Tag: Caroline Ansell

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2016-09-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to increase the uptake of Mandarin.

Nick Gibb

Between 2012 and 2015, entries for Chinese GCSE in England increased by 34%.

We introduced the Mandarin Excellence Programme this year for highly motivated pupils. It has started in 14 schools with more to follow over the next two years.

The programme will result in at least 5,000 young people heading towards a high level of fluency in Mandarin by 2020.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department issues to hospital trusts on the account they should take of the availability of transport links when making decisions on reconfiguring services across two sites; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

The Government is clear the reconfiguration of front line health services is a matter for the local NHS.

NHS England has issued guidance on Planning and Delivering Service Change for Patients. As part of this guidance, NHS England specifies that: ‘Based on evidence and national clinical reference groups’ advice, commissioners need to determine the appropriate range of providers and interplay of key access requirements such as travel time.’

All commissioners proposing reconfiguration must include an analysis of travelling times and distances in their Pre-Consultation Business Case. As part of the Best Practice Check guidelines issued by NHS England, commissioners are asked: ‘Has the travel impact of proposed change been modelled for all key populations including analysis of available transport options, public transport schedules and availability/ affordability of car parking?’ and asked to provide evidence of this through a travel impact assessment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to implement the family test; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Officials in my Department have liaised with DWP as the lead Department for the Family Test to embed it and encourage routine use of the Test. Thiscould includetraining officials on applying the Test, disseminating relevantevidence, learning materials and best practice.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on the introduction of flexible rail season tickets; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

The introduction and roll-out of part-time season tickets will give people who commute part-time a better deal than they currently have access to. We have challenged the rail industry to develop proposals for pricing and delivering more flexible season tickets for those who work or commute part-time which could also attract new customers onto the railway.

We are making progress on delivering more flexible tickets. For example, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) have a franchise commitment to introduce carnet style tickets on their smartcards which is subject to the Secretary of State’s approval. We expect GTR to meet its obligations and are working with them to ensure they are delivered.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department is taking to implement the family test; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Wright

The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and whenever appropriate the Law Officers’ Departments would follow that guidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to implement the family test; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. The Department for Work and Pensions published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and the Home Office follows that guidance. The guidance can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/368894/family-test-guidance.pdf

The Family Test is also being integrated within the Department’s impact assessment process to ensure it is addressed consistently.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of the new Care Quality Commission inspection regime on hospital performance; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects and regulates services against fundamental standards of quality and safety below which care should never fall.

The CQC’s new inspection regime provides a comprehensive assessment of hospitals performance. During an inspection, the CQC asks five questions of every service and provider; are they safe, effective, caring, well led and responsive to people’s needs. Following an inspection the CQC rates a provider on a four point scale running from outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate. In addition to an aggregate rating at a provider level, the CQC produces ratings for individual services and locations. This gives patients and the public a fair, balanced and easy to understand assessment of performance of a provider.

Where a provider is rated as inadequate the Chief Inspector of Hospitals can recommend that the trust be placed into special measures. This means that trusts receive a tailored package of support to enable them to improve.

As of 8 December there are 15 trusts in special measures. Eleven trusts have made sufficient progress to exit special measures, the most recent being the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust on 4 December.

On 15 October 2015, the CQC published its State of Care Report 2014-15 and reported:

* 83%1 of all providers agree that the new inspections helped them to monitor the quality of care they provide;

* 73%1 of all providers said that a CQC inspection had helped to identify areas of improvement and 72% said that the inspection reports were useful; and

* 68%1 of all providers said that they thought that outcomes for people who use services were improved as result of CQC inspection activity.

1 The information provided in the State of Care report is for all registered providers not just Hospitals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to implement the family test; and if he will make a statement.

Damian Hinds

As announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014, the objective of the Family Test is to introduce an explicit family perspective to the policy making process, and ensure that potential impacts on family relationships and functioning are recognised in the process of developing new policy.

The Treasury carefully considers all relevant obligations – statutory or otherwise – including the family test – when formulating relevant policies. Guidance is available to Treasury staff and advice to Ministers reflects this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department has taken to implement the family test; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The Family Test policy does not apply to DFID’s work as foreign policy is outside of the scope of the Test.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the maximum take-up of the pupil premium; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Sam Gyimah

The pupil premium provides schools with additional funding to improve the progress and attainment of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, with £6.25 billion provided to date. Pupil premium allocations to schools are mainly based on the number of pupils on roll at the time of the January school census who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the preceding six years.

We are working to encourage all families who meet the current criteria toregisterfor free school meals. The Department’s eligibility checking system has made it much easier and quicker to check which families are entitled to free school meals.

The Department has also published a registration form to help schools to identify pupils who are entitled to free school meals and the pupil premium. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-and-pupil-premium-registration-form.

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