Tag: 2016

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has had discussions with his German counterpart on improving the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease by the NHS.

    Jane Ellison

    No specific discussions have been held but the National Health Service, Public Health England and national laboratories across Europe use well established, standardised, tests and international External Quality Assurance schemes are in place to ensure consistency across Europe.

    However, Lyme disease is a complex infection and we recognise that challenges in diagnosis and treatment remain. In light of this, the Department is commissioning three reviews on the diagnosis, treatment and transmission of Lyme disease to inform future decision making.

  • Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any future corporate services integration and innovation provider for Defence Business Services will be permitted to bid for contracts for direct service delivery within the future Defence Business Services contract.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence is currently examining options for the future of Defence Business Services (DBS) as part of the Future DBS Programme. No final decisions have been taken on whether any elements of DBS’ current operations will be outsourced. Decisions on whether any future Corporate Services Integration and Innovation Service supplier could bid for service delivery contracts in DBS would be made in line with the procurement legislation and regulations that applied at the time.

  • Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the extent to which UK universities are being excluded from joint funding applications to EU funding bodies by other EU universities.

    Joseph Johnson

    The European Commission has made it clear that while the UK remains a member of the EU, proposals from, or including, UK applicants must be treated in the same way as applications from other Member States including for collaborations under Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+.

    In addition, the HM Treasury announcement on 13th August brought clarity on continuity of research funding by stating that competitively bid for projects applied for before the UK departs the EU would be underwritten by the Treasury for the life of the project.

    The Government is vigilant and will continue to monitor any problems in this area. To aid this we have set up a mailbox where specific instances should be sent: research@beis.gov.uk.

    “

  • Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Sharon Hodgson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2016-01-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many local authorities have been identified by her Department as being non-compliant with the statutory requirements relating to the content of Education, Health and Care plans since September 2014.

    Edward Timpson

    Local authorities have made good progress complying with the statutory special educational needs duties in the Children and Families Act 2014 since they came into force in September 2014. We continue to monitor progress.

    All local authorities have published a Local Offer of the services and support available to children and young people in their area with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Responsibility for publishing and maintaining Local Offers lies with each local authority. The Department supports local authorities to help make sure they meet all statutory requirements for their Local Offer, and that the quality of services continues to improve.

    In summer 2014, the Department conducted a review of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans and plan templates from half of local authorities. The majority of the EHC plan templates we reviewed were judged likely to meet the requirements in the SEND Code of Practice. Where changes were needed, this was often due to inaccurate labelling of the required sections. Feedback was provided to individual local authorities alongside information to all local authorities about the key areas for focus. Since September 2014, EHC plans have been continually monitored. Where individual EHC plans are considered not to be fully compliant, advice on improvement is provided to the local authority.

    Figures returned by local authorities and published in the Statements of SEN and EHC plans Statistical First Release[1] in May 2015 show that, of the 1,360 new EHC plans issued between 1 September 2014 and 15 January 2015, 64.3% were within the statutory 20 week time limit when excluding exception cases.

    The Department for Education is providing specific additional funding to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to support their inspection of the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their new SEND duties. We are in the process of setting individual budgets as part of our internal business planning process.

    Ofsted and CQC conducted pilots as part of their wider consultation on their inspection proposals. These pilots explored different approaches to securing evidence in what is a complex area, involving a range of education, social care, and health providers at the local level. Ofsted and CQC will publish their response to the consultation on these new inspection arrangements in spring 2016. In addition, they will evaluate the impact of inspections, which will begin later in 2016.

    The Department draws on a wide range of evidence to determine whether the SEND provisions of the Children and Families Act have improved outcomes for children. Our intention is that a combination of local accountability measures; data and analysis; and independent inspection will show how the SEND system is performing and whether outcomes are improving for children and young people.

    The SEND inspections will evaluate local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people. We will draw on a wide range of statistics[2], including information on educational attainment, absence and exclusions and research into families and young people’s experience of the new system.

    A summary of the available data on SEN and disability is available at

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472575/Special_educational_needs-_an_analysis_and_summary_of_data_sources.pdf

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2015

    [2] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen

    “

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on passenger safety of removing guards and introducing driver-controlled operation on Northern Rail services.

    Andrew Jones

    The safety of passengers and rail users is paramount on the railway and the Department for Transport would never do anything to put passengers at risk.

