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Tag: 2015

  • Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many secondments have taken place between his Department and the Chartered Institute of Trading Standards in the last 15 years; and in what capacity each such secondment was undertaken.

    Jane Ellison

    At senior civil servant level (SCS) there have been no secondments between the Department and the Chartered Institute of Trading Standards.

    For civil servants and posts at grades lower than SCS, no such secondments have taken place, as far back as our central records for these secondments extend, that is, back to 2009.

  • Huw Irranca-Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Huw Irranca-Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Huw Irranca-Davies on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether it is her policy that anaerobic digestion will continue to be supported under the reformed Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

    Andrea Leadsom

    We are still at an early stage in the process of reforming the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI). Therefore, I am unable to make specific commitments as to the future shape of the scheme at this point.

    However, Ofgem will continue to run the RHI under the current rules, while we consider reform of the scheme.

  • Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to set additional access and waiting time standards for NHS mental health services following the introduction of standards for adult IAPT and Early Intervention in Psychosis services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health published on 3 August 2015, a commissioning guide for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that will set out how to implement the access and waiting time standard for children and young people with an eating disorder. The standard will be refined for implementation from 2017–18. From 2017, NHSE will set a minimum proportion of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are expected to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe.

    We expect that the Mental Health Taskforce report and Mental Health Five Year Forward View will set a plan for developing appropriate pathways and we will work with NHSE to agree next steps.

    Departmental Ministers meet with the Chief Executive of NHS England regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including access and waiting time standards for mental health services.

    CCGs do not receive a specific allocation for mental health services, but are required to allocate funds as appropriate to all the services that they are responsible for commissioning. For 2015/16, CCGs received increases in allocations in total of 3.7%, though the increase varied for each CCG.

    In the planning guidance for 2015/16, NHS England asked that all CCGs increase their spend on mental health by at least as much as their overall increase in allocation.

    In total, CCGs have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure which exceeds the increase in their allocation.

  • Crispin Blunt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Crispin Blunt – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Crispin Blunt on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with health experts on the human health implications of the veterinary use of colistin for colistin resistance in slaughtered animals, food and humans; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    The Department of Health is working closely with Public Health England (PHE), the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Veterinary Medicines Directorate to ensure that the risk assessment to public health from colistin-resistant bacteria from slaughtered animals, food and humans considers all available evidence. While PHE and the FSA judge that the public health risk of colistin-resistant bacteria from slaughtered animals and the food chain is very low, the use of colistin for animals will be reviewed following recent reports of transferable colistin resistance in China and Europe.

    I regularly discuss the issue of antimicrobial resistance with the Chief Medical Officer.

  • Stuart McDonald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Stuart McDonald – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart McDonald on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian refugees selected for resettlement from UN camps to the UK had previously been selected for resettlement in the US.

    Richard Harrington

    The Government has committed to resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the lifetime of this Parliament. The Prime Minister has said that we want to see 1,000 Syrian refugees brought to the UK by Christmas. We use the established UNHCR process for identifying and resettling refugees and have been working closely with them to achieve a significant uplift in the scheme.

    The UK collaborates closely with the major countries involved in resettlement, notably the US, Australia and Canada. In the expansion of the UK Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme we have worked with the US Government to take 500 people from the UNHCR’s pool of registered refugees that might otherwise have been passed to the US for consideration. No refugee actually selected for resettlement in the US has been passed to the UK; and all refugees being resettled in the UK have opted for this route.

  • Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to his oral contribution of 30 November 2015, Official Report, column 33, on the estimated number of patients who may have had a vital operation cancelled, how many patients who had such an operation cancelled had it rescheduled to a time within 24 hours of the original scheduled operation.

    Ben Gummer

    On 30 November, based on information provided by hospital trusts, NHS England estimated that around 3,000 procedures that were due to take place on 1 December 2015 were planned to be rescheduled. It has not collected information or estimated how many of these could not be rebooked for 1 December 2015 once the proposed industrial action was suspended. There has been no estimate of how many vital procedures that were cancelled were rescheduled within 24 hours. These are operational matters for hospital trusts.

  • Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Seema Malhotra – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Seema Malhotra on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Government’s report, Fixing the Foundations; creating a more prosperous nation, Cm 9098, published in July 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of (a) proposed changes to the rail industry and (b) the rail investment programme on productivity.

    Claire Perry

    The country’s railways are an important enabler of productivity and national prosperity, which is why the Government has committed to delivering investment of a record £38 billion across the country’s network.

    We have appointed Sir Peter Hendy as Chair of Network Rail to ensure the rail investment programme is delivered sustainably.

    We have also asked Nicola Shaw to advise Government on how we should approach the longer-term future shape and financing of Network Rail. She will publish her final report before Budget 2016. In addition, we have appointed Crossrail chair Terry Morgan to develop a transport and infrastructure skills strategy. We will consider their recommendations in due course.

  • Peter Bone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Peter Bone – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bone on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the (a) average cost of building new prisons planned by the Government and (b) length of time it will take from conception to completion to build such a prison.

    Andrew Selous

    £1.3bn will be invested to reform and modernise the prison estate to make it more efficient, safer and focused on supporting prisoner rehabilitation. The government will build nine new, modern prisons, five of which will open in this Parliament and the rest shortly after.

  • Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Owen Smith – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of the under-occupancy penalty on people with disabilities.

    Justin Tomlinson

    People with disabilities are entitled to an extra bedroom for non-resident overnight carers and disabled children who are unable to share with another child.

    Since 2013, we have provided local authorities with £470 million in Discretionary Housing Payments funding. This has enabled local authorities to give additional support to claimants where appropriate. This includes £175 million specifically for those affected by the removal of the spare room subsidy, of which £75 million is for those living in significantly adapted properties.

    We will continue to provide additional support through Discretionary Housing Payments and have made a further £800 million in DHP funding available for the next 5 years of this Parliament.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Nadine Dorries – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many trains were cancelled on the Govia Thameslink rail line due to driver shortage in the most recent four time periods for which figures are available.

    Claire Perry

    Figures for driver attributed cancellations the whole of the TSGN franchise in the last four periods are below. This data represents the first four periods since Southern Railway joined Govia Thameslink Railway at the end of July. This data does not differentiate between cancellations due to driver shortage and operational issues.

    Rail Period 1605 26/7-22/8

    Rail Period 1606 23/8-19/9

    Rail Period 1607 20/9-17/10

    Rail Period 1608 18/10-14/11

    Full cancellations

    1093

    1331

    723

    706

    Part cancellations

    458

    410

    406

    411

    Total

    1551

    1741

    1129

    1117

    The Department does not hold information on cancellations due to sickness.