Tag: 2015

  • Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Phillip Lee – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Phillip Lee on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to make access to liver transplantation services more equitable.

    Jane Ellison

    Livers are retrieved and allocated on a zonal basis and the decision whether or not to list a patient for transplantation is taken by a multi-disciplinary team at the transplant centre, of which there are seven in the United Kingdom.Patients meeting the agreed clinical criteria, and with their consent, will be added to the National Transplant List. All centres must follow a common listing policy to ensure equity of access and that organs are allocated in the most clinically effective way, resulting in 842 liver transplants between 1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015.

    NHS Blood and Transplant, the organ donation organisation for the UK, launched their strategy in July 2013 – Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020, that sets the agenda for increasing organ donation and transplantation rates by increasing consent rates. Encouragingly organ donation rates have increased by around 60% and transplant rates by some 47% since 2008 mainly through a strengthening of the donation infrastructure including increased specialist nurses and improved retrieval arrangements.

  • 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 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in each of the last five years.

    Jane Ellison

    Information concerning the number of people diagnosed with osteoarthritis on an annual basis is not collected and the Department has made no specific estimate of the cost of osteoarthritis to the NHS. Although some relevant costing data are captured, such as those relating to hip fracture, total costs are not available, as additional costs are incurred out of hospital and in other services where data are not available.

  • Gerald Kaufman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Gerald Kaufman – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gerald Kaufman on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to answer the letter of the hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton, dated 28 September 2015, with regard to Mr Ammar Baadj.

    James Brokenshire

    I apologise for the delay in responding to the letter sent by Rt. Hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton in respect of Mr Ammar Baadj. A response was sent on 310 November providing a full account of the information requested.

    “

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support Clinical Commissioning Groups to commission effective mental health services for children under 18 who have experienced abuse.

    Alistair Burt

    This Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services.

    As a first step in delivering this transformation and in line with guidance published by NHS England in August, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have produced Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) for children and young people’s mental health with their local partners as proposed in Future in mind. These include plans which set out how CCGs will ensure that the needs of vulnerable groups, including children who have been abused, are met. LTPs covering all local areas have been submitted and are now being assured by NHS England’s regional teams.

    Strategic Clinical Networks provide clinical advice and leadership to support decision making and strategic planning at a local level. The networks were established to bring together those who use, provide and commission the service to make improvements in outcomes for complex patient pathways using an integrated, whole system approach such as for children who have been abused. The networks work in partnership with commissioners (including local government), supporting their decision making and strategic planning, by working across the boundaries of commissioner, provider and voluntary organisations as a vehicle for improvement.

    NHS England is scoping a further programme of commissioning support to build on what is already being delivered locally.

  • Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Mark Pritchard – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2015-11-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will discuss with Virgin Trains its replacing the ageing Voyager fleet rolling stock.

    Claire Perry

    The Voyager fleet was introduced in 2001/2 to provide high speed services on routes which could only be served by Diesel Trains and is primarily operated by Virgin on routes to Chester and Holyhead. We will consider train fleet options as part of the upcoming ICWC franchise competition.

  • Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Richard Arkless – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Arkless on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the reduction in the number of civilians referred to in paragraph 4.61 of the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, Cm 9161, will be made in Scotland.

    Mr Julian Brazier

    Full details of how these reductions will be profiled over the next five years will be developed as programmes mature.

  • Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Browne of Belmont – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Browne of Belmont on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many UK emergency travel documents were issued to overseas applicants in each month since January 2013.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    The table below provides the total number of UK Emergency Travel Documents issued to overseas applicants from January 2013 to October 2015.

    MONTH

    2013

    2014

    2015

    JANUARY

    1,809

    2,036

    1,687

    FEBRUARY

    1,735

    2,030

    1,727

    MARCH

    2,078

    2,638

    2,138

    APRIL

    2,417

    3,961

    2,237

    MAY

    2,557

    3,947

    2,470

    JUNE

    2,885

    5,238

    3,208

    JULY

    3,654

    5,351

    3,647

    AUGUST

    3,493

    3,970

    3,542

    SEPTEMBER

    2,808

    3,346

    3,207

    OCTOBER

    2,262

    2,458

    2,520

    NOVEMBER

    1,842

    1,766

    DECEMBER

    2,451

    2,429

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2015-11-30.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bus and coach drivers were fined for their failure to carry a Driver Qualification Card in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

    Andrew Jones

    Currently, as part of roadside encounters the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) require drivers of Passenger Service Vehicles (PSV) to produce a driver qualification card (DQC). If a driver fails to produce their DQC they will generally be issued with a fixed penalty of £50, this must be paid within 28 days (for drivers with a satisfactory UK address). The driver can, however, choose not to pay the penalty and take the matter to the Magistrate’s court. Also if a driver fails to pay the fixed penalty within the 28 days they will be summons to appear before the Magistrates.

    For the period of 1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014, 99 offences for Driver Continued Professional Competence (CPC) were recorded at the roadside. Of those, 68 resulted in a fixed penalty being issued, totalling £3,300 in fines. The fixed penalties were issued because the driver failed to produce evidence of training or exemption by not carrying their DQC.

    For the period of 1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015, 166 offences for Driver CPC were recorded at the roadside. Of those, 119 resulted in a fixed penalty being issued, totalling £5,950 in fines. Again, the fixed penalties were issued for failure to produce their DQC which provides evidence of their training or any exemptions.

  • Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Lord Greaves – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Greaves on 2015-11-05.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the report by KPMG Skills to Build?, stating that housebuilding capacity could be restricted by a construction skills shortage; and whether they will take steps to increase the amount of education and training places for construction trades.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government has made no separate assessment of the KPMG report. There are a number of reports that provide a good indication of the skills the construction industry believes it will require between 2015 and 2019, for both housing and wider construction.

    The Government values post-16 education, including construction education and training, highly. We have made substantial progress driving up the quality and rigour of the post-16 offer, and area-based reviews of 16+ provision are providing an opportunity for institutions and localities to restructure provision to achieve maximum impact.

    Initiatives, by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), or flowing from the work of the Construction Leadership Council, are seeking to encourage more young people into construction careers including the launch of the GO-Construct website and work with the National Careers Service and Construction Ambassadors for schools. In addition the CITBhas developed a range of initiatives, working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, the Armed Forces resettlement service and Local Enterprise Partnerships, to encourage experienced individuals into the sector.

    While CITB returned over £42m last year, supporting 18,500 first, second and third year construction apprentices, it is clear that the sector is not currently offering enough apprenticeships nor opportunities for young people to train. The 17,000 apprenticeships starts in 2015/16 is still some way below the 27,000 offered in 2006. The CITB has developed a number of shared apprenticeships schemes and reformed the grant process to encourage apprenticeship take up. In addition, the Government continues to pay AGE grant, on top of its usual support for the training of young apprentices, to encourage companies to take on their first apprentices.

    At the summer budget the Chancellor announced a levy on large employers across all sectors to fund apprenticeships. This will link larger employers directly to its skills investment and promote the value, and drive the uptake, of apprenticeships.

    The Chancellor will announce further details of the apprenticeship levy, including the scope and rate, at the Spending Review.

  • Eilidh Whiteford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Eilidh Whiteford – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Eilidh Whiteford on 2015-12-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of (a) jobseeker’s allowance and (b) employment and support allowance claims were subject to a sanction (i) pre-challenge and (ii) post-challenge in 2013-14.

    Priti Patel

    The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

    The latest Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance sanctions statistics can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/jobseekers-allowance-sanctions

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