Tag: 2016

  • Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Maggie Throup – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maggie Throup on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what budget he plans to allocate to each clinical commissioning group in England to support the effective transfer of obesity surgery in April in a manner consistent with NICE’s clinical guidelines.

    George Freeman

    NHS England is not currently able to provide a figure for individual clinical commissioning groups on 1 April 2016 as the basis for calculating the figures is still being finalised.

  • Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of government NHS funding which primary care was allocated to in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    The table below shows the total National Health Service expenditure and total primary healthcare expenditure for the last three years for which audited outturn data is available. This includes primary medical care, primary dental services, primary eyecare services, community pharmacy and drugs prescribed in the community.

    The Department accounts data has been used as a consistent data source across primary care services. However, this excludes some funding streams to general medical practice, such as for out of hours services.

    Year

    NHS Revenue Expenditure under Clear Line of Sight Rules (£ billion)

    Expenditure on Primary Healthcare (£ billion)

    Primary Healthcare Expenditure as a % of NHS Revenue Expenditure

    2012-13

    102.57

    21.32

    20.79

    2013-14

    106.50

    21.32

    20.02

    2014-15

    110.56

    21.68

    19.61

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to improve the university complaints procedures for victims of sexual assault.

    Joseph Johnson

    Sexual assault is a serious criminal offence and we expect all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to have robust policies in place to prevent incidents and support victims. All HEIs have a requirement to ensure rigorous procedures are in place to handle complaints. Where complaints cannot be resolved, students can access the complaints handling service provided by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education.

    The Government asked Universities UK to establish a taskforce to explore what more can be done by the higher education sector to prevent, and respond effectively to, incidents of violence and sexual harassment, hate crimes and other forms of harassment. The taskforce is expected to report its findings in the autumn.

    The Government looks forward to receiving the taskforce’s final report in due course.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of a backlog of driving licence renewal applications for people over 70 years old.

    Andrew Jones

    Currently, the DVLA is processing straightforward applications to renew a driving licence from customers aged 70 and over within three working days of receiving them. Applications that require medical investigations can take longer to process if there is a need to seek further information.

  • Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Frank Field – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people working for his Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence (MOD) pays over and above the New National Living Wage across all of our business areas (£7.20 per hour).

    In 2015 the Secretary of State for Defence agreed that London-based staff should be paid the London Living Wage rate (£9.40 per hour). This is in line with the rate defined by the Living Wage Foundation. This rate includes basic pay and any applicable allowances. It is regularly reviewed and where an individual’s rate falls under this they are paid specific enhancements.

    The MOD has not formally signed up to the National Living Wage rate as defined by the Living Wage Foundation (£8.25 per hour). The table below details those directly employed by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and its agencies who are paid less than this rate.

    National Living Wage

    MOD (outside London)

    1,017

    Defence Equipment & Support (outside London)

    93

    Defence Science & Technology Laboratory

    107

    United Kingdom Hydrographic Office

    55

    Defence Electronics and Components Agency

    0

    Contracted workers’ rates of pay, where paid by their parent company or recruitment agency, are not visible to the MOD.

    The MOD does not employ individuals on zero-hours contracts.

  • Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential benefits of replacing the Bank of England’s two per cent inflation target with a two to three per cent inflation target averaged over the business cycle

    Simon Kirby

    A comprehensive Review of the Monetary Policy Framework was published in 2013, considering the benefits and costs of a number of different monetary policy frameworks. The current remit for the Monetary Policy Committee reflects the assessment set out in the Review, which includes retaining a flexible inflation targeting framework, with a 2 per cent symmetric inflation target, as measured by the 12 month change in the Consumer Prices Index. The remit also states that the MPC may allow inflation to deviate from this target temporarily in order not to cause undesirable volatility in output due to the short-term trade-offs involved.

  • Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Bernard Jenkin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bernard Jenkin on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many staff in his Department are working on matters related to (a) European policy, (b) the future of Europe, (c) reform of the EU, (d) the renegotiation of the UK’s relationship with the EU, (e) the EU referendum and (f) the consequences of the EU referendum; how many full-time equivalent staff are working on such matters; what the (i) staff and (ii) other cost of such work is; what proportion of that work is undertaken by such staff on (A) communications, (B) strategy and (C) policy; whether his Department has established any specific unit or units to deal with those matters; to whom such (1) staff and (2) units report; whether his Department has issued guidelines to staff on those matters; and if he will make a statement.

    Brandon Lewis

    The Government is fighting hard to fix the aspects of our EU membership that cause so much frustration in Britain – so we get a better deal for Britain and secure our future. Departments are appropriately resourced to support the Government’s priorities in Europe, including the renegotiation and referendum.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many cases of sepsis there were in each region of England in each of the last five years.

