The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in each age group admitted to A&E for (a) psychiatric conditions and (b) intentional self-harm were re-admitted within 30 days in each of the last five years.
Alistair Burt
The information is not collected in the format requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will respond to the petition of Isabelle Garnett on the www.change.org website, entitled Help my son get the autism care he needs.
Alistair Burt
I met Isabelle and Robin Garnett on 15 March, together with the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes). I was grateful for the opportunity to discuss Matthew’s care and the broader issues of ensuring that children and young people’s mental health services are transformed using the £1.4 billion funding being made available over the lifetime of this Parliament. It is crucial that children such as Matthew get the best possible care, based on the best clinical advice at all stages, with hospital stays kept to the minimum necessary and in the most appropriate setting to meet their needs.
On 22 March, Matthew transferred to a unit in Northampton where the specialist care he needs is available.
I have asked the Department, with NHS England and other partners, to consider urgently how we can best learn the lessons from the experiences of Matthew and his family, including whether this case raises broader systemic issues that need to be addressed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charles Walker on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of its senior civil servants who will potentially fall under the provisions of the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive, 2015/849; and what assessment he has made of which of his Department’s agencies or other public bodies will potentially be classed as holding a prominent public function for the purposes of that directive.
Jane Ellison
The Government’s view is that the Directive permits a risk-based approach to the identification of whether an individual is a politically exposed person and, when identified, the Directive enables the application of different degrees of enhanced measures to reflect the risks posed. The Government will be setting out this view in a consultation which will be published shortly.
The changes proposed under the Directive should not prevent any individual in this category from gaining or maintaining access to financial services. The Treasury regularly raises these issues with financial institutions and the regulator, and we encourage financial institutions to take a proportionate, risk-based approach when applying these measures.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Garnier on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provision the Government has in place to provide extra funding for clinical commissioning groups to deal with increasing local pressures on social care resulting from limits on local authority resources and NHS trusts being placed on special measures.
Alistair Burt
The Better Care Fund gives flexibility to local areas to determine how best to invest a joint budget. Local authorities are required to agree with their local health partners how funding is best used within social care in order to best serve local people and reduce pressures on the health service.
The total value of the Better Care Fund in 2015/16 is £5.3 billion, which includes monies provided by local authorities and health partners in 151 local areas.
From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available additional social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Garnier on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to help pressures on local health care services resulting from an increasing population of elderly people.
Alistair Burt
We know there are challenges ahead across the health and care sectors, but the principle with which we will approach the decisions ahead will be to prioritise and maximise funding for frontline services. The Government believes that the answer to these challenges lies in changing the way services are delivered and keeping people well and independent for longer, not in altering the fundamental principles that underpin the National Health Service.
As a result of the Spending Review, NHS funding will be £10 billion higher in real terms by 2020-21 than 2014-15. And the NHS will not have to wait until the end of the parliament for much of this investment. We will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more next year, over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six year period. This shows that the Government has listened and responded to what the NHS has said about the level of investment it needs to deliver the Five Year Forward View.
The Five Year Forward View – the NHS’s own plan – takes account of rising demand from demographic change and sets out new models of care that can meet the changing needs of patients, including better meeting the needs of the frail elderly, and maximising the opportunities presented by new technologies and treatments. The aim of the new care models programme is to secure the future of the NHS for all of us to continue receiving high quality care, when and where we need it.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the reasons for the delay by NHS England on announcing a public consultation on pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
NHS England does not now consider pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV to be suitable for prioritisation of specialised commissioning spend as it is a preventative measure. However given the potential benefits in this area, NHS England wants to build on the work to date and will be making available up to £2 million over the next two years to run a number of early implementer test sites. These will be undertaken in conjunction with Public Health England and will seek to answer the remaining questions around how PrEP could be commissioned in the most cost effective and integrated way to reduce HIV and sexually transmitted infections in those at highest risk.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department’s estimate of the number of people who have been affected by HIV or hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products has changed since the publication of Impact Assessment No. 3140 on 21 January 2015.
Jane Ellison
The figures provided in Impact Assessment No. 3140 have not been updated since publication on 21 January 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Bradshaw on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2016 to Question 26471, whether the UK cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme plans to assess the potential link between oil and gas activities and related seismic testing and the movement of sperm whales to North Sea waters.
George Eustice
The UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme is currently working with experts from Germany and The Netherlands to carry out an assessment of all the potential factors, natural and/or human-induced, that may have contributed to the recent sperm whale strandings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Heappey on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, what her policy is on the extension of the definition of mapped open countryside to caves.
George Eustice
Section 2(1) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides for a right of access on foot for the purposes of open-air recreation to land which has been mapped as open country (mountain, moor, heath and down) and registered common land.
The Government has no plans to extend the definition of mapped land under that Act to apply to caves.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect on animal welfare of the use of glue traps.
George Eustice
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides protection for animals caught in traps. All traps, including glue traps, must be inspected at regular intervals and trapped animals dealt with appropriately to ensure they do not suffer unnecessarily.