The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of newly qualified doctors has entered (a) primary care and (b) hospitals.
Ben Gummer
The requested information is not collected centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of investment in psychiatric services for children.
Alistair Burt
The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce was established in September 2014 to consider ways to improve how children and young people’s mental health (CYPMH) services are organised, commissioned and provided. Evidence presented to and discussions in the Taskforce underlined the complexity and severity of the current set of challenges facing child and adolescent mental health services, including investment and funding arrangements. The work of the Taskforce resulted in the publication of the Government report, Future in Mind, which established a clear and powerful consensus about system-wide transformation to improve CYPMH.
This Government is committed to delivering this. An additional £1.4 billion has been made available over the course of this parliament to support this transformation programme, which includes investment in a range of mental health services for children and young people services, including psychiatric services. This includes £150 million to improve eating disorders and £75 million for perinatal mental health services.
Most of the additional funding is going direct to local areas to invest in transforming their services, but we need to balance this with investment nationally for workforce and system development, which sets the foundations for transformation. As this work progresses at national level, the amount going to local areas to support direct service delivery will gradually increase over the course of the five years.
Local Transformation Plans developed by clinical commissioning groups, covering all local areas, have been successfully assured by NHS England and funding was released in December 2015 to implement the Plans. These plans must cover the whole spectrum of CYPMH needs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the level of violent crime in Greater Manchester.
Mr John Hayes
The independent Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that in the year ending September 2015 violent crime was 25% lower than in June 2010 and shows no significant change compared to the previous year (September 2014). Knife crime offences recorded by the police also remain 14% below the level of offences in 2010.
Ending gang violence and exploitation is a priority for the Government and on 13 January 2016 we published a paper setting out our refreshed approach. This has a twin focus concerned with both reducing violence, including knife crime, and protecting vulnerable individuals from exploitation by gangs. We are taking a number of steps to reduce violent crime including supporting proactive policing on knife crime and working with retailers to promote the responsible sales of knives.
In addition, as part of the Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, we are funding Greater Manchester Police to deliver a project that aims to identify individuals at risk of becoming engaged in serious and organised crime and offering them an alternative path through a series of potential interventions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to reduce the gender pay gap for women over 40.
Caroline Dinenage
The Government is committed to full gender equality in the workplace. We will be introducing gender pay gap reporting for companies with at least 250 employees and will provide £500,000 in support to help business calculate, understand and address their gender pay gaps. The Government expects employers to start publishing the required information from April 2017.
The Government’s ambition is to unlock the skills, talents and experience of older workers. Working with business, International Women’s Day 2016 saw the Women’s Business Council launching a toolkit to encourage older women to enter and stay on in the workplace. The Women’s Business Council has established a working group on older women workers to address how business can offer practical support to older workers.
This builds on action the Government has already taken to ensure an effective framework to help women return to and progress in work. These measures include introducing shared parental leave, extending the right to request flexible working to all employees and increasing support for childcare costs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police forces in England operate a neighbourhood policing model.
Mike Penning
How neighbourhood policing is delivered, its priorities, and the specific model that is used, are decisions for Chief Constables in conjunction with their democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. This Government believes in local policing, accountable to local communities. That is why we abolished all central Government targets and put local people in charge by introducing directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned future budget reductions on the capacity of Greater Manchester police service to tackle cyber-crime.
Mike Penning
As the Chancellor announced in the Spending Review, no PCC will receive a reduction in cash funding over the Spending Review period if they choose to maximise their precept. It is an operational decision for chief officers, working with their PCC, to determine how best to allocate their available resources taking into account local and national priorities. In total, including national transformation funding and other funding, policing will see a £900 million increase in funding by 2019/20 in cash terms. We will continue to allocate specific funding for Counter Terrorism Policing over the course of the Spending Review period to ensure that the CT policing network has the capabilities it needs to tackle changing threats. The settlement will increase counter-terrorism policing funding in real terms in 16-17 to £670m.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned budget changes to her Department’s Afghanistan Project on economic security in that country.
Mr Desmond Swayne
The UK remains committed to a long term partnership with Afghanistan, as I communicated to President Ghani when I visited in June 2015.
It is worth noting that Afghanistan has made significant progress over the last decade, and the UK will continue our support to protect these hard-won gains. For example, UK support has helped ensure that more than 60% of the population now live within 2 hours walking distance of public health facilities, compared to only 9% in 2002. We have committed to spend £178m million in bilateral aid per year until at least 2017, and future commitments will be determined as part of the Bilateral Aid Review, due to be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the expected cost is of replacement of the Emergency Services Network in Greater Manchester; and how that project is to be funded.
Mike Penning
The Emergency Services Network (ESN) transition is being managed regionally. Greater Manchester is part of the North-West Region, incorporating North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust, Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside Fire & Rescue Services, as well as Cheshire Constabulary, Cumbria Constabulary, Greater Manchester Police, Lancashire Constabulary and Merseyside Police. The Core costs of operating the network are initially borne by the Home Office, but shared by the Department for Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Welsh and Scottish Governments. The Non-core costs of connecting to the network and utilising it will be borne by local Emergency Services organisations and exact costs in Greater Manchester will be dependent upon take up of device and connection numbers to meet local operational needs. Taken together, the Core and Non-core costs of ESN are projected to cost £5 billion over the 15 year operating life of the network, saving in the region of £3 billion on the costs of the current Airwave service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-02-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of child poverty in the Greater Manchester area.
Priti Patel
The Government is committed to eliminating child poverty and improving life chances for all children, including those in Greater Manchester.
We know that work is the best route out of poverty and we are already making progress, with the number of children in workless households across Greater Manchester down by 13,000 since 2010. Our investment in childcare, the National Living Wage and increases to the Personal Allowance will help people increase their hours, increase their earnings, and enable them to keep more of what they earn.
The Secretary of State will say more about the Government’s plan to tackle disadvantage and extend opportunity in a new Life Chances Strategy. This will be published in the Spring.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ivan Lewis on 2016-03-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of planned future budget reductions on the capacity of Greater Manchester police service to tackle child exploitation and sexual offences.
Mike Penning
As the Chancellor announced in the Spending Review, no PCC will receive a reduction in cash funding over the Spending Review period if they choose to maximise their precept. It is an operational decision for chief officers, working with their PCC, to determine how best to allocate their available resources taking into account local and national priorities. In total, including national transformation funding and other funding, policing will see a £900 million increase in funding by 2019/20 in cash terms. We will continue to allocate specific funding for Counter Terrorism Policing over the course of the Spending Review period to ensure that the CT policing network has the capabilities it needs to tackle changing threats. The settlement will increase counter-terrorism policing funding in real terms in 16-17 to £670m.