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Tag: Justin Tomlinson

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the benefits of teaching emergency life-saving skills in schools.

    Matthew Hancock

    Emergency life-saving skills (ELS) can be taught as part of personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education.

    PSHE can help children develop essential social skills that evidence shows are important for children’s achievement across all subjects, and for their preparation for a healthy and active life.

    Schools are encouraged to work with expert organisations to teach ELS, for example St John Ambulance who visited approximately 2000 schools in 2013. Their ‘Teach the Difference‘ website has over 7000 registered users, most of whom are teachers, and users downloaded over 16,000 first aid lesson plans in 2013.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many new businesses have been registered in Swindon since 2010.

    Michael Fallon

    Companies House confirms that since 2010, 5,308 companies have been registered in Swindon. This figure is based on company registration data from postcode areas, which can cross town boundaries, and should be considered an approximation.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-06-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department is taking to help end domestic abuse and violence against women.

    Norman Baker

    Domestic violence is a dreadful form of abuse and is not acceptable within our
    society. The Coalition Government’s approach to tackling domestic violence and
    abuse is set out in its Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in March
    2014.

    In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with
    domestic violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. In response
    to the Review, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group, which
    she is chairing, and on which I sit, to ensure HMIC’s recommendations are acted upon.
    The Group met for the first time on 10 June. The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it clear that every police force must have an action plan in place by September 2014, to improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that the police and other agencies have
    the tools necessary to tackle domestic violence, to bring offenders to justice
    and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives. On 8
    March 2014, the Government announced the national roll-out of Domestic Violence
    Protection Orders following the successful conclusion of a one-year
    pilot in three police force areas including Wiltshire, as well as the Domestic
    Violence Disclosure Scheme following the successful conclusion in
    September 2013 of a one-year pilot in four police force areas – once again
    including Wiltshire.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to encourage more women to franchise their businesses.

    Matthew Hancock

    The Government offers a wide range of support to all types of businesses to start up and grow, including franchises, for example through the Growth Accelerator, the New Enterprise Allowance, mentoring and the Start Up Loan scheme.

    Women-led small and medium-sized businesses contribute around £82 billion to the economy. 42% of the 15,000 mentors trained through the Get Mentoring initiative are women and have contributed to the 27,000 strong mentoring network at www.mentorsme.co.uk. The latest figures show that over 37% of Start Up Loans have gone to female entrepreneurs.

    We will continue to work closely with the Women’s Business Council and others to help ensure that more women see starting and growing their own business as a real option.

    “

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to extend Pulse Oximetry screening for children.

    Dr Daniel Poulter

    The UK National Screening Committee has recommended that a pilot for pulse oximetry screening for children should be set up to explore the practicalities of implementation. Ministers have accepted this advice and a pilot will commence shortly.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Justin Tomlinson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2014-04-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle domestic abuse.

    Norman Baker

    The Coalition Government’s approach to tackling domestic violence and abuse is
    set out in its Violence against Women and Girls Action Plan, updated in March
    2014. It is a subject we take very seriously.

    In 2013, the Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
    Constabulary (HMIC) to undertake a comprehensive review on how the police deal with domestic
    violence and abuse. HMIC’s report exposed significant failings. The Home
    Secretary is establishing a new national oversight group, which she will chair, and on which I will sit, to ensure HMIC’s recommendations are acted upon.
    The Home Secretary has also written to chief constables making it
    clear that every police force must have an action plan in place by September
    2014, to improve their response to domestic violence and abuse.

    The Government is committed to ensuring that the police and other agencies have
    the tools necessary to tackle domestic violence, to bring offenders to justice
    and to ensure victims have the support they need to rebuild their lives. The
    Government accordingly announced the national roll-out of Domestic Violence
    Protection Orders and the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme
    from 8 March 2014.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2021 Comments about Future of Disabled Benefits

    Justin Tomlinson – 2021 Comments about Future of Disabled Benefits

    The comments made by Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, on 20 July 2021.

    I am incredibly pleased that in the course of putting this consultation together, we have been able to identify key themes for improvement.

    We already spend a record amount supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, and have made good progress at supporting more disabled people into work but we are ambitious for further improvement – and I am grateful to the disabled people and stakeholders who have contributed so far.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2020 Statement on the Health Transformation Programme Update

    Justin Tomlinson – 2020 Statement on the Health Transformation Programme Update

    Below is the text of the statement made by Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, in the House of Commons on 9 July 2020.

    I would like to update the House on the Department’s plans and progress, under the health transformation programme, to reform assessment services for employment and support allowance, universal credit and personal independence payment (PIP). Owing to covid-19, we have had to review our commercial approach and our revised approach is set out below.

    There is no change to our ambition: the Government remain committed to developing a transformed service that will support those with disabilities and health conditions, through:

    the creation of a single, integrated health assessment service;

    a single digital platform developed by DWP;

    developing this new service on a small scale in a defined part of the country, by creating a transformation area, which would be a safe environment to test, adapt and learn from new ideas and processes.

