Tag: Graham Allen

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect of the speed of development of unmanned underwater vehicles on the capability of Trident submarines to evade detection.

Mr Philip Dunne

The submarines that carry our trident missiles will not be rendered obsolete by new technologies, including developments in unmanned underwater vehicle technology. We dedicate considerable resource to horizon scanning to assess the threats from emerging capabilities and will apply any necessary mitigations throughout the lifetime of both the Vanguard Class and the future Successor Class of nuclear deterrent submarines, to combat these future challenges. We assess that the ocean will remain a complex and challenging environment in which through the conduct of large scale anti-submarine warfare our adversaries may seek to threaten our submarines, despite advancements in technologies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the proportion of five-year olds eligible for free school meals with severe or extensive tooth decay.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) has produced guidance to support local authorities in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children in their area. PHE has also developed guidance for dental teams on preventing dental disease in their patients. Advice has recently been published by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.

The Department will be launching the Childhood Obesity Strategy in the summer. It will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese, including sugar which is a cause of tooth decay.

Overall, children’s access to National Health Service dentistry remains consistently high, with the number of children seen in the 24 months to December 2015 by an NHS dentist standing at 8.1 million or 69.5% of the population. 104,000 more children saw an NHS dentist in England in the 24 month period ending 31 December 2015, compared with the same period ending 31 December 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what programmes her Department supports related to children and religious fundamentalism; and if she will make a statement.

Justine Greening

If there is a face of poverty, it is often a young face, and young people are at the heart of DFID’s agenda. We combat poverty, and religious fundamentalism, by investing in young people and their future, which is why our focus on education is so important.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the proportion of five-year olds eligible for free school meals with severe or extensive tooth decay.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England (PHE) has produced guidance to support local authorities in their responsibility to improve dental health and reduce inequalities among children in their area. PHE has also developed guidance for dental teams on preventing dental disease in their patients. Advice has recently been published by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.

The Department will be launching the Childhood Obesity Strategy in the summer. It will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese, including sugar which is a cause of tooth decay.

Overall, children’s access to National Health Service dentistry remains consistently high, with the number of children seen in the 24 months to December 2015 by an NHS dentist standing at 8.1 million or 69.5% of the population. 104,000 more children saw an NHS dentist in England in the 24 month period ending 31 December 2015, compared with the same period ending 31 December 2014.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-09-09.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer to Question 44728, how many (a) amended and (b) cancelled tax credit claims account for the savings in annually managed expenditure identified.

Jane Ellison

Since the contract with Concentrix began in November 2014, Concentrix have amended around 103,000 tax credit claims up to and including 11 September 2016. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and Concentrix, acting on HMRC’s behalf, do not separate out the number of awards that are either partially amended or stopped.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his Department’s press release of 6 April 2016, entitled Government responds to public desire for EU facts, if the Government will provide a detailed budget breakdown for the digital promotion and website costs associated with the campaign aimed at helping the public make an informed decision in the forthcoming EU referendum.

John Penrose

I refer the hon. Member to my response to the hon. Member for Harwich and North Essex of 14 April 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of (a) extending free dental check-ups to people aged 60 and over and (b) exempting people aged over 60 from all dental charges.

David Mowat

The table below shows the estimated cost of extending exemption to National Health Service dental charges for paying patients under the age of 21, age 60 and over and for examinations only for patients aged 60 and over.

Age Group	Estimated Cost
People aged 18-21	£15.7 million
People aged 60 and over	£329.2 million
People aged 60 and over (for check-ups only)	£25.1 million

This data is based on FP17s submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority for general dentistry courses of treatment completed between April 2015 and March 2016. It shows the amount of patient revenue, based on 2016/17 charge levels, which would be foregone should the currently fee paying groups be made exempt.

Dentists are required to submit a form called an FP17 for every course of NHS dental treatment they provide. The figures assume no increase in the number of patients currently accessing NHS dental care, in reality additional patients may seek NHS treatment if they were to become exempt.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is planned that the new national centre of expertise on tackling child sexual abuse will work in connection with the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse.

Karen Bradley

Tackling child sexual abuse is a top priority for this Government and good progress is being made on delivering the commitments made in “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” – the Government’s response to address on a national scale the failures that had been seen in Rotherham and elsewhere. We are working collaboratively across Whitehall to deliver on our commitments and will publish an update to the “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” report later this year. This will set out our progress to date on what we have achieved in tackling offending, reducing vulnerability and supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It will also set out what future steps the government plans to take.

As part of this work, we have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat, providing a clear mandate for police forces to safeguard children and to share intelligence and best practice. We have also rolled out to all UK police forces Child abuse image database (CAID) which provides law enforcement with effective tools to search seized devices. We have delivered a £7 million uplift in funding over the financial years 2014 – 15 and 2015 – 16 for non statutory organisations which support victims and survivors of sexual abuse and have announced that the same amount will be available in 2016 – 17.

In January this year we launched a new national whistle-blowing helpline, operated by the NSPCC, for any employee who wants to raise a concern about how their organisation is dealing with a concern about a child. The establishment of the Centre of Expertise has formed part of discussions held at the Inter Ministerial Group on Child Sexual Abuse, and we are currently working towards its procurement. In terms of the Centre working with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Inquiry is independent of Government, but the Government is, and will, continue to fully co-operate with it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the annual cost to the public purse of extending free dental treatment to people under the age of 21.

David Mowat

The table below shows the estimated cost of extending exemption to National Health Service dental charges for paying patients under the age of 21, age 60 and over and for examinations only for patients aged 60 and over.

Age Group	Estimated Cost
People aged 18-21	£15.7 million
People aged 60 and over	£329.2 million
People aged 60 and over (for check-ups only)	£25.1 million

This data is based on FP17s submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority for general dentistry courses of treatment completed between April 2015 and March 2016. It shows the amount of patient revenue, based on 2016/17 charge levels, which would be foregone should the currently fee paying groups be made exempt.

Dentists are required to submit a form called an FP17 for every course of NHS dental treatment they provide. The figures assume no increase in the number of patients currently accessing NHS dental care, in reality additional patients may seek NHS treatment if they were to become exempt.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Graham Allen on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to tackle child sexual abuse; and what steps she plans to take in regards to such abuse in the next year.

Karen Bradley

Tackling child sexual abuse is a top priority for this Government and good progress is being made on delivering the commitments made in “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” – the Government’s response to address on a national scale the failures that had been seen in Rotherham and elsewhere. We are working collaboratively across Whitehall to deliver on our commitments and will publish an update to the “Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation” report later this year. This will set out our progress to date on what we have achieved in tackling offending, reducing vulnerability and supporting victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It will also set out what future steps the government plans to take.

As part of this work, we have prioritised child sexual abuse as a national threat, providing a clear mandate for police forces to safeguard children and to share intelligence and best practice. We have also rolled out to all UK police forces Child abuse image database (CAID) which provides law enforcement with effective tools to search seized devices. We have delivered a £7 million uplift in funding over the financial years 2014 – 15 and 2015 – 16 for non statutory organisations which support victims and survivors of sexual abuse and have announced that the same amount will be available in 2016 – 17.

In January this year we launched a new national whistle-blowing helpline, operated by the NSPCC, for any employee who wants to raise a concern about how their organisation is dealing with a concern about a child. The establishment of the Centre of Expertise has formed part of discussions held at the Inter Ministerial Group on Child Sexual Abuse, and we are currently working towards its procurement. In terms of the Centre working with the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Inquiry is independent of Government, but the Government is, and will, continue to fully co-operate with it.