Tag: Andrew Gwynne

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role NHS England has in the development of the Accelerated Access Review.

George Freeman

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR), chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include certain off-patent repurposed drugs, as opposed to the routine availability of medicines or medical technologies.

Prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR, the Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS including the Innovation, Health and Wealth report. As a result, building upon the lessons of previous reviews is explicit with the terms of reference of the AAR.

The AAR has regular meetings with senior officials from NHS England via a steering group as recommendations are being developed. In addition, some staff from NHS England have been assigned to support the review team.

Sir Hugh is still in the process of developing final recommendations which will be published in spring 2016. In his Interim Report published in October, Sir Hugh sets out a proposition on “galvanising the NHS”. This involves supporting the NHS to adopt innovation, more rapidly through better practical support, stronger incentives and the potential streamlining of local structures.

The Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR. It was clear that whilst progress has been made on the uptake of innovation in the NHS there is still much to do. Sir Hugh and the head of the External Advisory Group, Professor Sir John Bell, set out the case for uptake of innovation in the recently published AAR Interim Report.

The AAR has senior level contact with officials working on Lord Carter’s review of NHS efficiency to ensure that information is shared between the two teams.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many US Coast Guards are currently serving in the Royal Navy in a permanent position.

Penny Mordaunt

There are currently 14 US Coast Guards serving in the Royal Navy, with a further five undergoing training. An additional two US Coast Guards are providing the personnel management support for these individuals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual salary is of the (a) Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds and (b) Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead.

Harriett Baldwin

The Chiltern Hundreds (of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham), and the Manor of Northstead, are nominally paid offices of the Crown. They do not carry any duties and no salary or other benefits attach to them.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department plans to take in response to the report it commissioned entitled Evaluating the role and contribution of innovation to health and wealth in the UK, published in January 2016; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

The Department is funding RAND Europe and the University of Manchester to conduct a formative and summative evaluation of Innovation, Health and Wealth (IHW). The project is expected to complete in 2017 and the report on the first stage of the evaluation, including an assessment of progress towards actions within Theme 8: High Impact Innovations, can be found on the RAND Europe website:

http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1143.html

This report represents the first phase of a three year evaluation aimed at mapping progress towards the IHW strategy and its component actions. The Department will be considering the outputs of the evaluation as they emerge over the next three years including as part of the evidence feeding into the Accelerated Access Review.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many students began podiatry courses in the last three years; what assessment he has made of the reasons for trends in those numbers; and what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of applicants to such courses.

Ben Gummer

This table shows the planned number of podiatry courses available in the last three years, and the actual take up of those training places.

Year	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16
Podiatry (planned)	365	362	362
Podiatry (actual)	339	345	–

Source: multi professional education and training budget monitoring returns

The number of podiatry students taking up courses for 2015/16 is not yet available.

The Health Education England (HEE) annual Workforce Plan for England 2016/17 will be published by the end of February 2016.

Ministers hold regular discussions with HEE on a broad range of workforce supply issues and puts out an annual Mandate to HEE setting its priorities for the coming year.

The HEE commissioning and investment plan – 2016/17 includes a forecast increase in supply of podiatrists in the National Health Service workforce of 36.4% by 2020 which is an additional 1,084 full time equivalents coming out of training.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-01.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the value is of the tax relief granted through the patent box in each year since 2013.

Mr David Gauke

The information is not held in the form requested. The estimated amounts of Patent Box relief can be found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/487119/Dec15_expenditure_reliefs_Final.xlsx.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost to the public purse was of the rationalisation of his Department’s offices in London.

Jane Ellison

The Department has undertaken a number of refurbishments of its existing buildings, including Richmond House, Wellington House, and Skipton House, to support the rationalisation of its offices in London. In 2015-16 the Department spent £1,786,794 on refurbishment activity.

Refurbishment costs relate to the general fit out, improvement and provision of furniture and equipment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2016 to Question 25804, what the two sites are that are being considered for disposal within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority area.

Edward Timpson

Until a decision has been made, the Department does not wish to name both schools in order to protect the Secretary of State’s decision making powers when considering whether to give consent.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the annual rent paid by his Department is on 39 Victoria Street.

Jane Ellison

The Department does not currently lease 39 Victoria Street and is not paying rent for the building.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost was of the recruitment process for the post of National Guardian in the Care Quality Commission.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC has provided the following information.

The cost of recruiting for the post of National Guardian was £61,300 (including VAT) and the costs of recruitment were borne equally across NHS Trust Development Authority, NHS England, the independent regulator of NHS foundation trusts (Monitor) and the CQC. This figure includes the cost of executive search, advertising and minimal individual expenses.

The recruitment services for the role were provided by Russell Reynolds Associates. Due to the short duration in post of the person appointed the CQC does not envisage a fee being levied to support the recruitment of a replacement.