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Tag: 2016

  • 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, what his policy is on the payment of senior NHS staff through limited companies; and what estimate he has made of the number of senior NHS staff paid off-payroll.

    Alistair Burt

    Our policy is to comply with the guidance from HM Treasury on senior staff engaged on an off-payroll basis. Engaging staff off-payroll can be a useful flexibility for employers but the guidance is clear that the most senior staff should be on the payroll of the organisation they lead, except in exceptional circumstances and then for no more than six months. The latest figure for staff in National Health Service trusts within the scope of the Treasury guidance indicate there were 1,193 off-payroll staff in 2014/15. The latest figure for NHS foundation trusts was 1,109 in 2013/14. These figures may include staff engaged off-payroll other than through limited companies. Figures for staff in clinical commissioning groups are not collected centrally.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to increase the number of locations with paid toll crossings in England.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government has a longstanding policy of funding estuarial crossings through tolls. Work on a new Lower Thames Crossing has assumed that it will be tolled, although no decisions have yet been made. Beyond this, there are no plans for further tolled crossings in England. The £15 billion to be invested in strategic roads over the period 2015 to 2020, set out in the Road Investment Strategy, is wholly funded by Government.

    The new Mersey Gateway Bridge and existing Silver Jubilee Bridge will be tolled when the new bridge opens in 2017, although these are the responsibility of Halton Council.

  • 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, what discussions she has had with BT on the pace of its commercial roll-out.

    Matt Hancock

    The Secretary of State for Culture, Media & sport recently met the Chief Executive of BT to discuss a range of issues, including BT’s progress in improving broadband connectivity through its commercial investments. This issue will be one of the priorities in the Department’s regular discussions with BT.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-10-11.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October 2016 to Question 46494, whether his Department keeps a record of the number of people who have had their tax credits stopped and subsequently reinstated by Concentrix in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not keep records of the number of people who had their tax credits stopped and then re-instated by Concentrix. Only the number of awards that have been amended, which could be stopped, reduced or increased, is recorded.

    HMRC is currently focussed on resolving the outstanding cases but will be preparing analysis, which will be available in due course.

  • 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, how many leases of what tenure are planned for the new homes to be built on the direct commissioning sites at (a) Northstowe, (b) Old Oak Common, (c) Daedelus Waterfront, (d) Connaught Barracks and (e) Lower Grayling Well.

    Brandon Lewis

    The holding costs for the site relate to the entirety of the site and are consistent with the legal and health and safety obligations of the Homes and Communities Agency as land owner.

  • 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 his Department plans to do to ensure that healthcare staff and GPs are adequately trained to recognise the symptoms of sepsis.

    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.

  • Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Murrison – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when his Department expects hospitals to catch up with any backlog caused by the junior doctors’ strike on 12 January 2016.

    Ben Gummer

    The National Health Service is making every effort to reschedule treatment as quickly as possible and according to clinical priority for those patients whose operations or appointments were cancelled as a result of the industrial action on 12 January 2016.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-03-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his speech to the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism on 15 March 2016, what legal changes he was referring to in that speech.

    Dominic Raab

    I refer the honourable member to the answer given to 31430 on 30th March 2016.

  • Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Questions 28144 and 28086, if her Department will take into account, when making a decision on granting right to abode, the fact that the British-Hong Kong servicemen paid UK taxes to HM Treasury during their service, rather than local Hong Kong taxes.

    James Brokenshire

    The assessment of the request by former members of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps that they be granted right of abode in the UK is under consideration. This will take into account all available information.

  • Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Neil Gray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Gray on 2016-05-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will provide additional financial support to disabled people whose income will be reduced as a result of (a) changes in the employment and support allowance work-related activity group and (b) the universal credit work allowance as a result of provisions in the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016.

    Priti Patel

    No existing Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit claimants will be affected by the change to the work-related activity or limited capability for work components. We have committed to providing £60m a year from 2016/17, rising to £100m a year by 2020/21, in new, practical support for claimants with limited capability for work to help them move closer to the labour market and, when they are ready, into work. If a disabled person in work is affected by the recent changes to work allowances, additional help has been made available to help them overcome specific barriers to increasing their earnings.