Tag: David Amess

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the costs of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

Alistair Burt

No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

Commissioner	Year	Total £ billion
PCTs	2011-12	2.26
PCTs	2012-13	2.30
CCGs	2013/14	1.61

Note:

¹ This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, what process was followed in the appointment of each headteacher to assist her Department on improving the provision of PSHE in schools; where each post was advertised; how many people applied for each such post; how many headteachers were short-listed for interview for those posts; whether consideration was given to each candidate’s (a) political views and (b) views on (i) PSHE, (ii) contraception and (iii) abortion in the appointment process; how each candidate was appraised in that process; what criteria were adopted by each candidate; how many candidates for each such post were rejected; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

We selected these headteachers to work with us on this issue because of the high quality of provision of PSHE education in their schools. The group of headteachers and practitioners that we are currently working with includes Carl Ward of Haywood Academy in Stoke on Trent; Cathie Paine of the Reach2 Academy Trust; Jerry Rayner of Rugby Independent School in Warwickshire; Michelle Colledge-Smith of the Outwood Grange Academy Trust; and Vanessa Ogden of Mulberry School in Bethnal Green.

The group has not been asked to advise the Government on the content of PSHE. Their focus is to produce an action plan and recommendations for improving the quality of PSHE teaching. We want to draw on expertise from a range of headteachers and practitioners and will invite others to join the group as appropriate. The Department regularly speaks to a wide range of stakeholders and will continue to do so regarding PSHE.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish NHS England’s decision making criteria for the assessment of highly specialised technologies.

George Freeman

NHS England is currently developing a refined process for the prioritisation of proposed new investments in specialised services and highly specialised services.

This continues to be worked up, including formation of potential criteria and weighting. NHS England is aiming to begin using this process in June 2016. The process will be made public once complete.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve cervical screening rates among black and minority ethnic women.

Jane Ellison

NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups and is committed to improving coverage and reducing variation between all groups including black and minority ethnic women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with general practices to improve coverage by sharing best practice. For example, commissioners in London have developed a screening coverage strategy and delivery plan, including:

― Increased public awareness and engagement with screening programmes across all communities;

― increased engagement with primary care and improved reliability of data; and

― working with screening providers to optimise coverage.

In addition to this:

― A primary care cancer screening best practice guide has been developed jointly with the transforming cancer services team, clinical commissioning groups and local authority public health representatives;

― linking with Cancer Research UK facilitators and Macmillan Cancer Support general practitioners to support best practice for screening in general practice; and

― imperial College is conducting a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of texting non-responders on improving coverage.

NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.

To explore the potential to increase rates of cervical screening in young women, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme has commissioned a £1 million study to determine which interventions are effective at increasing screening uptake amongst women aged 25 who are receiving their first invitation from the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. The study began in November 2011 and reports can be expected later in 2016.

In addition, the Department of Health Behavioural Insight team has undertaken a trial to investigate the use of behavioural insights to optimise the content of the invitation letter for cervical screening. Results are due in summer 2016.

A routine human papillomavirus vaccination programme has been available in England since 2008, and offers immunisation to girls aged 12-14 years. It is expected that the vaccine will reduce the already low rates of cervical cancer in these young women and allow them to be protected for years to come.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide ring-fenced funding to local authorities to ensure they can effectively meet the Government’s childcare provision targets.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We have already announced over £1bn more for the early years entitlements within the ring-fenced Dedicated Schools Grant by 2019-20, which includes £300m to uplift the funding rate to providers. The increase to the funding rate is based on robust evidence from the Review of the Cost of Childcare. We have made clear our commitment to maximise the amount of this funding which reaches front line childcare providers, and will consult on proposals for achieving this as part of our consultation on early years funding reform later this year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-05-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2016 to Question 34094, if he will provide examples of what his Department might consider an adequate justification for clinical commissioning groups not investing in mental health services as planned.

Alistair Burt

The Mental Health Taskforce report was published on 15 February 2016. The taskforce marks a big step towards our ambition of parity of esteem for mental and physical health. The spending of clinical commissioning group (CCG) resources on mental health as indicated in proportionate increases to general CCG spending is a priority for the Department.

