Tag: Helen Jones

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of superfast broadband in (a) Warrington North constituency, (b) Culcheth and (c) Burtonwood.

Mr Edward Vaizey

Warrington, Culcheth and Burtonwood are covered by the Connecting Cheshire project. Over 62,000 homes and businesses in Cheshire have been upgraded to superfast broadband as a result of the project and we expect coverage to reach over 95 per cent in Cheshire by the end of 2017. It is estimated that the Warrington North constituency will have 98 per cent of premises able to connect to superfast by the end of the programme. Data is not collected below this scale.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-26.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received from (a) providers of supported housing and (b) organisations representing people with disabilities on the effect of a cap on housing benefit on the provision of supported housing.

Greg Hands

Treasury Ministers and officials have meetings with a wide variety of organisations in the public and private sectors as part of the process of policy development and delivery. Details of ministerial and permanent secretary meetings with external organisations on departmental business are published on a quarterly basis and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average waiting time is from referral to the commencement of a talking therapy course in (a) the North West and (b) Warrington.

Alistair Burt

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) dataset contains information on referrals to IAPT services which provide talking therapies. Information is provided both for Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and for all 33 North West CCGs combined for the year 2014/15.

Table: The number of referrals entering treatment¹ in the year, with mean and median waiting times to first treatment (days), for IAPT services in 2014/15. Data shown for NHS Warrington CCG and all North West CCGs combined².

	Total number of referrals entering treatment3	Average (mean) waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)4	Median5 waiting time to first treatment appointment (days)
Organisation name
NHS Warrington CCG	3,265	31	28
All North West CCGs combined	123,445	44	24

Notes:

¹In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment (an appointment with a therapy type recorded) in the year.

²CCG is based on GP Practice. Where GP Practice is not recorded, or cannot be assigned to a CCG, the referral is categorised as ‘Unknown’.

³In order to enter treatment a referral must have a first treatment appointment in the year. Referral received date not necessarily in the year.

⁴The mean was used as the average.

⁵Means and medians have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Waiting time is measured by counting the number of days between a referral being received and the first treatment appointment. For 2014/15, the presence of a valid therapy type is used as an indicator of whether treatment was provided in the course of the appointment.

Entering treatment figures are rounded to the nearest 5

Please note: It is generally advised that the median is used as the more reliable measure of average waiting time, as this accounts better for any outliers in the data

Source: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Dataset

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) access to justice and (b) early settlement of claims of changes made in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Shailesh Vara

The last government implemented reforms to the justice system through provisions contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Act 2012. Part 1 of the Act reformed the legal aid system and Part 2 reformed costs and funding arrangements for civil litigation.

There will be post-implementation reviews of Parts 1 and 2 of the Act between three to five years after implementation (that is, between 2016 and 2018), although the government has indicated that it will carry out the review of Part 2 towards the end of that period.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36419, if he will set out the actions required of an hon. Member, including the number of parliamentary questions asked, contributions to debate and other relevant matters which are deemed to demonstrate sufficient interest in devolution, for such hon. Members to be invited to meetings on future plans for the area they represent.

James Wharton

I would welcome a proactive and enthusiastic approach to involvement on devolution matters and associated opportunities locally, with which my department stands ready to engage. It is for hon. Members to determine for themselves what that involves.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received from the National Pharmacy Association on the potential effect of planned changes to Government funding of local independent pharmacies.

David Mowat

We have received representations from individuals, including the hon. Member and from a number of organisations representing pharmacies, pharmacists and patients in Cheshire, on our proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond.

We have also received representations from the National Pharmacy Association and Pharmacy Voice, of which the Association is a member. These include written communications and official meetings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2015-11-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, when post-16 education in Warrington is planned to be reviewed under the area review process; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Boles

All colleges in England will be subject to an Area Review. The timing of individual areas will be published in due course once they have been agreed by the National Area Review Steering Group. We have said that we will announce the area reviews in a series of waves, decisions on which area will be included in each wave will take account of a number of factors including whether colleges are deemed to be at financial risk.

We expect reviews to last 3-4 months based on our early experiences, and we anticipate they will all be completed by March 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the loss of income to providers of supported housing from a cap on housing benefit at the rate of local housing allowance.

Justin Tomlinson

The information is not available.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training is being given to members of Fire and Rescue Services who may find themselves acting as first responders as a result of collaboration between emergency services.

Mike Penning

The Department does not hold this information centrally. The responsibility for ensuring relevant training is undertaken rests with individual fire and rescue authorities in consultation with local ambulance services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, for what reasons only one hon. Member for a Warrington constituency was invited to his recent meeting with the leader of Warrington Borough Council on devolution; who made the decision to invite only one such hon. Member to that meeting; and if he will take steps to ensure that all appropriate hon. Members are invited to such meetings in future.

James Wharton

The MP referred to by the Hon. Member for Warrington North has been proactive in engaging with my department on devolution matters, and I would welcome the same enthusiasm and involvement from all appropriate members.