    Ben Gummer

    Data for finished discharge episodes (FDEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis for patients in each government office region of residence in England, in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15 are provided below.

    These figures relate only to hospital admissions and do not include those patients who were diagnosed in a primary care setting, or those who attended hospital as an Outpatient.

    This is not a count of patients as the same patient may have had more than one episode of care within the same year.

    Count of FDEs1 with a primary or secondary diagnosis2 of sepsis3 for patients in each government office region of residence for 2010-11 to 2014-154. Activity in English National Health Service Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

    Government office region

    2010-11

    2011-12

    2012-13

    2013-14

    2014-15

    North East

    4,798

    5,074

    5,655

    6,275

    7,388

    North West

    13,258

    13,109

    14,708

    17,221

    20,922

    Yorkshire and The Humber

    9,182

    9,189

    10,146

    11,338

    12,857

    East Midlands

    7,316

    8,115

    9,831

    10,863

    12,998

    West Midlands

    7,772

    7,915

    10,518

    12,297

    13,812

    East of England

    10,380

    10,432

    11,647

    13,108

    16,029

    London

    14,894

    15,223

    15,580

    17,860

    19,723

    South East

    13,945

    15,344

    16,604

    19,239

    21,378

    South West

    8,013

    8,292

    9,805

    10,967

    12,722

    England – Not Otherwise Specified

    48

    83

    75

    84

    102

    Unknown/Non-England

    2,275

    8,239

    9,716

    3,570

    3,841

    Total

    91,881

    101,015

    114,285

    122,822

    141,772

    Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

    The increasing incidence of sepsis is likely to be due to people living longer and more medical and surgical interventions being performed. People with series co-morbidities are more likely to survive their illness, and for a longer period of time than in previous decades, which leads to much of the hospital-acquired sepsis that now occurs.

    Notes:

    1Finished Discharge Episode (FDE) – A discharge episode is the last episode during a hospital stay (a spell), where the patient is discharged from the hospital or transferred to another hospital. Discharges do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one discharge from hospital within the period.

    2Number of episodes in which the patient had a primary or secondary diagnosis – The number of episodes where this diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 7 prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.

    3ICD-10 codes for Sepsis – A02.1 Salmonella sepsis, A20.7 Septicaemic plague, A21.7 Generalized tularaemia, A22.7 Anthrax sepsis, A26.7 Erysipelothrix sepsis, A28.0 Pasteurellosis, A28.2 Extraintestinal yersiniosis, A32.7 Listerial sepsis, A39.2 Acute meningococcaemia, A39.3 Chronic meningococcaemia, A39.4 Meningococcaemia, unspecified, A40.- Streptococcal sepsis, A41.- Other sepsis, A42.7 Actinomycotic sepsis, B37.7 Candidal sepsis, O85.X Puerperal sepsis, P36.- Bacterial sepsis of newborn
    The following pair of codes is a dagger/asterisk code pair (D and A) which must be present together:
    A39.1 Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome; E35.1 Disorders of adrenal glands in diseases classified elsewhere

    4Assessing growth through time (Admitted patient care) – HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Conversely, apparent increases in activity may be due to improved recording of diagnosis or procedure information.

    Note that HES include activity ending in the year in question and run from April to March, e.g. 2012-13 includes activity ending between 1st April 2012 and 31st March 2013.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions the Government has had with the governments of Australia and New Zealand on the proposed introduction of an annual change to Australian and New Zealand citizens for use of the NHS.

    Alistair Burt

    On 6 April 2015 the United Kingdom introduced an immigration health surcharge for non-European Economic Area nationals who come to the UK to temporarily reside for a period of over six months. At the time Australian and New Zealand nationals were granted a temporary exemption and we entered into a series of discussions with both the Australian and New Zealand Government on the introduction of the surcharge for its nationals. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health wrote to both the Australian Minister for Health and New Zealand High Commissioner confirming introduction of the surcharge on 17 December 2015. Introduction of the surcharge for Australian and New Zealand nationals was publicly announced by the Home Office on 4 February 2016 and subject to Parliamentary approval, it will come into effect from 6 April 2016.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 1.236 of Budget 2016, how much additional funding will be provided for investment in roads; and to which schemes that funding will be disbursed.

    Andrew Jones

    Budget 2016 marked the launch of work on preparing the next Road Investment Strategy. This includes determining how much funding will be made available for the period 2020/21-2024/25 and which investment proposals to take forward. The Department for Transport has published “Road Investment Strategy post 2020: planning ahead” to inform all interested parties so that they can play their part in the preparation of the next Road Investment Strategy. It is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508505/road-investment-strategy-post-2020-planning-ahead.pdf

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