Tag: Heidi Alexander

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funding his Department has set aside for managing the transition from NHS bursaries to student loans for new nursing, midwifery and allied health students from 1 August 2017.

Ben Gummer

The Department will be working with delivery organisations outside of the Department to assess a range of considerations for transition and implementation.

The Department will be consulting on the health education funding reforms in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2016 on Question 30222, what further work in the collection and publication of data on secondary breast cancer by hospital trusts in England is being scoped.

Jane Ellison

Data on breast cancer recurrence has been mandated in the Cancer Services and Outcomes Dataset (COSD) for diagnoses from 1 January 2013. The National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) in Public Health England (PHE) estimates about one-quarter of recurrences are currently submitted. NCRAS will support trusts to improve their submission of data by producing reports on the number of recurrences submitted by each National Health Service trust. These will enable the identification of best practise to be shared, and enable us to engage with trusts that are not submitting data.

Data on all cancer recurrence has been mandated in COSD since 31 July 2015.

In addition further work is being scoped by NHS England and PHE based on the recommendation in the recent Independent Cancer Taskforce report to establish robust surveillance systems to collect relapse and recurrence data on all cancers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Heidi Alexander on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data his Department (a) records and (b) publishes on the nationality of NHS staff.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Department does not record or publish data on the nationality of staff working in the National Health Service. Data on nationality is published twice a year by NHS Digital and turnover data is published quarterly and available by nationality.

Nationality is a data item within the National Workforce Data set used with a range of other data items to support workforce planning, analysis of staff movement and equality monitoring. It is not mandatory, but self-declared.

In 2015 and 2016 requests for nationality data on NHS staff in England were published on the supplementary information part of the NHS Digital website, rather than as part of the routine Hospital and Community Health Services statistical publications. In 2016, following NHS Digital’s public consultation, NHS Digital now routinely publish tables showing the self-declared nationality of staff in staff groups and regions, bi-annually, together with quarterly turnover statistics which show the nationality of joiners and leavers to and from the NHS in England.

The latest nationality data was published in March 2016 and the next set will be published in December 2016 showing the position at September 2016.

The latest turnover data published in September 2016 covers the 12 month period to 30 June 2016.

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.