Tag: John Glen

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the infrastructure cost was of installing a national emergency operations centre at the head office of Public Health England in 2011.

Jane Ellison

The Department and Public Health England (PHE) have specific responsibilities for planning and managing the response to emergencies and health protection incidents and outbreaks in an extended team that works across government. The Department commissions PHE to exercise specific functions on behalf of the Secretary of State under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, including a duty to ensure effective plans are in place, take part in national exercises, and co-ordinate responses. The Secretary of State has cross-government responsibility to provide assurance on the health system’s emergency preparedness. Thus PHE is required to complete an annual assurance exercise for the Department to ensure arrangements are in place for a sustainable and interoperable response in the event of an incident, emergency or business continuity event.

The PHE National Emergency Operations Centre operates when the response requires national leadership and co-ordination. It coordinates PHE’s activities and as one of its functions produces briefings and situation reports for Ministers, the Cabinet Office briefing room system and officials.

PHE was established in 2013. The National Emergency Operations function was previously carried out by the former Health Protection Agency. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the level of support available to help families with disabled children find appropriate play opportunities.

Edward Timpson

Since 1 September 2014, local authorities have been under a duty to develop and publish a Local Offer, which sets out the support they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities in their local area. This must provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it, and must make provision responsive to what parents and children want by involving them in its development. The Local Offer must include information about leisure activities, which could include information about play opportunities.

Play has an important role in supporting all young children to develop and prepare for later learning. The importance of play is recognised in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, which states: “Each area of learning and development must be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others.”

Since September 2014, two year olds who have a statement of SEN, or an Education, Health and Care Plan, or who are receiving Disability Living Allowance, have also been entitled to 570 hours of free early education, to support their families.

For older children, the Equality Act 2010 requires all schools to publish an accessibility plan. These plans are about ensuring that all aspects of school life, including facilities used for play, are accessible to disabled pupils. In addition, local authorities are required to publish an accessibility strategy which must be published as part of their Local Offer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-05-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on British farming of the Plan for Public Procurement, published in July 2014.

George Eustice

Total spend on public sector food and catering services is around £2.4 billion. The Plan for Public Procurement launched a new approach to the way the Government and its catering providers buy food. It provides a transparent set of criteria that allow contracting parties to reach agreement about the quality and value of products and services. British farmers are well placed to meet these standards and to compete for a further £400 million of business that the Plan opens up.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 10 of NHS England’s board paper, Allocation of resources to NHS England and the commissioning sector for 2016/17 to 2020/21, reference PB.17.12.15/04, if he will quantify the legally binding funding pressures regarding the introduction of treatments for (a) hepatitis C and (b) cystic fibrosis in 2016-17; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman

NHS England has estimated a range for the impact of implementing planned and published National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Guidance relating to treatments for hepatitis C and cystic fibrosis. Due to the commercial in confidence agreements in place a specific figure cannot be provided at this time.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if NHS England will issue a consultation on a new Prioritisation Framework for making decisions on investment in specialised services and highly specialised services.

George Freeman

In its response to the public consultation "Investing in Specialised Services" in June 2015, NHS England described the work planned to further develop a prioritisation framework for specialised services. This document stated that NHS England will ensure there is proper stakeholder engagement, potentially including a short formal consultation.

NHS England is currently testing a potential method for prioritisation for use in the 2016/17 business planning round, and will decide if a formal consultation is appropriate as part of this process.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 15 April 2016 to Question 32928, what issues of prisoner payments were raised with the Palestinian Authority Finance Minister Bishara in September 2015; which prisoners were discussed with that Minister; and what representations she has received on reported payments made to Kifah and Ibrahim Ghanimat.

Mr Desmond Swayne

No UK aid is used for payments to Palestinian prisoners, or their families. UK direct financial assistance to the PA is used to pay the salaries of civil servant and pensioners. I discussed with Minister Bishara a broad range of issues regarding prisoner payments including their administration by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. The UK continues to lobby for the payments to be more transparent, affordable and needs-based.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans NHS England has to involve NICE in the specialised commissioning policy development process.

George Freeman

NHS England is in discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in relation to two areas of potential support to its clinical commissioning policy development process for directly commissioned specialised services from 2016/17.

The first is the delivery of rapid evidence reviews (systematic reviews of the available evidence of clinical effectiveness for particular treatments and indications). The second is the production of commissioning support documents for licenced drugs which NHS England commissions directly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to his Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 35866, what the capital spend by (a) the Health Protection Agency on its National Incident Coordination Centre in 2011 at Buckingham Palace Gate and (b) Public Health England on its National Emergency Operations Centre in Wellington House was in 2015.

Jane Ellison

Public Health England was established in 2013. Therefore the Department has not been able to specifically identify the historical costs of creating the National Incident Coordination Centre (NICC) in 2011.

The works to install the NICC was part of a wider refit of 5th Floor North in Wellington House. The project cost for this refit was £43,000; the cost of installing the NICC cannot be specifically identified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if NHS England will publish a list of the commissioning policies scheduled to be developed in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) 2017-18.

George Freeman

There are no plans for NHS England to publish the list of clinical policies in development.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of the English language tuition scheme in supporting Muslim women to learn English.

Mr Marcus Jones

As the first step in rolling out the new £20 million programme we have committed just over £3 million to enable six providers who delivered the Department’s previous community-based English language programme to provide new tuition to over 10,000 people by March next year.

We will shortly be issuing a new Prospectus, inviting applications to run the bulk of the new programme from 2017. The nature and targeting of that provision will be informed by Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and Opportunity.

We will monitor the new Programme to assess its effectiveness in meeting its objectives.