Tag: Barry Sheerman

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget.

Alistair Burt

Data on recipients of personal health budgets is collected from clinical commissioning groups on a voluntary basis. Numbers are not currently collected for specific conditions so an estimate cannot be made on the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget. NHS England is exploring options for formal data collection on personal health budgets and consideration is being given to the cohorts of recipients that will be included in this data collection.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) mental and (b) physical health risks to young people of social media and technology.

Alistair Burt

The Department has made no formal assessment of the risks to mental or physical health presented to young people by social media and related technologies. However, the Department, working with Xenzone (a provider of online counselling services) has funded the development of an online risk module for health professionals, designed to give them an understanding of the digital world, so that they can learn to distinguish between ‘normal online behaviour’ and potentially dangerous activity.

The Department has commissioned the Health and Social Care Information Centre to carry out a survey of the mental health of children and young people. Public consultation on the content of that survey called for the inclusion of questions on the impact that social media may be having on the mental health of children and young people. A national report on the findings of the survey will be published in 2018, the first such survey since 2004.

The clearest physical health risk arises from the fact that children and young people who spend long periods online are not exercising during that time. The four Home Country Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) published United Kingdom-wide guidelines for the amount of physical activity required across the life-course (including children and young people) in July 2011. The CMOs also included advice to restrict sedentary behaviour (long periods of sitting) including use of computers, for all age groups.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the financial saving to the NHS of the policy to no longer routinely fund second stem cell transplants for blood cancer patients who have relapsed.

David Mowat

Decisions are taken by NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group that leads on the annual prioritisation process. The prioritisation process includes an impact assessment that compared the cost of a second transplant to alternative treatment pathways for relapsed disease.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that prescriptions are affordable for people with long-term medical conditions.

David Mowat

The Department receives numerous representations on prescription charges for people in England with long-term medical conditions. It is not possible to say how many of these were from clinical experts or health economists, though the independent Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England’s report, A new settlement for health and social care, published in 2014, did have health economist input. There have also been representations from the Prescription Charges Coalition, but it is not certain to what extent these were informed by clinical experts or health economists.

Arrangements are in place to ensure that prescriptions are affordable for everyone, including those with a long-term condition. There are exemptions from the prescription charge for people with low income, including through receipt of specific benefits and through application to the NHS Low Income Scheme. For those who do not qualify for exemption, prescription prepayment certificates are also available, which allow people to claim as many prescriptions as they need for a set cost. To support those with high levels of need, the cost of the 12-month and 3-month certificates have been frozen since 2009 and 2011, respectively.

The Department has not undertaken a formal impact assessment on the potential cost of eliminating or reducing prescription charges for people with long-term medical conditions. However, the Prescription Charges Review undertaken by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, and published in 2010, estimated that extending exemption to all those with a long-term condition would lead to a loss in revenue of between £360 and £430 million.

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.