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  • Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Brazier on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the prevalence of the pre-signing of abortion (HSA1) certificates since the conclusion of the Care Quality Commission’s 2012 investigations into abortion clinics.

    Jane Ellison

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) previously investigated the prevalence of the pre-signing of abortion (HSA1) certificates due to a specific request in 2012. The CQC has put in place information for its own staff to help identify if pre-signing or other instances of non-compliance are taking place to make sure that such cases would be picked up during inspections. This is in line with how the CQC would handle any information of concern identified during an inspection.

    If a CQC inspection identifies pre-signing or other instances of non-compliance with the Health and Social Care Act and Regulations then appropriate regulatory action will be taken. This includes reporting any concerns in relation to termination of pregnancy practice to the Department. The Department has not received any notification of pre-signing of abortion certificates from the CQC since these inspections.

  • Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    Julian Brazier – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Brazier on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Attorney General, what discussions he has had with the Crown Prosecution Service about the 67 doctors who are accused of pre-signing abortion referral (HSA1) certificates.

    Mr Dominic Grieve

    I have had no specific discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service about pre-signing of abortion forms by the 67 doctors.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to ensure that places where repeater transmitters are situated receive a full Freeview service.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.

    We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.

    Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions the Government has had with representatives of Freeview about improving the number of channels on offer for people in rural areas.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.

    We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.

    Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.

  • David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    David T. C. Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David T. C. Davies on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions he has had with Freeview about reasons to extend full Freeview services to (a) Monmouth constituency and (b) all other parts of the UK that are currently not provided with such services.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including those from the public service broadcasters (PSBs) on the digital terrestrial TV (DTT, or Freeview) platform, and that approximately 90% of UK households are also able to receive additional commercial DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments.

    We have had no discussions with Freeview or Digital UK, who manage the DTT platform, about extending services and there are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.

    Purely commercial DTT services are not subject to the ‘near-universal’ coverage requirements which apply to PSB DTT services, and while the operators of the commercial DTT services were given the opportunity to extend their networks at the time of digital switchover, the operators determined that it was not commercially viable for them to build-out their services to additional transmitter sites.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the Highways Agency in maintaining roads in (a) Huddersfield, (b) Kirklees and (c) Yorkshire; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Highways Agency Business Plan sets out the strategic objectives and the in-year targets to be achieved. It includes a target covering road surface condition. Each Highways Agency region contributes to those targets, including Yorkshire and the North East. The Agency’s performance against the targets for the financial year 2013/14 is due to be published in its Annual Report by summer 2014.

    The Agency is unable to identify separately the contribution to Business Plan targets by individual constituency or local authority area.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with senior management of NHS England about redundancies.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Secretary of State meets regularly with NHS England to discuss a wide variety of issues. The Department is clear on the need to ensure that redundancy payments are made only in circumstances where it is appropriate to do so and has been working with NHS England to ensure that payments are tightly controlled, whilst meeting contractual obligations.

    Redundancies are subject to rigorous scrutiny and challenge before being approved. Additionally, any individual redundancy compensation payment in excess of £100,000 also requires Departmental approval. Where redundancies do occur, NHS England ensures that these are formally subject to national NHS provisions to claw back any redundancy payment received where an individual then goes on to be re-employed within the National Health Service, further ensuring better value for the tax payer.

    NHS England takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure that redundancy is a last resort and has implemented a system to seek to re-deploy any staff affected by such change to retain knowledge, skills and capability within the organisation, where at all possible.

    NHS England has a responsibility for ensuring that maximum value for money for taxpayers is delivered, whilst seeking to improve health outcomes for patients through effective commissioning arrangements. As a direct employer of 6,000 people, NHS England has a responsibility to continually improve the way it delivers both commissioning and the provision of the services for which it is directly accountable, which includes the regular review of its workforce arrangements.

    NHS England has advised that its redundancy costs for 2012-13 were £54,000, which represented 0.1% of total expenditure. For 2013-14 the costs were £1,017,000, which represented 0.003% of total expenditure.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial contributions police services across England and Wales make to Local Safeguarding Children Boards.

    Damian Green

    Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) play a crucial role in multi agency
    child protection arrangements. Decisions by individual police forces to financially
    contribute to LSCBs are an operational matter and the Department does not hold
    this information.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding his Department provides for Local Safeguarding Children Boards.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCBs) are funded by contributions from the local authority, Primary Care Trust, police and other agencies, with the largest contribution coming from the local authority. It is important that agencies work together to agree budgets locally and prioritise spending in response to local needs and issues.

    The Department for Education provided the Association of Independent LSCB Chairs with funding of £240,000 between September 2012 and March 2014 to support the leadership of LSCBs in ensuring the effectiveness of local safeguarding arrangements. We will provide them with a further £130,000 in this financial year as they move towards self-sustainability.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2014-05-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that redundancies and constraints on spending in NHS England do not adversely affect the quality of services provided.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Secretary of State meets regularly with NHS England to discuss a wide variety of issues. The Department is clear on the need to ensure that redundancy payments are made only in circumstances where it is appropriate to do so and has been working with NHS England to ensure that payments are tightly controlled, whilst meeting contractual obligations.

    Redundancies are subject to rigorous scrutiny and challenge before being approved. Additionally, any individual redundancy compensation payment in excess of £100,000 also requires Departmental approval. Where redundancies do occur, NHS England ensures that these are formally subject to national NHS provisions to claw back any redundancy payment received where an individual then goes on to be re-employed within the National Health Service, further ensuring better value for the tax payer.

    NHS England takes seriously its responsibilities to ensure that redundancy is a last resort and has implemented a system to seek to re-deploy any staff affected by such change to retain knowledge, skills and capability within the organisation, where at all possible.

    NHS England has a responsibility for ensuring that maximum value for money for taxpayers is delivered, whilst seeking to improve health outcomes for patients through effective commissioning arrangements. As a direct employer of 6,000 people, NHS England has a responsibility to continually improve the way it delivers both commissioning and the provision of the services for which it is directly accountable, which includes the regular review of its workforce arrangements.

    NHS England has advised that its redundancy costs for 2012-13 were £54,000, which represented 0.1% of total expenditure. For 2013-14 the costs were £1,017,000, which represented 0.003% of total expenditure.