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Category: Speeches

  • Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Ronnie Cowan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ronnie Cowan on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps the Government is taking to ensure all Feed-in-Tariff applications from small and medium-sized enterprises are dealt with in 60 days.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Ofgem aims to approve applications in under 12 weeks where all the necessary information has been provided. Those applications still in the process after 12 weeks are likely to be complex or require further clarification from the applicant.

    Ofgem is committed to continuous improvement of accreditation processes and works with applicants to get applications approved as quickly as possible. In order to accomplish this Ofgem has now doubled the level of staffing in this area and made process improvements.

  • Kevin Barron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevin Barron – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Barron on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the (a) extent of the implementation of the Making Every Contact Count initiative by clinical commissioning groups and local authorities and (b) adequacy of training provided to staff to equip them to provide consistent self-care messages during consultations; and if he will make a statement.

    Alistair Burt

    Public Health England, Health Education England (HEE) and NHS England are collaborating with local authorities and National Health Service partners to support local uptake of the Making Every Contact Count (MECC) approach building on the many examples of implementation such as from Warwickshire, Medway and Wigan. Activities to support the commissioning, development and delivery of effective local training have been undertaken.

    To support MECC uptake by clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and local authorities a provider requirement now exists within the NHS Standard Contract; and NHS England’s person-centred care Commissioning for Quality and Innovation for CCGs includes workforce skills that support the local MECC offer. The national MECC advisory group is linking with HEE’s national workforce programme and NHS England’s New Models of Care and Self-Care teams to support and equip the workforce with person centred skills to support and enable self-care and behaviour change. HEE has regional events to support MECC implementation activity across the Sustainable Transformation Plan footprints.

  • Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Baroness Kennedy of Cradley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Kennedy of Cradley on 2016-09-15.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the Department for International Development plays in monitoring how international aid is spent by other government departments.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    Departments are responsible for ensuring their Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget offers high value for money.

    DFID is committed to supporting other government departments to help them ensure that all their ODA spend is value for money for the UK tax payer. We provide advice and training to other departments on the international definition of ODA, we co-chair a cross-government senior officials’ group with HM Treasury, whose role is to ensure value for money of all UK ODA, and we work with other government departments to support them in setting up their systems of programme management.

  • Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Ouseley – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ouseley on 2015-11-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to increase the proportion of people with atrial fibrillation who are treated with anticoagulation therapy in order to prevent stroke.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England has identified improved management of atrial fibrillation as a priority for reducing premature mortality.

    NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) is taking action on atrial fibrillation. It is promoting the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within GP practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the NHS, which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with atrial fibrillation who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke. NHS IQ is currently collaborating with partner organisations, including charities, to support the nationwide roll-out of GRASP-AF.

    To support this work, NHS IQ recently published an analysis of the costs and benefits of using the anticoagulant drug warfarin to help prevent stroke in people with AF. A copy of this analysis is attached.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) also published a Quality Standard on atrial fibrillation in July 2015, which sets out what a high quality atrial fibrillation service should look like and will help drive improvement locally. A copy is attached. The Quality and Outcomes Framework contains indicators for the management of AF which cover the use of anticoagulation therapy. This provides a further incentive for doctors to ensure AF patients receive anticoagulation where appropriate to manage their risk of stroke.

    Public Health England (PHE) has recently published their Atlas of Variation which includes data on atrial fibrillation. Full data for all 216 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) cannot be included in this reply due to its large size, but a map giving an overview of the results is attached. PHE have also collaborated with the Stroke Association to produce individualised CCG level reports on current performance in the detection and management of patients with atrial fibrillation to try and encourage poorly performing areas to improve.

    The majority of the Strategic Clinical Networks (SCNs) have made atrial fibrillation management a priority, and in London the three Academic Health Science Networks and the SCN have identified atrial fibrillation as being the first area where there is a collaborative effort to improve performance.

    One of the options now available for clinicians managing patients with atrial fibrillation is the novel oral anticoagulants. These drugs are useful when patients are unable or unwilling to tolerate warfarin and should result in a greater proportion of the population with atrial fibrillation being effectively treated. Additionally, NICE have now approved the use of devices to self-monitor warfarin, reducing the need for patients to attend health centres for blood testing. Again this should make anticoagulation easier and more acceptable for some patients.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Andy Slaughter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of whether there has been a reduction in the number of claims brought to the courts as a result of the provisions of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Act 2015.

    Dominic Raab

    The Act only came into force on 13 April 2015. As is normal practice, a formal assessment of its impact may be carried out after three to five years.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 January 2016 to Question 22275, what assessment his Department made of the risk that items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law as defined in the Export Control Act 2002 and the EU Common position when making the decision to grant licences for the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The UK Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application including International Humanitarian Law. The Government is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria.

  • Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Holly Lynch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Holly Lynch on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of (a) the school a pupil attends and (b) access to transport on participation in after-school sport.

    Nick Gibb

    Local authorities are responsible for making sure that local travel arrangements enable children to attend school. The responsibility covers transport from home to school at the start and finish of the school day. Local authorities can use their discretionary powers to provide transport to meet local needs. They should engage both with parents and schools in deciding what support can be expected from the local authority.

  • David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether her Department has commissioned research on the potential effect on the purchase of energy through the interconnectors in the event of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

    Amber Rudd

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

    We currently expect our electricity interconnector capacity with the EU to double by the early 2020s with studies showing they could deliver benefits to British consumers of almost £12 billion over 25 years. As the White Paper that the Government recently published on the process for withdrawing from the European Union makes clear, a vote to leave the EU would lead to a prolonged period of uncertainty, including on the nature of our access to the EU’s single energy market.

  • Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Dawn Butler – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dawn Butler on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether a decision has been reached on the composition of the UK delegation to the World Humanitarian Summit in May.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The final decision on who will be in the delegation will be taken nearer the time.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Nottingham Emergency Medical Services and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust will receive further funding from the Government to provide any extra services in Ashfield and Mansfield required as a result of Central Nottinghamshire Clinical Services no longer providing such services.

    Ben Gummer

    This is a matter for local National Health Service commissioners.

    NHS England advises that Mansfield and Ashfield Clinical Commissioning Group’s contract with the caretaker providers has been established on the same basis as the previous contract with Central Nottinghamshire Clinical Services.