The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-26.
To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 9202, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of peers.
Mr David Cameron
The Leader of the House of Lords has convened cross-party talks to consider the best way forward in addressing the size of the House. Those talks are ongoing.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-22.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of NHS 111 staff are clinically trained.
Jane Ellison
This information is not held centrally.
NHS 111 staff comprise clinical and non-clinical staff. Clinical staff includes registered nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, dental nurses and mental health practitioners.
The Licensing Requirements of NHS Pathways (the algorithm used by 111 services) stipulate that there must be sufficient clinician resource per shift to provide supervision to the number of call handlers on a shift. As an absolute minimum, there must be at least one accredited clinician physically present in the room on each shift.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has announced that it will inspect all NHS 111 providers by September 2016. This will provide assurance that minimum levels of quality are met. The CQC will look at staffing levels and skill mix and assess whether staff have the skills, knowledge and experience to deliver effective care and treatment.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to remove the NHS bursary made available to medical students.
Ben Gummer
There are currently no plans to change the current existing arrangements for medical students who are already on the standard student support system for the first four years of their degrees.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-23.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Office for Budget Responsibility on the potential implications of the UK withdrawing from the EU.
Mr David Gauke
The Office for Budget Responsibility have set out their approach to assessing the implications of a UK withdrawal from the EU in their March 2016 Economic and fiscal outlook (see Box 3.4).
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what reports he has received on the NHS investigation into the performance of the non-urgent transport service provided by Coperforma in Sussex; who will conduct that investigation; what the terms of reference and expected duration of that investigation are; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
NHS England advises that the High Weald Lewes Havens Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), on behalf of all seven Sussex CCGs, has begun an enquiry on 18 April 2016 into the non-emergency Patient Transport Service (PTS) in Sussex.
We are informed that the CCG has engaged TIAA, an independent company and a provider of assurance services to the public sector, to carry out the enquiry. This is an independent investigation into the transition and mobilisation of the PTS contract from the South East Coast Ambulance Service to Coperforma and is supported by the CCGs in Sussex, Coperforma and the South East Coast Ambulance Service. We are advised the CCG has asked for a draft final report to be available for review by June 2016 with interim progress reports.
We are advised the following terms of reference have been agreed by South East Coast Ambulance Service, High Weald Lewes Havens CCG and Coperforma:
― consideration of the transition arrangements set out in such as contract specification and tender submission;
― the extent to which compliance with agreed handover arrangements can be evidenced;
― a root cause analysis of a sample of incomplete bookings;
― establishing the causes of poor service delivery on commencement of the new contract and whether these could have been reasonably anticipated prior to the contract commencement date;
― the appropriateness and timeliness of the actions taken by the CCG; and
― any lesson learned which could be incorporated into other future major contracts let by the CCG.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much each NHS trust spent on cleaning services in the last year for which figures are available.
Alistair Burt
The total amount spent on cleaning services by National Health Service hospital trusts is as shown in Table 1, below:
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Table 1: Cleaning Services Costs by Year |
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Year |
Cleaning Services Costs (£ millions) |
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2009/10 |
897.2 |
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2010/11 |
938.6 |
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2011/12 |
936.5 |
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2012/13 |
933.9 |
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2013/14 |
904.1 |
|
2014/15 |
929.2 |
Table 2 (attached separately) gives information on cleaning spend for each NHS hospital trust for 2014-15.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-25.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the King’s Fund Quarterly Monitoring Report 19, published in May 2016; and if he will make a statement.
Alistair Burt
We recognise that very real financial and operational challenges face our health and care services. However, we are committed to a sustainable future for our National Health Service.
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to the NHS by again committing to increase health funding each year in this parliament, in spite of the continuing fiscal challenges.
By 2020-21, the Government will increase funding for the NHS by £10 billion a year in real terms compared with 2014-15, to support the implementation of the NHS’s own plan – the NHS Five Year Forward View – to transform services across the country. And we will be giving the NHS £3.8 billion more this year (2016-17), over and above inflation, and almost £6 billion of the £10 billion in the first two years of the six-year period.
It is not, however, down to funding alone. The health system needs to match the increase in funding with service transformation and it is vitally important that we continue to strive for efficiency and give support to the development of new, more integrated, models of care; to the use of technology and transparency of data to drive up quality and choice for patients; to local areas to determine what is right for them through devolution; and to drive up the focus on prevention.
The NHS achieving 2-3% net efficiency gains each year until 2020-21 would represent a strong performance but it is achievable. We have already begun introducing measures to help spend taxpayers’ money more efficiently and reduce waste immediately and for the future – making sure every penny possible is spent on patient care.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2016 to Question 39429, on NHS logos, what the cost to his Department has been of legal advice on the use of the NHS logo by the Vote Leave Campaign; and what plans he has to apply for injunctive proceedings related to the use of that logo.
George Freeman
To date, the Department has incurred costs of approximately £5,000 (exclusive of recoverable VAT) for advice from specialist intellectual property lawyers, regarding misuse of the NHS logo by Vote Leave. The Department’s lawyers have also done some work on the matter. Their costs are covered in a block fee, which is paid by the Department to the Government Legal Department on an annual basis.
Given the Vote Leave campaign has now finished, the Department has no current plans to apply for injunctive proceedings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-09-05.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many performance meetings the Departmental Board has held since his appointment; and how many of those meetings he has attended.
David Mowat
The frequency of performance meetings held by the Departmental Board and how many of these were attended by the Secretary of State for Health is published in the Annual Reports and Accounts which can be located via the following links to the Gov.UK website for each financial year of his term –
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2012-13 |
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2013-14 |
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2014-15 |
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2015-16 |
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the performance of the Cheshire Patient Transport Service in the last 12 months.
Mr Philip Dunne
No assessment has been made. Assessment of the performance of patient transport services in Cheshire is the responsibility of its commissioners and the Care Quality Commission as the regulator of health services in England.