Tag: 2016

  • 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 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme recovery rate reaches 50 per cent by March 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) monitors clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) performance against the recovery target for people who have received psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. In October 2015, 77 CCGs met the 50% Recovery Standard.

    The Department is working closely with NHSE to reduce the variation in recovery rates across CCG areas.

    NHSE is also supporting lowest performing IAPT providers to improve their recovery rates and is offering workshops to spread good practice to all commissioners and providers.

    The Government is aware of evidence that shows that people from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities are less likely to use psychological therapies. There is ongoing activity by NHSE in collaboration with the Department to encourage access to IAPT services by the under-represented groups.

    A BAME benchmarking tool has been developed and is currently being piloted by a number of IAPT services. This will assist services to improve access to people from BAME communities by helping those services understand the ethnicity of the population and whether this is reflected within the population they see. It asks services to assess whether outcomes for BAME communities are equivalent to non-BAME patients whilst also checking whether improvements for access to people from BAME communities have been made and specific training for therapists have been utilised. Once pilots are complete NHS England will publish the benchmarking tool for all services to access.

    Equality of access is an issue for wider mental health services and that is why the Mental Health Partnership Board is considering the issues around equality of access in mental health services, which includes the IAPT programme.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre publish referrals and outcomes data by ethnic groups. NHSE intends to compare those numbers with BAME prevalence population data to highlight referrals and access rates for ethnic groups at CCG level. CCGs are responsible for taking the necessary actions to address any disparity.

  • Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Tom Elliott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the UK’s international development capabilities of the UK leaving the EU.

    Mr Nick Hurd

    At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government’s position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

  • Clive Betts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Clive Betts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Clive Betts on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 2 of Budget 2016, whether the £3.5 billion savings to public spending to be achieved by 2012-20 will affect the four year funding settlement to local councils announced by his Department in December 2015.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    While the Government has not yet completed its departmental efficiency review to help identify further savings in 2019-20, we expect the four year allocations confirmed in the final settlement on 10 February 2016 to be the amounts presented to Parliament each year, should councils choose to accept the offer.

    We look forward to councils publishing efficiency plans by 14 October 2016 that demonstrate how the greater certainty on offer can bring about opportunities for further savings. However, if councils prefer not to have a four year settlement we cannot guarantee their future levels of funding.

    We have been clear that funding allocations in 2019-20 may be subject to the implementation of 100% business rate retention, something councils have asked for over decades and which we are working with the sector to deliver.

  • Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Virendra Sharma – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Virendra Sharma on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the remit is of the UK Vaccines Research and Development Network.

    Jane Ellison

    The focus of the UK Vaccine Network is to bring together experts from industry, academia, philanthropy and government to make targeted investments in world-leading vaccine candidates, vaccine platform technology and vaccine manufacturing technology to combat diseases with epidemic potential in low and middle income countries, such as Ebola and Zika.

    The UK Vaccine Network will allocate funding to world leading science in the areas above, and funding awards will only be made following appropriate competitive processes, and rigorous, international expert peer review of all applications. The criteria used as part of individual funding decisions will be decided on a competition by competition basis, following international expert advice.

  • Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Margaret Ferrier – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ferrier on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister for Europe on 8 June 2016, Official Report, column 137WH, what representations the UK has made to Saudi Arabia to accede to the Convention on Cluster Munitions; and on what dates those representations were made.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    In line with our obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, we regularly encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it. The most recent engagement was between British and Saudi Arabian officials on 7 June.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support access for independent monitors to (a) places of detention in Syria and (b) Saydnaya prison.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    I condemn the Asad regime’s arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and mistreatment of tens of thousands of Syrians and call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, especially women and children, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 2254 and 2268.

    I fully support calls for access for independent monitors to all places of detention in Syria, including the regime’s notorious Saydnaya prison. The Government has sought to keep international focus on this issue, particularly via the UN. We have ensured that detention and mistreatment has featured in successive Syria resolutions of the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, and will continue to do so. We also regularly raise detainee issues at the Task Forces of the International Syria Support Group in Geneva.

  • Harriet Harman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Harriet Harman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to review the law on use of complainants’ previous sexual history as evidence in rape cases; and if she will make a statement.

    Sir Oliver Heald

    This Government is committed to making sure that victims of sexual abuse and rape get the support they need and have the confidence to come forward. The Justice Secretary will be meeting rape support groups later this month to discuss what more we can do to support victims.

    Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 is intended to protect complainants of rape and other serious sexual offences by making clear that evidence of previous sexual history is inadmissible in court unless a strict set of criteria is met. It is right that applications to admit such evidence are determined by the independent judiciary on a case-by-case basis to protect complainants whilst maintaining a defendant’s right to a fair trial.

    The Justice Secretary and Attorney General will be looking at how the law is working in practice.

  • Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Tulip Siddiq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2016-01-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much the Skills Funding Agency has provided for ESOL Plus Mandation courses in each year since 2009-10.

    Nick Boles

    ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding was introduced in 2014 in order to support the English Language Requirement policy to mandate new Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants with poor spoken English to ESOL training. ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding was additional to the Adult Skills Budget, which providers use to fund ESOL.

    The Skills Funding Agency provided £30m in 2014-15 and £10m in 2015-16 of ESOL Plus (Mandation) funding.

  • Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what information her Department holds on the potential effect on tribal communities of planned sugar cane plantations in South Omo, Ethiopia; and whether her Department plans to take steps to help communities whose lands may be lost to such plantations.

    Justine Greening

    DFID Ethiopia’s programmes predominantly support provision of basic and other services across the whole country. This includes programmes focussing on health, climate investment, primary education and many other areas of development.

    DFID holds necessary information to run effective programmes in Ethiopia.

  • Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-03-01.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people aged under 18 are on the Violent and Sex Offender Register; and how many such people were added to that register in each year since 2010.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Office does not hold this data.

    Statistical information from the ViSOR dangerous persons database is owned by the police, and the Home Office does not have access to this information.