Tag: 2014

  • Mary Glindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mary Glindon – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mary Glindon on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent steps his Department has taken to address the lack of compulsory dermatological training in the GP educational pathway.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The Government has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service. This mandate includes a commitment that HEE will ensure that general practitioner (GP) training produces GPs with the required competencies to practise in the new NHS. Consequently HEE will work with stakeholders to influence training curricula as appropriate.

    The content and standard of medical training is the responsibility of the General Medical Council, which is an independent statutory body. It has the general function of promoting high standards of education and co-ordinating all stages of education to ensure that medical students and newly qualified doctors are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes essential for professional practice. Within the current GP curriculum, trainees are required to successfully complete training on care of people with skin problems.

    Responsibility for the commission of dermatology services sits with NHS England. NHS England commissions specialised dermatology services for those patients requiring needing care from Highly Specialist Dermatology Centres (around 10% of sufferers). The level of provision of non-specialised dermatology services is decided by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and it will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

    The Department has not held any specific discussions on compulsory dermatological training for GPs with HEE or the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) since 4 December 2013, nor have HEE or NHS England held discussions with RCGP on this matter.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Cunningham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-04-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms are in place to allow families of patients in care homes to report concerns about standards of care.

    Norman Lamb

    Regulation 19 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2010 requires all care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to “have an effective system in place for identifying, receiving, handling and responding appropriately to complaints and comments made by service users, or persons acting on their behalf”.

    Where a person’s care is provided or arranged by their local authority, complaints and concerns should be directed initially to the local authority, which remains responsible for the quality of care. If a person has arranged their own care, they should pursue the matter directly with the provider in the first instance.

    In both cases, should complainants not be satisfied with the response, they are entitled to ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate.

    People may also raise concerns with the CQC, as regulator of health and adult social care services. Under the 2008 Act, the CQC does not have the responsibility for investigating specific complaints about social care providers. However, where there are concerns about a provider which is registered with the CQC, such concerns should be brought to its attention. The CQC will use this information, together with local information from partners and the public, to help it decide when, where and what to inspect.

    The CQC is currently introducing a new system of inspection of social care providers. This new system of inspection will be structured around five key questions that matter most to people – are the services safe, caring, effective, well-led, and responsive to people’s needs. The new inspections will make more use of people’s views and will use expert inspection teams involving people who have personal experience of care. The CQC has been piloting this new approach in 252 of social care providers since April 2014.

  • Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    Chris Ruane – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what advice the Electoral Commission has given to electoral registration officers on the necessity of conducting local government data matching for the purposes of transition to individual electoral registration.

    Mr Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that it has published comprehensive guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on their duties to maintain the electoral registers under Individual Electoral Registration (IER), including on using local data to identify and target potential electors and to verify and validate data held on the registers.

    The Commission also informs me that the Lord President of the Council has issued Ministerial guidance on IER which EROs must, by law, have regard to. This includes guidance on using local data as part of the confirmation process of data-matching existing electors’ details and the verification process for verifying applicants’ identity.

    The Commission’s guidance, which incorporates the Ministerial guidance, is available on its website at:

    http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/i-am-a/electoral-administrator/running-electoral-registration

    “

  • Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chris Evans – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Evans on 2014-05-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the situation for religious minorities in northern Nigeria.

    Mark Simmonds

    Conflict in northern Nigeria has caused great suffering in communities of different faiths and ethnicities. Representatives of The Government maintain regular contact with religious and ethnic community leaders across Nigeria. We recognise there are tensions in many parts of the country, including in the north east, middle belt and the Niger Delta. Recent attacks by Boko Haram have been indiscriminate, but it is almost certain that these attacks have killed more Muslims than Christians.

    We recognise the underlying issues of poverty and inequality, which lead to inter-communal tensions and conflict in Nigeria and we urge political, traditional and religious leaders to work together in order to resolve these issues. The Department for International Development (DFID), the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) continue to fund a range of conflict resolution projects across Nigeria designed to address these problems. We currently have an expert team in Abuja to help Nigeria deal with the abduction of the school girls from Chibok and to also look at addressing longer term challenges, including inter-communal tensions.

  • Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Jim Dobbin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dobbin on 2014-05-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to reorganise its funding model to ensure that it is encouraging service delivery for complex multiple needs, in line with an intregrated model of healthcare solutions.

    Lynne Featherstone

    DFID supports work to strengthen health systems and deliver health programmes, helping developing countries to assess and provide for the health needs of its people. This will enable countries to make sound decisions about the delivery of the promotion, prevention and treatment services that are needed.

  • Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Jeremy Corbyn – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jeremy Corbyn on 2014-05-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what level of representation the UK will have at the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons war conference being hosted by the Austrian government in December 2014.

    Hugh Robertson

    We have not received an invitation from Austria to this conference, and have therefore not yet made a decision on whether the UK will attend. I will update the House when a decision has been made.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2014-05-08.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have further to support the International Support Mission to the Central African Republic.

    Baroness Warsi

    The International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA) has been crucial in protecting Central African Republic (CAR)’s citizens, and will continue to play a vital role ahead of the deployment of the UN Peacekeeping Operation in September 2014. The UK is providing a strategic communications expert to the African Union (AU) to support the efforts of MISCA, in January contributed £2 million to cover some of MISCA’s basic costs, and works closely with the AU more broadly to build its capacity. We will consider any further requests for support.

  • Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest compensation payment ordered in employment tribunal cases relating to discrimination on the grounds of (a) sex, (b) disability, (c) religion, (d) sexual orientation, (e) age and (f) race was in each of the last five years; and if he will list the nature of the complaint upheld in each case.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    I am answering these questions together.

    Data on highest compensation awards for discrimination jurisdictions for the last five years are set out in Tables E6 to E10 of the latest Official Statistics release published by the Ministry of Justice, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tribunal-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2013.

    Data on average compensation awards in race discrimination and religious discrimination claims are set out in Tables E6 and E9 of that publication, respectively.

    Information on the nature of complaints upheld, and the type of race or religion relevant to individual claims, is not recorded centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost following a manual trawl of all relevant tribunal files. The records retention and disposal schedule applicable to such tribunal files also means that information covering each of the last five years would not be held.

  • Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Christopher Chope – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals from (a) the EU and (b) countries outside the EU have been defendants in the (i) magistrates courts and (ii) Crown courts in England and Wales in the last year for which figures are available.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Ministry of Justice Court Proceedings Database holds information on defendants proceeded against, found guilty and sentenced for criminal offences in England and Wales. This database holds information on offences provided by the statutes under which proceedings are brought but not the specific circumstances of each case. It is not possible to identify from this centrally held information the nationality of offenders sentenced for criminal offences.

    Court proceedings data for 2013 are planned for publication in May 2014.

  • Bill Wiggin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Bill Wiggin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on making the process for school leaving local education authority control to become free schools easier.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Free schools are a type of academy, established either as new provision or by independent schools joining the state sector. Maintained schools cannot become free schools, but they can convert to become academies, which enjoy broadly the same freedoms as free schools. The Department for Education is continually refining the academy conversion process. Guidance has been shortened, documentation simplified and standardised, including a ‘plain English’ version of the funding agreement, and an online application form introduced in March, saving schools time in submitting information to the department.

    The number of converter academies continues to increase, with 2,795 converter academies open as of May 2014.