Tag: Emma Reynolds

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to increase access to specialist community perinatal mental health care.

Alistair Burt

This Government is committed to improving access to perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year. In January 2016 the Government set out that an additional £290 million will be made available over the next five years to 2020/21, over and above the money identified in the Spring Budget, to invest in perinatal mental health services. This is funded from within the Department’s overall Spending Review settlement and means that in total from 2015/16 to 2020/21 £365 million will be invested in perinatal mental health services.

We are aware that there is unacceptable variation in the levels of access to high quality, NICE-recommended specialist perinatal mental health care for women across England. A 2014 census identified that 40% of women in England have no access to specialist perinatal mental health services and that is why we have confirmed this additional investment. The funding should enable significant progress towards closing this gap and will help to enable women across the country to access evidence-based specialist support, in the community or through inpatient mother and baby services, closer to their home, when they need it. It is anticipated that, by 2020/21, around 30,000 more women should be able to access appropriate specialist support.

This new funding, together with the recommendations of the forthcoming report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce, will enable NHS England to work with partners to design a longer-term transformation programme to build capacity and capability in specialist perinatal mental health services over the next five years. This will include setting detailed plans for how the additional investment will be targeted over the period to 2020/21 and setting clear outcome measures and metrics to monitor the impact of the funding on perinatal mental health provision.

In 2015/16 work is already underway to lay the foundations for this longer-term work programme through targeted funding of activities to build capacity in specialist services. This will include, for example, a £1 million investment in strengthening clinical networks across the country. It is also expected to include the provision of national and regional benchmarking data and analytical support to regions, and work to develop clinical leadership capacity. Work will also continue to support the development of specialist mother and baby units in the regions identified as most in need of new services.

To ensure the workforce are available and appropriately trained, NHS England is working closely with Health Education England and key stakeholders to better understand the future workforce commissioning requirements and how it is best to meet multi professional education and training needs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2016-07-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the Government’s policy is on access to the European Economic Area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Robin Walker

Our economy is fundamentally strong, and the UK is open to business and investment. The Government has been consulting, and will continue to consult, with a broad range of stakeholders and we will need to consider all factors carefully in implementing the decision of the British people. This is clearly a very important issue for UK business and we will want the strongest possible economic links with our European neighbours.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people are employed in (a) the UK and (b) each region by companies (i) with headquarters in the EU and (ii) owned in the EU.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people are employed by non-British EU companies in (a) the UK and (b) each region.

Mr Rob Wilson

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on foreign direct investment of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr David Gauke

As the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne) has noted, the best outcome for the UK economy is that we achieve major economic reform of the EU. The Prime Minister is focused on success: he believes he can and will succeed in reforming and renegotiating our relationship with the EU, and campaigning to keep the UK in the EU on that basis.

The Confederation of British Industry and British Chambers of Commerce have both come out to say they support the reform agenda the Prime Minister is seeking to deliver.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much funding the UK was allocated from the (a) European Regional Development Fund, (b) European Social Funds, (c) European Agricultural Fund of Guarantee, (d) European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, (e) European Territorial Cooperation, (f) Youth Employment Initiative and (g) European Maritime and Fisheries Fund in the period from 2010 to 2014.

Anna Soubry

The information requested for points a, b, d, e, f, and g is set out in the financing plans in the respective programmes for these funds which can be found on gov.uk, gov.scotland and gov.wales.

The information requested for point c can be found on the European Commission and Eur-lex websites.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the benefits to UK businesses in the (a) retail, (b) automobile, (c) construction, (d) ICT, (e) financial services and (f) defence sectors of reduced tariff barriers arising from UK membership of the World Trade Organisation.

