian access in Madaya, and across Syria, on the Security Council’s agenda on Monday 11 January.

    In February 2016, the UK will invite world leaders to London for a Conference to support immediate needs and identify longer-term solutions to address the needs of those affected by the crisis.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

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

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what meetings (a) he, (b) the Minister for Public Health and (c) his special advisers had with representatives of the People Against Sugar Tax campaign in the last six months.

    Jane Ellison

    Details of all Ministerial meetings with external stakeholders are published quarterly in arrears on the GOV.UK website. The latest publication which covers meetings between July and September 2015 is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-external-meetings-2015

    Information for October to December 2015 will be published at the end of March.

    “