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  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on reducing reoffending in each of the last three years.

    Mike Penning

    The Home Office makes an important contribution to the Government’s commitment to reduce re-offending to cut crime and make our streets safer. Integrated Offender Management provides a framework for the police working with other agencies to prevent some of the most prolific and problematic offenders from committing further crime.

    Operational policing matters are the responsibility of Chief Constables in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners. The Home Office does not, however, provide specific funding for this, over and above overall central Government funding provided to the police.

  • Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Roberta Blackman-Woods – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roberta Blackman-Woods on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to notify groups and organisations who may be affected by the potential closure of the Collective Passport Service.

    James Brokenshire

    The future use of the Collective Passport is under review in the light of changing demand for the product and the security of the document. We are engaging with staff and other stakeholders and expect to make an announcement shortly.

  • Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications of the reference to a number of protected characteristics in paragraph seven of the Government’s Counter-Extremism Strategy, Cm 9148, for the effect of the Equality Act 2010 on all the protected characteristics it includes.

    Karen Bradley

    The Government is required to impact assess its policies against the protected characteristics as set out in the Equality Act 2010. I am satisfied that the Counter-Extremism Strategy demonstrates compliance, where relevant, with Section 149 of the Equality Act and that due regard has been made to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.

    The Counter-Extremism Strategy aims to tackle extremism in all its forms and reduce the harm it causes, iIncluding harms such as discrimination, harassment and victimisation. To tackle these harms the strategy focuses on four areas:

    • Countering extremist ideology;

    • Building partnerships;

    • Disrupting extremists; and

    • Building more cohesive communities.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recourse is available to patients who believe they have undergone poor or harmful NHS psychotherapy treatment.

    Alistair Burt

    Complaints about poor or harmful National Health Service psychotherapy treatment are handled through the NHS complaints process. Details are available at the following link:

    http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/complaints/Pages/NHScomplaints.aspx

    “

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what changes his Department plans to pharmacy funding; and what assessment his Department has made of the effect of those changes on small independent businesses.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services including public access to medicines. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim.

  • David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    David Simpson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of talking therapy for the treatment of mental health.

    Alistair Burt

    The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme is a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommend evidence based intervention, helping adults with common mental health conditions (including anxiety and depression) to recover. The latest data shows that that nationally we are achieving a 45% recovery rate and 61% rate in reliable improvement. In total over 733,000 people have recovered from their condition since the start of the IAPT programme, and between October 2008 and February 2015 over 100,000 people moved off of sick pay and benefits.

    The Impact Assessment published in 2011 shows that the IAPT programme would expect to deliver improved health and wellbeing of those treated, as well as savings to the National Health Service and wider economic benefits such as reductions in sickness absence.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the proportion of cancer patients who are offered the opportunity to take part in research in (a) trust areas in which participation rates are below the English average and (b) other areas.

    Jane Ellison

    The proportion of cancer patients in England who participate in clinical trials and other research studies rose more than four-fold between 2001 and 2012, from under 4% of cancer patients to more than18%. Research participation in countries for which data exists has lagged behind the United Kingdom, at around 3% to 8% of cancer patients. For this reason, several other countries (including USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan) have sought advice from leaders in the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) and adopted elements of the UK approach.

    Since 2012, the number of cancer research studies to which English patients have been recruited through the NIHR CRN has continued to rise year-on-year. Patients were recruited to 550 different studies during 2011-12, compared with 750 in 2014-15 and over 780 already in 2015-16. However, the nature of clinical research questions has changed, reducing the demand for very large numbers of patients per study. Consequently, despite the continuing increase in research studies, the total number of patients recruited per year fell slightly during 2012-14. However, there has been a 10% increase in recruitment to date in 2015-16 compared with the same months in 2014-15.

    As well as monitoring overall recruitment to cancer studies, the NIHR CRN is continually monitoring detailed performance including regional variation and variation between different cancer types, and taking steps to improve lower-performing areas. From April 2015, the NIHR CRN has comprised 15 Local Clinical Research Networks (LCRNs) and a national co-ordinating centre, which together have responsibility for study delivery in England. The LCRNs include local clinical leadership for cancer research. These Cancer Specialty Leads meet regularly with the national team to compare performance metrics and best practice, so that leaders from below-average recruiting LCRNs can learn from those with the highest performance.

    From April 2015, each LCRN has been required to identify clinical leaders for 13 different cancer subspecialties, each of whom works with the LCRN team to ensure that there is a research portfolio in place for patients within their subspecialty, and liaises with the national group developing trials in that disease type. This new system is improving the coordination of national and local research strategies, and may underlie the upturn in recruitment which is now being observed.

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the smoking rate in (a) local authorities in which it is above the English average and (b) other local authorities.

    Jane Ellison

    Local authorities, funded by the Government’s public health grant, have responsibility for providing a programme of tobacco control that meets the needs of their populations. Public Health England provides local authorities with a range of data and tools including the Local Tobacco Control Profiles for England and a local youth smoking mapping tool, to assist local priority setting and support delivery.

    This Government has committed to publishing a new tobacco control plan to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in England. Addressing health inequality and local variation will be a priority of the new strategy. We are working with local authorities to develop this element of the plan to support and empower local action, where tobacco control can be tailored to the unique needs of local populations.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to review plans to introduce a click and collect service as a result of P2U service failings over the 2015 Christmas period.

    Alistair Burt

    All pharmacies should have a business continuity plan in place which covers not being able to provide a full or any service.

    NHS England, in conjunction with the General Pharmaceutical Council, worked urgently with Pharmacy 2 U once it became apparent that this pharmacy was failing to deliver its normal service over the Christmas period. They ensured that Pharmacy 2 U instigated several actions in addition to the business continuity plan that the pharmacy already had in place. The ability to ensure that, where necessary or as requested by the patient, prescriptions were diverted to another pharmacy of the patient’s choice was made significantly easier by the fact that the majority of the prescriptions dispensed by Pharmacy 2 U are sent to them via the Electronic Prescription Service.

    Patient safety was the number one priority at the immediate time. Pharmacy 2 U resumed its normal service, as publicised, on 11 January 2016, and there now continues to be a review of the events that led to this situation to ensure that the review of community pharmacy in England is fully informed and national lessons can be learnt from this unexpected and unfortunate event.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25882, if he will list the (a) 27 categories of information held in the Asset Management data set, (b) 13 categories of information held in the Facilities Management data set and (c) four categories of information held under the Finance data set.

    George Freeman

    The information requested is contained in the accompanying table.