Blog

  • Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department’s policy is on whether gross or net figures for rental income should be used in the calculation for the income threshold under spousal visa rules.

    James Brokenshire

    Under paragraph 20(c) and (cc) of Appendix FM-SE to the Immigration Rules, the gross income from property rental may be counted towards meeting the minimum income threshold for sponsoring a non-EEA national spouse or partner under the family Immigration Rules, provided that the evidential requirements of Appendix FM-SE are met.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times she has attended public meetings of the Home Affairs Committee since her appointment.

    Mrs Theresa May

    Since my appointment as Home Secretary I have appeared publicly before the Home Affairs Select Committee on 19 occasions.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 18 April 2016, on immigration detention, HCWS679, how many pregnant women (a) are detained and (b) have been detained for immigration purposes at the border in each of the last five years.

    James Brokenshire

    Management information for 19 April showed that two pregnant women were held at the border and there was one pregnant woman held in an IRC. Information on those held at the border and in IRCs in each of the last five years is not held centrally and providing it would incur disproportionate cost.

  • Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Paul Blomfield – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 18 April 2016, HCWS679, on immigration detention, who will be eligible under these proposals to authorise the detention of a pregnant woman for the first 72 hours.

    James Brokenshire

    At present, detention is authorised by an officer of at least the rank of Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) or Higher Executive Officer (HEO). As stated in the Government’s Written Ministerial Statement of 14 January, the Government is developing a new approach to the case management of those detained. This is intended to replace the existing detention review process with a clear removal plan for all those in detention.

    It will ensure that all detainees, including pregnant women, spend the minimum possible time in detention. Under the new policy in order for detention to be extended beyond 72 hours ministerial authorisation will be required and the maximum detention period will be one week.

    Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons and Independent Monitoring Boards already provide independent oversight of detention facilities and conditions of detention. Individuals, including pregnant women, are given prior notification of their liability to removal from the UK by the Home Office and they would be detained only for the purposes of identification or removal.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33901, if he will make it his policy to collect such information in future.

    Alistair Burt

    The Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services, so that women are able to access the care they need at the right time and close to home.

    NHS Digital (formerly the Health and Social Care Information Centre) is starting to collect information about perinatal mental health services in the new Mental Health Services Dataset and this will increase the amount of data about women’s contact with a range of mental health services during pregnancy and in the first year after birth. We expect that some initial data on perinatal mental health will be available later this year. We will use this initial information to refine how data on perinatal mental health is collected going forward.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 31117, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the 2016 paper by Mesher and others, Reductions in HPV 16/18 in a population with high coverage of bivalent HPV vaccination in England: an ongoing cross-sectional study; and whether such findings have been taken into account when assessing the differential impact of the bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines on genital wart incidence.

    Jane Ellison

    The findings of Kavanagh and others, 2014, and of Mesher and others, 2016, are consistent with the reductions in human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 that were expected in the assessments that informed the Department’s policies. Neither of these papers report findings about genital warts incidence, both report no decrease in HPV types 6 and 11; this is also consistent with expectations in assessments that informed the Department’s policies.

    The answer of 23 March 2016 stated, ‘data reported to Public Health England (PHE) from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics shows a reduction in rates of genital warts diagnoses at GUM clinics between 2009 and 2014.’ This analysis has been updated with data for 2013 and 2014. The reductions reported were in patients aged 15 years and older. As the introduction of the quadrivalent vaccine was in 2012, to 12 year olds, no impact on genital warts in 15+ year olds within this time period was expected due to this introduction. Use of the quadrivalent vaccine within this age group prior to its introduction in the national immunisation programme was assessed as a possible but highly unlikely cause of the reductions seen.

    The latest data from PHE showing reductions in genital warts diagnoses in GUM clinics amongst ages offered the bivalent vaccine are data for 2014: the future duration of any protection from genital warts associated with the bivalent vaccine has not been (and cannot be) inferred.

  • Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Bradshaw – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 23 March 2016 to Question 31117, whether there has been any lasting duration of the HPV reduction that Public Health England have associated with the bivalent vaccine.

    Jane Ellison

    The findings of Kavanagh and others, 2014, and of Mesher and others, 2016, are consistent with the reductions in human papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 that were expected in the assessments that informed the Department’s policies. Neither of these papers report findings about genital warts incidence, both report no decrease in HPV types 6 and 11; this is also consistent with expectations in assessments that informed the Department’s policies.

    The answer of 23 March 2016 stated, ‘data reported to Public Health England (PHE) from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics shows a reduction in rates of genital warts diagnoses at GUM clinics between 2009 and 2014.’ This analysis has been updated with data for 2013 and 2014. The reductions reported were in patients aged 15 years and older. As the introduction of the quadrivalent vaccine was in 2012, to 12 year olds, no impact on genital warts in 15+ year olds within this time period was expected due to this introduction. Use of the quadrivalent vaccine within this age group prior to its introduction in the national immunisation programme was assessed as a possible but highly unlikely cause of the reductions seen.

    The latest data from PHE showing reductions in genital warts diagnoses in GUM clinics amongst ages offered the bivalent vaccine are data for 2014: the future duration of any protection from genital warts associated with the bivalent vaccine has not been (and cannot be) inferred.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent from the public purse on the maintenance of NHS buildings in each year since 2010.

    George Freeman

    The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.

    Data is collected annually in the Estates Return Information Collection from the National Health Service for maintenance service costs (prior to 2013-14 the data collected was “total building and engineering maintenance costs”). The data for 2010 onwards is provided for the NHS below:

    £ million

    2010-11

    768.46

    2011-12

    751.40

    2012-13

    753.64

    2013-14

    756.06

    2014-15

    749.82

    The data is provided as received from the NHS and has not been amended centrally.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people undertake quality assurance in the NHS outside of clinical commissioning groups.

    Ben Gummer

    We do not hold information centrally on the number of people working in the National Health Service who have a quality assurance role.

    However, the fundamental standards set out the standards against which care should not fall and all providers are expected to have systems and processes in place to assure themselves that they are assessing, monitoring and improving the quality and safety of their services.

    The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for the inspection and regulation of quality of all healthcare providers and its findings are published together with a performance rating. Where a provider’s performance falls below the fundamental standards the CQC has specific powers to take appropriate action.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the provision of urgent care centres on levels of attendance at A&E departments.

    Jane Ellison

    The location and structure of urgent and emergency care services is a matter for local commissioners, taking account of guidance issued by NHS England. This guidance includes Safer, faster better: good practice in delivering urgent and emergency care, which was published in August 2015, to support frontline providers and commissioners in re-designing urgent and emergency care services.

    The guidance states that urgent care centres co-located with emergency departments provide an opportunity to stream patients with less serious illnesses and injuries to a service that is resourced to meet their needs, while reducing crowding in emergency departments.