Tag: Kate Green

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support his Department provides to reserve military personnel forced to leave military service as a result of injury sustained in the course of duty.

    Anna Soubry

    The provision of healthcare for veterans in the UK is the responsibility of NHS(England) and the Devolved Administrations. For NHS(England) this is the responsibility of individual GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). The comprehensive services CCGs commission reflect local priorities and the aspirations of the Armed Forces Covenant.

    When mobilised, a Reservist has the same entitlement to healthcare provided by Defence Medical Services as a Regular Service person. The Defence Medical Rehabilitation Programme provides rehabilitation for injured or ill personnel, including Reservists mobilised for operations. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is extending rehabilitation services to Reservists injured during training; which will facilitate their return to fitness.

    The MOD also provides War Disablement Pensions under the War Pensions Scheme if Reservists are no longer serving in HM Armed Forces and their disablement arose before 6 April 2005. The Armed Forces Compensation Scheme provides compensation for any injury, illness or death which is caused by service on or after 6 April 2005.

    Help and advice is available to all veterans, including Reserves, from Veterans UK (formerly the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency). Information about how to claim a war pension or AFCS is available from Veterans UK at www.veterans.uk.info, or email veterans.help@spva.gsi.gov.uk or free helpline 0808 1914 2 18. Veterans UK can signpost individuals to other sources of assistance including the Veteran’s Welfare Service, which provides dedicated welfare support to veterans (including Reserves), their families, and dependants.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the quality of early years education support for children diagnosed with cerebral palsy.

    Mr Edward Timpson

    Under the Children and Families Act 2014, health bodies identifying a 0-5 year old child with special educational needs (SEN) or a disability must discuss this with the parent and bring the child to the attention of the local authority so they can consider whether an education, health and care plan is needed. The Department for Education is working with the Department of Health and NHS England to support health commissioners and clinicians to play their part in the SEN reforms.

    In early years settings practitioners must consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care and whether a child may have SEN or a disability requiring specialist support. Providers must review children’s progress between the ages of two and three. Where SEN or disability is identified, practitioners should develop a targeted plan to support the child’s future learning and development involving other professionals as appropriate.

    We provide funding to Early Support to support the implementation of the SEN reforms. As part of this, Early Support worked with Scope to produce guidance to parents and others on cerebral palsy, which was published in 2012. This guidance is published online at: http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral_palsy_final.pdf

    “

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average number of half-day sittings in the Youth Court by members of the Youth Court Bench was in the last year.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Department does not keep this information centrally and it could only be collected at a disproportionate cost.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the review of personal independence payment operational systems and problems recommended by the National Audit Office in February 2014 was undertaken; what the outcome of the review was; and when it will be published.

    Mike Penning

    We are committed to driving up PIP performance and we are taking action to improve this by working with providers and reviewing DWP internal processes.

    We continuously review the initiatives that link to the NAO actions.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress has been made on his Department’s child maintenance arrears and compliance strategy for 2012 to 2017; and if he will make a statement.

    Steve Webb

    Since 2008 we have considerably slowed down the growth of arrears via faster case processing and better enforcement. The successful introduction of the new 2012 Child Maintenance Scheme allows most paying parents to be assessed more quickly, which reduces the number of cases that accrue arrears. The new Child Maintenance Scheme is also built to trigger notification of missed payments so we can investigate non-compliance earlier, reducing the time in which arrears could build.

    We are also looking at new techniques for collecting older debt. The trial of the process of reclassifying arrears has concluded and we are analysing how this initiative might be used in the future.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many magistrates sat more than 70 half days in the last year.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The latest records for the number of magistrates that sat for more than 70 half days are for 2012/13. 759 magistrates sat for more than 70 half days in that year. It may also assist if I explain that 244 of those magistrates sat on panels, such as youth, family and fine enforcement.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions have been held with HM Treasury about changes in costs of administering the personal independence payment assessment process; what the outcomes of those discussions have been; and how they affect the current Spending Review benefits savings target and the proposed cap on benefit expenditure.

    Mike Penning

    The costs of administering the PIP assessment process were published in the NAO report in February 2014 and quote the current PIP business case (2013-2014)

    http://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Personal-independence-payment-early-progress.pdf

    Forecast expenditure on PIP will be updated at Autumn Statement. The most recent forecasts were published by the Office for Budget Responsibility following Budget 2014.

    http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.org.uk/37839-OBR-Cm-8820-accessible-web-v2.pdf

    The Department meets regularly with HM Treasury to discuss progress on all programmes.

    “

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he plans to take to ensure the effectiveness of the Sorting Out Separation Web app in providing constructive support to assist collaboration for longer-term separated parents in response to the evaluation commissioned by his Department which indicated that the Web app had little relevance or use for this group.

    Steve Webb

    DWP research report 863: Sorting Out Separation Web App: evaluation of effectiveness highlighted that the longer-term separated found the Sorting out Separation Web app less relevant because they were more likely to know most of the information provided.

    The evaluation confirmed that we need better to understand the needs of this group. Several projects funded in the second round of the Innovation Fund are specifically focussing on what type of support works to help longer-term separated couples to collaborate. When these projects have been completed and evaluated, we will be able to consider how further to improve support for longer-term separated parents.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-05-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total number of sittings was by magistrates who sat more than 70 half days in the last year.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    The Department does not keep this information centrally and it could only be collected at a disproportionate cost.

  • Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kate Green – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Green on 2014-06-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of current performance towards achieving the target of assessing all current disability living allowance claimants for personal independence payment by 2018; and if he will estimate the potential additional costs in (a) the amount of benefit claimed and (b) the cost of processing claims if the current rate of assessments were to be maintained.

    Mike Penning

    We continue to monitor performance in the current phase of reassessment and along with our performance on new claims, this will inform further rollout plans for natural reassessment.

    Our plan is to complete reassessment within our original timescales and budget.