The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-06-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which five health conditions required the greatest (a) financial and (b) time commitment from GP services in the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The requested information is not held.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Dubs on 2016-09-05.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have been transferred to the UK under the terms of the Immigration Act 2016 from (1) France, (2) Italy, and (3) Greece.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Our records currently indicate that since Royal Assent, 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act 2016 have been transferred to the UK. Details on the European country these children arrived from are not currently available. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Walmsley on 2016-10-20.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action is being taken to increase diagnosis of patients with atrial fibrillation.
Lord Prior of Brampton
NHS England’s Sustainable Improvement Team is taking action to promote the use of GRASP-AF (Guidance on Risk Assessment and Stroke Prevention for Atrial Fibrillation) within general practitioner (GP) practices in England. GRASP-AF is an audit tool developed by and trialled in the National Health Service which greatly simplifies the process of identifying patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) who are not receiving the right management to help reduce their risk of stroke.
The Sustainable Improvement Team is also working with NHS RightCare, a programme committed to improving people’s health and outcomes, to help promote the use of GRASP-AF in the programme’s 65 first wave clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS RightCare’s ‘Commissioning for Value’ packs help CCGs identify priority areas such as AF, and the GRASP AF tool provides a practical method of addressing any inequalities. NHS England’s intention is that the work with NHS RightCare will increase the number of CCGs using GRASP-AF in a systematic way.
Anonymised data from GRASP-AF can be uploaded to CHART Online, a secure web enabled tool that helps practices improve performance through comparative data analysis. This allows practices and CCGs to benchmark their management of AF with other practices across England and so help identify and reduce any variation in practice.
The use of GRASP-AF is voluntary and its use therefore varies across CCGs. Currently 2,248 GP practices have uploaded data from GRASP-AF to CHART online across 151 out of the 209 CCGs. Of these, 19 CCGs have all GP practices in their area uploading data.
In addition to the NHS action outlined above, all local authorities in England are required to offer the NHS Health Check programme, with the large majority commissioning general practice to provide them on their behalf. More than 15 million people aged 40-74 are, have been or will be eligible for an NHS Health Check between 2014 and 2018. The programme’s best practice guidance recommends that a pulse check is carried out as part of the process of taking a blood pressure reading and those individuals who are found to have an irregular pulse rhythm should be referred for further investigation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Stephenson on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of provision of play opportunities for children with disabilities and complex needs.
Edward Timpson
Play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning. The importance of play is recognised in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework[1], which states: “Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.”
Early Years educators and Early Years teachers are required to have an understanding of different pedagogical approaches, including the role of play in supporting early learning and development. It is for individual schools and settings to provide opportunities for play for their children and pupils, including those with special educational needs.
We welcome the report published by Sense and their continuing efforts to support deafblind children and young people.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jamie Reed on 2015-12-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effect of the SEND code of practice on educational provision for children with cerebral palsy.
Edward Timpson
The reforms introduced in September 2014 will ensure that all children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25, including those with cerebral palsy, have improved access to the support they need.
Local authorities are responsible for meeting the educational needs of all children with SEND within their local area. They must co-ordinate education, health and care provision for individual children and ensure that young people and parents are involved in discussions about their individual support and about local provision more generally. Statutory Local Offers published by each local authority must set out what support is available for all children and young people with SEND in their area, including those with more complex needs.
The reforms detailed in the SEND Code of Practice were drawn up in consultation with a wide range of interested parties, many of whom represented the interests of children and young people with specific impairments. They are intended to improve outcomes for every child or young person with SEND by placing them at the heart of a system designed to respond to their individual needs and aspirations.
The Department has not assessed the impact of the SEND Code of Practice, or regional variations in provision, on the basis of any specific impairment but is monitoring implementation closely.
This monitoring includes inputs from annual data collection; termly surveys of local authorities and Parent Carer Forums; and feedback from specialist SEND Advisers and funded voluntary sector organisations. From May 2016, this monitoring will be enhanced by a new joint Ofsted/CQC inspection framework for SEND, which is currently the subject of a national consultation.
Schools are required by the Children and Families Act 2014 to identify the SEN of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that they get the support they need. Teachers are expected to be able to adapt their teaching to the needs of all pupils, and to have an understanding of the factors that can inhibit learning and how to overcome them.
To support the school workforce, the Department has funded almost 11,000 SEN Coordinators to attain Masters-level national awards between 2009 and 2014, at a cost of almost £33 million; is funding SEND conferences for school leaders and supporting the development of a ‘SEND gateway’ for education professionals, which offers a wide range of online training and information.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is providing to the Kurdish Peshmerga in their efforts against Daesh.
Mr Philip Hammond
As part of our wider support to the Government of Iraq and in close cooperation with the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, we are providing substantial assistance to the Kurdish Peshmerga. In addition to the air support being provided by the RAF, the UK military training team in northern Iraq we have trained over 2,700 Peshmerga fighters in infantry fighting skills, weapons handling and C-IED procedures. We have also gifted weapons and ammunition, including 40 heavy machine guns, non-lethal equipment and airlifted support provided by other Coalition partners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-02-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any of the trusted partner pilots for the purposes of universal credit alternative payment arrangements will cover alternative payment arrangements for residents in (a) supported housing and (b) sheltered accommodation for elderly people.
Priti Patel
The intention is to deliver 26 Trusted Partner pilot sites. In total we received just over 200 valid applications; 16 landlords have already commenced the pilot and work is in train to confirm the final 10.
We plan to let key stakeholders know once all landlords have been confirmed.
Tenants in accommodation such as supported or sheltered housing are not subject to the Alternative Payment Arrangement process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2016-03-02.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many women have died (a) in pregnancy and (b) during childbirth in (i) St Helens, (ii) St Helens North constituency, (iii) Merseyside and (iv) the North West in each year since 2010.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Tebbit on 2016-03-23.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the possible role of the contraceptive chemical E22, which is resistant to water purification techniques, in the increase in number of freshwater and coastal water fish bearing both male and female sexual organs.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
In the UK, environmental regulators, scientific experts and the water industry have been researching the link between the synthetic steroid, 17α-ethinyloestradiol (EE2, used in human oral contraception) and fish populations to understand the role of endocrine disrupting chemicals on the reproductive physiology of fish. Most work has focused on EE2 which has been measured in some of our rivers and downstream of sewage treatment works (STWs); this matches findings in other countries.
Based on scientific evidence from the UK and in Europe, there is reasonable certainty that very low concentrations of EE2 can cause feminisation (intersex condition) in male fish. The incidence of intersex seems to relate to the size of the STWs and the dilution ability of receiving waters. In the UK, fish inhabit comparatively small-sized rivers where limited dilution of EE2 occurs. Conventional STWs can remove EE2 from sewage, but not to the very low levels of less than one nanogramme per litre (ng/L) where no endocrine disrupting effects are predicted. In some cases the impact on fish populations remains unclear, and some affected populations appear to be self-sustaining.
In 2014, EE2 was included on the European Commission’s ‘watch list’ under the Water Framework Directive to gather information on its occurrence in surface waters across the European Union. Data will be reported by the UK and other Member States, and reviewed by the Commission throughout 2017 to assess whether this pharmaceutical is to be prioritised for monitoring and control and is to be included in future versions of the Directive.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to ensure that the next East Anglia franchise provides more frequent train services to Clacton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze.
Claire Perry
We have already set out the minimum levels of service in the invitation to tender for East Anglia and where bidders see there is an opportunity to offer more than those, they can do so. That tends to be based on whether there is a commercial case for improving services further.