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  • Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much NHS England spent on mental health services in England for each year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    In total, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure in excess of their increase in allocation for the year. NHS England is tracking actual expenditure against those plans and it will report to the Secretary of State at the end of the year on whether those plans have been met.

    Departmental Ministers meet the Chief Executives of NHS England and Monitor regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including funding for mental health services.

    NHS England was formally established on 1 April 2013.Expenditure by NHS England on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2013/14 was £1.780 billion and £1.795 billion in 2014/15. NHS England’s planned expenditure on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2015/16 is £1.859 billion.

    NHS England has published CCG level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15. Estimates for 2015/16 are not available.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much each clinical commissioning group spent on mental health services in England in each year from 2013-14 to 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    In total, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure in excess of their increase in allocation for the year. NHS England is tracking actual expenditure against those plans and it will report to the Secretary of State at the end of the year on whether those plans have been met.

    Departmental Ministers meet the Chief Executives of NHS England and Monitor regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including funding for mental health services.

    NHS England was formally established on 1 April 2013.Expenditure by NHS England on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2013/14 was £1.780 billion and £1.795 billion in 2014/15. NHS England’s planned expenditure on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2015/16 is £1.859 billion.

    NHS England has published CCG level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15. Estimates for 2015/16 are not available.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of NHS England on spending on mental health services during 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    In total, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure in excess of their increase in allocation for the year. NHS England is tracking actual expenditure against those plans and it will report to the Secretary of State at the end of the year on whether those plans have been met.

    Departmental Ministers meet the Chief Executives of NHS England and Monitor regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including funding for mental health services.

    NHS England was formally established on 1 April 2013.Expenditure by NHS England on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2013/14 was £1.780 billion and £1.795 billion in 2014/15. NHS England’s planned expenditure on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2015/16 is £1.859 billion.

    NHS England has published CCG level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15. Estimates for 2015/16 are not available.

  • Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Rehman Chishti – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how he plans to assess whether clinical commissioning groups in England have met the NHS England planning guidance requirement to give real terms spending increases to mental health services in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    In total, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure in excess of their increase in allocation for the year. NHS England is tracking actual expenditure against those plans and it will report to the Secretary of State at the end of the year on whether those plans have been met.

    Departmental Ministers meet the Chief Executives of NHS England and Monitor regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including funding for mental health services.

    NHS England was formally established on 1 April 2013.Expenditure by NHS England on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2013/14 was £1.780 billion and £1.795 billion in 2014/15. NHS England’s planned expenditure on Specialist Mental Health Services for 2015/16 is £1.859 billion.

    NHS England has published CCG level expenditure on mental health for 2013/14, which was estimated to be £8.1 billion. CCGs are currently in the process of preparing estimates of expenditure for mental health services in 2014/15. Estimates for 2015/16 are not available.

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received about the level of junior doctor cover at weekends.

    Ben Gummer

    We have evidence that hospital leaders consider the junior doctors’ contract to be a significant barrier to delivering more seven-day services. NHS Providers’ written evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) on contract reform for consultants and doctors and dentists in training[1] stated that the junior doctor contract is still a significant source of barriers to seven day working and reform of the junior doctor contract is also required to support trusts to deliver more seven-day services. In particular, the pay banding system for junior doctors needs to be reviewed. There were concerns from employers that the banding system is too complicated, can create “perverse incentives” for junior doctors, and means that providing more seven-day services is unaffordable, since more junior doctors would be working outside core hours and receive premiums under the current banding system. NHS Providers also believe that more hours in a day and more days of the week need to be defined as core hours, as the current arrangement does not support the delivery of more seven-day services or reflect the needs and expectations of today’s patients. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has also said that premium pay rates are hindering efforts to put services on a seven-day footing.

    [1]

    http://www.nhsproviders.org/resource-library/written-evidence-ddrb-special-remit/

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of junior doctors who have opted out of the European Working Time Directive.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department has not made any estimate of the number of junior doctors who have opted out of the European Working Directive.

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department spent on employing junior doctors in each of the last five years; and how many junior doctors were employed in each of those years.

    Ben Gummer

    The figures are:

    Financial year

    Substantive junior doctor paybill

    Average number of full-time-equivalent junior doctors over the year

    2014/15

    £3.1 billon

    53,000

    2013/14

    £3 billion

    52,500

    2012/13

    £3 billion

    52,000

    2011/12

    £3 billion

    51,500

    2010/11

    £3 billion

    51,000

  • Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Karin Smyth – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Karin Smyth on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his contribution of 28 October 2015, Official Report, column 429, on junior doctors hours, if he will publish the evidential basis for the proposition that hospitals are not rostering enough junior doctors at weekends.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS Employers’ evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration – “Reform of national contracts for consultant doctors and doctors and dentists in training” [1] published in December 2014, included a profile of how the hours worked by doctors in training were spread across the week.

    We have evidence that hospital leaders consider the junior doctors’ contract to be a significant barrier to delivering more seven-day services. NHS Providers’ written evidence to the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) on contract reform for consultants and doctors and dentists in training[2] stated that the junior doctor contract is still a significant source of barriers to seven day working and reform of the junior doctor contract is also required to support trusts to deliver more seven-day services. In particular, the pay banding system for junior doctors needs to be reviewed. There were concerns from employers that the banding system is too complicated, can create “perverse incentives” for junior doctors, and means that providing more seven-day services is unaffordable, since more junior doctors would be working outside core hours and receive premiums under the current banding system. NHS Providers also believe that more hours in a day and more days of the week need to be defined as core hours, as the current arrangement does not support the delivery of more seven-day services or reflect the needs and expectations of today’s patients. Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has also said that premium pay rates are hindering efforts to put services on a seven-day footing.

    [1] http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workforce/pay-and-reward/pay/medical-pay/ddrb-evidence—in-detail/consultants-and-junior-doctors-contract-reform-submission-of-evidence-to-the-ddrb

    [2] http://www.nhsproviders.org/resource-library/written-evidence-ddrb-special-remit/

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2015 to Question 13685, if she will make an assessment of the monetary benefits arising from implementation of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive in each of the last four years.

    Rory Stewart

    An assessment of the costs and benefits of the revised Waste Framework Directive in England and Wales was carried out when laying the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 which transposed the Directive. The assessment was published and is still available on the Legislation.gov webpages. This is the most up to date assessment of the impacts of the Waste Framework Directive, and contains a year-by-year breakdown of the expected costs. As waste is a devolved issue, the Devolved Administrations carried out and published their own impact assessments, which are similarly available online.

    The European Commission are expected to publish on December 2 proposals to amend the revised Waste Framework Directive. Once those proposals are published, we will submit another explanatory memorandum to the House, assessing the potential costs and benefits of those changes.

  • Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Mary Creagh – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Creagh on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the costs and benefits to the UK of implementation of the EU Hazardous Waste Directive.

    Rory Stewart

    The EU Hazardous Waste Directive was repealed on the introduction of the revised Waste Framework Directive in 2008.

    I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 October to Questions 13685 and 14733. An assessment of the costs and benefits of the revised Waste Framework Directive in England and Wales was carried out when laying the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 which transposed the Directive. The assessment was published and is still available on the Legislation.gov website. This is the most up to date assessment of the impacts of the Waste Framework Directive and contains a year-by-year breakdown of the expected costs. As waste is a devolved issue, the Devolved Administrations carried out and published their own impact assessments, which are similarly available online.