Mental Health Parity of Esteem is a key plan metric for NHS England and any commissioners not planning to achieve this are being scrutinised locally at regional level and centrally at director level. NHS England’s central and regional teams are working with local commissioners to assure that spend on mental health services increases in line with the growth in each organisations programme allocation other than in exceptional circumstances.

In assessing whether a case is exceptional, consideration is made of the level of medium term investment in mental health services by individual commissioners and instances where individual commissioners are working with other commissioners to increase spend for the wider health economy. But any such instances will require clear evidence that will be scrutinised as part of the assurance process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to promote the Fast Track Giant Cell Arteritis pathway piloted by Southend University Hospital.

David Mowat

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for the provision of services for people with giant cell arteritis (GCA). Whilst it would not be appropriate for NHS England to direct CCGs to adopt a particular clinical pathway, it continues to ensure that the innovative approach developed at Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (FT) is shared and made available to clinicians.

There are a number of clinical guidelines that are available to support the prompt diagnosis and referral of patients with suspected GCA, including one produced by the Royal College of Physicians, which Professor Bhaskar Dasgupta, who developed the GCA pathway at Southend University Hospital NHS FT, helped to produce. This guidance provides a framework for disease assessment, immediate treatment and referral to specialist care. Furthermore, both the British Society for Rheumatology and the British Health Professionals in Rheumatology published guidelines on the management of polymyalgia rheumatica, a related condition, for general practitioners and rheumatologists. These encourage the prompt diagnosis and urgent management of GCA, helping to minimise GCA related vision loss.

The Specialised Rheumatology Clinical Reference Group at NHS England has developed proposals to establish local rheumatology networks. These are being implemented over a three year period to support consistent access to clinically effective therapies and to share good and innovative practice across the country. In addition, NHS England’s innovation team has invited Professor Dasgupta to contribute to the NHS Innovation Exchange Portal to ensure that this knowledge is shared.

On 24 June 2016, NHS England recently facilitated a webinar presented by Professor Dasgupta, which aimed to show how the fast-track pathway has significantly reduced the number of patients suffering sight-loss as an avoidable complication of GCA and, in addition, presents a case that this model is cost-saving, results in an increased patient quality of life, and successfully reduces the time to diagnosis in line with established clinical guidelines. NHS England promoted the webinar across the musculoskeletal community as well as to CCGs and patient groups through a wide range of communications channels.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-10-30.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS spent tackling the effects of sight loss in each of the last three years.

Alistair Burt

No specific assessment has been made of the trends in the cost of treating sight loss and eye health problems.

However, the table below shows expenditure for ‘problems of vision’ for primary care trusts (PCTs) for 2011-12 and 2012-13 and for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for 2013-14.

Expenditure on problems of vision, 2011-12 to 2013-14

Commissioner	Year	Total £ billion
PCTs	2011-12	2.26
PCTs	2012-13	2.30
CCGs	2013/14	1.61

Note:

¹ This figure does not include services directly commissioned by NHS England, such as primary eye care services. NHS England is currently reviewing expenditure data on their directly commissioned services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2015 to Question 13645, what the names of each (a) head teacher and (b) school her Department is currently working with to improve the provision of PSHE in schools; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson

We selected these headteachers to work with us on this issue because of the high quality of provision of PSHE education in their schools. The group of headteachers and practitioners that we are currently working with includes Carl Ward of Haywood Academy in Stoke on Trent; Cathie Paine of the Reach2 Academy Trust; Jerry Rayner of Rugby Independent School in Warwickshire; Michelle Colledge-Smith of the Outwood Grange Academy Trust; and Vanessa Ogden of Mulberry School in Bethnal Green.

The group has not been asked to advise the Government on the content of PSHE. Their focus is to produce an action plan and recommendations for improving the quality of PSHE teaching. We want to draw on expertise from a range of headteachers and practitioners and will invite others to join the group as appropriate. The Department regularly speaks to a wide range of stakeholders and will continue to do so regarding PSHE.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-01-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many commissioning policies were developed through the NHS England Specialised Commissioning Oversight Group in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

George Freeman

In 2014 NHS England published five clinical commissioning policies and policy statements for the routine of commissioning of new treatments, drugs or devices for specialised commissioning.

In 2015 (up to November 2015), 38 such clinical commissioning policies and policy statements were published.

Decisions for the 2015/16 commissioning round were due to be made in 2014 but this process was deferred to 2015 pending the outcome of public consultation on process.