The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total annual cost of the ministerial special advisers, including members of the Council of Economic Advisers, who were in post on 1 September.
Lord Bridges of Headley
Information on the cost of special advisers, which I have attached for information, was published on 17 December on gov.uk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Oates on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the total annual cost of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s political advisers, including both special advisers and members of the Council of Economic Advisers.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
Details of Special Adviser numbers and remuneration across Government departments, including for Special Advisers and Members of the Council of Economic Advisers in HM Treasury, were published in December on the gov.uk website.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lester of Herne Hill on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will implement the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Joint Committee on Human Rights to raise the minimum age of armed forces’ recruitment to 18; and if not, why not.
Earl Howe
All recruitment into the UK military is voluntary and no young person under the age of 18 years may join our Armed Forces unless their application is accompanied by the formal written consent of their parent or guardian. We take the duty of care towards all recruits seriously, in particular those under 18 years of age. We have robust, effective and independently verified safeguards in place to ensure that under-18s are cared for properly.
The Armed Forces do not intend to phase out the recruitment of personnel under the age of 18. Our policies on under-18s in Service are robust and comply with national and international law. In addition to the comprehensive welfare system that is in place for all Service personnel we remain fully committed to meeting our obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, and have taken steps to bestow special safeguards on young people under the age of 18.
The provision of education and training for 16-year-old school leavers provides a route into the Armed Forces that complies with Government education policy and offers a significant foundation for emotional, physical and educational development throughout an individual’s career.
All recruits aged under 18 receive key skills education in literacy and numeracy, should they need it, and all are enrolled onto apprenticeships. The Armed Forces remain the UK’s largest apprenticeship provider, equipping young people with valuable and transferable skills for life. Over 95% of all recruits, no matter what their age or prior qualifications, enrol in an apprenticeship each year. The Armed Forces offer courses in a wide range of skills, such as engineering, information and communications technology, construction, driving, and animal care. Ofsted regularly inspects our care of newly joined young recruits, and we are very proud of the standards we achieve.
Our policy on under-18s is published in Part 2 of Joint Service Publication 898, "Defence Direction and Guidance on Training, Education and Skills", available at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433762/20141126-JSP_898_Part2_Guidance_v1_1.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kilclooney on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the amount of government loans to the Republic of Ireland during the past decade; of those loans, what capital has been re-paid; and how much interest has been received.
Lord O’Neill of Gatley
I refer the noble Lord to the most recent statutory report which the Treasury provided to Parliament as required by Section 2 of the Loans to Ireland Act 2010. It was published on 15 October 2015 and is available online along with all previous reports submitted.[1]
This report shows the outstanding principal is £3,226,960,000, with repayments due in tranches from 15 April 2019 until 26 March 2021. An interest payment was made by the Republic of Ireland on 15 December 2015 and therefore the interest payments received now total £273,825,613.71.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/bilateral-loan-to-ireland
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to monitor the impact of the introduction of the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The NHS Supply Chain can provide data analysis on the usage of products procured through their route.
Incidents raised through the use of the products would be monitored by individual NHS trust clinical staff and appropriate investigations would be instigated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the clinical and ethical justifications for setting the benchmark in the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care that 80 per cent of patients will be treated using clinically appropriate dressings.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The wide variety of choice in the current system is leading to duplication of wound care products. This can create more complexity for nurses and clinicians, making their clinical decisions more difficult and potentially leading to over specification and variation in standards of care. Of the 4,796 wound care products available through the NHS Supply Chain, 34% of lines have had no sales in the last 12 months.
Providing an agreed set of National Health Service requirements for wound care products will start to reduce this duplication, complexity and therefore potential risk, helping to improve patient outcomes through less variation in care.
This issue was also highlighted by 74% of respondents to a Royal College of Nursing survey run by Nursing Times (Dec 2014) seeing opportunities to reduce duplication on wound care products, (more than any other type of product).
The project is part of a wider piece of work the Department is working with the NHS Supply Chain on to deliver £300 million of savings by October 2018. Central to this is reducing the number of specifications and variations by category so the NHS can leverage its scale and deliver clinically appropriate solutions that represent ‘value for money’. Such approaches are common in other countries and help drive savings, improve clinical standards and protect front line nursing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that, in the implementation of the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care, innovative small companies are not at a disadvantage in bidding for contracts.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Innovation is welcomed as part of this process and the clinical specifications may support smaller companies who demonstrate their capability to meet the requirements. One advantage of the NHS Supply Chain venture for smaller companies is that it can act as a single point of entry into the National Health Service and lower the ‘cost of sales’.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether educational and patient-orientated organisations were involved in the planning of the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Clinical Specification Working Group has academic representation on the group from England and Wales. Patient orientated organisations may be involved, as appropriate, at an evaluation stage though they have not engaged with them at this point.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what account they will take of the representations by the Wound Care Alliance UK regarding the NHS Supply Chain generic project plans for a national formulary for wound care.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The NHS Supply Chain is co-ordinating the production of clinical specifications by a Clinical Specifications Working Group, who are representing their customers in capacity of experts in wound care. This group, the Clinical Specifications Working Group, is independent of the NHS Supply Chain set up by the Clinical Reference Board.
The Clinical Specification Working Group has engaged with various stakeholders, including the Tissue Viability Society, in the process and will ultimately approve the resultant specifications.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-12-22.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many of the Clinical Commissioning Groups in England and Wales have prevented access to dermatology specials for their patients on the grounds of cost in the last five years.
Lord Prior of Brampton
This information is not collected centrally.