Anna Soubry

The Government has not made a specific assessment of the benefits to UK businesses in these sectors as a result of the UK’s membership of the WTO. But the benefits will be substantial as over the 20 years of the WTO average applied tariffs have been cut in half from 15 per cent in 1995 to less than 8 per cent today. And there are now 161 WTO Members comprising 98% of world trade, with the new (post-1995) members contributing 21% of this total. Further benefits are likely from negotiations currently underway: for example the Information Technology Agreement 2 (ITA2) should liberalise tariffs that affect around £12 billion of UK exports and imports.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the benefit to the UK economy of the preferential trade agreements the EU has negotiated with countries outside the EU.

Anna Soubry

The cumulative impact of all concluded, on-going and potential trade negotiations currently being undertaken by the EU could boost UK GDP by over £ 20 billion in the long run.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the benefits to the UK economy of (a) the absence of tariff barriers for intra-EU trade and (b) other aspects of the single market.

Anna Soubry

The EU provides the biggest single market in the world. EU countries trade twice as much with each other as they would without it. The absence of tariffs contributes to this. The single market also brings benefits for consumers. For example, between 2000 and 2006, the cost of making a 10-minute call in the EU fell by an average of 74%, and roaming charges will be abolished completely in 2017. As part of our agenda for EU reform, we want to go further and faster on economic competitiveness including liberalisation of the services sector, trade, and de-regulation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emma Reynolds on 2015-01-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many community-led developments have completed as a result of the Community Right to Build.

Stephen Williams

A key priority for the Coalition Government has been to give communities greater control over shaping the development of their area. The Localism Act 2011 created new powers for communities to write their own neighbourhood plans and to gain planning permission for community-led development through Neighbourhood Development Orders and Community Right to Build Orders.

Nearly 1,400 communities, covering six million people, are now engaged at different stages of the neighbourhood planning process, giving millions of people the chance to participate in identifying, and voting on, where development takes place and what it looks like. All 52 referendums held to date have resulted in big ‘yes’ votes and 34 plans have been ‘made’ (brought into force) and therefore are part of the development plan, the starting point for determining planning applications.

The popularity of neighbourhood planning has shown that when given the opportunity, communities are keen to shape future development in their areas, and we expect the number of community-led developments to increase as more neighbourhood plans are finalised. Over the last two years there have been over 3,100 enquiries and 14,000 web hits relating to the Community Right to Build. The Community Right to Build gives communities the freedom to build new homes, shops, businesses or facilities where they want them, without going through the normal planning application process. Experience has shown that following discussions with the local planning authority for community-led development proposals, community groups have chosen to submit a planning application for their project, rather than a Community Right to Build Order.

To ensure groups undertaking community-led development have the right support and advice to gain planning approval, we broadened the remit of available support funding to assist community groups to bring forward development either through Community Right to Build Orders or community-led planning applications.

This has led to significant take up of funding for community-led projects coming forward, with over 100 applications for funding already approved by the Homes and Communities Agency and the Greater London Authority. Locality and their partners have also been working with 60 groups to provide assistance and advice.

The first three referendums for Community Right to Build Orders took place in December, all of which were passed and are now in force.

We have allocated a further £3.5 million to support the Community Right to Build and community-led planning applications for housing in 2015-18. On 17 February, my department announced a further £6 million funding boost to the community rights programme. This new funding will mean:

• like-minded communities will be able to network and learn from each other through the new My Community Network;
• communities will have access to tailored advice through a phone and online advice service to help them use the range of community rights and other neighbourhood approaches;
• 100 more neighbourhoods will be supported to use the Our Place approach, enabling councils and other public sector providers, voluntary and community groups, local businesses and the community to work together to tackle important local issues from job creation to health priorities;
• 100 communities will receive support to take the first steps in identifying important local issues and develop Community Action Plans;
• 50 communities will receive support to develop economic plans to address local economic priorities like job creation and enterprise;
• 50 local authority/community partnerships will receive advice, support and grants to support the transfer of multiple or complex publicly owned assets into community ownership; and
• 6 new contracts have been awarded to external partners to support communities in using the community rights in 2015-16.