Tag: 2016

  • Baroness Byford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Baroness Byford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Byford on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many, and which, councils in England have followed the example of Hampshire and set up locally sourced food supplies for their schools or other council-run organisations.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    The Department does not hold information on the number of councils that have set up locally sourced food supplies for school and other council-run organisations. However we encourage councils to use local goods and services in any of their procurement and commissioning activity, and to be open and transparent to their local community.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all primary school children are IT literate by the end of Key Stage 2.

    Nick Gibb

    The new computing curriculum, introduced in September 2014 and compulsory for ages 5-16, has a greater focus on how computers work including the basics of computer science as well as covering digital literacy and the application of information technology. In primary school, pupils will be looking at topics such as: creating and debugging programs; using technology purposefully to create, organise, store, manipulate and retrieve digital content; and using technology safely, respectfully and responsibly. Through studying these topics, pupils are gaining insight into how the digital technologies that they use every day actually work, allowing them to become active creators, not just passive consumers.

    The Government has spent more than £4.5 million over the past three years to support schools in delivering high quality computing teaching. This includes £3 million for Computing At School to build a national network of over 10 regional university centres and 300 ‘Master Teachers’ in Computer Science whom schools can commission to provide training for their teachers. A further £1 million was given to Computing At School to create online resources (Barefoot Computing) targeting primary school teachers specifically to help develop their computing subject knowledge, deliver in-school workshops, and set up computing self-help groups.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what further plans he has to extend the scope for police officers to give evidence via video link during trials.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Use of video in criminal cases provides efficiencies which benefit all criminal justice agencies, and support victims and witnesses. In particular video links allow police officers to give evidence to the court from a police station, rather than attending a courthouse, making significant savings in working hours for the police.

    The use of video within Police Forces is well established for the giving of evidence. HMCTS is also working with Police Forces to extend the use of video to applications for search warrants and other warrants.

    The Government is investing over £700m to modernise the courts and tribunals. This investment will not only mean an extension in the extent of video usage by police, but also an increase in benefits.

  • David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-05-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the Work and Health Programme meets the needs of people with arthritis.

    Priti Patel

    Development of the Work and Health Programme design is well underway, including engagement with a wide range of stakeholders. The Department has commenced the commercial process for the programme by releasing the Prior Information Notice for potential providers on 28 April.

    Decisions on what the information reporting requirements will be for people with a disability or health condition are yet to be made.

  • Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Hodgson of Abinger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger on 2016-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS England’s stillbirth care bundle will be reviewed to assess whether it is having an impact on reducing stillbirths among multiple pregnancies; and what plans they have to update it if further improvements are required.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Saving Babies Lives care bundle covers all types of pregnancy, including multiple pregnancies. The care bundle will be evaluated so that it can be developed and refined to ensure that it continues to reflect best practice.

    The Maternity Transformation Programme Board will drive forward the implementation of the National Maternity Review, Better Births, published in February this year. It will also include work to reduce the rate of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths in England. The formation of the Board marks a clear step forward towards delivering the vision laid out in the National Maternity Review, ensuring that key organisations work together to improve maternity services. Better Births makes recommendations on the use of data including the development of a set of national indicators to aid data comparison. NHS England and its delivery partners are developing plans to implement this and the report’s other recommendations, and as part of this are considering the case for a national dashboard. A copy of both Better Births and the Saving Babies Lives care bundle are attached.

    The Board held its first meeting on 8 June 2016 and is chaired by Sarah-Jane Marsh, Chief Executive of Birmingham Children’s Hospital and Birmingham Women’s Hospital. The Board members and the organisations they represent are detailed in the following table.

    NHS England and its delivery partners are developing plans to implement the vision set out in Better Births, the report of the National Maternity Review. These plans are likely to include commissioning guidance.

    Person

    Organisation

    Sarah-Jane Marsh

    Chair

    Jane Cummings

    Senior Responsible Officer, Chief Nursing Officer

    Keith Willett

    Deputy Chair, Medical Director for Acute Care, NHS England

    Matthew Jolly

    Clinical lead (obstetrics) / workstream lead (data)

    Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent

    Clinical lead (midwifery)

    Dame Julia Cumberlege

    Stakeholder Reference Group Chair / Clinical Commissioning Group Improvement and Assessment Framework Panel Chair

    Flora Goldhill

    Department of Health / workstream lead (best practice for safer care)

    Wendy Reid / Bill Irish

    Health Education England / workstream lead (workforce)

    Viv Bennett

    Public Health England / workstream lead (public health)

    Ruth May

    NHS Improvement (Director of Nursing)

