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Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the report by Sir Stephen Bubb, Time for Change: the challenge ahead, published in February 2016, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a commissioner for people with learning disabilities.

Alistair Burt

The Department will consider the recommendations made in Time for Change – the Challenge Ahead, as part of development work on our Learning Disability Action Plan and in delivering the commitments we made in the Government’s response to ‘No voice unheard, no right ignored’ consultation published in November 2015. However, new statutory roles and legislation are not necessarily the answer to promoting and protecting the rights of people with learning disabilities and their families.

In the response to ‘No voice unheard, no right ignored’, we set out how we can make more rapid and meaningful progress by ensuring that the rights that exist under current laws and statutes are properly understood, implemented and exercised by those with learning disabilities and/or autism. This work is underway and we have made a clear commitment to consider legislation if the actions we propose do not create sufficient progress.

01/01/2023

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many adult inpatient psychiatric beds there were in England in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt

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

Average daily availability and occupancy rate¹ for consultant-led beds open overnight in the mental health sector, in each quarter from 2010-11

Quarter	Number of available beds open overnight	Occupancy rate
2010-11 Q1	23,515	87.1%
2010-11 Q2	22,929	86.7%
2010-11 Q3	23,740	85.9%
2010-11 Q4	23,607	86.6%
2011-12 Q1	23,253	86.8%
2011-12 Q2	23,208	86.8%
2011-12 Q3	23,016	87.2%
2011-12 Q4	23,121	87.2%
2012-13 Q1	22,550	87.5%
2012-13 Q2	22,269	88.3%
2012-13 Q3	22,496	87.2%
2012-13 Q4	22,268	88.6%
2013-14 Q1	22,109	88.3%
2013-14 Q2	22,025	89.2%
2013-14 Q3	21,931	88.1%
2013-14 Q4	21,731	88.6%
2014-15 Q1	21,750	89.8%
2014-15 Q2	21,618	89.6%
2014-15 Q3	21,446	89.4%
2014-15 Q4	21,374	89.5%
2015-16 Q1²	18,569	89.9%
2015-16 Q2	19,249	89.1%
2015-16 Q3	19,273	88.6%

Source: Bed availability and occupancy, NHS England

Notes:

Numbers of occupied beds are collected every quarter by consultant main specialty. Numbers of available beds are not collected by consultant specialty, because some beds may be available for more than one specialty to use depending on need. Instead, available beds are collected by four sectors within which beds are used flexibly. These sectors are general and acute, mental health, learning disabilities, and maternity. Occupied bed days by specialty are added to calculate occupancy rates for each of these sectors.
In 2015-16 Q1 several mental health providers ceased to submit a return, as a validation of beds data concluded that they were not satisfying the required criteria for consultant-led beds. This is the major factor behind the drop in the number of consultant-led, available mental health beds.

01/01/2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

Jane Ellison

When the Human Rights Act came into force, no specific arrangements were put in place by the then government to record cases in the way requested. Furthermore, litigants in civil cases can rely on arguments based wholly or partly on the Human Rights Act 1998. In some cases, the Act is relied on in addition to other claims. Neither Government Legal Department records nor the County and High Courts case management systems distinguish between cases where the Act is invoked and cases where it is not. As a result, there are not currently data published which distinguish between cases where the Human Rights Act was or was not invoked. To obtain the information requested would involve a thorough review of all paper case files since 2010. To undergo this review would incur a disproportionate cost.

01/01/2023
Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of rickets there were among children and young people in each of the last 10 years.

Jane Ellison

The Health and Social Care Information Centre has provided a link to their annual publication for admitted patient care which contains data on hospital admissions where there is a diagnosis of rickets:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB19124/hosp-epis-stat-admi-diag-2014-15-tab.xlsx

Data on earlier years can be found at:

http://www.hscic.gov.uk/searchcatalogue?q=title%3a%22Hospital+Episode+Statistics%2c+Admitted+patient+care+-+England%22&sort=Most+recent&size=10&page=1#top

The annual publication provides the total number of finished admission episodes and an age breakdown of finished consultant episodes.

This data only reflects cases that have resulted in a hospital admission. Cases of rickets may also be diagnosed in a primary care setting which do not result in a hospital admission. This data should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on one or more occasion.

“

01/01/2023
Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what restrictions are in place on Dr Nicole Mather in her role as Director of the Office for Life Sciences in relation to her role as Director of Deloitte’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice.

George Freeman

It is a condition of Nicole’s secondment to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) that she ensures that in the course of carrying out the work she is asked to do, there will be no conflict of interest that will cause either embarrassment to, or difficulties for, Nicole, Deloitte or BIS.

As part of her secondment agreement to BIS, Nicole has signed up to the Civil Service Code including its values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality. The secondment agreement sets out specific requirements around shareholdings, use of information gained in the course of her work in BIS, directorships, being a partner in a partnership, and the application of the Business Appointment Rules if Nicole wishes to take up another role within 2 years of the end of her secondment to BIS.

01/01/2023
Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.

Jane Ellison

The amounts paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months are contained in the attached document.

01/01/2023
Toby Perkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Toby Perkins on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to extend the meningitis B vaccination programme to all infants.

Jane Ellison

National immunisation programmes are introduced on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters. Following JCVI’s recommendation, we introduced a Meningococcal B (MenB) infant programme.

Since September 2015, all infants aged two months have been offered the MenB vaccine, followed by a second dose at four months and a booster at 12 months.

We are proud to have been the first country in the world to introduce a national, publicly-funded MenB immunisation programme for infants using the Bexsero vaccine.

01/01/2023
Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assurances or opinions has he received from the government or constitutional bodies in (a) France and (b) Germany on whether the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016, would require a vote in the parliament of that country.

Mr David Lidington

It is for the relevant national authorities in France and Germany to determine their parliamentary proceedings.

The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 was agreed to by all Member States and is now a legally binding document that has been registered with the United Nations as an international treaty.

01/01/2023

Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has paid to staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Foreign Commonwealth and Office has paid the following amounts to its UK-based staff in overtime in each of the last 24 months:

March 2014	£196,203
April 2014	£222,453
May 2014	£152,223
June 2014	£165,017
July 2014	£225,892
August 2014	£246,323
September 2014	£240,939
October 2014	£466,415
November 2014	£167,582
December 2014	£159,043
January 2015	£159,538
February 2015	£122,033
March 2015	£203,532
April 2015	£178,879
May 2015	£132,817
June 2015	£192,890
July 2015	£189,593
August 2015	£205,078
September 2015	£93,259
October 2015	£216,031
November 2015	£196,363
December 2015	£208,858
January 2016	£113,002
February 2016	£222,666

Staff can only claim overtime when required by management to work more than their conditioned hours. In the majority of cases claims are made after exceptional demands on Foreign Office staff during global crises, such as the Nepal earthquake and terrorist shootings in Tunisia.

01/01/2023

Chris Heaton-Harris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what notification he has received on whether there are (a) constitutional requirements and (b) potential legal proceedings in other EU member states related to the Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016.

Mr David Lidington

It is for the relevant national authorities in other Member States to determine their constitutional requirements and potential legal proceedings.

The Decision of the Heads of State or Government, meeting within the European Council, on 18 and 19 February 2016 was agreed to by all Member States and is now a legally binding document that has been registered with the United Nations as an international treaty.

01/01/2023