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  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they plan to make to the recent article published in the Journal of Public Health reporting on the costs and benefits of health checks for 40 to 74 year olds.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Public Health England (PHE) provided a response to Capewell et al’s article on NHS Health Check, which appeared in the same issue of the Journal of Public Health.PHE’s Chief Executive also responded in letters published in the Guardian and the British Medical Journal (BMJ), and through a special e-bulletin to NHS Health Check stakeholders. Copies of the article and responses have been placed in the Library.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they and the NHS 111 service give to qualified nurses about the prioritisation of complex cases and more routine calls, in the light of the targets set for that service.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has seen successes with the NHS 111 service since its launch, with over a million calls offered to the NHS 111 service in August, of which 93.6% were answered within 60 seconds.

    The Government expects all NHS 111 centres to be appropriately staffed to offer people safe care and advice and treatment at all times and has asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission has announced it will inspect and rate NHS 111 services by September 2016 to give additional assurances that minimum levels of quality are attained.

    New Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care were published last week by NHS England. Developed jointly with commissioners and providers, the Commissioning Standards will support the transformation of urgent care services; introducing the clinical hub employing a broader range of clinical skills, direct booking into general practitioner appointments, improved clinical governance and staff development amongst other developments. Commissioners will now complete their plans to achieve the Commissioning Standards. A copy is attached.

    The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local Clinical Commissioning Groups and the safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by local commissioners, monitoring performance and investigating complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the safety of the NHS 111 service in the East Midlands.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by commissioners, who monitor performance and investigate complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements. In addition the services are subject to inspection by the Care Quality Commission.

    NHS England advises that it has asked local CCGs to conduct a full investigation into recent serious allegations about the NHS 111 service in the East Midlands. This investigation is being coordinated by North Derbyshire CCG, and NHS England will continue to maintain oversight of progress. The investigation report is due at the beginning of December.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the current performance of the NHS 111 service and take steps in order to ensure that more qualified nurses are used to handle calls from the public.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has seen successes with the NHS 111 service since its launch, with over a million calls offered to the NHS 111 service in August, of which 93.6% were answered within 60 seconds.

    The Government expects all NHS 111 centres to be appropriately staffed to offer people safe care and advice and treatment at all times and has asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission has announced it will inspect and rate NHS 111 services by September 2016 to give additional assurances that minimum levels of quality are attained.

    New Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care were published last week by NHS England. Developed jointly with commissioners and providers, the Commissioning Standards will support the transformation of urgent care services; introducing the clinical hub employing a broader range of clinical skills, direct booking into general practitioner appointments, improved clinical governance and staff development amongst other developments. Commissioners will now complete their plans to achieve the Commissioning Standards. A copy is attached.

    The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local Clinical Commissioning Groups and the safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by local commissioners, monitoring performance and investigating complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their current assessment of the effectiveness of the NHS 111 service.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Government has seen successes with the NHS 111 service since its launch, with over a million calls offered to the NHS 111 service in August, of which 93.6% were answered within 60 seconds.

    The Government expects all NHS 111 centres to be appropriately staffed to offer people safe care and advice and treatment at all times and has asked NHS England for assurances that the NHS 111 service is doing all it can to help patients. Furthermore the Care Quality Commission has announced it will inspect and rate NHS 111 services by September 2016 to give additional assurances that minimum levels of quality are attained.

    New Commissioning Standards for Integrated Urgent Care were published last week by NHS England. Developed jointly with commissioners and providers, the Commissioning Standards will support the transformation of urgent care services; introducing the clinical hub employing a broader range of clinical skills, direct booking into general practitioner appointments, improved clinical governance and staff development amongst other developments. Commissioners will now complete their plans to achieve the Commissioning Standards. A copy is attached.

    The commissioning of NHS 111 services is led by local Clinical Commissioning Groups and the safety and effectiveness of NHS 111 services are subject to constant review by local commissioners, monitoring performance and investigating complaints and clinical incidents through existing clinical governance arrangements.

  • Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Lord Empey – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Empey on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to amend the Climate Change Act 2008 to alleviate the costs of power for large energy users in the United Kingdom.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    The Climate Change Act does not impose specific costs on large energy users in and of itself. Instead, the Act sets up a long term target to reduce emissions across the whole economy. It is for the Government to decide the cost effective way of meeting that target and Government is mindful of the impact of policies on energy intensive users.

    For energy intensive sectors, voluntary Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow 90% reduction from the Climate Change Levy (CCL) for electricity in return for signing up to stretching energy efficiency improvement targets agreed with Government. Metallurgical and mineralogical sectors have been exempt from paying the CCL since April 2014. In addition, the Government has paid over £131m in compensation to eligible energy intensive industries, for the indirect impacts of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and Carbon Price Support mechanism on their electricity prices. Further relief measures are currently being considered by the European Commission.

  • Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will take further steps to advise the public about the amount of sugar in alcohol.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    We are not currently planning any national policies on nutrition labelling of alcohol. However, some businesses are choosing to label calories voluntarily on their alcoholic beverages. The possibility of mandating calorie labelling on alcohol is under discussion at European Union level.

  • Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish a health impact assessment of the reductions in, and freezes to, alcohol duties announced in the last Budget.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Government published its assessment of the impacts of the alcohol duty change in the Tax Information and Impact Notes published alongside the March 2015 Budget document. Budget documentation is available in the Printed Paper Office.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to prevent the sale of exotic animals as pets in the United Kingdom.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Existing legislation including the Pet Animals Act 1951, which regulates animals sold as pets, and the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which makes it an offence to fail to protect the welfare of animals, provide a number of important safeguards for exotic animals sold as pets. Defra is currently reviewing legislation on licensing animal activities, including the 1951 Act, and will shortly be consulting publicly on a set of proposals to make the licensing system more effective.

  • Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Black of Brentwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2015-10-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have received regarding the report Unhealthy Attitudes published in July by Stonewall, and what steps they propose to take to improve training for health and social care employees about LGBT rights.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Correspondence has been received by Department of Health Ministers accompanying copies of the report Unhealthy Attitudes.

    On 20 October 2015, NHS Employers, the Lesbian and Gay Foundation and Stonewall presented a paper at NHS England’s Equality and Diversity Council, of which the Department are members, calling for positive and robust leadership to promote LGBT equality in the National Health Service.

    No other representations have been received about the report.

    Health Education England (HEE) currently hosts training on equality and diversity through the e-learning for healthcare (e-LfH) portal. A review of the content is scheduled to take place next year. The package is available free to all NHS employed staff and allows all users to run reports on the HEE e-LfH Hub demonstrating their use and providing evidence for their clinical professional development.