    Mike Durkin

    NHS Improvement (Director of Patient Safety)

    Jimmy Walker

    Care Quality Commission

    Lauren Hughes

    NHS England /workstream lead (local transformation)

    James Sanderson

    NHS England / workstream lead (choice and personalisation)

    Simon Medcalf

    NHS England / workstream lead (perinatal mental health)

    Tom Denwood

    NHS Digital / workstream lead (technology)

    Martin Campbell

    NHS England / workstream lead (pricing)

    David Richmond

    Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

    Cathy Warwick

    Royal College of Midwives

    Nigel Acheson

    Regional delivery lead / Regional Medical Director, South

    Roz Lindridge

    Clinical Networks maternity lead / East Midlands Associate Director, Clinical Networks and Senate
  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what mechanisms his Department has for measuring the effectiveness of the National Stroke Strategy; and if he will make a statement.

    David Mowat

    The National Stroke Strategy remains valid and implementation of it continues. There are, therefore, no current plans to renew the national stroke strategy. Action is being taken to ensure the progress made on stroke continues. This includes;

    – publication of the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Outcomes Strategy in 2013, which includes many stroke specific strategic ambitions;

    – a CVD expert forum, hosted by NHS England, to coordinate delivery of the work which was initiated in the CVD Outcomes Strategy; and

    – NHS England’s National Clinical Director for stroke working with the Strategic Clinical Networks, Urgent and Emergency Care Networks, clinical commissioning groups, Sustainability and Transformation Plans, voluntary agencies and individual providers to support better commissioning and provision of stroke care.

    More generally, the NHS Five Year Forward View recognises that quality of care, including stroke care, can be variable and that patients’ needs are changing and new treatment options are emerging. The Five Year Forward View sets out high level objectives to address these issues.

    There has been no formal evaluation of the National Stroke Strategy. However there is a continuous evaluation of the quality of stroke care via the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). This measures most of the key indicators defined as important in the strategy and findings are available on the SSNAP website:

    https://www.strokeaudit.org/

    “

  • Anne McLaughlin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne McLaughlin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne McLaughlin on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to provide cold weather clothing and equipment to progressive anti-Daesh forces.

    Penny Mordaunt

    The UK is providing a wide-range of humanitarian support to civilians inside Syria including food, clean water, medical support and relief packages. In Iraq, the UK is working with other Coalition members to help meet the needs of the Iraqi (including Kurdish) security forces. There are no plans to provide cold weather clothing and equipment to armed forces fighting Daesh in Syria or Iraq.

  • Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mancroft – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mancroft on 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to develop prison health workers’ understanding of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England, Public Heath England, the National Offender Management Service and other organisations including the Royal College of General Practitioners have developed resources to support prison healthcare teams in delivering a blood-borne virus (BBV) opt-out testing programme. This covers all aspects of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C (HCV) and other BBVs including testing, managing positive and negative test results, providing advice on harm minimisation and supporting prisoners into treatment.

    Specialised HCV Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) ensure specialist oversight of HCV services in order maximise uptake and completion of HCV treatment. NHS England has linked every prison to the relevant ODN and a service specification for ODNs directs specialist service providers to accept patients from prisons.

  • Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gloria De Piero – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gloria De Piero on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people who have stopped smoking cigarettes because they have switched to e-cigarettes in each of the last three years.

    Jane Ellison

    Prescriptions for e-cigarettes will be charged like any other medication and normal exemption arrangements will apply including for those on low incomes.

    In August 2015 Public Health England published a report that outlined evidence that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking. Data from local stop smoking services shows that 2/3 of smokers are successful in their quit attempts when combining e-cigarettes with behavioural support. Data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) suggests in 2015 there were 2.6 million e-cigarette users of which nearly 2 out of 5 no longer smoked tobacco products. This data is available at ASH ‘Use of electronic cigarettes (vapourisers) among adults in Great Britain’, 2015.

    http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_891.pdf

    “

  • Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Grahame Morris – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Grahame Morris on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve journey times and train frequencies between Easington constituency and local rail hubs at Sunderland and Newcastle.

    Andrew Jones

    As part of the new franchise award, the Northern franchisee will be required before October 2017 to undertake a feasibility study, identifying options for journey time improvements across the whole network, including services in the North East. This will include possible changes to existing infrastructure, improvements to rolling stock capability and reliability and the implementing of changes to service patterns.

    Any resulting changes would be in addition to the local benefits secured as part of the franchise including the withdrawal of Pacer trains and the refurbishment of all the existing carriages retained in the franchise long term.