Tag: Helen Hayes

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of how many UK solar companies have gone out of business or stopped installing solar PV as a result of policy changes made since May 2015.

Andrea Leadsom

We recognise the efforts the solar industry is making to adapt following those changes; changes that we had to make to protect billpayers from the ever-increasing costs of support.

We are encouraged by the way the industry is responding: deployment of solar under the revised FIT scheme continues, at rates that match those seen historically following revisions to the scheme.

We expect that deployment will increase further as costs continue to fall, and the industry acclimatizes to the new system.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how GP practices will be able to access the planned additional investment in general practice of £2.4 billion per year by 2020-21.

David Mowat

The General Practice Forward View, published by NHS England on 21 April 2016, set out that investment in primary medical care will increase by £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21.

Total funding to primary medical care includes core funding for practices, funding allocated locally by clinical commissioning groups, and centrally allocated funding from NHS England for the measures to help boost the workforce, drive efficiencies in workload and modernise primary care infrastructure and technology that are set out in the General Practice Forward View. The £2.4 billion will be delivered by both national and local level mechanisms.

An advisory oversight group with patients and partners, including the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee and the Royal College of General Practitioners, will steer implementation of the General Practice Forward View. NHS England is holding a number of events between July and September 2016 across the country to discuss the General Practice Forward View and its implications for local plans with general practitioners.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to page 19 of the Children’s Society Report entitled the cost of being care free: the impact of poor financial education and removal of support on care leavers, published in 2016, what plans he has to better protect care leavers.

Damian Hinds

We are grateful for this report focusing on care leavers from the Children’s Society, and for their recommendations, which we will consider as part of our continuous review of sanctions policy to ensure the process functions effectively and fairly. I can assure you that where we identify an issue, we act to put it right.

For care leavers, as with other claimants, the sanctions process encourages them to prepare for or find work, by meeting their agreed commitments based on their individual circumstances and capabilities, as set out in their Claimant Commitment. This includes both mandatory and voluntary actions care leavers have agreed to undertake. The consequences and implications of not meeting any agreed requirement are clearly set out and explained to them.

A decision to apply a sanction is not taken lightly, and claimants are given the opportunity to provide a good reason for not complying before the decision is made.

Our primary goal is to help care leavers get into work wherever possible and they receive tailored, locally-appropriate employment support at the earliest opportunity to achieve this.

Care leavers, like all claimants, take ownership of planning how they will meet their requirements and ultimately secure employment. They will be supported by their Work Coach who will assist them in meeting their requirements through providing encouragement and direction, using a range of communication methods. Work Coaches support all claimants who require additional support to ensure that they fully understand what they have been asked to do to enable them to access DWP benefits and use our services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether full funding for the implementation of the new access target for early intervention in psychosis is included in the Government’s commitment to an additional £600 million of funding for mental health in 2016-17.

Alistair Burt

No decision has yet been reached on how the additional £600 million of funding for mental health in 2016-17 will be allocated.

A key element of achieving parity across mental and physical health care is in people having timely access to evidence-based and effective treatment.

One focus of the first set of mental health standards for 2015/16 is that from 1 April 2016, 50% of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis are treated with a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved package of care within two weeks of referral. This is being supported by £40 million recurrent funding from NHS England to support delivery of the early intervention in psychosis (EIP) standard. Health Education England are focusing £5 million for workforce development towards meeting the EIP standard.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ring-fence the budget of the National Institute for Health Research in the forthcoming Spending Review.

Alistair Burt

The Government has protected the funding the National Health Service receives and increased the Department’s budget in real terms year on year. There is no plan to change this, fulfilling the Government’s manifesto commitment. By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared to 2014-15 to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the NHS Five Year Forward View – to transform services across the country.

The Spending Review will conclude at the end of November and will set the Department’s overall budget for the remaining years of the parliament. Following this, funding for the National Institute for Health Research will be determined.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether residents living in supported housing will be exempt from the local housing allowance cap.

Justin Tomlinson

We value the work of the supported housing sector extremely highly and are working closely with them to ensure they are supported as effectively as possible.

As part of this, we have commissioned an evidence review of supported housing.

The results of this research will determine any appropriate exemptions.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to her Answer of 12 May 2016, Official Report, column 707, what the evidential basis is for the statement that take up of domestic solar PV systems is strong.

Andrea Leadsom

The statement is based on the number of feed-in tariff applications received so far under the greater than 10kW solar PV cap. Once transitional and seasonal factors are considered, I am confident that we remain on track to meet the deployment projections published in the Impact Assessment of the 2015 FITs review decision.

This can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many of the 1,500 clinical pharmacists pledged in the GP Forward View will have been brought in by the end of each financial year until April 2020.

David Mowat

NHS England has advised that the rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists, as published in its General Practice Forward View, is still in the planning stage.

As part of this work, NHS England is profiling the numbers for the rollout but cannot say at this time how many will be rolled out over each year.

In July 2015 NHS England announced a £15 million pilot scheme to part fund and support general practices to recruit and employ clinical pharmacists to work alongside general practitioners (GPs) as part of the clinical team. In November 2015 this funding was more than doubled to £31 million, due to an overwhelmingly positive response from GP surgeries. These pharmacists will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2016-10-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending a ban from operating as a letting agent or sales agent to include a ban on operating as a sales agent or letting agent.

Gavin Barwell

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 introduces a package of measures to help local authorities crack down on rogue landlords and letting agents. They include the ability to seek a banning order against a landlord or letting or managing agent who has been convicted of a banning order offence. This provision is expected to come into force in 2017.

There are separate powers to ban sales agents under the Estate Agents Act 1979. Letting agents and sales agents carry out different functions and operate under different legislation. We do not currently have any plans to introduce legislation that would ban someone from being a sales agent where they have been banned from being a letting agent or vice versa. I would be happy to meet the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood to discuss this issue.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Hayes on 2015-11-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the likely annual cost to electricity customers of the proposed Hinkley Point C power station (a) in total and (b) per customer.

Andrea Leadsom

Under the CfD consumers will not pay anything for electricity until the plant is powering their homes and businesses. Payments under the CfD are expected to make up around £10 (real 2012 prices) of the average household energy bill in 2030. This should be seen in the context of Hinkley Point C meeting 7% of the UK’s energy needs, and set against our estimate that a new nuclear programme could reduce average household bills by up to around £30 in 2030. This is calculated by comparing the costs for consumers in a modelled scenario for the future electricity mix with Hinkley Point C and a further role out of the new nuclear programme with the cost for consumers in a scenario where there are no new nuclear power stations by 2030. Savings could be higher or lower depending on changes in the cost of alternative generation technologies and what mix of technologies would ultimately be used.