Tag: 2016

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

    Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the minimum standards required to practice as a care worker are; and what steps he is taking to ensure online training courses in care work are regularly assessed and adequate to meet those requirements.

    Ben Gummer

    All providers of health or adult social care activities that fall under the supervision of the Care Quality Commission have a legal duty to ensure that all staff working to provide those activities have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience necessary for the work to be performed.

    Health and social care support workers should meet the Care Certificate standards. The Certificate comprises 15 standards that cover the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to provide safe, effective and compassionate care.

    The Care Certificate contains practical components that must be completed. There are a number of online commercial Care Certificate training products that do not make this clear. Health Education England and Skills for Care are working on online training materials to provide a free-of-charge and authoritative alternative to the current commercial offerings.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what operational contingency plan his Department has made in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

    Michael Fallon

    None.

  • Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Philip Davies – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the foreign aid budget was given directly to the governments of recipient nations in each of the last three years.

    Sir Desmond Swayne

    Direct financial aid to governments of recipient nations constituted 14%, 12% and 9% of DFID’s total programme expenditure for years 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively. These are the three most recent years for which this data is currently available. General Budget Support reduced from 2.2% to 0.5% of DFID’s total programme expenditure over the same period.

  • Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Edward Argar – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Argar on 2016-09-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to replicate the system of Historic Environment Records used in Wales in England.

    Tracey Crouch

    In England local planning authorities are required to have regard to the terms of the National Planning Policy Framework, which indicates that they should either maintain or have access to an Historical Environment Records (HER).

    The Heritage Information Access Strategy (HIAS) programme intends to secure an improved and more cost effective approach to handling digital historic environment data, especially that held by local authority Historic Environment Records. It is intended to improve the accessibility of that information and work with HERs to become more user focused. As part of HIAS Historic England will continue to champion the development, maintenance and implementation of standards for the creation, management and storage of digital historic environment data.

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he expects to reply to the letters to him from the hon. Member for Tewkesbury dated 20 July 2015 and 21 October 2015 on the treatment of veterans and the terms of the Military Covenant.

    Michael Fallon

    The case that the hon. Member refers to is complicated and sensitive and is still being reviewed by officials. I will write to him as soon as this review concludes.

  • Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the recommendation in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that her Department should clarify what is expected in guidance produced by relevant religious authorities for schools which give priority on the grounds of religion in their admission arrangements.

    Nick Gibb

    Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’.

    We support the right of schools with a religious designation to prioritise children of their faith. The code requires such schools, as a minimum, to prioritise looked after and previously looked after children of their faith ahead of other children. We have no plans to change this requirement.

    The code can only be applied to bodies within the education sector. It cannot place requirements upon religious bodies. It does, however, require that when schools with a religious designation adopt admission criteria which prioritise children based on their faith, the schools must take account of religious activities as laid out by their religious authority.

    Compliance with the code is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

    The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the code which will both respond to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports and concerns raised by parents. That package will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many members of the British armed forces are currently stationed in each of the UK’s overseas territories.

    Penny Mordaunt

    There are 2,570 British Service personnel permanently based in British Overseas Territories. This figure includes those based in the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, Gibraltar, the South Atlantic Islands and British Indian Ocean Territory (including Diego Garcia). It excludes those deployed on operations. The breakdown of these figures is shown below. The Ministry of Defence regularly publishes the location figures for both military and civilian personnel, which can be accessed on the GOV.UK website.

    UK Overseas Territory

    Number of Armed Forces Personnel Stationed

    Cyprus (SBA)

    2,290

    Gibraltar

    160

    South Atlantic Islands

    80

    British Indian Ocean Territory (including Diego Garcia)

    40

    TOTAL

    2,570

    (Location of UK regular service and civilian personnel quarterly statistics – 1 January 2016)

  • Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Ruth Cadbury – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government has taken in response to the Palliative Care Funding Review, published in July 2011.

    Ben Gummer

    In response to the Review recommendations, the Government established a large-scale two year data collection exercise to find out more about palliative care costs, with the aim of working towards a fairer, more transparent funding system for palliative care.

    From April 2013, NHS England assumed responsibility for this work. The data collection concluded in 2014 and NHS England published a palliative care development currency in February 2015. Over 2015/16 the currency has been tested and refined in a number of local areas around the country. During 2016, NHS England will engage with key stakeholders on the results of this testing and make a definitive set of currencies available for use in April 2017. The currencies will allow commissioners and providers of specialist end of life care to ensure the best services are being provided to meet people’s needs regardless of care setting.

  • Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-05-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals for the future of community pharmacy on care for vulnerable patients.

    Alistair Burt

    Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service. We want to see a high quality community pharmacy service that is properly integrated into primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View.

    We want to make pharmacists a pivotal part of primary care for all patient groups, including the elderly and vulnerable, by increasing the number who bring their skills to general practitioner (GP) practices, care homes, urgent care and public health settings. We have consulted on how best to introduce a Pharmacy Integration Fund to help transform how pharmacists, their teams and community pharmacy will operate in the NHS, bringing clear benefits to patients and the public.

    Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

    The community pharmacy proposals for 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered in respect to the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the NHS Act 2006.

    An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-07-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with Govia Thameslink Railway on the threshold for (a) planned and (b) unplanned train service cancellations since February 2016.

    Claire Perry

    We monitor GTR’s performance and we have ongoing discussions with them over the delivery of their train services.