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Category: Speeches

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms there are for NHS mental health trusts to take into account the views of patients when making decisions.

    Alistair Burt

    All National Health Service trusts are required take account of and involve patients and the public in the way they plan and provide services. Transforming Participation in Health and Care, published September 2013, sets out the legal duties on NHS Commissioners to both involve patients in their own care and to involve the public in the way they commission services. The Commissioning organisation should ensure that providers they commission to provide services have suitable arrangements in place to involve patient and the public.

    In addition NHS foundation trusts have specific responsibilities to involve their members and local communities usually through the appointment of Governing Body members. Trusts have their own arrangements as to how they make arrangements to involve their patients, carers and communities. Details of the arrangements would usually be available on the trust website.

    Health Education England (HEE) has responsibility for training new therapists and high intensity training. In 2015/16, the budget was £22.0 million to support 1,031 trainees. These trainees provide supervised practice alongside college attendance. There may also be some workforce development funding used to further develop people working in such services, however, HEE does not code its workforce development expenditure to the degree of detail to separately identify this.

    Data is not collected centrally on the number of psychological therapists employed by the NHS who experienced workplace-related stress in each of the last five years.

  • Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town on 2016-03-01.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many lobbying consultancies would need to sign up to the Government’s Register of Consultant Lobbyists in order for the Register to be self-funding.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    The Transparency Act requires that the regulations are set to recover the costs of the Registrar’s activities from the industry via subscription charges. The Register of Consultant Lobbyists is nearing the end of its set-phase but ongoing running costs would still be different from projections. The total annual charge paid by each registering consultant lobbyist increased from £750 to £1000 on 1 January 2016. The Government will keep the funding arrangements for the Register under review.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to paragraph 1.129 of Budget 2016, HC 901, from which part of his Department’s budget the £100 million allocated to deliver low-cost second stage accommodation for rough sleepers will come.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    One person without a home is one too many and we are committed to do all we can to prevent homelessness.

    We announced at Budget an additional £100 million to deliver low cost ‘move on’ accommodation to enable people leaving hostels and refuges to make a sustainable recovery from a homelessness crisis, providing at least 2,000 places for vulnerable people to enable independent living. We will reprioritise money within our existing capital budgets to deliver this accommodation. This will not affect delivery of the Government’s Starter Homes and Shared Ownership programmes.

  • Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Michael Tomlinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michael Tomlinson on 2016-05-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19060, what the scope, aims and budget of the Disclosure and Barring Service Transformation Programme is.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is undertaking an IT-led transformation programme (Release 1) to reform the way it delivers its services. More information on R1, including its aims and costs can be found in DBS’ most recently published Annual Report and Accounts, link here:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445942/DBS_ARA_2014_to_2015_accessible.pdf

    The DBS is reliant on police forces completing their checks in a timely manner and the average turnaround time for disclosure checks will continue to be dependent on the operational effectiveness of respective forces.

    “

  • Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Joan Ryan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Joan Ryan on 2016-06-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what contingency plans his Department has for the event of the closure of North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust’s emergency department.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS England is the responsible organisation for emergency planning and resilience in London. As such, it has well-established contingency plans in place which take effect in the event of emergency departments (EDs) having to temporarily reduce their scope of operations in order to ensure the best standards of patient care, our central concern.

    As the Rt. hon. Member is aware, following an unannounced inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust, the CQC issued a Warning Notice. The Warning Notice, published on 6 June 2016, requires the trust to significantly improve the treatment of patients attending its emergency department.

    The CQC is responsible for assessing whether the Trust is providing the right standard of care and ensuring that improvement plans meet the level of improvement required.

    NHS Improvement is working alongside NHS England and the local health and care system to ensure that the Trust has the resources it needs to ensure that patients receive safe, high quality care.

    We are informed by NHS Improvement that, in order to address the poor performance at the Trust’s ED, it has devised a plan titled Safer, Faster, Better. This is a whole system programme with the primary objective of improving performance, patient experience and outcomes for patients.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-09-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his global counterparts on cruelty in the global dog meat trade; and if he will make a statement.

    Alok Sharma

    The consumption of dog meat is legal in many countries, and the United Kingdom has no grounds to intervene or take trade measures to prevent this. We continue to make our views known to the governments of those countries where this practice continues; most recently I raised this issue with the South Korean Ambassador ahead of the Westminster Hall Debate on 12 September. Our Ambassador in Seoul has also raised the dog meat trade with the South Korean authorities, most recently on 1 September, highlighting our concerns about the treatment and welfare of animals. As I stated in the Westminster Hall Debate, it is promising that in countries where dog meat is consumed, there are signs that attitudes are changing amongst the young and emerging middle classes. We encourage that change.

  • Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Madeleine Moon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2016-10-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her oral contribution of 18 October 2016, Official Report, 301WH, which aspects of Natura 2000 will need to be incorporated into UK law; what the other elements she referred to are; and if she will make a statement.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is currently considering the impacts of leaving the EU, including future arrangements for existing legislation. This will include future arrangements for the Natura 2000 suite of sites.

  • Biography information for Baroness Afshar – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Biography information for Baroness Afshar – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Biography information for Baroness Afshar on 2015-11-11.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the claim by the Secretary of State for Education that those studying solely arts and humanities subjects will be held back” on students who are

    Lord Nash

    The government wants all young people to benefit from a broad and balanced education that equips them with the knowledge, skills and character they need to thrive in modern Britain and realise their full potential. Arts and humanities subjects form part of a broad and balanced curriculum. Our expectation is that every child should experience a high quality arts and humanities education. That is why the national curriculum sets the expectation that pupils study these subjects in key stages 1 to 3.

    At key stage 4, the government wants to increase the number of pupils who take GCSEs in the EBacc subjects of English, maths, science, history or geography and a language. These are the subjects that give young people the most options in their futures and will help to secure a place at university or in employment.

    As the EBacc is a specific, limited measure consisting of five subject pillars and up to eight GCSEs, there is time in the curriculum for most pupils to study other valuable subjects. The proportion of pupils in state-funded schools taking at least one GCSE in an arts subject has increased since the EBacc was first introduced, rising from 46% in 2011 to 50% in 2015.

  • Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Lester of Herne Hill – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-07.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Faulks on 4 December (HL3813), what is their assessment of whether they have the power under section 24 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to give direction to the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland to secure their compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights; and whether the Secretary of State has considered exercising any such power to secure full compliance in Northern Ireland with its obligations under the Convention in relation to equal marriage, blasphemy and defamation.

    Lord Dunlop

    The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland does not have the power under section 24 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to give direction to the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland to secure their compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

    The UK Government recognises and respects the devolution settlement in Northern Ireland and in any event does not have power under section 24 to secure full compliance in Northern Ireland with its obligations under the Convention in relation to equal marriage, blasphemy and defamation.

  • 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 2016-01-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on amending immigration rules to support the curry industry.

    Anna Soubry

    My Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills has regular discussions with the Home Secretary on a wide variety of issues.