The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the utilisation rate was for Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyors in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The averaged utilisation rate for marine surveyors for 2013-14 was 65%.
In December 2014 a new system was implemented within MCA and no figures are available yet through the replacement system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether (a) a referral or (b) an appointment for an autism diagnostic assessment is captured in published mental health data (i) locally and (ii) nationally.
David Mowat
To support local areas in addressing long waits, NHS England, supported by the Department and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, initiated a series of visits to clinical commissioning groups and local authorities. These visits aimed to develop a better idea of the challenges in securing timely autism diagnosis across all ages, looking at the variability in diagnosis times and sharing good practice to help areas to improve their service. NHS England submitted a report on the visits to the 16 June meeting of the Cross Government Autism Programme Board, which includes representatives of autism third sector organisations and people who have autism. NHS England will have further discussions with relevant organisations over the summer about actions in their report, including on the Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework, before reporting back to the Autism Programme Board.
In parallel, as recommended by the independent Mental Health Taskforce, the Department is undertaking a five year plan for the development of mental health data to be published by the end of the year. The plan will set out future requirements and timings for developing data to inform pathways of care, which will include requirements for autism in the Health and Social Care Information Centre Mental Health Services Data Set. Data on referrals or appointments for an autism diagnostic assessment are not currently captured in published mental health data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Pugh on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what proportion of staff on the payroll of her Department who work in Westminster are (a) British nationals and (b) nationals of another country.
George Eustice
All Government Departments are bound by legal requirements concerning the right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules. Evidence of nationality is checked at the point of recruitment into the Civil Service as part of wider pre-employment checks, but there is no requirement on departments to retain this information beyond the point at which it has served its purpose.
More broadly, the Government will be consulting in due course on how we work with business to ensure that workers in this country have the skills that they need to get a job. But there are no proposals to publish lists of the number or proportion of foreign workers.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of NHS England on introducing new access and waiting time standards for mental health services.
Alistair Burt
NHS England (NHSE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health published on 3 August 2015, a commissioning guide for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that will set out how to implement the access and waiting time standard for children and young people with an eating disorder. The standard will be refined for implementation from 2017–18. From 2017, NHSE will set a minimum proportion of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are expected to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe.
We expect that the Mental Health Taskforce report and Mental Health Five Year Forward View will set a plan for developing appropriate pathways and we will work with NHSE to agree next steps.
Departmental Ministers meet with the Chief Executive of NHS England regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including access and waiting time standards for mental health services.
CCGs do not receive a specific allocation for mental health services, but are required to allocate funds as appropriate to all the services that they are responsible for commissioning. For 2015/16, CCGs received increases in allocations in total of 3.7%, though the increase varied for each CCG.
In the planning guidance for 2015/16, NHS England asked that all CCGs increase their spend on mental health by at least as much as their overall increase in allocation.
In total, CCGs have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure which exceeds the increase in their allocation.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Condon on 2015-12-15.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what new arrangements have been made in 2015, nationally, regionally, or locally, for police forces formally to share operational or support functions.
Lord Bates
Chief Constables and PCCs are best placed to consider whether and how their forces’ operational or support functions should be shared. The number of collaborations continues to increase, with at least 4 new alliances involving 9 forces announced in 2015.
Regional Organised Crime Units, the National Crime Agency and local law enforcement continue to develop specialist capabilities to tackle a range of threats, including serious and organised crime, child sexual abuse and cyber crime. The Government supports the current review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners into where specialist policing capabilities best sit, and how they should be delivered, to provide a common basis for future collaboration decisions.
To continue to strengthen and improve mutual aid arrangements, the National Police Coordination Centre is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to develop consistent national standards.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the universal credit in-work conditionality pilots track outcomes for people who are no longer in receipt of that credit.
Priti Patel
We will track the outcomes of all people who participate in the In-Work Progression Randomised Control Trial, including those who are no longer claiming Universal Credit.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawson on 2016-02-11.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the policy of the police to support complainants of child sexual assault who are under 18 years of age with specially trained officers, what assessment they have made of the case for extending the use of specially trained officers to support all children and young people under 18 years of age who are brought into police custody, and what plans, if any, they have to make such a change.
Lord Bates
The Government is committed to ensuring that children and young people are protected and treated appropriately in all circumstances while in police custody. As set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) 1984 Codes of Practice C&H, every child or young person taken into police custody on suspicion of committing an offence must be provided with an Appropriate Adult, whose role it is to safeguard their rights and welfare. In addition, a parent or legal guardian must be informed of their detention.
It is the responsibility of the chief officer of each force to adhere to the safeguards set out in PACE and its Codes of Practice. Police forces should ensure that officers interviewing child victims, including victims of sexual assault, are trained to apply the relevant College of Policing and Ministry of Justice guidance. The College of Policing’s Advanced Professional Practice on ‘Concern for a Child’ is clear that the police should always consider the services of a registered intermediary when a vulnerable child victim is interviewed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-03-11.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will ask her German counterpart to supply the Government with emissions data from new ultra super-critical coal-fired power stations in that country; and if she will place that data in the Library.
Andrea Leadsom
I have no plans to ask for emissions data from new ultra super-critical coal-fired power stations in Germany.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2016 to Question 30445, to which regions the 173 volunteer Enterprise Advisers have been appointed.
Mr Sam Gyimah
The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) is continuing to make excellent progress to transform the provision of careers, enterprise and employer engagement experiences for young people, including growing its Enterprise Advisers Network. The CEC is responsible for the administrative resources provided to the network. We therefore suggest contacting the company directly for detailed information about the network, including regions to which Enterprise Co-ordinators and Advisers have been appointed. The CEC can be contacted at info@careersandenterprise.co.uk.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-05-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the role of fast broadband and mobile phones in sending diagnostic information between patients in their own homes and medical practitioners.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Government supports the wider use of information technologies in health and social care and the creation of a paperless National Health Service by 2020.
Investments in health technology were announced in the autumn statement and will help patients and staff access the services they need and facilitate use of online services and apps including those that enable communication between patients and their medical and other health and social care practitioners.
The Government welcomes the recommendations to increase take-up of internet enabled services that were made by Martha Lane Fox in December 2015. These recommendations will inform the delivery of the National Implementation Board’s contribution to the implementation of the NHS strategic plan for England outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View.