Tag: Andrew Gwynne

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times debt repayments to his Department have been written off in each year since 2010; and what the value of such debts were in each such year.

Alistair Burt

The number and value of debt repayments written-off in each year since 2010* is outlined in the table below.

Year debt written-off	Value of Debt written-off	Number of cases written-off
2014/15	£682,428	9
2013/14	£47,909	4
2012/13	£155,615	8
2011/12	£344,897	3
2010/11	£1,806,698	8

*2015/16 data is still being audited and will be available when the final accounts are published later this year.

Debt repayments written off occur when income due was not collected and deemed not recoverable.The value of debt written-off can vary year on year as they relate to largely external factors. There can be a variety of reasons, but mainly where companies enter liquidation and are unable to pay. This is known in the Departmental Annual Report and Resource Account publication as claims waived or abandoned. Some of the detail of significant claims waived and abandoned (above the reporting threshold of £250,000) are reported separately in the Annual Report and Resource Account Publication and further details are shown below.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the effects of changes in 2013 to permitted development rights on the roll-out of 4G mobile services; and what assessment he has made of the potential for reforms to lead to greater roll-out of 4G mobile services.

Brandon Lewis

The review of how the planning system in England can further support the delivery of mobile connectivity sought views on the planning changes made in 2013 including 4G deployment and the case for taller ground based masts. The outcome will be announced in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to merge local authorities with a low council tax base with neighbouring higher base councils to ensure financial sustainability and service provision.

Mr Marcus Jones

The Government has no plans to make local authorities merge with one another. However, the Government has been clear that it will listen to proposals made by local authorities for reform that lead to more effective governance arrangements.

We are making huge strides towards rebalancing the economy and empowering local government through the devolution of powers away from Whitehall. The strength of the devolution agenda is in its localist nature: local leaders know best what their area needs and we are committed to giving them the tools to drive growth.

The Government will undertake a review to devise a new formula to assess councils’ needs and provide fair funding for every type of local authority, ahead of the introduction of 100% business rates retention by the end of this Parliament.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the amount of funding that will be required for those who may need access to the reformed scheme for providing support for people affected by hepatitis C through treatment with NHS-supplied blood or blood products but have not yet been identified.

Jane Ellison

The assumption is that there would be £570 million available from the unreformed scheme, as mentioned in the consultation, and an additional £125 million, identified in the current spending review.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many UK citizens currently have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC); and how many such people have used their EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in other EU countries in each of the last five years.

Ben Gummer

The United Kingdom EHIC means that people living in the UK are able to travel to the European Economic Area (EEA) safe in the knowledge that they will be able to receive free or reduced cost healthcare should they need it.

There are currently 27,570,911 cards in circulation, as of January 2016. The number of cards granted since 2006, providing such cover is:

2014/15 – 5,414,977

2013/14 – 5,571,060

2012/13 – 5,240,608

2011/12 – 6,830,734

2010/11 – 5,703,895

2009/10 – 4,162,170

2008/09 – 4,269,023

2007/08 – 4,160,935

2006/07 – 5,163,121

Source: Business Services Authority

The Department does not hold information on how many people have used their UK EHIC to obtain state provided healthcare in another EEA country in any 12 month period. This is because data on UK EHIC usage is recorded by individual treatment episode rather than the card holder.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of student nurses who have childcare responsibilities.

Ben Gummer

Information on the proportion of student nurses who have childcare responsibilities is not collected by the Department.

The table below shows the total number and percentage of student nurses who were in receipt of a National Health Service bursary and also claimed an allowance in respect to potential childcare responsibilities in 2014/15.

Award Element	Number of student nurses	Percentage of total student nurses1
Childcare Allowance	6,881	11.4%
Parent Learning Allowance	12,451	20.7%
Dependents Allowance (Child Element)	11,533	19.1%

Source: NHS Business Services Authority

¹Students may be in receipt of one or a combination of all three allowances

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding he plans to provide to local authorities for the provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis.

