Category: Speeches

  • Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Durkan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Durkan on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department, NHS England and NICE will publish work undertaken to analyse variation between areas in treatment for patients during the transition from the current Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) to proposed a new CDF scheme.

    George Freeman

    NHS England has advised that it plans to publish analyses of variation in use of Cancer Drug Fund (CDF) drug indications according to geographical areas in the spring of 2016 and then routinely in the future for the new CDF.

  • Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Thomas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Thomas on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the direct effect of drug eluting stents on the reduction of lower limb amputations.

    George Freeman

    Vascular services manage the treatment and care of patients with diseases related to disorders of the arteries, veins and lymphatic system. These can be managed by medical therapy, minimally-invasive catheter procedures and surgical reconstruction. NHS England commissions these services as part of its specialised commissioning portfolio.

    The vascular disease specialised commissioning clinical reference group has prepared a service specification for specialised vascular services. This aims to ensure that services deliver improved patient experience, provide equality of access to the full range of vascular diagnostics and interventions, and ensue that patients are receiving a high quality of service, with access to the most modern techniques.

    Implementation of the service specification for specialised vascular services through the local service review processes is designed to reduce regional variation.

    The service specification can be found at:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/a04-spec-vascu-adult.pdf

    The Government has made no assessment of the effects of drug eluting stents on lower limb amputation rates.

    “

  • 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 2016-04-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2016 to Question 33976, what assessment his Department has made of the potential change to (a) benefits and (b) risks to the status of the UK Ship Register within the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Work is in progress by the department to explore whether changing the status of the UK Ship Register would help ensure its future competitiveness. The work is in its early stages, but will assess both the benefits and risks of the available options.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Written Statement of 26 May 2016 on BIS consultation, HCWS30, what difficulties his Department experienced with split-site working in response to the steel crisis and Eurozone contingency planning.

    Joseph Johnson

    HCWS30 cites the steel crisis as an example of where the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has recently needed to redeploy large numbers of staff to address an urgent priority. As our policy function becomes more focused over the course of the Parliament, we expect to have to redeploy staff in this way more frequently than has so far been the case. Operating across split sites, in the context of a smaller workforce overall, would make it harder to quickly redeploy people to a different team or policy area, or for someone to be able to respond to an unpredictable or unusual demand for more intensive engagement with Ministers or Parliament.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 20 July 2016, to Question 42888, how many clinical commissioning groups were rated as inadequate for 2015-16; and how many such inadequate ratings given in relation, at least in part, to poor IVF provision.

    David Mowat

    There were 26 clinical commissioning groups rated as inadequate for 2015-16. The ratings do not go into such a degree of granularity as to reference specific services or treatments (for example IVF provision).

  • Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what research his Department has recently undertaken into the potential benefits of increasing paternity leave for men.

    Margot James

    In 2011, the Coalition Government consulted on a number of options to modernise employment entitlements relating to families. This led to the introduction of Shared Parental Leave and Pay for working parents; and the provisions in the Children and Families Act 2014 which enable Ministers to make Regulations to extend paternity leave and increase the rate of pay.

  • David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Amess – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the costs of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    Alistair Burt

    No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

    However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

    Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

    Commissioner

    Year

    Total £ billion

    PCTs

    2011-12

    2.26

    PCTs

    2012-13

    2.30

    CCGs

    2013/14

    1.61

    Note:

    1 This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

  • Baroness King of Bow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness King of Bow – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness King of Bow on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the research by Savills into the opportunities for estate regeneration, commissioned by the Number 10 Policy Unit, was contracted through an open tendering process.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The research into the opportunities for estate regeneration across London was a result of general discussions with Savills and the Number 10 Policy Unit, which led to an approach by Savills to complete this work. The Number 10 Policy Unit commissioned this work as a single tender.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2015 to Question 18534, what assessment she has made of the effect on the forward planning work of the National Wildlife Crime Unit of the timetabling and notice provided of the decisions on the funding allocation for that Unit from March 2016; and if she will make a statement.

    Rory Stewart

    Defra is in regular contact with the National Wildlife Crime Unit about its work. I met the head of the unit on 3 December and Defra officials attended both the Governance Board and the Tasking and Coordination Group for the unit on the same date.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many additional Ministry of Defence Police Officers will be required to operate at full capacity in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17, (c) 2017-18, (d) 2018-19 and (e) 2019-20 as a consequence of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review.

    Mark Lancaster

    As part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review we are reviewing a series of options that are expected to change the way we provide our policing and guarding at some sites. Work is under way to assess the feasibility and implication of these options. Estimates of numbers of total Ministry of Defence Police officers were provided in my answer to Question 18989 from the hon. Member for North Durham (Mr Kevan Jones MP) on 10 December 2015.