Tag: Justin Madders

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the provisions of the Welfare Reform and Work Bill on social mobility.

Priti Patel

The Government has carefully considered the impact of the tax and benefit reforms introduced in the Summer Budget, including those in the Bill, and are committed to improving social mobility.

The Bill itself proposes a reform to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission to ensure its focus on this important issue. The new provisions on life chances recognise the crucial role of education in this respect, and the objectives of our welfare reforms are to promote employment, ensure people have the skills and the opportunities they need, make sure that work always pays, and allow people to keep more of what they earn.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-03-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the outcome was of his Department’s application of the Family Test to the decision to impose a new contract on junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

On the 11 February 2016 my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State made an oral statement, Official Report, columns 1763-1765 in which he announced that he would proceed with the introduction of a new national contract for doctors in training, following advice that there was no realistic prospect of reaching agreement with the British Medical Association.

The Secretary of State will carefully consider the draft final terms of such a contract in light of any applicable duties and the Family Test.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether appointments to the posts of NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan Footprint Leaders were subject to open selection.

George Freeman

Sustainability and Transformation Plan areas have been determined by local health and care services coming together in ways that make sense for their local areas, in order to transform the way that health and care is planned and delivered for their populations.

Following local discussions about who is best placed to play the role of footprint leaders, together with discussions with national bodies, 41 of the 44 planning areas have identified and agreed leaders.

They are mostly a mix of trust chief executive officers, clinical commissioning group leaders and local government executives.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department provided in start-up costs for the Greater Manchester City Region Mayor.

Mr Mark Francois

We are not providing funding for start-up costs for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority mayor, with any such costs being met by the Combined Authority from the resources available to it.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) year-to-date and (b) forecast out-turn spend is in each NHS (i) trust and (ii) foundation trust on total agency nursing costs, excluding outsourced bank, in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt

Last year the Government introduced a series of tough financial controls to help the National Health Service tackle overspending on expensive agency staff. Although, it is not possible to provide the information requested by individual NHS trust or foundation trust, NHS Improvement has confirmed that a total of £3.64 billion was spent on agency and contract staff in 2015-16. This represents a saving of £300 million to the NHS, which had been on course to spend up to £4 billion prior to the controls being put in place.

NHS Improvement has also set each NHS trust and foundation trust an annual expenditure ceiling on the total amount that can be spent on agency staff in 2016-17. Again, it is not possible to provide the information requested by individual NHS trust or foundation trust; however all trusts have been allocated ceilings for 2016-17 and these will be monitored by NHS Improvement on a monthly basis going forwards.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2016 to Question 38480, whether his Department is taking steps in response to use of the NHS logo by the Vote Leave Campaign.

George Freeman

Vote Leave is not authorised to use the National Health Service trademark, or an adaptation of it.

The Department has sought legal advice and has been in contact with the Vote Leave campaign about misuse of the NHS brand.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many winter fuel payments were delayed by administrative problems in the last year for which figures are available.

Justin Tomlinson

The information is not available.

Where a customer holds an active relationship with DWP either through claiming a Winter Fuel Payment previously or being in receipt of a benefit, such as a state pension, their Winter Fuel Payment is made automatically.

Claims are required from those where DWP does not hold the data necessary to generate an automatic payment.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many hospitals are forecast to (a) open and (b) close in each of the next five years for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Dunne

The reconfiguration of services, including the opening and closing of hospitals, is clinically led and a matter for the local National Health Service.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the sign-off process is for sustainability and transformation plans.

David Mowat

The Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs) are being developed by local areas. National Health Service providers, commissioners, local authorities, and other health and care services are coming together to propose how they, at local level, can close the health and wellbeing, care and quality and financial gaps. These plans are locally owned, but will be shared with the national health and care bodies, chiefly NHS England and NHS Improvement, so the national bodies can best develop support to enable footprints to deliver their plans. The National bodies have also published guidance on the STP process.

NHS England and NHS Improvement will continue to work closely with STP areas to provide them with support and expertise to develop robust plans which will meet the objectives set out in the Mandate. STPs will form the basis for operational planning for 2017/18 and 2018/19, which will be subject to NHS Improvement and NHS England assurance processes.

The local organisations will also be leading public engagement processes on their STP plans, in line with the engagement guidance.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-10-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the changes to the Early Years Educator apprenticeship standard introduced in August 2014.

Robert Halfon

The Early Years Educator apprenticeship standard at Level 3 remains in development and so has not yet been published for use by the sector. Therefore, it is not possible to make any assessment of its effect at this point.

The Department continues to work closely with the Early Years Trailblazer to develop apprenticeship standards for key roles in the sector.