The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the total population of student midwives in England was in the latest year for which figures are available.
Ben Gummer
The latest available information provided by Health Education England shows that there were 6,624 student midwives in training in England at 31 March 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian C. Lucas on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2015 to Question 12762, on broadband, whether the sum to be paid to local authorities and devolved administrations from the funding returned by BT will be linked to the take-up of broadband within that authority or administration’s area.
Mr Edward Vaizey
The £129m funding returned by BT to each project is based on an assumption by BT that take-up will reach 30% of premises passed to date in each respective project area.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2015-11-17.
To ask the hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington representing the House of Commons Commission, what steps the Parliamentary Digital Service is taking to protect constituency casework data.
Tom Brake
We do not comment on matters of digital or physical security. I understand the Director of the Digital Service has discussed the matter with the hon. Member.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the need for special education facilities to educate young people coming to the UK as a result of the conflict in Syria; and if she will make a statement.
Edward Timpson
The Government is wholly committed to ensuring that Syrian refugees who are resettled in the UK receive appropriate support and have a positive experience while they remain in the UK. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is conducting detailed assessments of the needs of all Syrian refugees who are to be re-settled in the UK, including any special educational facilities required by children. These are forwarded to host local authorities prior to the families’ arrival in the UK and will help to ensure that their needs are matched to the availability of local facilities. Based on the experience of the first 1000 arrivals, the government is in the process of assessing the longer term and wider requirements for specialist provision arising from the Prime Minister’s pledge to re-settle 20,000 refugees during the life-time of this Parliament.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2015-11-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what variations his Department allows between security measures applied at airports.
Mr Robert Goodwill
All airports in the UK are, as a minimum, required to meet the statutory security requirements set out in the UK National Aviation Security Programme (NASP). This comprises of EU requirements and some UK specific more stringent measures. The airports are responsible for the implementation of the requirements. Security at the airports is multi-layered and may include a number of different screening procedures and equipment in order to deliver the required security standards. It is also open to airports to have in place security measures additional to those required by regulation.
For obvious reasons it would not be appropriate to provide details on the specific security measures being applied. We do however keep aviation security measures under constant review.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will instruct HM Ambassador to Ethiopia to investigate allegations that paramilitary and security forces have killed more than 60 people in the Oromia region of that country following protests about enforced evictions of indigenous people; and if he will make a statement.
James Duddridge
The UK Government takes these allegations extremely seriously. We have raised concerns with the Ethiopian government about the use of force and urged the authorities to exercise restraint. The Department for International Development Parliamentary Under Secretary of State raised this issue with the Ethiopian Deputy Prime minister on 11 December, as did our Chargé d’Affaires with the State Minister for Foreign Affairs on 15 December. Our Embassy in Ethiopia is monitoring closely the situation. We will continue to raise our concerns with the Government of Ethiopia, including on the use of force.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the impact of the changes proposed in the Housing and Planning Bill on supported housing schemes.
Baroness Williams of Trafford
A full impact assessment of the Housing and Planning Bill has already been published (attached) and can be accessed at: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-010.pdf.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Scottish Government on strategies to prevent premature births.
Ben Gummer
In the last seven months, since the General Election, the Secretary of State, myself as I have responsibility for maternity care, and the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Jane Ellison) who has responsibility for public health, have not held any discussions with Health Ministers in the Scottish Government on strategies to prevent premature births.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2015-11-17.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the investigation by The Times and the British Medical Journal into conflicts of interest caused by Clinical Commissioning Groups entering into contracts with companies in which one or more of their board members has a financial interest.
Lord Prior of Brampton
Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have legal duties under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to manage conflicts of interests when deciding which health services to procure. CCGs must manage any actual or perceived conflicts in a way that is transparent, fair, and protects the integrity of their decision making.
NHS England publishes guidance for CCGs on their responsibility to manage conflicts of interest. CCGs must have regard to this.
Monitor must ensure that CCGs follow National Health Service regulations on procurement, patient choice and competition, and have powers of investigation if these are not followed.
In their recent report ‘Managing conflicts of interest in NHS clinical commissioning groups’ the National Audit Office (NAO) found that CCGs generally had arrangements in place to manage conflicts of interest to reduce the risk of commissioners’ decisions being improperly influenced. A copy of the NAO’s report is attached.
The NAO made recommendations to the Department, NHS England, Monitor and CCGs to strengthen current arrangements and we would expect the bodies concerned to consider these carefully and take appropriate action in response.
Action is already being taken by NHS England including:
– strengthening its CCG assurance processes;
– commissioning an independent audit of conflicts of interest management in ten primary care co-commissioning arrangements, with a review to using the learning to strengthen current arrangements;
– providing training to CCG lay members on management of conflicts of interest in 2015, with more training planned for next year; and,
– reviewing its own internal rules on conflicts of interest and the statutory guidance it issues to CCGs on management of conflicts of interest to ensure that arrangements are robust.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2015-12-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in (a) St Albans, (b) Hertfordshire, (c) East of England and (d) the UK have Lyme disease; and what steps is he taking to better treat such people.
Jane Ellison
In 2014, there were 730 laboratory confirmed Lyme disease cases reported in England & Wales. The data submitted is at the level of referring hospital; it does not indicate either where the patient lived or where they were when they contracted the disease and is not recorded at county or regional level. Most Lyme disease cases are diagnosed clinically and treated by general practitioners (GPs).
The National Health Service provides treatment for Lyme disease following current international best practice, and Public Health England (PHE) have issued guidance notes for medical professionals aimed at improving recognition, as well as a referral pathway for GPs to follow to seek specialist help for patients who suffer complications from the disease. PHE are investigating the feasibility of creating a network of physicians to develop standardised investigation and treatment protocols for Lyme disease patients with the aim of improving outcomes.
With Liverpool University and partners internationally, the rare and imported pathogens laboratory is setting up a research programme into the diagnosis of Lyme disease.