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  • Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many services for adults with autism are commissioned under the Payments by Results framework.

    Norman Lamb

    National Tariff prices are published primarily for acute care, and relate to procedure undertaken, not the diagnosis of the patient receiving the treatment. Information is not collected on the number of services within the scope of the National Tariff that have been provided to adults with autism.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the Care Act 2014 Part I regulations are compatible with the revised Adult Autism Strategy (a) in general and (b) in relation to autism training for community care assessors.

    Norman Lamb

    The core principles of the Care Act 2014 and the regulations and statutory guidance which supports its implementation are to maintain the wellbeing of people who have care and support needs; support them in living independent lives; and ensuring there is a vibrant market to offer choice on how their needs might be met. These enhance the areas of action set out in the 2010 Autism Strategy and reaffirmed recently in Think Autism.

    The Act will require local authorities to ensure all assessors are appropriately trained to carry out assessments. This builds on the statutory guidance Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives which followed the 2010 Adult Autism Strategy for England, and which required autism awareness training to be available to all staff working in health and social care and specialist training for those in key roles that have a direct impact on access to services for adults with autism.

    Due to the complexities of assessing people who are deafblind, regulations under the Act will require their assessments to be carried out by a specialist assessor. One of the questions in the consultation document is whether specialist assessors should be required to carry out the assessment of people with other conditions, such as autism, and to explain why this should be the case. Based on the evidence we receive through the consultation we will consider if this requirement should be extended to other conditions.

    The draft regulations and guidance were co-produced with stakeholders, and this included engaging with the National Autistic Society. The public consultation runs until 15 August 2014.

  • Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Cheryl Gillan – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cheryl Gillan on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that regulations and guidance under the Care Act 2014 are compatible with the Autism Act 2009 and existing autism strategies and autism statutory guidance.

    Norman Lamb

    The core principles of the Care Act 2014 and the regulations and statutory guidance which supports its implementation are to maintain the wellbeing of people who have care and support needs; support them in living independent lives; and ensuring there is a vibrant market to offer choice on how their needs might be met. These enhance the areas of action set out in the 2010 Autism Strategy and reaffirmed recently in Think Autism.

    The Act will require local authorities to ensure all assessors are appropriately trained to carry out assessments. This builds on the statutory guidance Implementing Fulfilling and Rewarding Lives which followed the 2010 Adult Autism Strategy for England, and which required autism awareness training to be available to all staff working in health and social care and specialist training for those in key roles that have a direct impact on access to services for adults with autism.

    Due to the complexities of assessing people who are deafblind, regulations under the Act will require their assessments to be carried out by a specialist assessor. One of the questions in the consultation document is whether specialist assessors should be required to carry out the assessment of people with other conditions, such as autism, and to explain why this should be the case. Based on the evidence we receive through the consultation we will consider if this requirement should be extended to other conditions.

    The draft regulations and guidance were co-produced with stakeholders, and this included engaging with the National Autistic Society. The public consultation runs until 15 August 2014.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Caroline Lucas – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the UK will support the request from the Palestinian Authority for an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the treatment of Palestinian detainees.

    Hugh Robertson

    The UK is concerned about the situation of Palestinians in Israeli detention, and we raise this issue regularly with the Israeli authorities. However, the Palestinian Authority has not made a formal request for an emergency session of the UN Security Council to address this issue.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has been made of the regulatory impact of the changes to the CAP on farmers.

    George Eustice

    I refer the hon. Member to my previous answer of 23 June 2014. Official report: column 63W.

  • Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which local authorities have been sent letters indicating that they may have to pay part or all of the fines arising from infraction proceedings following the European Court of Justice’s finding against the UK for breach of nitrogen dioxide limit values under the EU Air Quality Directive.

    Dan Rogerson

    In March this year, Defra sent letters to all local authorities in England to inform them of the Commission’s decision to commence infraction procedures against the UK for non-compliance with NO2 limit values, what it means and the next steps that should be taken by the Government in response. As part of this, local authorities were reminded of the discretionary power in Part 2 of the Localism Act under which the Government could require responsible authorities to pay all or part of an infraction fine.

  • Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Smith on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his policy is on the introduction of further low emission zones outside London to reduce the levels of nitrogen dioxide air pollution in ambient air.

    Dan Rogerson

    The Government has funded a number of local authorities outside London to investigate the feasibility of low emission zones (LEZs) within their areas, through the annual Air Quality Grant Scheme targeted at reducing levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and accelerating compliance with EU limit values.

    This ongoing support is focused on addressing barriers and looking for practical options for putting in place NO2-related LEZs and similar measures.

  • Jonathan Djanogly – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jonathan Djanogly – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Djanogly on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which areas of forestry and woodland in Huntingdon constituency are classed by his Department as ancient woodland.

    Dan Rogerson

    Of the 1,721.9 hectares of woodland identified within the Huntingdon constituency, 540.5 hectares (1.6% of land within the constituency or 31.4% of woodland within the constituency) is classed as ancient woodland.

    There are 45 discrete areas of ancient woodland in the Huntingdon constituency. Twenty-nine are located in the western arm of the constituency to the west of the A1, mainly around Grafham Water. The others are mostly in two pockets: in the southern arm of the constituency to the west of Great Gransden; and in the far north side of the constituency north of Alconbury.

    A map showing the location of the ancient woodland has been placed in the House Library.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many children in poverty lived in a household that did not receive a Warm Home Discount in 2013-14.

    Gregory Barker

    Under the “broader group” schemes offered by suppliers participating within the Warm Home Discount, considerable assistance is offered to vulnerable groups such as low-income families and those with long-term illnesses and disabilities. In scheme year 3 (2013/14) all seven participating suppliers (British Gas, EDF, E.On, First Utility, N Power, Scottish Power and SSE) made broader group support open to low-income families with children aged under five years.

    We expect around 600,000 broader group rebates worth £135 to have been provided in 2013/14. However, final figures for the number of such payments will be published in Ofgem’s annual scheme report in the autumn.

    Participating energy suppliers are not required to provide the Government with a breakdown of the payments made to different groups of customers. As a result, we cannot calculate how many low income families received the Warm Home Discount, nor how many did not.

  • Susan Elan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Susan Elan Jones – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2014-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment he has made of the effect of carbon reduction targets on jobs in the wood panelling sector.

    Gregory Barker

    The Government is committed to ensuring that industrial sectors maintain their competitiveness during the transition to a low-carbon economy, and continue to invest and provide employment in the UK. We have recognised the additional costs that climate and energy policies can place on energy-intensive industries, including the wood panelling sector, and announced a range of new measures in Budget 2014 to radically reduce these costs, in addition to the compensation measures already in place.