Tag: Justin Madders

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 9 February 2016 to Question 25939, what proportion of the income from estimated Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme payments for 2016-17 will be brought forward from estimated payments due in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Ben Gummer

The Government announced in December 2015 that the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme (PPRS) payment percentage for the 2016 calendar year is 7.80%. This represents an increase of 2.64 percentage points as a result of the addendum to the PPRS agreed with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and published alongside the 2016 payment percentage. The income brought forward to 2016 as a result of this agreement will depend on a number of factors, including total branded medicine sales to the National Health Service over the course of the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to address historic allegations of mistreatment of whistleblowers in the NHS.

Ben Gummer

The Department supports the right of staff working in the National Health Service to raise concerns and expects all NHS organisations to support staff in raising concerns. We expect all NHS organisations to adopt the national whistleblowing policy for the NHS as a minimum standard, which will be published by NHS Improvement and NHS England next month, and comply with the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

A regulation-making power was included in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to prohibit discrimination against whistleblowers (or applicants believed by the prospective employer to have been whistleblowers) when they apply for jobs with prescribed NHS employers. The Department is aiming to consult shortly on draft regulations to implement this power.

NHS England, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority are currently developing a support scheme for NHS workers and former NHS workers, whose performance is sound and who can demonstrate that they are having difficulty finding employment in the NHS as a result of having made protected disclosures. This scheme will be piloted in the next financial year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the legal status is of Sustainability and Transformation Plan (a) footprints and (b) leadership teams.

George Freeman

Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) footprints and leadership teams do not have legal status or legal duties. The local, statutory architecture for health and care remains, as do the existing accountabilities for provider and local authority chief executives and clinical commissioning group accountable officers. Health and care organisations remain accountable for their individual organisational plans, which should form part of their footprint’s STP.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of hospital shifts breaching the national price caps for NHS agency staff occurred on patient safety grounds in the last year for which figures are available.

Alistair Burt

Last year the Government introduced a series of tough financial controls to help the National Health Service tackle overspending on agency staff, including an hourly price cap. These controls include a provision for any trusts that need to override the price caps on exceptional patient safety grounds. Trusts report any such overrides on a weekly basis to NHS Improvement.

The latest information released by NHS Improvement on the number of trusts reporting using shifts in excess of the price caps from 23 November 2015 to 7 March 2016 is available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foi-agency-shifts-exceeding-the-price-caps-by-trust

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare graduates who are expected to pay off their student loan in full.

Joseph Johnson

The Government announced in the 2015 Spending Review that from 1 August 2017, all new nursing, midwifery and allied health professional students will receive their funding and financial support through the standard student support system, rather than through the current NHS Bursary Scheme. The changes will enable us to lift the cap on the number of students on nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare courses and provide full time students on these courses with access to around 25% additional financial support for living costs. We expect this reform to enable universities to provide up to 10,000 additional nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this Parliament.

The proportion of students that will fully repay their loans is estimated for the total full time student population, rather than separately for students on different courses. On this basis, we estimate that between 45% and 50% of student loan borrowers are expected to pay off their student loan in full.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether meeting notes, correspondence and plans produced by the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprint leadership teams are included within the remit of clinical commissioning groups in their capacity as public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will place in the Library a list of contacts for each footprint area.

George Freeman

Every health and care system in England is producing a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the next five years – ultimately delivering the Five Year Forward View vision of better health, better patient care and improved NHS efficiency. Freedom of Information (FoI) requests would be responded to in line with the FoI Act. It is the intention is to publish STPs once they are final and agreed. Organisations within footprints such as clinical commissioning groups will adhere to their own local governance and engagement arrangements.

The list of Footprint leads is attached and also contained on the NHS England website:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/03/leaders-confirmed/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the potential number of redundancies which will result from the decision to abolish the nursing, midwifery and allied health professions policy unit.

Ben Gummer

As part of the DH 2020 plan, the Department is making significant changes to the way it works. The Department’s approach is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arm’s length bodies, regulators and professional bodies, rather than from a fixed standing team of internal advisers.

These changes do not affect the role of the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), who as CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing issues.

All staff in the Department, including staff in the current nursing, midwifery and allied health professions policy unit are eligible to apply for new roles in the organisation or to apply for a voluntary early severance scheme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, from which sources does the Government receive credit card fees from people paying for services offered by its departments and agencies; and what the total amount received was in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Ben Gummer

The Cabinet Office does not collect data on behalf of Government on the receipt of credit card fees from people paying for services offered by its departments and agencies. If available, individual departments and agencies will hold this information.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the recommendation of the Independent Cancer Taskforce report, Achieving World-Class cancer outcomes: a strategy for England 2015-2020, published in July 2015, what progress has been made on developing the future shape and skill mix of the cancer workforce; and when he plans to publish a review into the cancer workforce.

David Mowat

Supported by Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support, Health Education England (HEE) has been leading on the independent Cancer Taskforce recommendation that it should work with NHS England, charities and others to develop a vision for the future shape and skills mix of the workforce required to deliver a modern, holistic patient-centred cancer service.

HEE has completed an initial cancer workforce baseline review that has been shared and discussed with key stakeholders, including the National Cancer Advisory Group, which has wide representation from cancer charities, medical Royal Colleges and others. The review is regularly updated with emerging intelligence from Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas on the workforce they require to deliver the cancer service challenge.

In addition, HEE is leading on a major piece of work to address the workforce challenges in transforming cancer services, which includes a skills mix review. It has agreed an approach with key stakeholders for the review and will be working through Local Workforce Action Boards, Vanguards and Cancer Alliances, to understand the skills mix needed for emerging cancer service models. HEE will report back on this work in March 2017.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many pregnant women have been offered personal birth budgets since February 2016.

Mr Philip Dunne

Personal budgets for maternity services is one of the recommendations in Better Births, the report of the independent review of maternity services. Implementation of the review is being taken forward through the Maternity Transformation Board.

NHS England is working with seven Maternity Choice and Personalisation Pioneers, encompassing 36 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in total, to develop and test ways of improving choice in maternity services. The pioneer sites, each made up of clusters of CCGs, are working to widen choice across CCG boundaries and deepen choice by providing opportunities for new providers.

The first stage of this is the development of Personal Maternity Care Budgets (PMCBs) as mechanisms to empower women to take control in choosing who provides their care. Unlike Personal Health Budgets, PMCBs do not offer the option of direct payments to women. They are intended instead to provide a visible, transparent and active mechanism for women to choose where they wish to receive their antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal care and will facilitate the flow of money between providers, depending on these choices.

NHS England is working with pioneers on the design of PMCBs and the pioneers are also developing local implementation plans, including support tools for women, general practitioners, midwives and other relevant healthcare professions, to help women make meaningful choices, with the aim of rolling them out progressively in the seven Pioneer areas from November 2016. Their impact will be evaluated to inform the promotion and adoption of PMCBs across the country.