Tag: 2016

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the quality of end of life (a) care and (b) provision in the NHS in England.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government is committed to making improvements in the quality of care people experience at the end of life.

    In 2014, we set out five priorities for care of the dying person which should underpin the care being delivered to all dying people. The priorities for care state that an individual plan of care, which includes food and drink, symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support, is agreed, co-ordinated and delivered with compassion.

    The priorities also set out the critical importance of compassion, respect and dignity in delivering care to dying people and the implications, for staff, commissioners and providers, when making decisions about how end of life care services will meet the needs of local people. The new approach to care, based on these fundamental principles, is being used by clinicians across the country.

    The Government’s forthcoming response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care will set out further actions we are taking to achieve high quality, personalised end of life care.

  • Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Barry Sheerman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to (a) review and (b) improve the autism self-assessment framework.

    Alistair Burt

    Working with the Department, Public Health England regularly undertakes an autism self assessment exercise with local authorities and their partners to gauge progress in implementing the Autism Strategy. The results of the self assessment and the individual returns from areas are made public so that organisations and people can challenge locally if they think that more needs to be done. The assessment questions and the process for local agreement are reviewed each time, taking into account that general continuity is needed in terms of measuring progress. The February meeting of the cross government Autism Programme Board considered the changes proposed for the next exercise which were put forward following discussions with representatives of Government departments, local authorities, the National Health Service, the autism third sector and people with autism and family carers. Further refinement will be undertaken over the next few weeks before the self assessment exercise is launched in the summer.

  • Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jonathan Ashworth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-05-04.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Minister for the Cabinet Office on promoting a fair global tax system at the Anti-Corruption Summit in May 2016.

    Mr David Gauke

    Treasury Ministers are in regular dialogue with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

    This Government has played a leading role in tackling avoidance and aggressive tax planning, driving fundamental reform of the international tax rules and standards. We helped initiate the G20-Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project to make sure multinationals pay tax on profits where the economic activities that give rise to these are located. We have led the way in terms of implementation; legislating for the OECD model for country-by-country reporting to tax authorities, and adopting the OECD recommendations for hybrid mismatch arrangements and interest restriction.

    At the Anti-Corruption Summit, we will seek to galvanize a global response to tackle corruption, as well as dealing with issues including corporate secrecy, government transparency, the enforcement of international anti-corruption laws, and the strengthening of international institutions. It will be an important opportunity for the Government to make the case for further international action on tax transparency.

  • Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Sue Hayman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sue Hayman on 2016-06-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what resources his Department has allocated to assessing the counter-proposal to the Government’s plans for community pharmacy published by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee in April 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    We have been developing our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond in discussion with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and other stakeholders. We welcomed the publication of the PSNC’s counter proposal which is being considered as part of the consultation process. Our aim is to communicate our final decisions early in July.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what his policy is on future UK membership of Europol.

    Mr Robin Walker

    We are leaving the EU but co-operation on security with our European and global allies will be maintained. We will do what is necessary to keep our people safe – our aim will be to continue cooperation where it is in the national interest to protect the public. We are about to begin these negotiations and it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance.

  • Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Hugo Swire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hugo Swire on 2016-10-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what plans he has to increase the number of officials of his Department who work on issues related to the Commonwealth.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    ​We have already begun building up an enlarged Commonwealth team to deliver an ambitious, UK-hosted Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2018, both in policy and event management terms. We will continue to use our network of High Commissioners overseas in the other 51 Member States, bilateral desks in London, together with close cross-Departmental working to further our efforts on issues related to the Commonwealth.

  • Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centre and Genomic England have made of the barriers to adopting national molecular pathology.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Genomics England undertook a comprehensive assessment of the technological and scientific challenges faced by molecular pathology in the context of the 100,000 Genomes Project. As part of the Project there has been extensive experimental work to identify best practice for molecular pathology (and more specifically genomics). In particular, the sequencing of whole tumour genomes at scale poses a significant scientific and clinical challenge. The Project is pushing these boundaries, driving new scientific knowledge and transformational change. Like all transformative projects there are barriers but the Project is providing the impetus to address those challenges.

    Genomics England is working in partnership with NHS England, Health Education England and the newly inaugurated NHS Genomic Medicine Centres to facilitate the translation of scientific developments into practice, and to support the development of the molecular pathology workforce.

    The Project will involve in-depth analysis of tumour genomics, creating new scientific discoveries which will in turn inform precision oncology. The Project includes both common and rare tumours to spread the transformative impact of the project across a range of cancer types.

    In 2014, theNational Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centreadvised the NHS England Molecular Testing Group (cancer) on the potential for horizon scanning in the use of genomic tests for cancer.

  • Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Paul Monaghan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Monaghan on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to promote domestic solar photovoltaic installations.

    Andrea Leadsom

    The Government is continuing to promote domestic solar photovoltaic installations with the Feed-in Tariff scheme which will support small-scale solar until 2019.

    We project that the FIT scheme could support up to 220,000 new solar installations between now and 2019.

  • Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ben Howlett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ben Howlett on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the 100,000 Genomes project will be able to diagnose patients with a ring chromosome.

    George Freeman

    The 100,000 Genomes Project could potentially diagnose participants with a ring chromosome through whole genome sequencing. The close working between NHS Genomic Medicine Centres and Genomics England means that ring chromosomes will continue to be detected primarily through routine diagnostic care. The 100,000 Genomes Project will give important information on the effective use of genomic technologies to bring benefit to National Health Service patients.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-03-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress he has made on implementing recommendation 10 in the executive summary of Public Health England’s March 2015 report entitled, Public mental health leadership and workforce development framework, on building the capacity of the National Mental Health Intelligence Network.

    Jane Ellison

    Progress on implementing recommendation 10, which is to build the mental health intelligence capability through the National Mental Health Intelligence Network (NMHIN) can be categorised into three sections and is as follows:

    1) Capacity – NMHIN increased capacity in 2015/16 through NHS England investment. This enabled recruitment to work on additional/enhanced programmes on Crisis Care and Perinatal Mental Health and the first stage of a mental health Joint Strategic Needs Assessment toolkit. NHS England have committed to continue investment in 2016/17.

    2) Products – the NMHIN has enhanced mental health intelligence capability through the development of;

    a) Profiling tools (i.e. new tool on Suicide Prevention; expanded tool on Severe Mental Illness and Common Mental Health Disorders; updated tools which include; Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing) and,

    b) ntelligence products (i.e. Measuring Mental Wellbeing in Children and Young People).

    3) Dissemination – the NMHIN has enabled more people to use mental health intelligence through a communication and training programme that provides: routine updates on products and work programmes, training sessions on using products, online access to video and document guides, and a programme of presentations that promote products and encourages use. The Public Health England Local Intelligence Service support this programme and increasingly a range of partners request sessions.