Tag: Heidi Alexander

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much Health Education England spent on clinical placements for (a) nursing, (b) midwifery and (c) allied health students in the latest year for which figures are available.

Ben Gummer

Health Education England’s (HEE) planned clinical placement expenditure for the year 2015/16 is estimated as follows[1]:

(a) Nursing: £100 million

(b) Allied Health Professionals: £34 million

(c) Midwifery: £13 million

HEE is currently working towards a common coding structure to be applied by Local Educations and Training Boards to the composite parts of trust clinical placement payments to provide detailed breakdown of actual expenditure for healthcare trainees in future years.

[1] These figures are rounded to the nearest million.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will publish a patient-friendly guide to inform responses to the consultation on proposals for a new Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) consultation on draft proposals on the future of the Cancer Drugs Fund closed on 11 February 2016. The NHS England Board agreed a way forward, on 25 February 2016, which will see the new arrangements for the Fund going live on 1 July 2016.

NHS England and NICE adopted a number of different approaches to engage with audiences. This included holding four webinars for stakeholders and two face-to-face events in London and Manchester alongside a number of individual meetings with key stakeholder groups including patient organisations and cancer charities.

NHS England has advised that it will publish a consultation report on its website in due course. Further information is available at:

www.engage.england.nhs.uk/consultation/cdf-consultation

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will provide a list stating the value of each grant that has been awarded by her Department to each academy sponsor matched to a school with an Academy Order; and what the average value is of those grants that have been made under the provisions of the Education and Adoption Act 2016.

Edward Timpson

As of 24 October 2016, there have been 33 grant payments made as a result of an Academy Order being issued under the provisions of the Education and Adoption Act 2016. They consist of the following:

Grants Paid	Total
1 part payment of grant of £45,000	£45,000
22 grants of £70,000	£1,540,000
2 grants of £80,000	£160,000
7 grants of £90,000	£630,000
1 grant of £110,000	£110,000
Grand Total	£2,485,000

This brings an average cost of £75,303 supporting these sponsored academies. The details of the grant amounts can be found on page 4 of the Sponsored academies funding Advice for sponsors document. This guidance is published online and can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/511128/sponsored_academies_funding_advice_for_sponsors.pdf

This does not include any award of sponsor capacity fund (SCF) which may previously have been made to relevant sponsors as part of their developing greater capacity to support schools.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what target his Department sets for the amount of time for people to receive an accurate assessment for personal independence payments under (a) normal rules claiming and (b) special rules claiming.

Mike Penning

There are no legal requirements to complete action on a claim to PIP within a specified time, but we continuously monitor how long the claimant journey is taking against original estimates and implement measures to speed up the process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to better identify those personal independence payment claimants who could be assessed solely on the basis of evidence without the need for face-to-face assessments.

Mike Penning

We are working with our providers to ensure that all PIP claims received are reviewed and where sufficient evidence is available at that initial review we may make a decision on the claim without the need for a face-to-face consultation. Where a face-to-face consultation is needed or further evidence must be gathered, the assessment provider will undertake that activity.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-06-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will provide financial assistance to people facing delays to personal independence payments applications.

Mike Penning

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave the hon. Member for Livingstone, Graeme Morrice, on 24 June, Official Report, col 178W.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust and (b) that Trust’s auditors on possible fraud within the Trust.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Trust reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The Trust undertook a full independent review, and the EFA monitored their response. The Department for Education’s most recent discussion with the Trust has been to confirm progress with the recovery of funds and the police investigation.

The Department has not had recent discussions with the Trust’s auditors. The EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014.

The Department does not hold a copy of the service level agreement between the Federation Trust and its schools.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what checks the Education Funding Agency makes on the quality of auditors and others taking professional fees for services provided to academies.

Mr Edward Timpson

As companies and charitable trusts, academy trusts are required to appoint independent auditors to report on their financial statements. It is for the academy trust to manage the contract for their services.

Auditors are qualified accountants and regulated by their professional institutes. The institutes undertake a programme of quality assurance visits to ensure firms are operating in accordance with expected professional standards. The outcomes of these reviews are publically available.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) supplements the various institute regulatory regimes with:

· reviews of academy trusts’ audited financial statements, the associated audit reports on these and auditor management letters. The EFA follows up significant issues with individual trusts and their auditors;

· regular attendance at sector training events and delivery of online presentations/webinars for auditors on the key issues arising from reviews, to help ensure they are aware of the requirements expected of them and key risk areas; and

· responding to auditor queries received through the academy questions mailbox.

Other professional services provided to academy trusts will also be regulated by their relevant institute body, e.g. the Law Society.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The Department is committed to disposing of surplus property assets expeditiously. Since the start of the Spending Review (SR10) the size of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) estate has reduced by over 600 properties to nearly 1,500 properties. The MoJ has already released land suitable for 1,253 housing units and in 2014/15 we are expected to release land suitable for a further 300 units. Therefore we will comfortably exceed our SR10 target of releasing land suitable for 1,262 housing units.