Tag: Baroness Quin

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-04.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to ensure timely and effective processing of Rural Payments Agency payments to farmers in 2016.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble

The 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payment window runs between December 2015 and June 2016. As of the end of January the Rural Payments Agency had paid around 66,800 farmers approximately £1 billion. The Rural Payments Agency is focused on paying the remainder as promptly as possible.

2015 was the first year of the new complex Common Agricultural Policy. The Rural Payments Agency anticipates improvements on payment performance for the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the average waiting time is for a result to be given of a DEXA bone density scan in each NHS region in England; and what assessment they have made of the average waiting time for such results in (1) Scotland, and (2) Wales.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Genomics England has set an objective to deliver 8,000 clinical reports by the end of 2016. The precise details of the reports from the pilot and main phases will become clearer once the phenotypic data is collected and linked to the genome data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average waiting time for a result to be given of a DEXA bone density scan in each NHS region in England; and what assessment they have made of the average waiting time for such results in (1) Scotland, and (2) Wales.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Data are not collected on the average waiting time for a result to be given for a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. Data are collected on the average waiting time from referral to test, and these are shown in the following table for the four NHS England commissioning regions for most recent period, which is November 2015. Health is a devolved matter in Scotland and Wales.

Table: average median waiting times in weeks for a DEXA scan from referral by NHS England commissioning region, November 2015

Region	Number of weeks
North of England	2.1
Midlands and East of England	1.7
London	1.8
South of England	1.8
England	1.9

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Quin on 2016-02-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations took place with the government of New Zealand prior to their decision to introduce new charges for New Zealand citizens for health and dental treatment in the UK from 6 April.

Lord Prior of Brampton

On 6 April 2015 the United Kingdom introduced an immigration health surcharge for non-European Economic Area nationals who come to the UK to temporarily reside for a period of over six months. At the time New Zealand nationals were granted a temporary exemption and we entered into a series of discussions with the New Zealand Government on the introduction of the surcharge for its nationals. The Secretary of State for Health wrote to the New Zealand High Commissioner confirming introduction of the surcharge on 17 December 2015. Introduction of the surcharge for New Zealand nationals was publicly announced by the Home Office on 4 February 2016 and subject to Parliamentary approval, it will come into effect from 6 April 2016.