The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of income received by commissioning support units from clinical commissioning groups is spent supporting clinical commissioning groups in outsourcing NHS services.
Jane Ellison
This information is not collected centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to Freedom to speak up?, the report by Sir Robert Francis QC, published on 11 February 2015, when he plans to take steps to ensure that NHS whistleblowers are not discriminated against when they apply for other jobs.
Dr Daniel Poulter
On 11 February, my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State accepted in principle all the recommendations made by Sir Robert Francis following his Freedom to Speak Up review. We will shortly be consulting on how best to implement these recommendations. In addition we plan to bring forward measures to provide legislative protection for whistleblowers applying for a job in the National Health Service. With Opposition support, this could be in place before Parliament is prorogued.
The implementation of Sir Roberts’ recommendations will see a programme of action to help foster an open and learning culture in the NHS backed by local freedom to speak up guardians and a new national whistleblowing guardian. Individual trusts may wish to begin implementing some of these recommendations right away. Local action and responsibility will be at the heart of bringing about a culture where reporting of concerns is valued and encouraged.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2014, Official Report, columns 261-3W, on psoriasis, what development to Read codes was found to be necessary by the Health and Social Care Information Centre to support the indicators proposed for psoriasis.
Norman Lamb
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Clinical Commissioning Group Outcome Indicator Set (CCG OIS) Advisory Committee considered the following draft psoriasis indicators, derived from the NICE Psoriasis Quality Standard, at its meeting in October 2014:
– PSO 5.1 Psoriasis: assessment for psoriatic arthritis;
– PSO 6.2 Skin disease: time off school or work due to skin disease;
– PSO 6.3 Psoriasis: skin clearance; and
– PSO 3.2 Psoriasis: Patient experience: access to secondary care services.
It was the decision of the committee that the indicators did not meet the prioritisation criteria, as set out in the NICE Indicator Process guide. The primary reason for this was that the majority of care for people with psoriasis is provided in primary care and the CCG OIS is focused on care provided in secondary care. As such, the committee has not put forward any of the psoriasis indicators for further development and testing by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC). The HSCIC has not, therefore, undertaken any further work on the development of Read Codes for this topic.
The NICE indicator process guide and the NICE consultation document setting out those indicators which did meet the prioritisation criteria can be found at the links below:
www.nice.org.uk/media/03E/31/Indicators_process_guide.pdf
www.nice.org.uk/media/default/Standards-and-indicators/CCGOIS-indicator-consultation.pdf
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the cost of a gun licence has been set at £50 since 2001; and what the net cost to the public purse of the gun licensing system was, including the cost of background checks, in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Lynne Featherstone
This Government has been clear that the fact firearms licences did not rise in cost from 2001 is unsustainable. That is why we consulted on a series of price increases to enable the police to recover a greater proportion of the costs, without causing undue financial repercussions for licence owners. The Government ran a consultation on a proposed fee increase for firearms licences between 27 November and 29 December 2014. We are currently considering the responses.
The former Association of Chief Police Officers previously assessed the cost of gun licences. They estimated that the cost to the taxpayer was £17.2 million in the year 2009-10. Under the Government’s proposed fee levels, in conjunction with the introduction of a new e-commerce tool for policing, the aim is that there will be no net cost to the public purse.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been dismissed (a) in total and (b) through lack of capacity following an employment tribunal hearing in the last three years for which data is available.
Andrew Selous
The total number of officers, bands 3-5, dismissed from the public sector prison service in England and Wales, can be found in the table below, broken down into the categories of dismissal used within the National Offender Management Service. Lack of capacity is not one of these categories.
Table: Headcount of Band 3 to 5 Officers Dismissed from the Public Sector Prison Service in England & Wales, 2011/12 to 2013/14
|
Reason |
2011/12 |
2012/12 |
2013/14 |
|
Breach of Contract |
~ |
~ |
~ |
|
Conduct |
80 |
80 |
70 |
|
Medical Inefficiency |
170 |
160 |
170 |
|
Poor Performance |
~ |
~ |
~ |
|
Unsatisfactory Attendance |
10 |
10 |
~ |
|
Grand Total |
260 |
260 |
250 |
Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 in line with the department’s policy for presenting staffing data.
~ denotes suppressed values of 5 or fewer. Low numbers are suppressed in conjunction with the rounding policy to prevent disclosure in accordance with Data Protection Act, 1998.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what total amount his Department has spent on consultant fees for the Great Western direct award to date.
Claire Perry
The total amount the Department has spent on consultancy fees for the Great Western Direct Award (DA) from November 2012 to date (January 2015) is approximately £1.6m. This amount is inclusive of VAT.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications the DVLA has received relating to a review of medical information in relation to a driver’s licence in each year since 2010.
Claire Perry
The table below provides the total number of applications received that required a medical investigation before making a driver licensing decision:
|
Year |
Total number of applications received |
|
2010 |
599,050 |
|
2011 |
576,291 |
|
2012 |
619,383 |
|
2013 |
652,702 |
|
2014 |
626,629 |
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2015-02-20.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) men and (b) women were earning the minimum wage in each of the last five years.
Mr Rob Wilson
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-02-12.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average number of days training of full-time equivalent staff employed in his Department was in each of the last three financial years.
Mr Francis Maude
We want to ensure that the Civil Service is ready to meet the challenges of the twenty first century.
Through our programme of Civil Service Reform the Government is working to address long-standing weaknesses in four key skills areas: commercial, programme and project delivery, digital delivery, and leading and managing change across the Civil Service.
Civil Servants are encouraged to take at least five days learning a year but the key point is to ensure that civil servants have the particular skills they need to do their jobs well. The Functional Heads, most of whom report to the Chief Executive of the Civil Service, will set the learning curricula for their functions.
Most learning is now provided by Civil Service Learning.
Complete central records are not held on the number of days training, training budgets or training expenditure.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Flynn on 2015-02-12.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on which dates he discussed with senior officials at HM Revenue and Customs whether maximisation of recovery of unpaid tax liabilities from UK residents holding private unregistered accounts offshore should be prioritised ahead of prosecuting alleged offenders.
Mr David Gauke
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has a longstanding approach to tax evasion, which is based on collecting the tax and interest due, changing taxpayer behaviour to discourage them from evading in the future, and enforcing the most appropriate and effective penalties. This approach was set out by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in 2002[1] and has not changed.
They have a range of enforcement tools at their disposal, including criminal prosecution and civil sanctions. In many cases, and when the evidence supports this, the most appropriate action is to pursue criminal charges.
HMRC therefore use the criminal route where they have the strongest evidence of criminal intent, for serial tax evaders and for people who deliberately conceal information when they are investigated by HMRC.
In 2010 this Government increased the resources available for prosecution and as a result the number of prosecutions has increased by a factor of five.
[1] http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/2002/nov/07/tax-fraud
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