Tag: 2016

George Howarth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by George Howarth on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the findings of the CLIC Sargent report, entitled Cancer costs: financial impact of childhood cancer revealed, published on 1 September 2016, if he will carry out an immediate review of travel assistance available to young cancer patients and their parents.

David Mowat

We know that cancer can affect all areas of a person’s life, including finances – 83% of people say they are financially impacted by cancer. People require holistic support from diagnosis onwards, encompassing their physical, financial, psychosocial, and information and support needs, throughout their entire cancer journey.

Children and teenagers with serious or critical illnesses such as cancer are also entitled to apply for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) (or a Personal Independence Payment if over 16). This is a tax free allowance, which contributes to the extra costs incurred by families in caring for children with additional needs and includes a mobility component. Children in receipt of DLA can receive up to £139.75 a week, and people who are terminally ill can have their claim fast tracked to access benefits sooner. Families and carers can also qualify for Carer’s Allowance and receive £62.10 a week if they meet the eligibility criteria, and some councils run Council Tax Reductions schemes for people on low incomes or who claim benefits.

We do not have any plans to review the hospital travel costs scheme – which provides financial assistance to those patients who do not have a medical need for ambulance transport, but who require assistance with their travel costs. This is part of the well-established NHS Low Income Scheme, in which patients on low incomes or receiving specific qualifying benefits or allowances can be reimbursed in part or in full for costs incurred in travelling to receive treatment at hospitals and this would include cancer treatment. It also can be claimed where the appointment has been made for a child or other dependent.

01/01/2023
Mike Kane – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mike Kane on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what date his Department holds on the number of incidents involving (a) lorries and (b) buses that related to wheel loss.

Andrew Jones

The police-reported personal injury accident data does not include anything that specifies whether an accident resulted from wheel loss.

The closest piece of information in the statistics is the contributory factor of ‘tyres illegal, defective or under inflated’. A total of 19 heavy goods vehicles and two buses or coaches in Great Britain had this contributory factor in 2015.

01/01/2023

Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-01-06.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the change has been in the numbers of people who missed the 31 January deadline for making their tax return between 2010 and 2015.

Mr David Gauke

Information on the number of taxpayers who missed the 31st January deadline for making their tax return between 2010 and 2015 is available in the following table:

Filing Deadline	31 Jan 2010	31 Jan 2011	31 Jan 2012	31 Jan 2013	31 Jan 2014	31 Jan 2015
Tax Return Year Counted	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14
Issued	9.7m	10m	10.5m	10.34m (3)	10.74m (2)	11.13m
Filed on-time by 31 Jan	8.57m	8.64m	9.45m	9.61m (3)	10.03m (2)	10.24m (1)
% Filed on-time	88%	86%	90.4%	92.9% (3)	93.4% (2)	92.0%
% Outstanding at 31 Jan	12%	14%	9.6%	7.1% (3)	6.6% (2)	8%

01/01/2023

Baroness Meacher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Meacher on 2016-02-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the level of compliance with the School Admissions Code across all schools, especially in the light of the report by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association, An Unholy Mess, that claimed a widespread failure to comply among religiously selective schools in England.

Lord Nash

The Department will be conducting a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation as part of the current review of the School Admissions Code. In addition, the Schools Adjudicator reports annually to the Secretary of State on fair access. The Department is therefore also taking account of the Adjudicator’s report for the 2014 -2015 school year.

01/01/2023
Douglas Carswell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister’s Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.

John Penrose

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.

01/01/2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that supply teachers are trained to an appropriate standard in the subjects they teach.

Nick Gibb

The qualifications of supply teachers are currently governed by the same regulations as teachers employed by schools.

In maintained schools, teachers must hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) except those who satisfy the requirements for non-qualified teachers to carry out specified work set out in the Education (Specified Work) (England) Regulations 2012, for example, instructors with special qualifications or experience. Academies and Free Schools can employ teaching staff without the automatic requirement for them to hold QTS. This applies equally to supply teachers and teachers employed by schools.

To be awarded QTS, a teacher must demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes a requirement to “demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge” and to have “a secure knowledge of the relevant subject(s) and curriculum areas” relevant to their teaching.

Our recent White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, set out our proposals to reform the way in which teachers qualify, by replacing the existing arrangements for QTS with a new, more challenging accreditation. This will be based on a teacher’s demonstration of proficiency in the classroom over a sustained period, rather than being awarded at the end of initial teacher training. It will require teachers to demonstrate advanced subject knowledge and an awareness of how evidence and research should inform effective teaching practice. The award of the new qualification will be confirmed by heads of some of our best schools, ensuring the consistency and quality of teacher accreditation. We will be publishing further information about how we intend to implement this reform in due course.

Head teachers are, and will remain, responsible for the employment of teaching staff in their schools; this includes satisfying themselves that the teacher is suitably qualified, and providing appropriate training opportunities.

01/01/2023
Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-04-26.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the operation of passenger compensation schemes run by train operating companies.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Department for Transport expects Train Operating Companies (TOCs) to make sure that their customers are aware of their rights to claim compensation.

The Office of Rail and Road’s (ORR) response to the Which? super-complaint into passenger compensation, published in March this year, included consideration of the operation of the TOC schemes. The Department is already working closely with the ORR and the Association of Train Operating Companies to bring about improvements to passenger compensation arrangements. The Department will respond to the ORR’s report into the Which? super-complaint in the summer of 2016.

01/01/2023
Neil Coyle – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Neil Coyle on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he plans to take to involve small and medium-sized enterprises in the proposed digital apprenticeship system.

Nick Boles

We are developing the digital apprenticeship service to support apprenticeships in England. It will help all employers to select an apprenticeship framework or standard, choose a training provider, choose an assessment organisation and post apprenticeship vacancies. By 2020, all employers will be able to use the service to pay for training and assessment for apprenticeships and we will help smaller employers to prepare for this.

We continue to work with a wide range of employers to develop, test and improve the digital apprenticeship service.

01/01/2023
Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual budget is of the NHS England EU Transition Team; and what the remit of that team is.

David Mowat

The annual budget for the NHS England European Union Transition Team has not yet been determined. The purpose of the team will be to understand possible implications for the National Health Service from the negotiations with Europe. The details of how this team will work with the Department will be set out in due course.

01/01/2023
Lord Beecham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Beecham on 2016-10-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the reported growth in reliance on the employment of locum doctors in GP practices and the extent, if any, to which the employment of full-time doctors in GP practices has declined.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The latest statistics, published on 27 September, as at 31 March 2016, show that the total full time equivalent general practitioners (GPs), including locums was 34,914, an increase of 323, compared to September 2015.

The same statistics showed that on 31 March 2016, there were 601 locums recorded as working in GP practices on that one day. On the day of 30 September 2015, 537 locums were recorded working in GP practices.

Locum doctors cover a variety of roles, including vacancies and absences such as maternity, training and annual leave. Not all practices completed returns or provided detailed information on the type of GP that was working in the practice, on either 30 September and/or 31 March, which means that it is not possible to compare the data of September 2015 and March 2016.

The data that NHS Digital publish on the general practice workforce is labelled provisional, experimental statistics, as they use a new methodology/data set and collection vehicles. These statistics replace the traditional GP census. The new data set, introduced in September 2015, collected information on locum doctors for the first time.

01/01/2023