Tag: 2016

Heidi Alexander – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to improve his Department’s collection of data for secondary breast cancer.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) is responsible for collecting cancer data to support national cancer registration in England and recognises the importance of collecting data on recurrent breast cancer.

At present pilot work in acute trusts has improved the reporting for breast cancer recurrence and metastasis to the National Cancer Registration Service but the uptake has been slow and the data is not complete. Further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect this data on all cancers.

Data on the number of people diagnosed with secondary breast cancer is not currently available.

January 1, 2023
Lord Wills – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wills on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that high quality end of life care is available in every setting, including for people who wish to die at home.

Lord Prior of Brampton

We are committed to ensuring that everyone at, or nearing, the end of life receives high quality, compassionate care, tailored to their individual needs and preferences.

The Government’s forthcoming response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care, which will be published shortly, will set out our vision for high quality, personalised care and the steps we will take to achieve this. The response will also address each of the Review recommendations, including on care coordination; improving the quality, availability and responsiveness of care; improving the quality and use of data; care planning and the use of digital care records; and the involvement of family members and carers in discussions about care.

January 1, 2023
Nic Dakin – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that non-medical scientists and technicians working in the health sector are registered with the Science Council or other relevant professional bodies.

Ben Gummer

Voluntary registration schemes, such as those overseen by the Science Council, provide an important mechanism for assuring the standards of professional staff. It is a matter for individual staff and their employing organisation as to how they make use of the assurance provided by voluntary registration schemes.

January 1, 2023
Helen Hayes – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will investigate the reasons for the delay in agreeing the rate for NHS-funded nursing care for residents of care homes in 2016-17.

Alistair Burt

Mazars LLP were appointed to carry out an independent review of the costs of nursing care by a registered nurse. Mazars’ report[1] recommends that the National Health Service-funded nursing care rate should be £156.25 – 40% higher than the 2015/16 rate. The Government has taken on board Mazars’ recommendation, meaning the rates paid by clinical commissioning groups for eligible care home residents assessed to require the help of a registered nurse are now as follows:

― standard rate – £156.25 per week; and

― higher rate – £215.04 per week (this is only relevant for those people who were already on the higher rate in 2007 when the single band was introduced).

These rates will be backdated to 1 April 2016 for individuals who were in receipt of NHS-funded Nursing Care from that time and paid on an interim basis whilst regional variation and the element of the rate for staff working on an agency basis are reviewed.

[1] http://www.mazars.co.uk/Home/Our-Sectors/Public-Services/Health/NHS-Funded-Nursing-Care-Review

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January 1, 2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for requiring manufacturers of all domestic white goods to put fire-proof markings on them, including the manufacturer, model and serial number, so that they can be identified more easily if they are damaged after causing a fire.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

Under existing legislation, electrical products must be labelled with the manufacturer’s name and address, and a serial number or other identification mark.

The Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances and the London Fire Brigade are in discussion over whether there is any further requirement for fire-proof markings.

January 1, 2023
Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many settlement visas granted on appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum) have been issued by UK Visas and Immigration (a) within one month, (b) between one to three months, (c) between three to six months, (d) between six to 12 months and (e) more than 12 months after that tribunal’s judgement in each of the last three years.

James Brokenshire

The information is not readily available or held centrally and can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

January 1, 2023
Catherine West – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Catherine West on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of freedom of information requirements in the British Virgin Islands; and what plans he has to promote transparency in that territory.

James Duddridge

Freedom of information policy in the Virgin Islands is the responsibility of the government of the Virgin Islands. As such, the Governor announced the Virgin Islands Government’s intention to introduce a Freedom of Information Bill and a Data Protection Bill in the Speech from the Throne of 10 November 2014.

The Governor again underlined the importance of Open Government as the ‘foundation stone to a modern democracy’ at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Government on 10 June 2015. Discussion between the Governor and the elected Government continues on a range of Open Government and transparency initiatives.

The 2012 White Paper states our commitments on working with the governments of the Overseas Territories on improving transparency and accountability. We are supporting these governments in moving towards systems of open government through sharing best practice and capacity building. This is a devolved area of competence and it is for Territory governments to develop a system that meets their particular requirements and circumstances.

January 1, 2023
Ivan Lewis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of investment in psychiatric services for children.

Alistair Burt

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce was established in September 2014 to consider ways to improve how children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH) services are organised, commissioned and provided. Evidence presented to and discussions in the Taskforce underlined the complexity and severity of the current set of challenges facing child and adolescent mental health services, including investment and funding arrangements. The work of the Taskforce resulted in the publication of the Government report, Future in Mind, which established a clear and powerful consensus about system-wide transformation to improve CYPMH.

This Government is committed to delivering this. An additional £1.4 billion has been made available over the course of this parliament to support this transformation programme, which includes investment in a range of mental health services for children and young people services, including psychiatric services. This includes £150 million to improve eating disorders and £75 million for perinatal mental health services.

Most of the additional funding is going direct to local areas to invest in transforming their services, but we need to balance this with investment nationally for workforce and system development, which sets the foundations for transformation. As this work progresses at national level, the amount going to local areas to support direct service delivery will gradually increase over the course of the five years.

Local Transformation Plans developed by clinical commissioning groups, covering all local areas, have been successfully assured by NHS England and funding was released in December 2015 to implement the Plans. These plans must cover the whole spectrum of CYPMH needs.

January 1, 2023
Baroness Jones of Whitchurch – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Jones of Whitchurch on 2016-04-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Flood Resilience Review is considering the findings of London Underground’s flood risk review which identifies 85 stations, tunnels and shafts as at high risk of flooding.

Lord Bridges of Headley

As set out in evidence to the Environmental Audit Committee on 13 April, the National Flood Resilience Review is looking across infrastructure in a number of sectors to identify those assets which the Government thinks need to be more resilient against extreme river or tidal flooding

Separately to the national review, London Underground is in the process of reviewing their own vulnerability to all forms of flooding: this includes river and coastal but also the risk of burst water mains, which can be a much bigger threat in an urban area. This work is primarily for London Underground to agree with Transport for London and the Mayor, but Department for Transport and Cabinet Office officials will stay abreast of the London Underground work to ensure it is coherent with the National Flood Resilience Review.

January 1, 2023
Julian Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Knight on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what obligations private hospitals and NHS foundation trusts have to share the medical records of patients who have used both services (a) in general and (b) when such trusts have referred patients to private hospitals.

George Freeman

We expect that all of the organisations involved in providing direct care to a National Health Service patient, irrespective of whether they are an NHS provider or a private sector provider under contract to the NHS, will share information that is relevant to the safe and timely provision of treatment and care.

The only exception should be if the patient objects to information about them being shared. This approach is consistent with the Caldicott Principles which state that “the duty to share data can be as important as the duty to protect confidentiality”. The duty to share information as described in Section 251B of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

January 1, 2023