The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department collects on applications to the Healthy New Towns programme.
Jane Ellison
The Department does not hold information on the applications to the Healthy New Towns programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the number of women of child-bearing age taking folic acid supplements over the last five years.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England has not made an assessment of the impact of trends in folic acid supplement use in recent years. We continue to encourage women to take a folic acid supplement from before they are pregnant to the 12th week of pregnancy, and include this in all appropriate public health messaging.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Flick Drummond on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the serum folate levels in women of child-bearing age were in the latest results of the National Diet and Nutrition Survey; and how that figure compares to the World Health Organisation thresholds.
Jane Ellison
Results from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS), published in March 2015, show that the mean serum folate level in women of child bearing age (16-49 years) was 20nmol/l. Approximately 16.5% of women in this age group fell below the published World Health Organization threshold for biochemical folate deficiency however, as a result of methodological difficulties the threshold needs to be adjusted to be comparable with the laboratory method used to measure folate in NDNS. The adjusted threshold will be higher than the published threshold and so the percentage of women with serum folate levels below the adjusted threshold is expected to be higher than the published value. A note setting out these points was published on 17 February 2016, alongside the NDNS report.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many officials of his Department resigned in each of the last 12 months.
Justin Tomlinson
The numbers of employees who resigned from the Department for Work and Pensions in each of the last 12 months is as follows:
|
Month |
Resignations |
Resignations as a % of workforce |
|
February 2015 |
121 |
0.13% |
|
March 2015 |
156 |
0.17% |
|
April 2015 |
177 |
0.19% |
|
May 2015 |
186 |
0.20% |
|
June 2015 |
151 |
0.16% |
|
July 2015 |
219 |
0.25% |
|
August 2015 |
212 |
0.24% |
|
September 2015 |
233 |
0.27% |
|
October 2015 |
175 |
0.20% |
|
November 2015 |
171 |
0.20% |
|
December 2015 |
136 |
0.16% |
|
January 2016 |
134 |
0.16% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of (a) his Department’s staff and (b) total sick leave the sick leave of such officials represented in each such year.
Justin Tomlinson
DWP has succeeded in reducing sickness absence from an annual average of 11.1 days per employee in 2007 to 6.18 days per employee currently. This is one of the lowest rates across the public sector.
Our Attendance Management policy is supportive and we are committed to helping our people maintain good health. DWP is committed to improving mental ill health, including stress.
We support employees through access to comprehensive stress risk assessments, Occupational Health services, and our Employee Assistance Programme. DWP is currently introducing Mental Health First Aid to further add to the support available.
The number of employees with a sickness absence reason of ‘stress’ over the last 5 years is shown below:
|
Year |
Number of employees with sickness absence recorded as ‘Stress’ |
Number of employees with sickness absence reason recorded as ‘stress’ as % of end of year headcount* |
Number of working days lost recorded as ‘stress’ as % of all working days lost due to sickness absence |
|
Jan-Dec 15 |
2,581 |
3.01% |
10.57% |
|
Jan-Dec 14 |
2,886 |
3.15% |
11.06% |
|
Jan-Dec 13 |
3,401 |
3.38% |
11.15% |
|
Jan-Dec 12 |
3,313 |
3.07% |
9.63% |
|
Jan-Dec 11 |
3,288 |
3.20% |
9.26% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many of his Department’s officials resigned in each of the last 12 months.
Harriett Baldwin
A total of 85 officials resigned from the department during the last 12 months in which records are available, from February 2015 until January 2016.
The number of resignations for each of the 12 months can be viewed in the table below:
|
Month |
Resignation |
|
Feb-15 |
7 |
|
Mar-15 |
8 |
|
Apr-15 |
9 |
|
May-15 |
5 |
|
Jun-15 |
7 |
|
Jul-15 |
9 |
|
Aug-15 |
7 |
|
Sep-15 |
5 |
|
Oct-15 |
9 |
|
Nov-15 |
4 |
|
Dec-15 |
8 |
|
Jan-16 |
7 |
|
Grand Total |
85 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-01.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of (a) his Department’s staff and (b) total sick leave the sick leave of such officials represented in each such year.
Harriett Baldwin
The Treasury’s sickness absence data for ‘Mental and Behavioural Disorders’ includes stress related conditions.
Details relating to Mental and Behavioural Disorders for the four financial years to March 2015 and the most current information to September 2015 is as follows:
|
Year/period |
Number of officials |
Proportion of staff |
Proportion of total sick leave of the department |
|
October 2014 to September 2015 |
38 |
3.1% |
26% |
|
April 2014 to March 2015 |
36 |
3.2% |
25% |
|
April 2013 to March 2014 |
33 |
3.0% |
25% |
|
April 2012 to March 2013 |
32 |
2.8% |
19% |
|
April 2011 to March 2012 |
28 |
2.4% |
18% |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to commission an independent assessment of the effect of any new tobacco control measures on small businesses prior to their introduction.
Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of each tobacco control measure introduced in the last decade on small businesses; and whether those effects were in line with the assessment as set out in the original impact assessment.
Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Nuttall on 2016-03-01.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will commission an independent assessment of the cumulative effect of all tobacco control measures on small businesses introduced since 1 January 2006.
Jane Ellison
The Department assesses the impact of all proposed measures before laying legislation using standard government methodology. These assessments are set out in Impact Assessments which are scrutinised by the Regulatory Policy Committee before publication alongside the Statutory Instrument. Impact Assessments specifically look at the impacts on small and micro businesses. A number of the tobacco measures contain commitments to further review the impact of the legislation within five years of them coming into force.
The Department assesses the impact of tobacco control measures on an ongoing basis as it develops policy and considers new measures. In September 2013, the Department published An Audit of the impact of the Department of Health’s Regulations upon business. A copy of the report is attached. The Audit report covered all regulations for which the Department has responsibility believed to have a potential cost to business, including those relating to tobacco control. As advised in the report, there is a robust cost-benefit case for the tobacco control regulations considered and experience shows that initiatives to reduce smoking prevalence work best in combination, with cumulative effects over time.