Tag: Debbie Abrahams

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the quality and geographical variability of speech and language therapy available to stroke survivors in England.

Jane Ellison

One of the actions set out in the 2007 National Stroke Strategy was to increase the rate of thrombolysis (treatment with clot busting drugs), which stood at around 1% of stroke admissions. Data from the Stroke Sentinel Audit Programme (SSNAP) suggests this rate has risen to 11-12%, with around 9,600 stroke patients now benefiting from treatment with thrombolysis each year. Evidence suggests that, on average, 13% of those treated with thrombolysis will have reduced disability as a result. It is therefore likely that more than 1,200 stroke patients per year now benefit from reduced disability due to thrombolysis.

Although the Government has made no assessment of the quality and variation of rehabilitation and speech and language therapy available to stroke survivors in England, SSNAP has collected data over the last three years on the rehabilitation that patients get in hospital and when they are discharged in to the community.

SSNAP also undertook an audit in 2015 of the provision and organisation of post-acute stroke care which includes details on the provision of speech and language therapy. It shows there are variations around the country in the availability of these services to stroke survivors. The Strategic Clinical Networks and the National Clinical Director for Stroke are working with clinical commissioning groups to help address this.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the extent to which current and planned staffing levels at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are sufficient to enable the Commission to fulfil its statutory obligations.

Caroline Dinenage

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body. It makes its own decisions about the allocation of its resources and its procedures for planning changes to its staffing against its business needs as set out in its one-year Business Plan and three-year Strategic Plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, which three transitional options the former Pensions Minister, Baroness Altmann, commissioned from his Department to address the effects on women born in the 1950s following state pension equalisation.

Caroline Nokes

Transitional arrangements are already in place. At the time of the Pensions Act 2011 the Government introduced a concession worth £1.1 billion to limit the impact of the rising State Pension age on those most affected. The concession capped the maximum delay that anyone would face in claiming their State Pension to 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. The Government has no plans to introduce further transitional arrangements.

The following link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-foi-releases-for-march-2016 provides:

• information on the transitional arrangements considered during the passage of the Pensions Act 2011 (see table A); and
• illustrative costings for hypothetical policies including the three requested by the previous Minister for Pensions (see tables B to D).

These options are not under policy consideration.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many calls were made to the Child Maintenance Options Service in each month since January 2015.

Priti Patel

The number of inbound calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service from January 2015 to the end of October 2015 is shown in the table below:

Month	Number of calls received by the Child Maintenance Options Service
Jan-15	33,010
Feb-15	31,020
Mar-15	36,450
Apr-15	33,370
May-15	32,590
Jun-15	37,580
Jul-15	40,530
Aug-15	38,010
Sep-15	45,340
Oct-15	39,800

Notes:

– Data Sourced from Child Maintenance Options Monthly MI Service Pack

– Data rounded to nearest 10

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what projection his Department has made of the annual spend on the contracted-out element of back to work support for the forthcoming Work and Health Programme; and how that spend compares with the annual spend on the current Work Programme and Work Choice.

Priti Patel

We are currently working on the design of the new Work and Health programme and we will publish the design and funding in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2016 to Question 28404, on Independent Living Fund, if he will publish (a) the timescale and (b) the terms of reference of the research which the Government plans to conduct.

Justin Tomlinson

We have completed the planning for researching the impact of the ILF’s closure; we will publish the findings when the research is complete.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of disabled people living in social housing who will be affected by the cap to local housing allowance.

Justin Tomlinson

The information requested is not available. As such it is not possible to accurately estimate the number of disabled people living in social housing that will be affected by this policy in 2018.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-04-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many stroke survivors are in receipt of social care funded by their local authority.

Alistair Burt

Information collected as part of the Short and Long Term (SALT) data return indicates that in 76 out of 152 local authorities in England 10,545 people who have a reported health condition of stroke received support from their local authority in 2014/15. However, recovering from having a stroke might not be the reason people are receiving this support from their local authority as they might have other conditions as well. The reason for the partial data return is that this is a voluntary data collection by local authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-07-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has had discussions with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on its employment of disabled people.

Justin Tomlinson

I have not had any meetings with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to discuss its employment of disabled people.

The Office for Disability Issues has frequent communication with the EHRC who are observers at the bi-annual Fulfilling Potential Forum that I chair which is attended by a range of disability-related stakeholders. Officials from the Office for Disability Issues are also in regular contact with the EHRC in relation to the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, attending quarterly Treaty Monitoring review meetings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Debbie Abrahams on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimates his Department has made of potential cost of proposed transitional measures to address the effects on women born in the 1950s following state pension equalisation.

Caroline Nokes

Transitional arrangements are already in place. At the time of the Pensions Act 2011 the Government introduced a concession worth £1.1 billion to limit the impact of the rising State Pension age on those most affected. The concession capped the maximum delay that anyone would face in claiming their State Pension to 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. The Government has no plans to introduce further transitional arrangements.

The following link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-foi-releases-for-march-2016 provides:

• information on the transitional arrangements considered during the passage of the Pensions Act 2011 (see table A); and
• illustrative costings for hypothetical policies including the three requested by the previous Minister for Pensions (see tables B to D).

These options are not under policy consideration.

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