    These measures will make a real difference to the millions of claimants who use our services.

    We had previously announced that we would be undertaking a procurement exercise to establish contracts for conducting work and capability assessments (WCA) and PIP health assessments from 1 August 2021. The impact of covid-19 means it is not possible to launch that procurement at this time.

    We recognise that it is vital for our claimants to have a safe and stable service. Consequently, my Department intends to explore options to extend the current contracts for up to two years, which will ensure continuity of services when the current contracts end on 31 July 2021. We will continue to review these extensions to ensure we only extend for the time we need to effectively respond to the consequences of covid-19.

    The extension period will provide time to fully understand and evaluate the impacts of covid-19 on these critical services, ahead of future procurements.

    We recognise that there are positive lessons to be learned from our experience of delivering our services during covid-19, and the changes we introduced. We are reviewing these and they will inform future delivery, where appropriate. We expect these to be reflected in our wider transformation plans, including the forthcoming Green Paper and subsequent policy decisions regarding the delivery of health assessments.

    A key objective of the health transformation programme is to improve the trust and transparency in the assessment process. We remain focused on improving the claimant experience and we will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure their insights and experiences are incorporated into the development of the new single, integrated health assessment service and to ensure we are delivering the high quality service claimants rightly expect and deserve.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2020 Statement on the DWP and Covid-19

    Justin Tomlinson – 2020 Statement on the DWP and Covid-19

    Below is the text of the statement made by Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, in the House of Commons on 17 March 2020.

    We have been carefully considering what steps need to be taken in order to reduce the risk to vulnerable claimants and staff members in light of the escalating covid-19 outbreak. The safety of these individuals is the No.1 priority.

    We therefore took the decision to suspend all face-to-face assessments for health and disability related benefits with immediate effect from 17 March. This includes personal independence payment, the industrial injuries scheme and work capability assessments in both employment and support allowance and universal credit. This decision has been taken in order to safeguard the health of individuals claiming these benefits, many of whom are likely to be at greater risk due to their pre-existing health conditions. This is also in line with measures announced yesterday by the Prime Minister.

    Due to the immediacy of this change and the need to urgently communicate this to individuals affected, we began communicating this change yesterday. This included contacting affected claimants with appointments booked in the coming days as well as contacting MPs directly, encouraging them to share the information with their constituency members and local organisations. I can however confirm that this measure has only come into place from today, 17 March.

    Anyone who has a face-to-face assessment appointment scheduled no longer needs to attend. We are working at pace with our assessment providers to put in place alternative arrangements and I am grateful to the providers for their support in working collaboratively with the Department to provide continuity of service at this critical time. Claimants do not need to take any action, we will be contacting claimants to discuss next steps and alternative arrangements as soon as possible. This may involve either telephone or paper-based assessments.​

    We expect this measure will be in effect for the next three months but we will be regularly reviewing the position in line with public health advice. We continue to accept new claims to all benefits and for existing claimants, benefits will remain in payment while alternative arrangements are put in place. Any decisions made under the alternative arrangements will of course also come with mandatory reconsideration and appeal rights as normal, should claimants wish to challenge any decision made.​

    This change does not affect the existing public health advice. The current NHS guidelines on coronavirus, including advice on those who should stay at home can be found here.

    As and when changes in public health guidance necessitate other changes, the Department will endeavour to inform Parliament as soon as possible.

  • Justin Tomlinson – 2019 Statement on Health Related Job Loss

    Below is the text of the statement made by Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work in the House of Commons on 15 July 2019.

    I would like to make the following statement on behalf of myself and the Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jackie Doyle-Price).​

    Today, my Department, in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, will publish a consultation on proposals to reduce health-related job loss.

    As people live and work for longer, more employees are disabled or have long-term health conditions. There are significant and well evidenced benefits for employers, individuals and Government if health-related job loss can be reduced.

    For employers, offering flexibility, early support and occupational health advice are the key to successful retention. Employers are best placed to take the early preventative measures that are most effective. There are large variations in employers’ capability and capacity to act with large firms five times more likely to provide occupational health when compared to small firms.

    Each year more than 100,000 people leave their job following a period of sickness absence lasting at least four weeks. Survey evidence shows that 44% of people who had been off sick for a year then left employment altogether.​

    The proposals set out in this consultation include:

    Amending the legal framework to encourage workplace modifications and early action to support individuals on sickness absence leave;

    Reforming statutory sick pay so that it is better enforced, more flexible and covers the lowest paid and potentially, rewards effective action with a new rebate;

    Improving access to occupational health services with additional support for small employers including a potential subsidy;

    Government to provide best practice advice and support for employers on managing health and disability in the workplace.

    The evidence and views gathered during this consultation will be used to develop our proposals further and understand the impact of the changes on both employers and employees.