Tag: 2016

  • John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    John Healey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Healey on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the announcement of 4 January 2016, The Government will directly build affordable homes, whether a new college and innovation centre is intended to open at the same time as the first of the 249 residential units at the direct commissioning site at Daedelus Waterfront.

    Brandon Lewis

    The direct commissioning pilots will follow the normal planning and commercial processes for determining the phasing of homes and associated facilities.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times there were no tier four child and adolescent mental health services beds available in (a) England and (b) each region in the last 12 months.

    Alistair Burt

    Since 1 April 2015, there have always been tier four Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services beds available in England as a whole.

    Since 1 April 2015, there were a total of 26 days when no beds were available in the South East and 52 days when no beds were available in the South West. In all other regions there have always been tier four beds available since April 2015.

    Accurate data is only available from 1 April 2015 due to the introduction of a more effective bed status database from that date.

  • Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Bridget Phillipson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bridget Phillipson on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has allocated funding to defend a legal challenge against his decision to impose a new junior doctors contract.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department has an allocated budget to fund the legal services it requires, which would include funding for any challenge in relation to the junior doctors’ contract.

  • Mark Garnier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Mark Garnier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Garnier on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what provision the Government has in place to provide extra funding for clinical commissioning groups to deal with increasing local pressures on social care resulting from limits on local authority resources and NHS trusts being placed on special measures.

    Alistair Burt

    The Better Care Fund gives flexibility to local areas to determine how best to invest a joint budget. Local authorities are required to agree with their local health partners how funding is best used within social care in order to best serve local people and reduce pressures on the health service.

    The total value of the Better Care Fund in 2015/16 is £5.3 billion, which includes monies provided by local authorities and health partners in 151 local areas.

    From April 2017, the Spending Review makes available additional social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund.

  • Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Paula Sherriff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many civil servants in his Department are paid through limited companies.

    Jane Ellison

    All civil servants employed by the core Department are paid via its payroll system.

  • Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Greg Mulholland – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the average hourly earnings were of 10 Downing Street’s (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

    Cabinet Office staff are paid an annual salary, not on the basis of an hourly rate.

    The Department uses a grading structure to determine annual salary rates. This is underpinned by Job Evaluation and Grading Support (JEGS), an analytical job evaluation tool which meets all requirements of legislation and EHRC statutory codes of practice on Equal Pay. The use of JEGS and its application in determining the appropriate grade for a role enables us to determine where employees are doing equal work based on “work rated as equivalent.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the progress against its targets of BT’s commercial roll-out of superfast broadband in the Connecting Devon and Somerset area.

    Matt Hancock

    Broadband Delivery UK works closely with the Connecting Devon and Somerset team and BT to keep progress on the BT commercial roll-out under review. Responsibility for the commercial roll-out lies with BT.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what comparative assessment he has made of the effect of the increase in business rates on (a) state and (b) privately funded schools with roof-top solar photovoltaic panels.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    Business rates are based on valuations from the Valuation Office Agency and we do not intervene in their independent assessments. We have proposed a £3.4 billion transitional relief scheme to ensure that no ratepayer is unfairly penalised by the 2017 revaluation.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-01-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many disputes have been filed through an accredited tenancy deposit scheme and withdrawn before a final decision was made in each of the last five years.

    Brandon Lewis

    The number of disputed cases filed but withdrawn by each of the three authorised tenancy deposit schemes in the last five years is set out in the tables below.

    Number of cases withdrawn before adjudication by approved scheme

    2010/11(1) 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

    MyDeposits (2)

    177 1,012 1,324 1,626 1,728

    2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

    Deposit Protection Service (3)

    1,049 (4) 1,945 1,888 2,489 2,464

    The Dispute Service

    832 1,186 1,810 2,140 2,075

    (1) From 24 November 2010

    (2) Figures include cases where tenants have raised a dispute but scheme has been unable to contact them for further information.

    (3) Figures include cases where (i) both parties have reached agreement (ii) notification given that the case is going to court (iii) one party has not submitted any evidence within the required timescale which has resulted in the disputed amount being paid to the other party and (iv) other reasons.

    (4) From June to December 2011

    The upward trend in the number of cases withdrawn before adjudication is a result of the successful use of mediation services by the schemes before the formal adjudication process begins and the detailed guidance and advice provided to both landlords and tenants by the schemes to help avoid disputes.

  • 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, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure opportunities for diagnosis and intervention in sepsis are detected.

    Ben Gummer

    NHS England is undertaking a number of steps to improve diagnosis and treatment of sepsis, which have been coordinated through a cross-system programme board run by NHS England.

    In April 2015 NHS England introduced a new national Commissioning for Quality and Innovation measure (financial incentive) to incentivise hospitals accepting emergency admissions to screen eligible patients for sepsis when they arrive, and to administer intravenous antibiotics within one hour for patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.

    Additionally NHS England has made available a voluntary audit tool for general practitioners (GPs) enabling them to assess their care of children with a fever under five years old against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, which can be a pre-cursor to sepsis. Primary care IT suppliers have provided data entry templates for the tool which prompts GPs to enter the appropriate observations thereby improving the quality of the patient care record, as well as promoting the use of the NICE guidance.

    NICE is currently consulting on a new Sepsis Clinical Guideline that will be published this year, which will make recommendations about the assessment, diagnosis and initial management of patients with sepsis.

    The Government has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to provide national leadership on education, training and workforce development in the National Health Service in England.

    It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and outcomes for education and training and approve training curricular to ensure newly qualified healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.

    HEE will work with bodies that set curricula such as the General Medical Council and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) to seek to ensure training meets the needs of patients.

    HEE is currently developing an awareness video that will target primary care staff on recognising sepsis in children. A separate piece of work involving the RCGP is focusing on an e-learning package on sepsis in primary care, to ensure that the primary care workforce is ably equipped to deal with sepsis in the general population, including children.

    HEE is currently undertaking a scoping exercise on training available for health professionals to recognise and manage sepsis in all patient groups. This survey scoped HEE local offices, NHS organisations, Academic Health Science Network, Ambulance Trusts and Royal Colleges on the resources currently available, which are being reviewed, and recommendations will be made in March 2016.