The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to merge clinical commissioning groups during the course of the current Parliament.
George Freeman
There are no plans to merge clinical commissioning groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to increase the retention rate of doctors working in general practice.
Alistair Burt
The number of full time equivalent doctors working in general practice has increased by 1,677 since September 2010.
The Department has committed to further increasing the primary and community care workforce by 10,000 by 2020, including an additional 5,000 doctors working in general practice. In January 2015, NHS England, Health Education England, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee published Building the Workforce, a ten point plan to address general practitioner (GP) workforce issues.
The ten point plan includes actions to improve retention, as well as to increase recruitment and support GPs to return to practice. As part of this work, NHS England has commissioned a detailed review to identify the most effective measures to encourage experienced GPs to remain in practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the provision of urgent care centres on levels of attendance at A&E departments.
Jane Ellison
The location and structure of urgent and emergency care services is a matter for local commissioners, taking account of guidance issued by NHS England. This guidance includes Safer, faster better: good practice in delivering urgent and emergency care, which was published in August 2015, to support frontline providers and commissioners in re-designing urgent and emergency care services.
The guidance states that urgent care centres co-located with emergency departments provide an opportunity to stream patients with less serious illnesses and injuries to a service that is resourced to meet their needs, while reducing crowding in emergency departments.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GPs retired in Halton constituency in the last 12 months; and how many GPs in that constituency have given notice of their intention to retire in 2016.
Alistair Burt
This information is not collected centrally. However, this information is available from the Halton Clinical Commissioning Group.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people undertake quality assurance in the NHS outside of clinical commissioning groups.
Ben Gummer
We do not hold information centrally on the number of people working in the National Health Service who have a quality assurance role.
However, the fundamental standards set out the standards against which care should not fall and all providers are expected to have systems and processes in place to assure themselves that they are assessing, monitoring and improving the quality and safety of their services.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for the inspection and regulation of quality of all healthcare providers and its findings are published together with a performance rating. Where a provider’s performance falls below the fundamental standards the CQC has specific powers to take appropriate action.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his visit to the Mersey Gateway on 23 April 2015, what progress has been made on ensuring support will be provided to small businesses in Runcorn and Widnes when that bridge opens in 2017 related to the cost of tolls crossing the Mersey Gateway.
Mr Robert Goodwill
Residents of Halton will already be able to use the bridges for free following previous Government decisions to fund an extension to the original, limited, resident’s discount scheme proposed by Halton Borough Council. Heavy goods vehicles and coaches will pay the same wherever they are geographically based which will ensure a level playing field for businesses across the North West.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much was spent from the public purse on the maintenance of NHS buildings in each year since 2010.
George Freeman
The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is in the following table.
Data is collected annually in the Estates Return Information Collection from the National Health Service for maintenance service costs (prior to 2013-14 the data collected was “total building and engineering maintenance costs”). The data for 2010 onwards is provided for the NHS below:
|
£ million |
|
|
2010-11 |
768.46 |
|
2011-12 |
751.40 |
|
2012-13 |
753.64 |
|
2013-14 |
756.06 |
|
2014-15 |
749.82 |
The data is provided as received from the NHS and has not been amended centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2015-11-03.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many soldiers left the army voluntarily in each year since 2010.
Mark Lancaster
Defence Statistics publish information on a regular basis showing voluntary outflow figures for the Armed Forces, broken down to single Services.
Figures for 2010-11 are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/280435/1_january_2013.pdf
Figures from 2011-12 to 2014-15 are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/426880/QPR_Apr2015.pdf
The most recent information is contained in ‘UK Armed Forces Monthly Service Personnel Statistics September 2015’ and associated tables which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-armed-forces-monthly-service-personnel-statistics-2015
“
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions his Department has had with NHS England on increasing the amount of funding available to GP practices.
Alistair Burt
The Department has regular discussions with NHS England on various measures to support general practice, including funding.
NHS England has confirmed that it will increase funding for general practice by an average of 4.5% each year to 2020/21.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) people and (b) children are being treated for Lyme disease in (a) Halton constituency and (b) Merseyside.
Nicola Blackwood
Most cases of Lyme disease are treated in primary care by a course of antibiotics. Only the most severe cases require hospitalisation and appear in the Hospital Episode Statistic (HES) series. Data for those treated in primary care is not collected centrally.
Data from HES for admissions for adults and children where there is a primary diagnosis of Lyme disease are:
Halton Constituency of residence – 0
Halton Clinical Commissioning Group of residence – 0
Merseyside – 0