    This system has already been in safe use on almost a third of rail services in Great Britain for up to 30 years and we think that it can help to improve the service to passengers. By giving responsibility to the driver to operate the doors, the other staff on board the train could provide a better face-to-face service for passengers. Putting this in the wider context of Northern Rail services, unlike the last Northern franchise in 2004 which included limited plans to invest in services or meet demand, this new franchise will deliver more than 2,000 extra services each week, nearly a 40% increase in capacity and the complete removal of the outdated and unpopular Pacers by the end of 2019.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-14.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they will ensure that their review of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group contract with UnitingCare LLP for older people’s and adult community services will deal objectively with the role of the Strategic Projects Team.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    NHS England is responsible for the review of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG’s) contract with UnitingCare LLP. NHS England confirms that its review will look at the role of the Strategic Projects Team and the advice that it gave to the CCG.

    NHS England advises that it has commissioned an independent review, so the Strategic Projects Team’s role can be considered objectively.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Margaret Ritchie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much UK aid has been spent on programmes to support (a) children who have been conscripted as child soldiers by Daesh, (b) other children who have been held in captivity by Daesh and (c) women and girls who have been held in sexual slavery by Daesh.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    We are very concerned about appalling crimes committed by Daesh in Iraq and Syria, including against women and young children. We strongly condemn their use of sexual slavery, sexual violence, rape and kidnapping. Likewise, we have seen reports of children in Daesh-held areas being forced into military training after the militant group closed down their schools – leaving an estimated total of over 670,000 children without the opportunity of a proper education.

    In Syria and Iraq, DFID continues to work with the UN and the international community to ensure all civilians’ rights are protected. However, we do not earmark our aid as being solely for Daesh victims or victims of other groups. The UK is committed to supporting the most vulnerable people wherever they are, in accordance with international humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality. Consequently all UK funded humanitarian assistance is distributed on the basis of need, and need alone, regardless of politics, religion, ethnicity or place of origin.

    The UK has pledged over £2.3 billion for the response to the Syria crisis. Some of this funding is enabling partner agencies to provide specialist assistance to those affected by sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), including safe spaces, psychosocial support, cash assistance and reproductive healthcare. By June 2015, UK assistance had provided SGBV focussed interventions to over 197,000 individuals in Syria and the region. In addition, more than 673,000 children have been reached with child protection initiatives across Syria and the region.

    Ultimately, the best way of safeguarding these children is by defeating Daesh and establishing a lasting peace in both Syria and Iraq. The UK Government is committed to this aim: we have a comprehensive strategy for defeating Daesh and continue to work with our international partners and the UN towards a political settlement in Syria.

  • Hywel Williams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Hywel Williams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hywel Williams on 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what provision HM Prison Service makes to meet the spiritual needs of prisoners who speak Welsh in prisons in (a) Wales and (b) other parts of the UK.

    Andrew Selous

    The spiritual needs of Welsh speaking prisoners have been, and continue to be, provided by chaplains working in multi-faith teams. The framework for providing faith services in languages other than English is detailed in Prison Service Instruction 05/2016 Faith and Pastoral Care of Prisoners.

    This can be found on the Justice website at the following link:

    https://www.justice.gov.uk/offenders/psis

    “

  • William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    William Cash – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Cash on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate any advantage which fossil fuel generated electricity imported via interconnector has over domestic electricity generation on which carbon price floor rates are applied.

    Jesse Norman

    Whatever the source, and wherever it is from, we import electricity when the cost is lower than here in the UK, driving down consumer bills. Ofgem’s analysis of proposed interconnector projects shows that the carbon price floor is not the determinate of whether the projects are in the interests of UK consumers.

  • Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding she plans to make available to replace payments made under the Common Agricultural Policy.

    George Eustice

    On 13 August the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the agricultural sector will receive the same level of funding that it would have received under Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) until 2020.

    The Government will also guarantee funding for CAP Pillar 2 projects, including agri-environment agreements, signed after the Autumn Statement and which continue after the UK has left the EU, so long as they meet the conditions that they are good value for money and are in line with domestic strategic priorities.

    This provides crucial certainty and continuity to our rural communities while we develop a new approach to supporting agriculture and protecting our precious countryside.