Tag: Greg Mulholland

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on advanced nurse practitioners of his plans for a seven-day NHS.

Ben Gummer

An advanced nurse practitioner is generally accepted to be a registered nurse who has acquired the expert knowledge base, complex decision-making skills and clinical competencies for expanded practice, the characteristics of which are shaped by the context of practice. A Master’s Degree is recommended for entry level to an Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANPs) role. This role is not defined by the Nursing Midwifery Council or the Department.

Today ANPs work in a variety of health care settings and in a number of different roles, which range from a nurse consultant managing a specialist service in a hospital to being a nurse partner within a general practice.

Information on how many ANPs are employed by the National Health Service in each region of the United Kingdom in each of the last five years is not held by the Department.

We have made it clear that we are not planning to impose a ‘one size fits all model’ for our plan to provide a seven-day NHS. It will be for local commissioners and providers to decide how best to deliver seven day services in hospitals and for them to work with their Local Education and Training Boards to develop workforce plans to support this.

Although not explicitly mentioned in NHS England’s Five Year Forward view, ANPs are part of the solution to addressing the health and well-being gap; care and quality gap; and funding gap. For example, ANPs are involved in the new care models such as in Derbyshire. The Derbyshire Vanguard site will develop a prevention team made up of health and care professionals including general practitioners (GPs), ANPs, mental health nurses, extended care support and therapy support.

Seven day access does not mean that every GP must work every day or that all practices must open at evenings and weekends. Through schemes such as the Prime Minister’s GP Access Fund, practices are encouraged to collaborate together in delivering more convenient and accessible services for patients in the evenings and weekends through multiple methods including innovative use of technology, working together at scale, and better use of skill mix to both improve patient care and release GP capacity.

The recent independent evaluation of the first wave of the PM’s GP Access Fund reported that “evidence to date suggests that the strategy of making more use of nursing staff, particularly Advance Nurse Practitioners (ANPs), is resulting in benefits including released GP capacity…”

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to prevent carbon emissions outside the UK.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government is committed to securing an ambitious, legally binding, global deal on climate change at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 in Paris, in December.

My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Climate and Energy, is taking every opportunity to press for an agreement that secures ambitious mitigation commitments from all Parties that together keep the goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees within reach. We also want an agreement that includes a regular review of targets to increase ambition over time, a global long term goal and a robust, legally binding framework to ensure transparency and accountability of commitments to help the world track progress.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-11-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle disability hate crime.

Karen Bradley

The Government takes all forms of hate crime very seriously. Crime that is motivated by hostility or hatred towards the victim is particularly corrosive and can have devastating consequences for victims and their families. We are committed to working with communities in order to keep them safe.

We have announced that we will publish a new hate crime action plan next year. This will include a number of actions aimed at reducing the number of hate crimes committed against disabled people, and also improving the response to these crimes when they occur.

I, and other ministers, attended a roundtable on disability hate crime in October. This gave me the opportunity to speak to a range of people, including representatives of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, researchers and service users. A key part of our action plan will include understanding the issues behind hate crime, and this was an important first step towards this. Officials are taking forward actions from this meeting.

The Government is currently speaking to a number of organisations and individuals to inform the next steps in developing this action plan. This includes work with the Fulfilling Potential Forum, which is led by the Office for Disability Issues within DWP and is made up of around 40 disability charities, including disabled people’s user led organisations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the effect on small businesses and entrepreneurs of the closure of the Business Growth Service.

Anna Soubry

We do not expect closure of the Business Growth Service to have an impact on small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to ensure aid is delivered to the Syrian town of Madaya.

Mr Desmond Swayne

The UK has pledged over £1.1 billion in response to the crisis in Syria and the region, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the US. The UK co-sponsored and lobbied hard for the passage of UN Security Council Resolutions 2165, 2191 and 2258 which call on the parties to allow rapid, safe and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to besieged and hard to reach places. An estimated £275 million (49%) of humanitarian assistance funded by the UK for inside Syria has been allocated for cross-border operations.

We have provided support to the UN and international NGOs (INGOs) since the start of the conflict to deliver aid in hard to reach and besieged areas of Syria, including Madaya.

On 11 January 2016, the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent confirmed that aid convoys of humanitarian assistance had arrived in the hard to reach the town of Madaya, and the besieged areas of Foah and Kefraya. Further convoys are anticipated over the next couple of days. The convoy is expected to meet survival needs of the 40,000 persons inside Madaya, and 20,000 people inside Foah and Kefraya.

DFID funding to UN agencies is directly supporting the current convoy with food parcels, nutritional supplements, essential drugs and non-food items including winterisation kits.

The UK worked with partners in the UN Security Council to put humanitarian access in Madaya, and across Syria, on the Security Council’s agenda on Monday 11 January.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations his Department has received on trends in the number of curry houses closing down.

Anna Soubry

The Government does not hold information on the value of the curry industry, the number of curry houses, trends in the number of curry houses or the number of curry chefs.

Official statistics carry figures on the value and number of restaurants, takeaways and other food service businesses in general, but do not detail specific types of food being served. Similarly while the number of chefs and catering staff will be estimated there is no consideration of their specialisation in terms of cuisine.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s arrangements with French authorities for processing reimbursement claims from UK citizens for state-funded health treatment received in France.

Justin Tomlinson

European Union Regulations on the coordination of social security systems include provisions on how citizens may obtain healthcare in other EEA states. These are longstanding legislative arrangements which include the use of the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), as well as how the resulting bills are settled between states. The European Commission and the member states are jointly responsible for assessing the effectiveness of the regulations on an on-going basis and where necessary the Commission will recommend any proposed changes for consideration and agreement with the member states.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to introduce mandatory electrical safety checks for private rented sector properties.

Brandon Lewis

The Government is committed to protecting tenants and has therefore agreed to carry out the necessary research to understand what, if any, legislative changes regarding electrical safety checks in the private rented sector should be introduced.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) pharmacy closures and (b) job losses caused by planned reductions to the community pharmacy budget.

Alistair Burt

Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services including public access to medicines. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. A consequence may be the closure of some pharmacies but that is not our aim.

We are not able to assess which pharmacies may close or the number of people who may lose their jobs, because we do not know the financial viability of individual businesses or the extent to which they derive income from services commissioned locally by the NHS or local authorities or have non-NHS related income.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of current penalties to deter stone theft.

Karen Bradley

Stone theft has a detrimental effect on towns and communities across England and Wales. The impact of these crimes includes both the economic cost to the victim, but there are also wider costs to the community, for example where schools, churches or heritage items are targeted by criminals.

We have received no recent representations from local authorities on this issue, nor have we had recent discussions with the police on stone theft specifically. However, the police are working with Historic England, the Crown Prosecution Service and others to share intelligence and shape good practice in tackling and preventing heritage crime, such as stone theft.

We would encourage all victims of stone theft, whether individuals or organisations, to report instances of these crimes to their local police, so that the crimes can be properly recorded and investigated. The local response is a matter for individual chief officers of police and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local issues and demands that they face.

We are satisfied that the existing legislation provides the police and courts with sufficient powers to respond to stone theft.