Tag: 2016

Tom Brake – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Brake on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes to pharmacy funding on the availability of essential medicines.

David Mowat

The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, under the National Health Service Act 2006.

Our assessments include consideration of the potential impacts on the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services, including the supply of medicines, access to NHS pharmaceutical services, supplementary hours, non-commissioned services, individuals with protected characteristics, impacts on other NHS services, health inequalities, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities.

An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.

Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency departments, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven day health and care services.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.

NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective NHS primary care patient pathway.

The rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists announced by NHS England will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.

January 1, 2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to integrate the use in military operations of unmanned vehicles in the air, at sea, and on land.

Earl Howe

Unmanned vehicles already play an important role in UK Armed Forces’ operations across all environments. On the basis of the Government’s National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review of November 2015, the Department is continuing to examine where unmanned systems may offer advantages over manned alternatives and to invest in new unmanned capabilities. For example, the Department is more than doubling the number of armed remotely piloted aircraft available to the UK Armed Forces under the Protector programme to replace the existing Reaper aircraft, and is also developing high-end technologies – including in collaboration with France and the US – under a future Unmanned Combat Air System programme.

Throughout the Department’s development and integration of unmanned systems, the policy is that a human must always be responsible for any decisions on targeting.

January 1, 2023
Lord Touhig – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Touhig on 2016-01-28.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial arrangements are in place to support reservists upon leaving (1) the army, (2) the Royal Navy, and (3) the Royal Air Force, and what is the total cost of those arrangements.

Earl Howe

From 1 April 2015 Reserve personnel have had access to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme 2015 (AFPS 15), unless covered by Transitional Protection in an existing scheme. For the first time, pay received for Man Training Days is pensionable. This represents an increase in the overall package for Reserves and one that aligns the structure of Reservists’ remuneration more closely with that of Regulars. In common with all Service personnel, Reservists qualify for pension benefits under AFPS 15 after completing the mandatory vesting period of two calendar years and pension benefits are based on the average pensionable pay received from the date of joining the scheme. Other main features of the scheme are ill-health pensions, dependants’ benefits and death-in-service benefits. Any benefits built up in a legacy pension scheme prior to 1 April 2015 are protected.

As with other unfunded public sector pension schemes the Ministry of Defence’s contribution to meet the cost of these pensions is calculated by the Superannuation Charges Adjusted for Past Experience (SCAPE) mechanism – this is expressed as a percentage of the pay bill and following the last valuation is set at 50.4%.

January 1, 2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many key lock incidents there have been in each month since May 2010; how many such incidents related to doors of gates left unlocked; and in which establishments those incidents took place.

Andrew Selous

The information requested can only be provided at a disproportionate cost.

January 1, 2023
Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential merits of the Children’s House model for children who are victims of abuse.

Mike Penning

This government has made tackling child abuse a priority. We set up the first ever cross-government Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling this abhorrent crime. We have also invested an extra £100m to support vulnerable children and we are providing £7m for services supporting child abuse survivors.

We have not had any ministerial discussions about the Children’s House model, but more widely the Government is committed to improving the experience of child witnesses in the criminal justice system. We have increased the number of intermediaries to support them to give their best evidence. In addition, vulnerable witnesses can give evidence away from the courtroom and away from the court building at remote sites set up nationally in each criminal justice region.

January 1, 2023
Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information his Department holds on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison

The number of women who were diagnosed with fibroadenomas in each of the last five years, and the proportion of women with fribroadenomas who went on to develop breast cancer in 2015, is not held.

In addition, information on the number of women who had fibroadenomas surgically removed in each of the last five years is not held.

There are several types of benign breast lump, including fibroadenomas. Although most lumps are not breast cancer, any unusual changes to the breasts should be checked by a general practitioner (GP) as soon as possible. If a GP finds a lump on examination, they will routinely refer the patient to be seen by a hospital specialist.

January 1, 2023
Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the implications for his policies are of the findings in The Lancet Series on breastfeeding, published in January 2016; and what steps his Department is taking to increase breastfeeding rates.

Ben Gummer

Following the discontinuation of the Infant Feeding Survey, the Department has been exploring with Public Health England (PHE) and other key stakeholders alternative methods and sources of information to monitor the impact of its policy on infant feeding.

In future, the Maternity and Children’s Dataset will regularly capture data on breastfeeding initiation and prevalence from all women using NHS services rather than using a survey sample. This means that local service providers and commissioners can have up-to-date (e.g. quarterly) information about outcomes for their local populations, enabling service provision to be more agile, responsive and targeted.

The Government is committed to supporting breastfeeding through the Healthy Child Programme. Breastfeeding is also included in the Public Health Outcomes Framework so that the improvements can be tracked, and action taken as needed.

Since 2010, we have recruited more than 2,100 additional midwives who will provide women with the information, advice and support they need with breastfeeding. A further 6,000 midwives are in training. There are also 3,400 more health visitors than in 2010.

The Department is working with PHE, NHS England and UNICEF to try and encourage women to breastfeed for the first six months, although we recognise that not all mothers choose to or are able to breastfeed.

Support and information is currently available to health professionals and parents through NHS Choices, the National Breastfeeding Helpline, UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, the Start4Life Information Service for Parents and local peer support programmes.

The Department has not retained a record of how many full-time equivalent staff there were with a specific focus on breastfeeding between 2010 and 2016; breastfeeding policy has always formed part of the larger maternity policy for which the Department has the policy lead. Resources to cover this policy area would have fluctuated according the level of work required at any one time.

January 1, 2023
Lord Berkeley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Berkeley on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 12 July (HL921), what changes the Red Arrows offered to make to their original programme; and what, if any, safety advice was received by the Red Arrows and from whom.

Earl Howe

The Red Arrows did not offer to make any changes to their original, approved routine or display sequence. However, they did liaise with the event organisers, who are responsible for mitigating risks to those on the ground and those in boats in the local estuary, on where best to locate the display. To avoid flying over anyone in the estuary, the Red Arrows were prepared to display over the sea.

The Red Arrows did not receive any safety advice specifically relating to a display at Fowey Regatta.

January 1, 2023
Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the total number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government is closely monitoring global migration developments, including the number of Mediterranean crossings, working in partnership with the EU and in source and transit countries, to address the mass movements of people attempting to cross the Mediterranean. This includes tackling criminal gangs who facilitate journeys and exploit migrants.

We have not made an estimate of the number of refugees who will attempt to cross the Mediterranean in 2017. Determining refugee status is at the discretion of EU Member States and we do not estimate the number of illegal migrants that will be granted refugee status.

January 1, 2023
Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-21.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 November (HL3563), what provision was made in the 2015 Spending Review in the Department for Communities and Local Government allocation for local authorities in 2016–17, and in each subsequent year, for the introduction of the National Living Wage.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

Spending Review decisions took the National Living Wage into account along with a range of other financial and economic factors. I refer the noble Lord to the provisional local government finance settlement, published on 17 December, which builds on the Spending Review outcome and also took account of pressures on adult social care. Policies to provide funding for social care include:
- The social care precept in council tax, which puts money raising powers into the hands of local areas who understand the need in their area and who are best placed to respond. This could raise up to £2 billion a year for social care by 2019/20;
- Making an extra £1.5 billion available for social care by 2019-20 in an improved Better Care Fund – with funding going direct to councils to ensure health and social care services work together to support older and vulnerable people;
- More than doubling the Disabled Facilities Grant to over £500 million a year by 2019/20.
January 1, 2023