Tag: 2014

  • Chris Heaton-Harris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Chris Heaton-Harris – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Heaton-Harris on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention savings for neonatal care will be realised.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    NHS England, as part of its direct commissioning responsibilities for specialised services, has an ongoing programme in place to identify both local and national opportunities to identify potential efficiencies as part of its management and prioritisation of available resources.

    NHS England’s Clinical Reference Groups (CRGs), involving lead clinical, patient and professional representatives, are assisting NHS England in this work, particularly in respect of proposals that might be considered nationwide.

    Specialised neonatal care is one of NHS England’s most significant areas of expenditure and the Neonatal CRG has therefore been involved in identifying potential neonatal specific schemes, which may have the potential to deliver savings whilst maintaining safety and quality. The schemes will be subject to a confirm and challenge process to determine their deliverability, before being worked up into schemes which could be implemented on a national basis.

    It is therefore not possible, at this stage in the programme’s development, to quantify the level of savings that might be generated nationally or the specific savings approach that will be adopted.

    It is unlikely that the national schemes currently being considered will generate savings in 20140-15. The schemes are more likely to be transformational in design and therefore are more likely to deliver savings in the longer term.

  • Mr David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    Mr David Anderson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Speaker’s Committee on the Electorial Commission

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr David Anderson on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the electoral registration figures were in each ward in the recent confirmation dry run conducted in (a) Gateshead Council and (b) Blaydon constituency.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that the confirmation dry run involved matching all entries on the electoral registers against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Customer Information System database. Entries would be marked as green if they matched with DWP, amber if they were a partial match or red if there was no match.

    The ward results for Gateshead Council were as follows:

    Ward

    Green matches

    Amber matches

    Red matches

    BIRTLEY

    85.6%

    1.4%

    13.0%

    BLAYDON

    84.0%

    1.2%

    14.8%

    BRIDGES

    73.7%

    2.0%

    24.3%

    CHOPWELL & ROWLANDS GILL

    85.1%

    1.8%

    13.1%

    CHOWDENE

    88.7%

    1.3%

    10.0%

    CRAWCROOK & GREENSIDE

    84.6%

    1.9%

    13.5%

    DECKHAM

    82.8%

    1.5%

    15.7%

    DUNSTON & TEAMS

    80.5%

    1.4%

    18.1%

    DUNSTON HILL & WHICKHAM EAST

    87.6%

    1.4%

    11.0%

    FELLING

    84.5%

    1.3%

    14.2%

    HIGH FELL

    85.5%

    1.9%

    12.6%

    LAMESLEY

    84.8%

    2.0%

    13.1%

    LOBLEY HILL & BENSHAM

    82.1%

    1.7%

    16.2%

    LOW FELL

    85.1%

    1.3%

    13.6%

    PELAW & HEWORTH

    85.6%

    1.2%

    13.2%

    RYTON, CROOKHILL & STELLA

    85.3%

    1.6%

    13.1%

    SALTWELL

    76.9%

    2.1%

    21.0%

    WARDLEY & LEAM LANE

    88.0%

    1.0%

    11.0%

    WHICKHAM NORTH

    86.4%

    1.2%

    12.4%

    WHICKHAM SOUTH & SUNNISIDE

    88.2%

    1.4%

    10.4%

    WINDY NOOK & WHITEHILLS

    88.1%

    1.0%

    10.9%

    WINLATON & HIGH SPEN

    87.1%

    1.7%

    11.2%

    The ward results for the Blaydon constituency were as follows:

    Ward

    Green matches

    Amber matches

    Red matches

    BIRTLEY

    84.0%

    1.2%

    14.8%

    BLAYDON

    85.1%

    1.8%

    13.1%

    CHOPWELL & ROWLANDS GILL

    84.6%

    1.9%

    13.5%

    CRAWCROOK & GREENSIDE

    87.6%

    1.4%

    11.0%

    DUNSTON HILL & WHICKHAM EAST

    84.8%

    2.0%

    13.1%

    LAMESLEY

    85.3%

    1.6%

    13.1%

    RYTON, CROOKHILL & STELLA

    86.4%

    1.2%

    12.4%

    WHICKHAM NORTH

    88.2%

    1.4%

    10.4%

    WHICKHAM SOUTH & SUNNISIDE

    87.1%

    1.7%

    11.2%

    WINLATON & HIGH SPEN

    84.0%

    1.2%

    14.8%

    Results for all wards are available on the Commission’s website here: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/excel_doc/0003/163146/Confirmation-dry-run-2013-Results-Wards.xls

    “

  • Mark Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Mark Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his sources of advice are on security and terrorism in the part of Western Sahara not occupied by Morocco.

    Hugh Robertson

    We are open to all relevant sources of information on security and terrorism East of the Berm including MINURSO, which has a presence in this area.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Ruane on 2014-03-10.

    To ask the hon. Member for South West Devon, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made on the viability of permitting people to vote in any polling station in their constituency or local authority area.

