The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to assist unemployed people over the age of 50 back in to work; and if he will make a statement.
Priti Patel
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 24 November 2015 to Question UIN16531.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effect on animal welfare of the use of glue traps.
George Eustice
The Animal Welfare Act 2006 provides protection for animals caught in traps. All traps, including glue traps, must be inspected at regular intervals and trapped animals dealt with appropriately to ensure they do not suffer unnecessarily.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise public awareness of blood cancer and other cancers for which symptoms can be non-specific and have similarities to other benign conditions.
Jane Ellison
Public Health England’s (PHE) Be Clear on Cancer campaigns are designed to raise the public’s awareness of specific cancer symptoms, encourage people with those symptoms to go to the doctor and diagnose cancer at an earlier stage. These campaigns are delivered by PHE in partnership with the Department and NHS England.
The decision on which cancers should be the focus of ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ campaigns is informed by a steering group, whose members include primary and secondary care clinicians, and key voluntary sector organisations.
A number of factors are taken into account when deciding which campaigns to develop and run, with one of the main criteria being the scope to save lives through earlier diagnosis and whether the cancer has a clear early sign or symptom that the general public can act upon should it arise. There are a number of cancers, including those for which symptoms can be non-specific, which are not covered by ‘Be Clear on Cancer’ specifically.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what programmes there are for companies who will not be covered by the Apprenticeship Levy to assist with the creation of apprenticeship positions; and if he will make a statement.
Nick Boles
All employers in England will be able to access funding for apprenticeships after the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in 2017. We will set out further details about how this will operate in due course, including any programmes available for employers who will not pay the levy.
We will also continue to offer employers an apprenticeship recruitment service through Find an Apprenticeship on gov.uk. We are continuing the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE) to support more small firms to take on 16-24 year old apprentices.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has sought from the Swiss government on best practice in concluding a trade deal with (a) Japan, (b) China and (c) other non-EU states.
Mr David Lidington
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not sought advice from the Swiss government on these matters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the National Cancer Patient Experience Survey 2015 on the proportion of blood cancer patients that understood the explanation given to them at diagnosis; and if he will take steps to increase support for such patients at the point of diagnosis.
Jane Ellison
It is important that people with cancer have the best possible experience throughout their cancer pathway and are treated with dignity and respect.
The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes – A Strategy for England 2015-2020 in July 2015, and identified a key priority of establishing patient experience as being on a par with clinical effectiveness and safety. In May 2016 the National Cancer Transformation Board published Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: Taking the Strategy Forward outlining the detailed steps being taken to make this a reality.
In September 2015, the Government announced that by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. The packages will be individually designed to help each person, including those with blood cancer, live well beyond cancer. In April 2016 NHS England published guidance for commissioners on commissioning and implementing the recovery package effectively.
In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline includes new recommendations for haematological cancers. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold. Following publication of the updated guideline, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has worked in collaboration with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on a programme of regional update events for GPs to promote the new guideline. RCGP and CRUK have also worked to develop three summary referral guidelines for GPs to enable them to adopt the guideline. These are available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-01-07.
To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to improve the number of successful prosecutions for human trafficking offences.
Robert Buckland
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has issued guidance to strengthen prosecutions in support of the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The CPS continues to deliver joint training with the police. The increased awareness and emphasis on working with the police to build stronger cases should lead to an improvement in the number of successful prosecutions.
The Director of Public Prosecutionsis hosting a summit with the Heads of the Prosecution Services in the UK and the Lord Advocate for Scotland in February 2016 to launch joint commitments to provide a more robust UK response to human trafficking and slavery.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-03-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what advice his Department has sought from the Swiss government on best practice in concluding a trade deal with (a) Japan, (b) China and (c) other non-EU states.
Mr David Lidington
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not sought advice from the Swiss government on these matters.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2016-06-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to adapt the cancer recovery package and investigate new models of care for blood cancer patients who are (a) given treatment and (b) put on a watch and wait regime after diagnosis.
Jane Ellison
It is important that people with cancer have the best possible experience throughout their cancer pathway and are treated with dignity and respect.
The independent Cancer Taskforce published its report Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes – A Strategy for England 2015-2020 in July 2015, and identified a key priority of establishing patient experience as being on a par with clinical effectiveness and safety. In May 2016 the National Cancer Transformation Board published Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: Taking the Strategy Forward outlining the detailed steps being taken to make this a reality.
In September 2015, the Government announced that by 2020, the 280,000 people diagnosed with cancer every year will benefit from a tailored recovery package. The packages will be individually designed to help each person, including those with blood cancer, live well beyond cancer. In April 2016 NHS England published guidance for commissioners on commissioning and implementing the recovery package effectively.
In order to continue to support general practitioners (GPs) to identify patients whose symptoms may indicate cancer and urgently refer them as appropriate, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published an updated suspected cancer referral guideline in June 2015. The guideline includes new recommendations for haematological cancers. NICE noted that more lives could be saved each year in England if GPs followed the new guideline, which encourages GPs to think of cancer sooner and lower the referral threshold. Following publication of the updated guideline, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has worked in collaboration with Cancer Research UK (CRUK) on a programme of regional update events for GPs to promote the new guideline. RCGP and CRUK have also worked to develop three summary referral guidelines for GPs to enable them to adopt the guideline. These are available at:
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2015-11-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve children and young people’s mental health services.
Alistair Burt
Children and young people’s mental health is a priority area for this Government. We are committed to delivering the vision set out in Future in mind through the launch of a major system-wide transformation programme working alongside our partners in Government and arm’s length bodies. This will improve access and make services more widely available across the country.
To support this transformation, an additional£1.4 billion funding has been made available over the course of this Parliament for spending on children and young people’s mental health, of which we are spending £173 million this year, including £30 million on eating disorders. This will be used to improve community-based services so that young people are helped earlier and are less likely to need to go into hospital. It will also enable the expansion and extension of the Children and Young People’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme so that a wider range of those who need it are able to access high quality and evidence-based interventions wherever they may live. All clinical commissioning groups have been asked to work with their partners to develop Local Transformation Plans to transform their local offer to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
A national programme of work will support local areas, including the extension and expansion of the use of evidence- based interventions, tackling stigma, improving data and information to inform greater transparency and accountability and developing a specialist and stronger workforce.