Category: Speeches

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-02-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that the adoption of new medical device technology by the NHS is not frustrated by the five-year length of NHS Supply Chain Framework Agreements, given the life cycle of some inventions.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The framework agreements awarded by NHS Supply Chain primarily cover existing products and services. National frameworks reduce the duplication of effort faced by suppliers trying to ‘sell their’ products into the National Health Service on a trust by trust basis by providing a single route, compliant with European Union public procurement regulations.

    The scope and duration of each framework agreement takes into account the nature of the product category, including an assessment of whether the product market is emerging or fast moving.

    In addition, NHS Supply Chain hosts an Innovation Scorecard enabling suppliers to introduce truly innovative products into the NHS following a submission through the online tool on the organisation’s website. If a product is deemed to be innovative, the product can be fast-tracked and made available to the NHS through NHS Supply Chain’s online and national catalogues usually within a six month period.

    The Accelerated Access Review, announced by the Minister for Life Sciences in November 2014 will make recommendations to Government on speeding up access to transformative new medicines and technologies for NHS patients, using data from initiatives such as the CDF and EAMS, as well as greater use of procurement purchasing power to accelerate cost effective uptake of innovations.

    Its key aims are to improve care and outcomes by giving patients quicker access to new treatment and improve the longer-term affordability of the product pipeline. The Review published an interim report in October 2015 and will make further recommendations to Government by April 2016.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to support children with Kawasaki disease.

    George Freeman

    The Government published the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases in November 2013. The strategy contains over 50 commitments to ensure people living with a rare disease, such as Kawasaki disease, have access to the best evidence-based care and treatment that health and social services, working with charities, researchers and industry can provide.

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care. This includes training in both scarlet fever and Kawasaki disease.

    Health Education England works with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the Royal Colleges to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

    The Department and its arm’s length bodies have not published any specific guidance on the similarities between Kawasaki disease and scarlet fever.

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on the assessment and initial management of fever in under 5s sets out the circumstances in which a diagnosis of Kawasaki disease should be considered, and Public Health England (PHE) has endeavoured to keep healthcare professionals, schools and the general public informed of the increased incidence of scarlet fever through timely information, news stories and updates on the PHE website and by using social and other media. These awareness raising measures assist general practitioners and other frontline healthcare professionals in reaching a correct diagnosis more quickly and encourage patients to seek medical advice early so that suspected cases receive prompt antibiotic treatment to reduce the risk of complications and limit further transmission.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what regulations are (a) in place and (b) under consideration to support the meteorological use of drones.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There are no regulations that apply specifically to the meteorological use of drones. In order to fly a drone for commercial purposes, a permission from the Civil Aviation Authority is required, in accordance with the Air Navigation Order 2009.

    There is no plan to introduce specific regulations to support the meteorological use of drones, however Government continues to keep under careful review whether there is any need for further domestic legislation of drones.

  • Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38720, if his Department will make an assessment of the likely effect on the free services currently being offered by community pharmacies of planned changes to funding.

    Alistair Burt

    The proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond are being considered in respect of the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the National Health Service Act 2006. This includes the potential impact on quality or on the services offered by community pharmacies.

  • Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Steve Reed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Reed on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what the Government’s policy is on requiring local authorities to adopt elected mayors as part of further proposals for the devolution of powers to local areas.

    Andrew Percy

    The Government will continue to work closely with local areas and remains open to discussion on any devolution proposals that include strong, accountable governance and clear accountability, including the adoption of elected mayors.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David T. C. Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences have been deported in the last year for which figures are available.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics on the number of foreign national offenders that have been removed from prison under the Early Removal Scheme within the Immigration Statistics release on the GOV.UK website at the following link:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=uk-visas-and-immigration&publication_type=transparency-data.

    Please note that the data is published on a quarterly basis. The link provides access to historical data for each quarter for the financial year 2015 / 2016

  • 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 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many social housing providers in the four pathfinder areas for universal credit have applied for trusted partner status to allow for direct payment of the housing costs element in certain circumstances.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The first phase of the ‘Trusted Partner’ pilot started on Monday 28th September with 6 landlords all of whom are located within the Pathfinder areas.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2015 to Question 17301, what proportion of (a) males aged 16 to 24, (b) males aged 16 to 18, (c) males aged 19-20, (d) males aged 21-22, (e) males aged 23-24, (f) women aged 16 to 18, (g) women aged 19-20, (h) women aged 21-22 and (i) women aged 23 to 34 had been unemployed for more than 12 months on the latest date for which figures are available.

    Mr Rob Wilson

    The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

  • Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency arrangements his Department has made for the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the upcoming EU referendum.

    Penny Mordaunt

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister on 14 January 2016 to Question 21931.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-02-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any future plans to make all secondary schools academies.

    Lord Nash

    The government’s ambition is for every school to have the opportunity to become an academy. Over 60 per cent of secondary schools have already become academies and we want to encourage more schools to do this. The Education and Adoption Bill, currently going through Parliament, will enable us to intervene more quickly to turn underperforming schools into academies.