The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Brown on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on the junior doctors’ contract renegotiation process.
Ben Gummer
Progress in negotiations has led to substantial agreement on a fairer contract with safety and training at its heart. The door remains open to the BMA to negotiate on the remaining issue of pay for unsocial hours, as they agreed to do in the joint agreement at ACAS in November.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Mullin on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of NHS emergency medicine services.
Jane Ellison
NHS staff in England continue to provide quality services in the face of increasingly high-levels of demand throughout the emergency healthcare system. Front-line services are treating record numbers of patients with more than nine out of 10 patients seen within four hours in A&E departments. Ambulance services are delivering over 2800 more emergency journeys every day compared to 2010 and responding to the majority of life-threatening cases in under 8 minutes.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the quantity and quality of specialist therapeutic support available to children who have experienced abuse.
Alistair Burt
Children who have been abused may require a range of services to meet their needs. Local commissioners are responsible for assessing local need and ensuring the delivery of appropriate services. Local partners and NHS England need to work together to help children who have experienced abuse or neglect access appropriate care pathways and evidence-based care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lisa Cameron on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure timely psychiatric assessment in A&E for people with mental health problems.
Alistair Burt
In January, the Prime Minister announced £247 million to be used to develop further the provision of liaison psychiatry services in Emergency Departments in England. These services will ensure that people attending Emergency Departments who have mental ill health are assessed quickly and receive the most appropriate treatment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Freer on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress his Department is making on rolling out HPV vaccinations to men who have sex with men.
Jane Ellison
In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.
JCVI acknowledged that finding a way to implement its advice would be challenging and made clear that work was needed by DH and others to consider commissioning and delivery routes for this programme. This work is already underway and we will announce our plans as soon as we can.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nusrat Ghani on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to reduce stillbirths and improve the safety of maternity care.
Mr Jeremy Hunt
In November, I announced a campaign to halve the national rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth, by 2030. This includes a £2.24m fund for Trusts to buy cutting edge equipment, such as CTGs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-02-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of city regions to commissioning and delivering healthcare.
George Freeman
Devolution of health and social care responsibilities has the potential to further progress local integration going beyond statutory health and care services – leading to better patient experience, improved outcomes and more efficient use of local resource.
Devolution creates opportunity for strategic, innovative commissioning, underpinned by a stronger model of local shared accountability.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Deech on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 2 February about private representations to Saudi Arabia concerning the number of executions (HL Deb, col 1580), and the Written Answer on 1 February (HL5108) regarding private representations made to the Palestinian Minister of Health concerning incitement to violence, and in the light of their public statements condemning Israeli settlement policy, what criteria they use to determine whether criticisms of foreign governments should be made in public or in private.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government makes decisions about how to deal with different situations on the basis of how it believes it can best achieve its objectives. It therefore uses different approaches in different circumstances.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Valentine on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the statement by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 14 December 2015 (HL Deb, col 1885) on aviation capacity, what additional work is now being undertaken on (1) air quality, (2) noise, (3) carbon emissions, (4) surface access to airports, (5) managing the wider impacts of airports on local communities, and (6) the funding and financing of new runways; and when this work will be complete.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
We are testing the Airports Commission’s work on air quality further against the Government’s new air quality plan, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee. This is additional work to test compliance, and build confidence that expansion can take place within legal limits. The further work on air quality is only one element of a wider package of further work.
We are dealing with concerns about noise to get the best outcome for residents, and doing more work on carbon to address concerns on sustainability, particularly during construction. We want to make sure that communities get the best possible mitigation deal.
In addition, we are doing due diligence on the plans for surface access to the airports by talking to both the promoters and the key delivery bodies.
We are also carrying out extra assurance to assess the runways’ potential both locally and nationally so it can deliver more jobs, more growth and more apprenticeships.
On funding and financing, the Airports Commission has provided an extensive examination of the costs, financing, and commercial viability of airport expansion. The Airports Commission and the scheme promoters have made it clear that new runway capacity will be privately delivered and financed.
We anticipate that all this further work will conclude over the summer.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Black of Brentwood on 2016-02-03.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will make representations to the government of Slovenia about the case of Bostjan Bozic and the issues it raises under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We are aware of the case of Slovenian photo journalist Jani Bozic who was given a five month suspended prison sentence by a Slovenian court in March 2015 for invasion of privacy of then Slovenian Prime Minister Bratusek. In all cases, we would expect the Slovenian government to meet its international obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.