Jane Ellison

NHS England has announced that it will make available up to £2 million in 2016/17 and 2017/18 for early implementer test sites for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). This funding will be made available to successful applications from local authorities.

These will run over the next two years and will aim to test the ‘real life’ cost effectiveness and affordability of PrEP as part of an integrated HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention service.

NHS England, Public Health England and the Department will consider the relevant findings from the test sites to inform their respective commissioning responsibilities for HIV care and treatment and HIV prevention.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has conducted any research into the number of NHS organisations complying with guidance for the seven contract documents contained in the Guidance for NHS Terms and Conditions for the Supply of Goods and the Provision of Services, published in March 2015.

George Freeman

The Department has developed standard National Health Service terms and conditions for use by NHS bodies procuring goods and services from commercial suppliers. The documents were first published in August 2013.

The Department has details of all activity on the gov.uk website which shows extensive use and downloads of the documents and has also invited regular feedback and online surveys that demonstrate the extensive use of the suite of documents.

In June 2015, the Department and the Cabinet Office Mystery Shopper scheme carried out spot checks with a number of trusts to find out the level of take up of the NHS terms and conditions. The results showed 90% of the trusts contacted confirmed they were using (or intended to use) the NHS terms and conditions.

The suite of documents has been endorsed by the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI), the industry association for the medical technology sector, and the Health Care Supply Association, the representative and network organisation for NHS buyers. Both organisations inform the Department of any activity they are aware of that NHS bodies or suppliers are deviating from the stated terms and conditions. There have only limited examples to date.

The Department of Health has been made aware of a couple of examples of where NHS bodies were extending their payment terms beyond 30 days. The examples came both via the Cabinet Office mystery shopper scheme and ABHI. To support their members ABHI undertook more extensive research but has found these are isolated cases and the practice is not widespread.

The Department understands the concern and together with NHS Provider Regulators are working very closely with NHS providers to ensure that they have sufficient cash to support the safe delivery of their essential services. Although the NHS financial position is tight, the Department has not endorsed, and do not support, formal extensions of credit terms, particularly with Small and Medium size Enterprises, beyond the 30 days in statute.

The Department will also ask NHS Improvement to communicate with all NHS providers through its official monthly bulletin to raise awareness of the Better Practice Payment Code.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what response her Department has made to the findings of Ofsted in its report of the inspection of Audenshaw School Academy Trust which took place on 23 and 24 February 2016 that approximately £120,000 of pupil premium funding has not been spent on pupils for whom that funding was intended.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The conditions of grant for the pupil premium make clear that its purpose is to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. School leaders are best placed to decide how to spend the pupil premium in line with this policy and the needs of their pupils. Schools are not prevented from using the pupil premium to fund capital projects or from carrying over funding between years.

The Department for Education supports schools to make evidence-based decisions through the work of the Education Endowment Foundation, established to identify and promote effective practice in raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. The Department does not monitor how Academies and maintained schools spend the pupil premium but instead holds them to account for the outcomes of eligible pupils through the publication of data in performance tables and Ofsted inspection.

Where concerns are raised about the performance of an academy then they are addressed by the Regional School Commissioner with responsibility for that area. The Department also takes seriously any concerns about the financial management of a school. We are aware of the findings of the Ofsted report on Audenshaw School relating to its use of the pupil premium, following an inspection in February 2016. We are also aware that the Hon. Member, Andrew Gwynne, has met the Regional Schools Commissioner for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, Vicky Beer, on a number of occasions to discuss his concerns about Audenshaw School Academy Trust. The Department has carefully reviewed all the information provided on this matter and has identified no grounds to take further action.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions (a) Ministers and (b) officials in his Department have had with NICE on changes to its current methodology for evaluating new drugs.

George Freeman

Departmental officials are in regular contact with officials in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about a range of issues, including NICE’s methodologies for the assessment of new drugs and other technologies.

The Accelerated Access Review is expected to make a series of recommendations which may include reforms to NICE’s processes and methods pathways and mechanisms in connection with innovative treatments.