    Gary Streeter

    The Electoral Commission informs me that permitting people to vote electronically at any polling station within a specific ward or local authority area was piloted by a number of English local authorities between 2002 and 2007 as part of the previous UK Government’s electoral pilot scheme programme.

    The Commission’s statutory evaluation of the pilot schemes concluded that while some people welcomed the convenience of “vote anywhere” polling stations, the impact on turnout was minimal and there were significant technical problems associated with the facility in some areas.

    The Commission has recommended that there should be no further piloting of electronic voting – including “vote anywhere” polling stations – without the development of a wider electoral modernisation strategy, which should take account of the specific risks related to electronic voting, as well as its cost-effectiveness and likely impact on public trust.

  • Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that people who are homeless are (a) able to access hepatitis C services and (b) supported in completing treatment for that condition.

    Jane Ellison

    The commissioning of local Hepatitis C services, including bespoke services for homeless people or other at-risk groups, is the responsibility of local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). NHS England expects that decisions made by local CCGs will take account of the needs of their local populations.

    A range of materials has been published to help CCGs commission relevant services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on improving uptake of testing and diagnosis for hepatitis C in risk groups. Public Health England has published a commissioning template to support commissioning of hepatitis C diagnosis and treatment services. Guidance for commissioning bespoke services for homeless people has been published by the Faculty for Homeless and Inclusion Health.

    The Department supports the Inclusion Health programme which champions the health and health care of vulnerable groups, including homeless people. The programme seeks to improve the health data for these groups, and set out practical steps for assessing needs (e.g. through Joint Strategic Need Assessments) and commissioning services. We are also involved in funding work in this area through the Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund to improve hospital discharge arrangements for people who are homeless (£10 million 2013-14) and £40 million capital fund for hostel refurbishment with a focus on improving health outcomes (2014-15).

  • Mr Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Mr Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Roger Godsiff on 2014-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the quality of the administration of the short-term benefit advances scheme since its inception.

    Esther McVey

    DWP has a quality framework in place for checking the accuracy of Short Term Benefit Advance decisions. In February 2014, checks confirmed 96% accuracy of application decisions. In terms of timeliness, an average 98% of all application decisions made throughout the operational year since April 2013 were made within 24 hours.

  • Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Douglas Alexander – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Alexander on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he considers the existing mandate of the UN Special Envoy to Syria is sufficient.

    Mr William Hague

    The UK fully supports the role of the UN Special Representative and the efforts to bring about political transition as set out in the Geneva Communiqué. The scope of the mandate for Mr Brahimi’s successor is under consideration by the UN.

  • Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Beecham – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will attempt to measure the re-offending rates of ex-service personnel convicted of criminal offences.

    Lord Faulks

    The Ministry of Justice does not centrally collate or hold information on the current or previous occupation of those convicted of criminal offences; therefore it is not possible to provide re-offending rates for ex-service personnel in the criminal justice system.

    Rory Stewart MP has been invited to conduct an independent review of ex-Service personnel within the criminal justice system. He has been asked to consider the needs of ex-Services personnel, current rehabilitation available to them, how they are identified and best practice. The Review is due to report back in autumn 2014 and we will then consider his recommendations.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gloria De Piero – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2014-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential cost to her Department of including mothers’ names on marriage certificates.

    Karen Bradley

    The marriage certificate is an exact copy of the marriage entry which is in a
    form prescribed in the Regulation of Marriage Regulations 1986. We are
    currently considering how the information captured in the marriage entry can be
    updated to reflect changes since 1986, as well as including the names of
    mothers; the costs of doing so and the most suitable opportunity for doing so.

  • Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Lord Boateng – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Boateng on 2014-03-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the decision to refuse legal aid to the family of Cherry Groce at the inquest into her death is consistent with the equality objectives of the Ministry of Justice.

    Lord Faulks

    The Government is confident that the inquest system is functioning effectively following reforms introduced last July under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. We are committed to reviewing the impact of the reforms in 2015.

    In addition, the Government has specifically protected legal aid for families at inquests. Legal Help (the advice and assistance level of legal aid) remains routinely available within the scope of the civil legal aid scheme. In exceptional circumstances funding can also be provided for the family’s legal representation at the inquest pursuant to section 6(8)(b) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 (AJA) or section 10(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) (the applicable legislation depending on the date of the original application). A means test applies but can be waived in certain circumstances.

    The Lord Chancellor is prevented by statute from giving directions and guidance to the Legal Aid Agency in relation to an individual case, but has published general guidance to which the Director of Legal Aid Casework must have regard when making individual decisions on applications for exceptional funding for representation at inquests. The guidance sets out the relevant criteria and specifically addresses inquests where there is a death in custody or a death in the course of police arrest, search, pursuit or shooting.

    Following a review of its decision in the Groce family’s case, the Legal Aid Agency made a funding request to the Lord Chancellor. The Lord Chancellor has considered the request and has granted funding