Tag: Barry Sheerman

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 number of relapsed blood cancer patients who will no longer be able to access second stem cell transplants as a result of the NHS England decision published on 11 July 2016 to no longer routinely fund second stem cell transplants for those patients.

David Mowat

The Clinical Priorities Advisory Group which makes recommendations to the Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group uses a defined process to prioritise treatments based on a combination of cost and patient benefit. The process includes an impact assessment that estimated that up to 22 patients per year by 2021 might be affected by this decision.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what impact assessment his Department has conducted on the potential cost of eliminating or reducing prescription charges 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 infectious diseases were recorded in England in (a) 2000, (b) 2005, (c) 2010 and (d) 2015.

Mr Philip Dunne

In April 2013, Public Health England took over the mandatory surveillance of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), formerly undertaken by the Health Protection Agency.

The total number of trust apportioned cases of HCAIs can be found in Table 1. For the purposes of answering this question trust apportioned cases can be considered “hospital-borne” infections.

Data for the years 2000 and 2005 are not available.

Table: Counts of trust apportioned HCAIs by financial year in 2010 and 2015:

	April 2010 to March 2011	April 2015 to March 2016
Meticillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)	ND	2,910
E.coli	ND	7,692
Clostridium difficile infection (patients aged 2 years and over)	10,417	5,164
Meticillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)	688	297

Notes:

1. ND – Not Determined
2. Cases are deemed to be trust apportioned if the following criteria are met:-

– The location where the specimen was taken is given as ‘acute trust’ or is not known;

– The patient was either an ‘In-patient’, ‘Day-patient’, in ‘Emergency assessment’ or is not known.

– Patient’s specimen date is on, or after, the third day of the admission (or admission date is null), where the day of admission is day 1 (for MSSA or E. coli bacteraemia)

Or

– Patient’s specimen date is on, or after, the fourth day of the admission (or admission date is null), where the day of admission is day 1 (for Clostridium difficile infection).

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to work with the waste and coatings industries on making better use of leftover paint.

Dr Thérèse Coffey

The Government has been engaging constructively with the British Coatings Federation on making better use of leftover paint, including identifying potential regulatory barriers to its recycling and remanufacture and how these might be overcome.

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) encourages consumers to recycle and re-use household paint by providing information through the Recycle Now website. This includes a postcode locator which helps pinpoint local Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) that accept leftover paint. The Government’s Innovation in Waste Prevention Fund has also supported a pilot paint re-use project in Cheshire involving local charities, working with HWRCs and housing associations to increase paint donation and minimise disposal. WRAP will publish a summary of the project, lessons learned and a video case study later in the year.

In terms of public procurement, it is for each Government department to consider sustainability and put this into practice in its own procurement activity. Government Buying Standards do not currently include remanufactured paint. WRAP has recently published a guide on ‘How to Include Re-use in Local Authority HWRC Procurement’.

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 assessment he has made of the potential effect of changes to disabled students’ allowances on students with dyslexia.

Joseph Johnson

The Government has undertaken an Equality Analysis of the proposed changes to DSAs. The Equality Analysis will be published alongside the Government response to the consultation.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department issues to prisons on female prisoners’ access to and rights to care for young children.

Caroline Dinenage

The policy and guidance on the treatment of female offenders is contained in Prison Service Order 4800, which can be found at: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj8yJvt2N3JAhVFuBQKHTxXAwcQFggdMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.justice.gov.uk%2Fdownloads%2Foffenders%2Fpsipso%2Fpso%2FPSO_4800_women_prisoners.doc&usg=AFQjCNHEKdUSQ34oce66F47zApSRhF35Iw

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to implement the Paris climate change agreement.

Andrea Leadsom

The Paris Agreement marks a significant step forward towards reducing, on a global scale, the emissions that cause climate change. The agreed long-term goal of net zero emissions in the second half of the century shows that the world is committed to decarbonisation and the agreement drives us forward on our path to limiting the average global temperature rise to well below 2°C, and to pursue efforts to 1.5 °C. We must now work hard to continue the global momentum created by the Paris deal by supporting countries to implement their emission reduction commitments; ensuring we meet our own commitments; and continuing to build the conditions for the transition to a low carbon economy to enable further ambition in the future.

The UK’s contribution to the Paris Agreement will be determined by our commitments to meeting EU climate and energy targets, and by the UK’s own domestic framework, comprising a 2050 emissions reduction target of at least 80% on 1990 base year levels and a series of five-year carbon budgets, as established by the Climate Change Act 2008.We will also set the level of the Fifth Carbon Budget, covering the period 2028-2032, in law by the end of June this year. This will be followed by our new emission reduction plan, which is due to be published towards the end of the year.

Governments alone cannot deliver the scale of action required, businesses, investors and civil society all have a role to play. Many are already acting and Paris saw an unprecedented level of engagement and commitment to reduce emissions and drive forward low carbon growth and markets. This action will help unlock the transition to a low carbon economy and support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have been extradited from Bangladesh to the UK in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire

Between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015 the UK has extradited two people from Bangladesh. These extraditions occurred in 2010 and in 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) increase the share of remanufacturing in public procurement and (b) reduce the volume of office equipment currently going to landfill.

Rory Stewart

Defra encourages Departments’ efforts to take account of sustainability in public procurement and to reduce waste through its role in developing, co-ordinating and reporting on the Greening Government Commitments. The commitments for 2010 to 2015 included to reduce the amount of waste generated and to buy more sustainable and efficient products. A new set of Greening Government Commitments for the period to 2020 is currently being developed.

Defra and the Environment Agency are also among the Government Departments and agencies planning to participate in a pilot programme being run by HM Revenue and Customs in 2016-17 to promote reuse and recycling of Government assets.

The 2014-15 Annual Report on the Greening Government shows that between 2009-10 and 2014-15 the Government reduced the amount of waste, including office equipment, it sent to landfill from 37% of its total waste to 17%.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding will be available for third-sector training providers to support young people who are not in education, employment or training once the Youth Contract comes to an end.

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.