Tag: 2016

  • Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Barry Gardiner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Gardiner on 2016-05-18.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s news story of 27 April 2016, Update on a new clause to be inserted into grant agreements, how long his Department plans to spend on the review of representations received on the anti-lobbying clause; and whether his Department will continue to consider representations made after the date of that announcement.

    Matthew Hancock

    As I made clear in the House on 27 April, we are committed to protecting taxpayers’ money from being wasted on government lobbying government. We are pausing the implementation of this clause into grant agreements, pending a review of the representations made.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many follow-up appointments for patients with a primary diagnosis of (a) age-related macular degeneration, (b) central retinal vein occlusion and (c) diabetic macular oedema were cancelled or postponed by the NHS in each of the last three years.

    Alistair Burt

    All follow-up appointments should take place when clinically appropriate. It is for clinicians to make decisions on when they see patients, in line with their clinical priority, and patients should not experience undue delay at any stage of their referral, diagnosis or treatment. The appropriate interval for follow up appointments will vary between different services or specialties, and between individual patients, depending on the severity of their condition.

    To ensure that patients are seen at the appropriate time, NHS England’s guidance, “Recording and reporting referral to treatment waiting times for consultant-led elective care” is clear that when patients on planned lists are clinically ready for their care to commence and reach the date for their planned appointment, they should either receive that appointment or be transferred to an active waiting list. At that point, a waiting time clock will be started and their wait reported in the relevant statistical return.

    Hospital episode statistics contain details of all outpatient appointments at National Health Service hospitals in England and commissioned by the NHS from independent sector organisations in England. The recording of a primary diagnosis and postponed or cancelled appointments is not mandatory within the outpatient commissioning data set and there are no plans to make it so.

    Data is not, therefore, available on the number of cancelled or postponed follow up appointments for patients with age-related macular degeneration, central retinal vein occlusion and diabetic macular oedema.

    No assessment has been made of the effect of hospital-initiated postponement or cancellation of ophthalmology follow-up appointments on patients’ sight. However, officials have met with the Clinical Council for Eye Health Commissioning and are considering their concerns.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what contingency plans his Department has to respond to a raised security threat level in Northern Ireland.

    Mike Penning

    Policing and security remains the responsibility of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Security Service. As with the rest of the UK, there are a number of standing contingency plans in place to provide Defence support in Northern Ireland beyond the capacity of the civil authorities and in times of crisis. I am withholding the detail of these contingency plans for the purpose of safeguarding national security and in order not to prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our armed forces.

    Beyond this, as with the rest of the UK, Defence will consider requests for additional assistance on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that support provided is in line with Military Aid to the Civil Authorities principles.

  • Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Lord Storey – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Storey on 2016-01-20.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government which local authority has taken the longest amount of time to assess and decide on an Education, Health and Care plan.

    Lord Nash

    Information on statements of special educational needs and statutory Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans maintained by local authorities is collected in the annual SEN2 data return from local authorities in January each year. The latest available data shows there were 4,205 statutory EHC plans maintained by local authorities, as of January 2015.

    The Department does not collect information on which local authority has taken the longest amount of time to assess and decide on an EHC plan. Data is collected in the annual SEN2 return on the number of EHC plans which were issued within the 20 weeks set out in regulations.

    Of the new EHC plans issued in 2014, 64.3% were within the 20 weeks when excluding exception cases. Including exception cases; 61.5% were issued within the 20 weeks. However, these figures cover EHC plans issued in the first four months of the transitional period where local authorities are beginning to implement the new reforms within 20 weeks.

    This information was published in the statistical first release ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015’, in May 2015. Data for January 2016 is expected to be published in May 2016.

  • Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-02-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the government of Bangladesh to improve (a) working conditions, (b) safety standards and (c) pay in clothes factories used by international companies in Bangladesh.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    The UK, through FCO and DFID is encouraging the government of Bangladesh to improve working conditions and safety standards in the garment sector in a number of ways.

    The UK actively lobbies the government on these issues through the 3 + 5 mechanism that was established as part of the Sustainability Compact.

    We are also working with the Government of Bangladesh to improve the framework within which factories operate. As part of our Garments sector programme, we are building the capacity of the government to significantly improve factory regulation and inspection by strengthening the Department for Inspection of Factories and Establishment. Through our support, this Department will have a 575 member cadre of professional labour inspectors, who among other things, will ensure that factories are safe and that they pay workers their salaries and overtime payments according to the law. The UK has also helped fund building, fire and electrical safety inspections in 1500 garment factories.

    In 2013, as a result of lobbying from major stakeholders including the UK, Bangladesh raised the minimum wage for the country’s garment workers by 77 percent to 5,300 taka (£42) per month.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has issued to healthcare professionals involved with children with mental health problems on whether they have a responsibility to inform parents that their child may be eligible for disability living allowance.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department of Health has not issued guidance to healthcare professionals on informing parents of their children’s eligibility for disability living allowance.

    The Department for Work and Pensions provides information on benefits, including Disability Living Allowance (DLA), in a range of formats at:

    www.gov.uk

    This includes information relating to DLA for children and includes links to benefit eligibility calculators that will signpost the user to further information about DLA for children.

    “

  • Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-04-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the retention of social workers in that profession.

    Edward Timpson

    This Government has invested over £700m in social worker training and improvement since 2010. Programmes like Step Up to Social Work, Frontline and the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment are all focussed on bringing high quality people into social work and supporting them in their first year. Early evidence suggest that this investment is paying off: the first findings from a three-year longitudinal evaluation of Step Up cohorts 1 and 2 indicate that 84% cohort 1 Step Up graduates identified in the study were still practising in child and family social work after three years (compared to 65% of all social work education graduates in 2013-14 who were employed as social workers six months after leaving their course).

    As well as supporting high quality training and development of social workers, we are developing a national, practice-focused, career pathway based on the skills and knowledge that social workers should display at all levels in their career and incentivising new teaching partnership arrangements between employers and higher education institutions to improve recruitment, retention and development of social workers.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-05-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 19 April 2016 to Question 33646, what conditions of access have been placed by (a) Jersey and (b) the Cayman Islands on their registers of beneficial ownership.

    Harriett Baldwin

    I refer the hon. Member to the text of the arrangements concluded between the UK and the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, and to the Oral Statement given by the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) on 11 April 2016, Official Report, column 23.

    https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/beneficial-ownership-uk-overseas-territories-and-crown-dependencies

    https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2016-04-11/debates/1604111000001/PanamaPapers#contribution-1604116000104

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-06-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what clinical outcomes data his Department holds for (a) sickle cell disease and (b) thalassaemia in each (i) clinical commissioning group area, (ii) trust area and (iii) national sickle cell and thalassaemia centre area.

    George Freeman

    NHS England requires commissioned providers to submit quality dashboard data on an annual basis. Key indicators include the percentage of patients on the National Haemoglobinopathy Register, those offered an annual review and the proportion of eligible patients offered and receiving neurological screening.

  • Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 September 2016 to Question 43316, which elements of the EU Nature Directive transposed into UK law her Department is considering for repeal.

    Dr Thérèse Coffey

    The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU including for existing legislation.