Tag: Dan Poulter

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to support proposals for an electricity grid interconnector between the UK and Denmark.

Andrea Leadsom

Government is committed to increasing electricity interconnection that delivers benefits to GB consumers, and the Department is aware of the VikingLink project which proposes to connect GB to Denmark1. Ofgem have assessed the project as offering £2.6bn in consumer benefits and has granted it initial approval on this basis. Government has also supported it to gain access to European development funding as a Project of Common Interest.

[1] Source, Ofgem: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/decision-initial-project-assessment-fab-link-ifa2-and-viking-link-interconnectors

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans her Department has to support electricity grid interconnections between the UK and other countries.

Andrea Leadsom

Electricity interconnection can lower consumer bills, improve security of supply and contribute towards decarbonisation.

A number of interconnection projects are already progressing under Ofgem’s regulatory regime1, designed to bring forward interconnection investment in the interest of GB consumers. This includes projects to France, Belgium, Norway, Denmark and Ireland, which have been assessed by Ofgem as offering over £11.8bn in consumer benefits. The Government has also supported a number of mature interconnector projects to benefit from access to European grant funding as Projects of Common Interest.

Together these projects represent billions of pounds of infrastructure investment and aim to more than double our interconnection capacity by the early 2020s. This will make Britain more energy secure and will help lower consumer bills.

[1] Source, Ofgem: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/decision-roll-out-cap-and-floor-regime-near-term-electricity-interconnectors

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what criteria the Government and NHS employers will use to distinguish between residential and non-residential on call duties in the proposed new contract for junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

The concepts of “residential” and “non-residential” on-call do not exist in the current contract for doctors and dentists in training, nor will they exist in the new contract arrangements being proposed. These are colloquial terms used to refer to some of the current working arrangements, which include on-call rotas, partial shifts, full shifts and some hybrid arrangements.

Currently there are pay banding supplements, on top of basic salary, the levels of which are determined by working hours and patterns.

Under the proposals for a new contract, banding supplements will end. In their place will be increased basic pay, plus proportionate pay for additional hours, with a premium rate of pay for hours worked in the unsocial hours period. There will also be on-call availability supplements for being on an on-call rota, i.e. being available to return to work but not expected to be on-site for the whole period. These supplements will be a percentage of pay, of different values depending on the frequency of the on-call commitment.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantially the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government and NHS employers plan to supplement junior doctors’ salaries for (a) residential and (b) non-residential on call duties in the proposed new contract for junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

The concepts of “residential” and “non-residential” on-call do not exist in the current contract for doctors and dentists in training, nor will they exist in the new contract arrangements being proposed. These are colloquial terms used to refer to some of the current working arrangements, which include on-call rotas, partial shifts, full shifts and some hybrid arrangements.

Currently there are pay banding supplements, on top of basic salary, the levels of which are determined by working hours and patterns.

Under the proposals for a new contract, banding supplements will end. In their place will be increased basic pay, plus proportionate pay for additional hours, with a premium rate of pay for hours worked in the unsocial hours period. There will also be on-call availability supplements for being on an on-call rota, i.e. being available to return to work but not expected to be on-site for the whole period. These supplements will be a percentage of pay, of different values depending on the frequency of the on-call commitment.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantially the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government and NHS employers have involved Health Education England in the planning and negotiation of the new junior doctors contract.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.

A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.

Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role Health Education England has played in his Department’s engagement and meetings with the BMA and other health care unions in developing the new proposed junior doctors and consultant contracts.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.

A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.

Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which meetings on the proposed new junior doctor and consultant contracts organised by his Department or NHS employers were attended by representatives from Health Education England.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England (HEE) was not formally represented in negotiations: the two parties to the negotiations were employers (from each of the four United Kingdom countries) and the British Medical Association.

A Director of Postgraduate Hospital Training and a Director of Postgraduate GP Education were involved in negotiations, and remain involved with the development of a new contract. Whilst they are employees of HEE, their role has been to provide educational advice to the management side (employers) as representatives of the Conference of Postgraduate Medical Deans (UK) and the Committee of General Practice Education Directors (UK). They have attended a range of meetings in that capacity, including the management side meetings and the negotiating meetings that took place roughly every fortnight from October 2013 to October 2014.

Representatives from HEE also attended other meetings where there were updates on contract reform, including NHS Employers’ quarterly Medical Workforce Forum; and other less formal meetings at which contract reform was discussed, including regular update meetings with the hon. Member, the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether under the new junior doctor contract proposals, doctors will be prevented from receiving remuneration or other financial support for teaching advanced life support and other medical training courses.

Ben Gummer

The principle underpinning the relevant proposals is that junior doctors should not be paid twice for the same time. Junior doctors will be paid by their National Health Service employer for the contractual duties set out in their work schedules. They will be entitled to carry out fee-paying work in periods for which they are not being paid by the NHS employer and to receive payment for that, additional to the payment for their NHS employment. If a fee is paid directly to a junior doctor for work done during time when they are being paid by their NHS employer, the junior doctor will be required to remit the fee to the employing organisation.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantively the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister. As then, it is precisely to look at how these proposals would work that we wish to continue negotiations with the British Medical Association.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dr Poulter on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether under the new junior doctor contract proposals, doctors will be prevented from giving their time to (a) the British Medical Association, (b) the General Medical Council, (c) other healthcare, education and training organisations and (d) trade unions.

Ben Gummer

The proposals on contract reform do not change the situation in relation to these matters. Releasing doctors from National Health Service work commitments to undertake other activities remains a matter for the employer.

These proposals are – as in other respects – substantively the same as those agreed when the hon. Member was a Minister.