Tag: Andrew Gwynne

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to ensure that the smart meter roll-out is used as an opportunity to engage with householders on the issue of carbon monoxide safety.

Andrea Leadsom

Energy suppliers are responsible for installing smart meters in their domestic customers’ premises. It is, a condition of their licence that energy suppliers must comply with the Smart Meter Installation Code of Practice, which is regulated by Ofgem:

http://www.smicop.co.uk/SitePages/Home.aspx

The Code states that the installer should inform the customer about the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) and the need to regularly have all gas appliances serviced and checked by a Gas Safe Registered engineer.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much of the £390 million funding referred to in paragraph 0.5 of his Department’s paper, Infected blood: reform of financial and other support, published in January 2016, was spent in each year to date; and what the average spend per recipient in each such year was.

Jane Ellison

The Department only holds finance data for payments under the Schemes back to 2007. This information is provided below.

2014-15 £22,278,096

2013-14 £27,043,569

2012-13 £22,052,458

2011-12 £27,192,232

2010-11 £39,805,667

2009-10 £22,461,057

2008-09 £19,240,337

2007-08 £20,532,461

The figures above include the annual payments to those with HIV and hepatitis C stage 2, and the lump sum payments made on joining the scheme and progressing to hepatitis C stage 2. The fluctuation in amounts between the years reflects the variance in number of people newly coming forward or progressing to hepatitis C stage 2 in each year.

The payments to individuals included both discretionary and non-discretionary payments, data on which is only held by the trusts and funds. Therefore, the Department is unable to estimate the levels of individual payments.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the letter to the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish from the Minister for Local Growth and the Northern Powerhouse of 18 February 2016, on accountability of combined authorities, if he will introduce call-in procedures for individual constituent district councils to scrutinise the decisions of combined authorities.

James Wharton

The scrutiny requirements for combined authorities are set out in Schedule 5A to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, as inserted by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016, which provide that overview and scrutiny committees of combined authorities have powers to call in decisions and to involve other persons in their work. Schedule 5A also provides for secondary legislation which must ensure that the majority of members of an overview and scrutiny committee will be members of the combined authority’s constituent councils and that at least one member of an audit committee is an independent person. The scrutiny requirements of the Local Government Act 2000 do not apply to combined authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of the current data collection infrastructure and its capability to collect real world data in the way outlined in NHS England’s plans for a new Cancer Drugs Fund; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

Public Health England’s (PHE) National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service is the only national patient-level data source that collects data including outcomes on the whole care pathway on all patients diagnosed with cancer in England. Data are collected from all National Health Service trusts include information on Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy.

There is presently no agreement between NHS England and PHE to provide outcome information on patients receiving Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) funded treatments, on a regular basis. However, PHE and NHS England are currently in discussion to establish a dedicated resource to provide routine and bespoke information and analysis, and this could include defined outcome analyses on the CDF.

The Accelerated Access Review (AAR) is also looking at ways to better harness data to support the assessment, adoption and reimbursement of innovative treatments, and discussions are ongoing around the scope for aligning the revised CDF with the AAR recommendations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-23.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how he assessed the levels of consumption by children of drinks products affected by the sugar levy.

Mr David Gauke

The evidence about children’s consumption of soft drinks comes from the Public Health England report ‘Sugar reduction: the evidence for action’ published in October 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-03.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether industry analysts data was consulted in preparing the soft drinks industry levy.

Damian Hinds

Information on the key data and assumptions underpinning the costing of the soft drinks industry levy announced at Budget 2016 is available at page 12 in the Budget 2016 policy costings document available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will introduce a human rights charter for care homes; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

There are no plans to introduce a human rights charter. Local authorities are public authorities and are subject to the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). They must take account of the HRA in their contracting arrangements, including those with care providers.

The HRA applies to the relationship between individuals and public authorities and is not intended to apply directly to purely private arrangements. However, section 73 of the Care Act 2014 is explicit that care providers which are regulated by the Care Quality Commission in England, or by equivalent bodies in the rest of the United Kingdom, are exercising a public function for the purposes of the HRA when providing care and support, arranged or funded in whole or in part by local authorities.

Those purchasing care privately have rights of legal challenge against a provider via their contract or through criminal or tort law.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has assessed the effect on HIV infection amongst men in sexual contact with unvaccinated women from countries with no or low-uptake HPV vaccination programmes.

Jane Ellison

No such assessment has been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has assessed the effect on (a) patients and (b) patient choice of centralised procurement.

George Freeman

‘Centralised procurement’ can sometimes be used to refer to the services of NHS Supply Chain. NHS Supply Chain offers a procurement and logistics service to all National Health Service trusts in the United Kingdom under a central service contract on behalf of NHS Business Services Authority.

There is currently no centralised procurement model mandated to the NHS by the Department, and as such no assessment has been made as to an effect on patients or patient choice. NHS trusts may choose to utilise the service offering of NHS Supply Chain, or choose an alternative. It is for NHS trusts to make their own choices with regard to products and services they purchase; therefore it is for individual trusts to assess any impact on patients and patient choice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made on the upgrade of a Voyager aircraft for transporting senior Ministers; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne

Following the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015, the Ministry of Defence project team are working with Air Tanker Ltd and their supplier, Airbus Defence and Space, on the Voyager enhanced cabin fit and are on target to deliver this in July 2016.