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Tag: 2015

  • Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kevan Jones – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevan Jones on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the £1.8 million expenditure on mental health services for armed forces veterans by his Department in 2014-15 was spent.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England has £1.8 million per annum baseline (recurrent to 2019/20) funding for veterans mental health services. This funding is used to provide 10 veterans mental health teams across England to meet locally identified needs of veterans and manage the network of providers of NHS commissioned veterans mental health services.

    The funding also provides access for veterans to on-line mental health counselling services provided by the Big White Wall.

    In addition, NHS England provides £3.2 million a year to commission the Armed Forces service charity Combat Stress to provide specialised inpatient services for the treatment of complex post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

    In 2014/15 further funding of £1.68 million was used to fund three pilots to develop and test enhanced models of care for veterans.

    The pilots will:

    – develop a joint substance misuse and mental health service model for veterans;

    – develop an outpatient service for veterans with moderate to severe PTSD; and

    – develop a modal of care to address the barriers that some veterans experience in accessing mental health services.

    Veterans are also able to access the full range of NHS mental health services in the same way as the wider public.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last met (a) the Afghan ambassador to the UK or (b) other representatives of the Afghan government.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) most recently met with Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah at the UN General Assembly in New York on 28 September 2015.

    The Embassy of Afghanistan in London has been without an Ambassador since 23 March 2015, but Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials are in regular contact with Afghan Embassy representatives, including the Chargé d’Affaires Mr Siamak Herawi.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans his Department has to respond to the Electoral Commission’s report, Electoral Fraud in the UK, published in January 2014.

    John Penrose

    The Government is currently conducting its own review of electoral fraud, led by Sir Eric Pickles MP, which is considering arguments for and against different measures to improve electoral integrity, including those suggested by the Electoral Commission. Recommendations emerging from the review will be put to the Prime Minister in due course.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to cooperate with his Egyptian counterpart on measures to (a) counter security threats and (b) ensure the safety of air passengers travelling from Egypt.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    On 5 November, the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) and I spoke with President Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukry about the safety of air passengers travelling to and from Egypt. Her Majesty’s Ambassador in Cairo is in regular contact with the Egyptian authorities, and the UK has an ongoing dialogue with Egypt on security issues.

    The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is engaging with international partners about the ongoing aircrash investigation and its implications. We have shared all information we are able to share and discussed our conclusions with partners. We are also helping officials from the Department for Transport to work closely with Egyptian counterparts to ensure necessary airport security measures are in force. The safety of British nationals remains our priority.

  • Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of the Syrian Vulnerable Person Relocation scheme in each year until 2020.

    Richard Harrington

    The first 12 months of each refugee’s resettlement costs under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR) Scheme will be funded using Official Development Assistance, meaning over £460 million of the overseas aid budget will be used by 2019-20. At the Spending Review the Government committed £129 million to assist with local authority costs over years 2-5 of the scheme.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he next plans to review the effectiveness of cancer screening for women.

    Jane Ellison

    The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy. The UK NSC reviews its recommendations on a three year basis or earlier if any new peer reviewed evidence emerges.

    The UK NSC is currently reviewing the evidence on whether human papillomavirus testing as primary screening for cervical disease should replace the currently used cytology test and whether faecal immunochemical testing could be used as the primary screening marker in the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Public consultations on both reviews have just closed and the UK NSC is expected to make a recommendation to ministers later this month.

    The NHS Breast Screening Programme is currently carrying out a long-term trial to investigate extending current screening eligibility to women aged 47-49 and 71-73. Over two million women have taken part in a randomised control trial, with the impact on breast cancer mortality rates due to be reported in the early 2020s. The UK NSC will consider the research evidence when it is published.

    We are not aware of steps being taken by employers to enable staff to take time off work to attend cancer screening appointments. However, Macmillan has produced, “Your rights at work” an information leaflet on reasonable adjustments in the workplace for people who have or have had cancer.

    In 2011, the UK NSC recommended that bowel scope screening could be offered in addition to the homes testing kit as part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme. Currently 76% of bowel scope screening centres in England are operational, and the Secretary of State’s commitment is to have this programme rolled out to all screening centres in England by the end of 2016. Health Education England has commissioned a training pilot for non-medical endoscopists (NMEs) to provide accelerated training in certain diagnostics procedures, with the aim of providing additional screening capacity. The pilot will commence in January 2016. A framework has also been developed to help NMEs demonstrate that they have achieved the competency levels required for their role.

    The NHS Screening Programmes have a dedicated team who oversee education, training and stakeholder information. This involves working closely with Royal Colleges, Professional bodies, stakeholder groups, NHS England, Health Education England and the Public Health England campaigns team. A vast range of educational resources exist which are free to NHS staff and cover all screening programme plus the theory and practice of screening. The team is currently expanding the range of taught courses and e-learning resources to make learning more accessible. Accessible patient information is available to educate users of the service and enable informed choices regarding screening. This is complemented by a comprehensive set of material on NHS Choices regarding all 11 NHS Screening Programmes. Patient information is constantly updated and users are involved in the reviews and evaluation of all materials.

    To increase rates of cervical screening in young women, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme has commissioned a £1 million study to determine which interventions are effective at increasing screening uptake amongst women who are receiving their first invitation from the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. The study began in November 2011 and reports can be expected in spring 2016.

    In addition, the Department of Health Behavioural Insight team is developing a trial to investigate the use of behavioural insights to optimise the content of the invitation letter for cervical screening.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Barry Sheerman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations he has received from (a) charities, (b) lobby groups, (c) experts, (d) social workers and (e) law professionals on the treatment of female prisoners with young children.

    Caroline Dinenage

    The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

  • Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nicholas Soames – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Soames on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent from the public purse on reimbursing each non-European Economic Area country with reciprocal healthcare agreements with the UK for health care provided to UK nationals for each financial year from 1997-98 to 2014-15.

    Alistair Burt

    Regarding non-European Economic Area (EEA) countries, including those with reciprocal healthcare agreements with the United Kingdom, we can confirm that no reimbursements are made from the public purse in respect of healthcare provided to UK citizens.

    For non-EEA countries without a reciprocal agreement in place with the UK, it would be for the individual to pay for any healthcare needed and for that reason appropriate travel and medical insurance is highly advisable. Similarly, for those non-EEA countries with whom the UK does have a reciprocal healthcare agreement, no money changes hands between the parties to the agreement. The basis of these agreements is reciprocity – that is, necessary healthcare is provided in most cases free of charge to the visitor and the associated costs are absorbed by either side.

    The information requested on the amount received in reimbursement from EEA countries in only available for the country totals of cash payment for 2007-08 to 2014-15. That information is provided in attached table. We do not hold totals for amounts before 2007-08, as the information is hot held centrally.

  • Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Adam Afriyie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Adam Afriyie on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to publish a health impact assessment on proposals for new airport runways of (a) the health effects of noise and (b) other health effects before the construction of those runways is started.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    The Government is currently considering the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report before taking any decisions on next steps.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Caroline Ansell – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of potential risks associated with vulnerable witnesses and defendants travelling by public transport when considering potential court closures as part of proposals on the future of the court and tribunal estate; and if he will make a statement.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    To ensure that access to justice is maintained, we are committed to providing alternative ways for users to access our services. This includes the use of other civic buildings and extending video conferencing facilities. This will further reduce the need for vulnerable victims and witnesses to travel to attend court.