Tag: 2016

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made any revisions to (a) the amount his Department forecasts will be required for the diffuse mesothelioma payments scheme and (b) the number of people his Department forecasts will apply to receive payments from the scheme in the first 10 years of its operation since it last published those figures.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department makes revisions to the DMPS financial forecast annually for the purposes of calculating the levy. A Ministerial written statement (HCWS460) was tabled in the House of Commons on 12 January 2016 and provides details of the DMPS levy for 2015/16.

    Similarly, the Department forecasts the number of applicants annually. In 2014/15, there were 410 applicants to the DMPS. The next set of official DMPS statistics will be released 28 January 2015 and will contain six months’ worth of data on applications for 2015/16. Assumptions could be derived from those figures for the remainder of the year.

    No revisions have been made to longer term forecasts since the DMPS Impact Assessment was published 6 March 2014. This can be found at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286525/mesothelioma-payment-scheme-ia-mar-2014.pdf

    “

  • 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 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on the commissioning of a national molecular diagnosis service.

    George Freeman

    The Independent Cancer Taskforce recognised the need for more accessible molecular diagnostic provision in their report ‘Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes’, published in July 2015.

    NHS England is currently working with partners across the healthcare system to determine how best to take forward the recommendations of the Taskforce.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the time taken on investigations into still births.

    Ben Gummer

    The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ Green-top Guideline 55 on Later Intrauterine Fetal Death and Stillbirth (2010) guidance for obstetricians and midwives states that all stillbirths should be reviewed in a multi-professional meeting using a standardised approach to analysis. This will enable the identification of substandard care and establish whether any future preventative measures are required. Results of the review should be discussed with the parents.

    The Government is investing £500,000 to develop and roll out by March 2017 a new web-based system to be used consistently across the National Health Service so staff can review and learn from every stillbirth and neonatal death.

    All stillbirths should also be reported to the MBRRACE-UK collaboration (Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK) which undertakes national surveillance of late fetal losses, stillbirths and infant deaths.

  • Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Cat Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2016-04-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to make autism awareness a compulsory part of initial teacher training.

    Nick Gibb

    The Government does not prescribe a curriculum for initial teacher training (ITT). Providers of ITT must ensure that their courses allow trainees to demonstrate the Teachers’ Standards in full; this includes ensuring that trainees are equipped to “adapt teaching to respond to the strengths and needs of all pupils”. The standards require trainees to demonstrate that they “have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs”. It is for individual providers to decide how best to ensure that their programmes meet the requirements of the standards.

    Following a review of ITT quality by Sir Andrew Carter, the Secretary of State appointed a leading head teacher, Stephen Munday CBE, to lead an independent expert group tasked with developing a framework of core initial teacher training content. This will provide further guidance for ITT providers and trainees on how the Teachers’ Standards should be applied to the initial training phase. We expect to receive the group’s report shortly and will consider their recommendations carefully and determine how they should be taken forward.

    The Teachers’ Standards can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/283566/Teachers_standard_information.pdf

    “

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Kerry McCarthy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-05-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department has allocated for its badger cull policy for 2016-17.

    George Eustice

    The amount of funding allocated for industry-led badger control will depend on the number of applicants authorised to proceed in 2016.

  • Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-19.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to ensure that Jobcentre staff and Jobcentre Plus advisers understand fully, and respond effectively to, mental health problems.

    Lord Freud

    The Department for Work and Pensions supports its staff in developing the skills required to identify and effectively support claimants with mental health conditions. A number of learning products such as ‘Introduction to Working with People with a Mental Health Condition’ and ‘Supporting Customers with a Vulnerability’ have been specifically developed to build capability for Jobcentre staff. Jobcentre staff also promote “Disability Confident” which is an initiative that includes working with employers to show that employing disabled people, including those with mental health conditions, is good for the individual, business and society.

  • Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Kelly Tolhurst – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelly Tolhurst on 2016-10-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to analyse and expand health service capacity in areas of expected high population growth.

    David Mowat

    Neighbouring National Health Service providers, commissioners, and other health and care services are currently developing strategic plans across 44 sustainability and transformation ‘footprints’ to deliver a sustainable NHS. These are geographic areas in which people and organisations are collaborating to develop plans to improve the way that health and care is planned and delivered in a more person-centred and coordinated way for local people. In places where high population growth is identified as a need it is expected that the plans will contain a locally developed approach to ensure the service can manage demand.

  • Lord Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Lucas on 2015-12-22.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have conducted any test purchases in online markets to provide evidence of the evasion of VAT.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a range of operational activity in place to tackle evasion and to establish evidence of the scale of the problem. HMRC does not routinely carry out test purchases through online platforms.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-01-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many schools in England are using non-specialist teachers to cover teaching vacancies.

    Lord Nash

    The Department does not hold this information.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many consent orders have been signed by courts for the settlement of judicial review cases for asylum and immigration applications in each year since 2009-10; how many such cases were decided in favour of the appellant upon reconsideration; how many found in contempt of court for the breaching such consent orders; and on how many occasions the courts has refuse to sign a consent order.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    This information is not held centrally and can only be collated at disproportionate cost.