Tag: Barry Sheerman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospital-borne cases of sepsis in England were recorded in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2010 and (d) 2015.

Mr Philip Dunne

Public Health England and NHS Digital do not collect this data to the level of detail and format as requested.

NHS Digital is unable to identify the source of a sepsis infection. They are only able to provide data on a count of the number of Finished Discharge Episodes with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon MP) to Question 45207 regarding available information on sepsis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of children entering secondary education who are unable to read.

Nick Gibb

The Key Stage 2 National Curriculum tests provide information about the proportion of pupils entering secondary education who have reached the national expected standard in reading. The latest Key Stage 2 results are published in table N2 of the the “National curriculum assessments at key stage 2 in England, 2016 (provisional)” statistical first release (SFR)[1].

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-curriculum-assessments-key-stage-2-2016-provisional (Table N2)

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-11-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what data his Department holds on the (a) employment rate and (b) income of graduates with dyslexia in comparison with people with dyslexia who did not attend university.

Joseph Johnson

The Department publishes statistics on labour market conditions for English domiciled graduates and postgraduates relative to non-graduates as part of the Graduate Labour Market Statistics series. The latest figures refer to the quarter from April to June 2015 and are available at the link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-labour-market-statistics-april-to-june-2015

These statistics cannot be disaggregated to the level of detail requested.

“

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what research his Department has conducted on the effect on children of the imprisonment of their mothers.

Caroline Dinenage

The Ministry of Justice has recently published statistics on child dependents of female offenders (located at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/female-offenders-and-child-dependents) but has not specifically conducted research on the impact of imprisonment on children.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost of university for students.

Joseph Johnson

All eligible students can apply for an upfront tuition fee loan to meet the costs of their tuition fees. This ensures that students are not prevented from attending their course because they cannot pay for their fees.

From 1 August 2016 onwards, students who would otherwise have received a grant will see an increase in the amount of maintenance support they can access, with those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds receiving 10.3% more in loans for living costs.

Linking repayment to a borrower’s income will ensure that deductions are based on their ability to repay. Repayments are made through the UK tax system at 9% of earnings of any income over the relevant repayment threshold and they will cease if earnings fall below the threshold. Any outstanding loan balance will be written off after thirty years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the criteria are for making a ministerial directive against the closure or downsizing of a hospital.

Ben Gummer

The Government is clear the reconfiguration of front line health services is a matter for the local National Health Service. Services should be tailored to meet the needs of the local population and proposals for substantial service change must meet the four tests of reconfiguration which are (i) support from general practitioner commissioners (ii) strengthened public and patient engagement (iii) clarity on the clinical evidence base and (iv) support for patient choice.

A local authority has the power to refer NHS substantial reconfiguration proposals to the Secretary of State if they consider:

― the consultation has been inadequate in relation to the content or the amount of time allowed;

― the NHS body has given inadequate reasons where it has not consulted for reasons of urgency relating to the safety or welfare of patients or staff; or

― a proposal would not be in the interests of the health service in its area.

Upon receipt of a local authority referral, the Secretary of State can refer the matter to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) for its advice. The Panel will consider whether the proposals will provide safe, sustainable and accessible services for the local population, taking account of factors including: clinical and service quality, patient and public involvement, the surrounding local services and national policies.

On receipt of IRP advice, the Secretary of State would then decide whether or not to accept it. Since its inception in 2003, all Secretaries of State have used the IRP advice to inform their decisions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-02-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what risk assessment he has conducted on the proposed rollout of wifi in NHS buildings.

George Freeman

Free wi-fi throughout National Health Service premises is an independent recommendation from Baroness Lane Fox to the National Information Board.

As part of the implementation of Baroness Lane Fox’s recommendations, NHS England will be carrying out a more comprehensive review of current provision, benefits and barriers to wi-fi throughout the NHS estate. This will include assessment of any risks.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department offers to third-sector training providers and local authorities in reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

Nick Boles

Local authorities have a duty to track, support and encourage young people to participate in education and training, with a particular focus on those who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). The Department for Education supports local authorities in meeting this duty by: providing a secure portal for them to exchange data about young people’s activities; collating and publishing data about young people’s activities; sharing good practice; and publishing a NEET Scorecard to help local authorities manage their performance.

Local authorities decide how they will work with and support education and training providers, the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), and other agencies in meeting these requirements.

Local authorities receive funding from central government to enable them to meet their statutory obligations including this duty, but it is up to them to determine exactly how much they spend on these activities, and whether and how much funding should be provided to VCS organisations to help with this. Reflecting its continued commitment to supporting young people NEET, the government has allocated £30 million for the Youth Engagement Fund and Fair Chance Fund Social Impact Bond (SIB) schemes, and the recent Spending Review settlement saw over £100 million for further SIBs, tackling issues such as youth unemployment, homelessness and mental health.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that workers are not financially worse off as a result of the recent increase in the minimum wage.

Nick Boles

On current Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts a full-time National Minimum Wage (NMW) worker will earn over £4,200 more by 2020 from the National Living Wage (NLW) in cash terms. 2.9m low wage workers are expected to benefit directly, and up to 6m in total could see their pay rise as a result of a ripple effect up the earnings distribution.

What is allowed to be deducted from a salary is tightly controlled. The Government enforces this robustly, and is bolstering its resources to bear down on non-compliance through further increasing HMRC’s NMW/NLW enforcement budget for 2016/17.

Employers can choose to set and change the overall, wider remuneration level as long as they are paying at or above the NMW / NLW minima, but they will also need to consider whether that package, overall, remains competitive to retain and develop the people and talent they need for their businesses.

The Government has also taken measures to support businesses. First, from April 2016, the Government has increased the employment allowance from £2,000 to £3,000 from April 2016. We are also cutting corporation tax from 20% to 17% by the end of the Parliament, which will benefit over a million firms of all sizes and give the UK the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. The cuts since 2010 will be worth almost £15bn a year to businesses by the end of Parliament. Furthermore, the Government is cutting the burden of business rates by £6.7 billion over the next 5 years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with HM Chief Inspector of Schools about the performance of free schools.

Edward Timpson

The Secretary of State meets with Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools regularly to discuss a wide range of issues including the performance of free schools.