Tag: David Simpson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how his Department plans to raise awareness among young people of the dangers of so-called smart drugs.

Nicola Blackwood

The Government’s drug information website FRANK is updating its content to include enhancement drugs, including so-called smart drugs.

FRANK forms part of a wider programme of education and prevention that should be delivered locally in line with evidence on what works best in effective prevention programmes.

Public Health England (PHE) commissioned Mentor’s Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPIS) programme to helps schools and practitioners share information and resources to help them deliver good quality drug prevention activities. PHE also delivers the Rise Above campaign to 11–16 year olds, which provides content that aims to delay and prevent uptake of risky behaviours including smoking, drinking alcohol and drug use, to build resilience and enable young people to make good life choices.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to implement the recommendation of the National Screening Committee, made in January 2016, on making non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome available to expectant mothers.

Ben Gummer

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) has recommended that non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome should be introduced as an additional test into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of an evaluation. Ministers are currently considering this important recommendation from the UK NSC which has the potential to transform antenatal care.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many cases of avian influenza there were in the UK in 2016.

George Eustice

There has been one confirmed case of notifiable avian influenza in poultry during 2016 to date; Low Pathogenic H5N1 at a poultry farm near Dunfermline, Scotland.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department is providing nursing homes facing closure.

David Mowat

This response relates to adult social care in England.

Adult social care is largely delivered through an independent sector of care provider organisations that operate in a competitive market. Whilst many people pay for their own services, both local government and the National Health Service commission services for people who have eligible needs and are financially eligible. The Government works with local authorities to encourage good practice in commissioning services, producing guidance and through a sector-led improvement programme.

The Government recognises that the care sector is operating in a challenging financial environment and continues to engage with the care sector, including nursing care providers, to understand their concerns about their financial viability and the sustainability of services.

The trade bodies Care England and the United Kingdom Home Care Association have convened a provider Taskforce, with membership from the larger care home and home care operators and representatives from the Care Providers Alliance. Officials from the Department of Health, and other Government Departments attend the taskforce meetings as observers. The Taskforce has discussions about risks to financial viability, local authority commissioning and the impact of the introduction of the National Living Wage.

The Department is working closely with the Local Government Association to consider targeted action to address the issues.

In addition, on 13 July 2016, the Department announced that the NHS-funded Nursing Care (NHS-FNC) rate was being increased on an interim basis to £156.25 per week for individuals assessed as eligible. This increase was to be backdated to 1 April 2016 for individuals who were in receipt of NHS-FNC at that time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits of talking therapy for the treatment of mental health.

Alistair Burt

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme is a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommend evidence based intervention, helping adults with common mental health conditions (including anxiety and depression) to recover. The latest data shows that that nationally we are achieving a 45% recovery rate and 61% rate in reliable improvement. In total over 733,000 people have recovered from their condition since the start of the IAPT programme, and between October 2008 and February 2015 over 100,000 people moved off of sick pay and benefits.

The Impact Assessment published in 2011 shows that the IAPT programme would expect to deliver improved health and wellbeing of those treated, as well as savings to the National Health Service and wider economic benefits such as reductions in sickness absence.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the Rural Payments Agency to resolve the backlog of 2015 Basic Payment Scheme payments.

George Eustice

I have regular discussions with the Rural Payments Agency on the progress of Basic Payment Scheme payments.

As of 3 July 86,760 (99.6%) farmers have received a payment on their 2015 BPS claim. The Rural Payments Agency continues to focus on making top up payments to those farmers who have already received a bridging payment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to increase mental health support to UK students in the last 12 months.

Nicola Blackwood

The Department has responsibility for the health and wellbeing of people in England.

Over the last 12 months progress has been made on many of the key ambitions set out in Future in Mind, which sets out the five-year vision of major system-wide transformation to improve access to high-quality mental health support across England for all children and young people. Future in Mind acknowledged that in particular university students may experience difficulty in transitioning between adolescent and adult mental health services due to geographical relocation and transience of residence.

The core delivery mechanism in making this ambitious programme of transformation happen is the system-wide publicly available Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) that should cover the full spectrum of need for children and young people who have existing or emerging mental health problems. In developing the LTPs, local areas were asked to work with their key partners – including education – to agree locally how best to meet the mental health needs of children and young people in their local populations and this included effective transitions between services.

To support this transformation, an additional £1.4 billion funding has been made available over the course of this Parliament that will enable the expansion and extension of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that high quality and evidence-based interventions can be accessed wherever they live.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on reducing reoffending in each of the last three years.

Mike Penning

The Home Office makes an important contribution to the Government’s commitment to reduce re-offending to cut crime and make our streets safer. Integrated Offender Management provides a framework for the police working with other agencies to prevent some of the most prolific and problematic offenders from committing further crime.

Operational policing matters are the responsibility of Chief Constables in conjunction with their Police and Crime Commissioners. The Home Office does not, however, provide specific funding for this, over and above overall central Government funding provided to the police.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how her Department plans to encourage more farmers to submit their Basic Payment Scheme payments applications online.

George Eustice

For the Basic Payment Scheme 2016 over 80% of farmers chose to apply online.

For the Basic Payment Scheme 2017 the Rural Payments Agency will have a planned campaign of activity to encourage as many as possible of the remaining 20% of customers that applied on paper to apply online.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Simpson on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many UK passports have been revoked in each of the last five years.

Mr Robert Goodwill

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 12 May to question UIN 36668 by my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Old Bexley and Sidcup (James Brokenshire).