Tag: Baroness Redfern

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-30.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures University Technical Colleges are taking to increase choices for students, especially with regard to strengthening academic study with practical learning.

Lord Nash

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) specialise in subjects that need modern, technical, industry-standard equipment, such as engineering and digital technologies. Pupils integrate academic study with practical learning, studying core GCSEs within a high-quality technical and professional curriculum. UTCs work with local and national employers and higher education institutions to design and deliver a curriculum that, through technical projects and work experience, will provide pupils with the skills employers demand for their industries. The importance of involving employers in education is a key part of the government’s recently announced plans for ground-breaking reforms to technical and professional education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the relationship between those NHS Trusts in the greatest level of deficit and those with the highest proportion of private finance initiative income.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

In 2012, the Department identified a small cohort of major acute trusts where the private finance initiative schemes were one of the factors affecting financial sustainability. These trusts have been given access to a £1.5 billion support fund over a period of 25 years which has been available since 2013/14.

It is the role now of NHS Improvement to ensure that National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts assess the impact of different expenditure items at NHS trusts to ensure that NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts have arrangements in place to secure financial health. NHS Improvement’s focus is then on supporting that individual provider to fix its financial problems, for example through interim financial support or longer term solutions in that health economy.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-30.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of job opportunities created so far by Enterprise Zones, including how many of those opportunities are full-time, part-time, work experience or apprenticeship opportunities, both within each zone and in the surrounding area.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The job opportunities which Enterprise Zones have attracted are published quarterly on a national and regional performance basis. The most recently published data covers the period up until the end of June 2015 and shows that the 24 Enterprise Zones established since 2012 have already attracted 20,676 jobs and that this number had increased by 9 per cent between March and June 2015.

Information on the type of jobs or the number of jobs within individual zones or surrounding areas is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have plans to revise the boundaries of Clinical Commissioning Groups in the light of regional devolution deals.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

NHS England has no plans to revise the boundaries of clinical commissioning groups in light of regional devolution deals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-11-30.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many engineering and manufacturing apprenticeships were created in the last Parliament (1) nationally, and (2) in North Lincolnshire, and how many they are intending to create during this Parliament.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

There have been 324,800 apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing technologies sector subject area nationally in the last parliament (May 2010 to April 2015).

In North Lincolnshire Local Authority there have been 1,500 apprenticeship starts in the manufacturing technologies sector subject area in the last parliament (May 2010 to April 2015).

We are committed to reaching 3 million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020.

The locations and sectors where apprenticeships are available are determined by employers choosing to offer apprenticeships and recruit apprentices. We have therefore set no specific regional targets.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government which five clinical procedures have the highest average waiting time in England.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

Patients have a legal right, set out in the NHS Constitution, to start consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral for non-urgent conditions. The NHS Constitution for England is attached, as is the Handbook to the Constitution, which provides a further level of detail regarding the rights and pledges. Performance is measured against an operational standard that 92% of patients who have not yet started treatment should have been waiting less than 18 weeks from referral at the end of each month. These referral to treatment waiting times are collected for 18 treatment functions (e.g. trauma and orthopaedics), but not for individual conditions or procedures. They are different from the data derived from hospital episode statistics, which show only the waiting time from decision to admit to admission, and not the waiting time from referral to start of treatment.

Table: The five treatment functions that had the highest average waiting time from referral to treatment in July 2016, in England

Treatment Function	Average (median) waiting time (in weeks)
Neurosurgery	8.4
Oral Surgery	7.3
Neurology	7.0
Trauma and Orthopaedics	7.0
Cardiothoracic Surgery	7.0

Source: Consultant-led referral to treatment waiting times, NHS England

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps are being taken to increase the number of Wellbeing Hubs nationally to help individuals with complex care requirements to access support locally for their individual requirements.

Lord Prior of Brampton

Where commissioned, wellbeing hubs can provide a range services including lifestyle advice, information about self-management courses and help to access local support, including social care. It is for the local National Health Service to decide whether to commission wellbeing hubs and which services should be offered in order to best meet the needs of local populations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many cancer referrals in England were not made within the two week waiting time target for each of the last three years.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

The Handbook to the NHS Constitution, which is attached, sets out the right for patients to be seen by a cancer specialist within a maximum of two weeks from general practitioner (GP) referral for urgent referrals where cancer is suspected. The operational standard is that 93% of patients should wait less than two weeks from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment. This standard has been met in each of the last three years.

The information for how many patients waited more than two weeks from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment is shown in the table below.

Table: Two week wait from GP urgent referral to first consultant appointment, in England, 2013/14 to 2015/16

Year	Number of patients that waited less than two weeks to be seen	Number of patients that waited more than two weeks to be seen	Total number of patients referred	Performance against the standard
2013/14	1,297,849	63,496	1,361,345	95.3%
2014/15	1,459,084	90,610	1,549,694	94.2%
2015/16	1,624,981	101,140	1,726,121	94.1%

Source: Cancer waiting times quarterly time series, NHS England

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2015-12-16.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assistance is being offered to social work teams to equip them with the necessary resources to provide high quality and affordable residential care both (1) nationally, and (2) in North Lincolnshire.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government is committed to improving the quality of adult social care and has taken a number of steps to improve it in all localities.

The Department is working with its delivery partner Skills for Care to improve training and development for the workforce. In April 2015, we introduced a Certificate of Fundamental Care, now known as the Care Certificate. This will help ensure that care workers can deliver a consistently high quality standard of care.

The Department is funding and working with a number of organisations, including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Skills for Care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association on a range of projects to help adult social care organisations and staff improve the quality of care. These resources include new NICE Quality Standards and Guidelines, which bring clarity to what excellence looks like in care.

Ultimately it is a local decision as to how to allocate resources for social care, as such the Department cannot comment specifically on North Lincolnshire.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Redfern on 2016-09-15.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what alternatives to a sugar tax they have considered to reduce levels of childhood obesity.

Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen

In developing Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action we looked at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese. The policies in the plan focus on the ones that are likely to have the biggest impact on childhood obesity. In addition to the soft drinks industry levy, this includes the sugar reduction programme, helping all children to enjoy an hour of physical activity every day and a healthy rating scheme for primary schools.

The plan is informed by the latest research and evidence, including from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition report Carbohydrates and Health, Public Health England’s evidence package Sugar reduction: the evidence for action, other government departments, debates in this House and various reports from key stakeholders including the Health Select Committee.

We are confident that the measures we have announced will make a real difference and estimate could reduce childhood obesity rates by about a fifth (330,000) over the next ten years. Though we are clear in our goals and firm in the action we will take, the launch of this plan represents the start of a conversation, rather than the final word.

Copies of Childhood Obesity: A Plan for Action, Carbohydrates and Health and Sugar reduction: the evidence for action are attached.