Tag: Kate Hollern

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what percentage optimism bias his Department applied to the Successor Trident programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

Successor submarine is categorised as "Production of a Platform" for optimism bias purposes. In line with normal Ministry of Defence processes, the optimism bias will be addressed as part of the process of securing approval for the next investment point.

I am withholding information for the current calculations for optimism bias, as the formal internal scrutiny process has not been completed.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance NHS England provides on training district nurses in inserting nasogastric feeding tubes.

Ben Gummer

NHS England has not provided any specific guidance on training district nurses on the insertion of nasogastric tubes.

The “Framework for commissioning community nursing”, published by NHS England, states that providers of community nursing should “ensure staff achieve the competencies to deliver the service”. This is to provide a quality service for the population. The Framework is available at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Framework-for-commissioning-community-nursing.pdf

NHS England would expect providers to take account of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines Nutrition support in adults: Oral nutrition support, enteral tube feeding and parenteral nutrition, published in February 2006 and available at:

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg32

These provide guidance for patients that require nutrition support, including patients receiving home enteral (tube) feeding. The guidelines recommends that all healthcare professionals who are directly involved in patient care should receive education and training, relevant to their post, on the importance of providing adequate nutrition.

NICE has published a Medtech innovation briefings advice in January 2016, on the CORTRAK 2 Enteral Access System for placing enteral feeding tubes, available at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/advice/mib48

The advice aims to improve the accuracy of enteral feeding tube placement to help lower the risk of complications associated with the procedure.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-06-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will take steps to address demolitions by Israel of Palestinian homes and other structures in the West Bank.

Sir Desmond Swayne

The UK remains extremely concerned at the large increase in demolitions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the start of 2016, compared to the monthly average in 2015, and continues to raise this with the Israeli authorities. Demolitions and the evictions of Palestinians from their homes cause unnecessary suffering, are harmful to the peace process, and in all but the most exceptional of cases are contrary to international humanitarian law. The UK supports the Norwegian Refugee Council to provide legal aid to Palestinian communities that are at risk of displacement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, whether he has established the new team in his Department to act as the single sponsor for all aspects of the nuclear enterprise including procurement.

Mr Philip Dunne

Options for the new team continue to be developed and assessed. We expect to announce further details later this year once decisions have been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department’s estimates of the cost of the Successor Trident programme elemental contingency were included in addition to the programme contingency as was the case with the 2012 Olympics programme.

Mr Philip Dunne

All Ministry of Defence programme cost estimates include essential risk provision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of provision of double rooms for married couples in care homes (a) in the North West and (b) UK; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) collects data on numbers of registered care and nursing homes in England, together with numbers of registered places within those homes, as part of its registration and regulation activity.

We are informed by the CQC that it does not collect data on whether places in homes are provided in single or shared rooms.

Neither the CQC nor the Department collects data on care and nursing homes in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This is a matter for the devolved administrations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 4.75 of the Strategic Defence and Security Review, whether his Department has recruited an experienced, commercial specialist to lead the new nuclear enterprise sponsor team.

Mr Philip Dunne

Options for the new team continue to be developed and assessed. We expect to announce further details later this year once decisions have been made.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s policy is and what guidance it issues to civil servants on the acceptance and declaration of corporate gifts.

Mark Lancaster

The Department’s rules on the acceptance of gifts and hospitality state that every head of Division or Commanding Officer must maintain a hospitality log in which to record contact with persons, firms or organisations holding, or seeking to obtain, Government contracts. All offers of gifts, complimentary vouchers, other incentives, and hospitality made to Crown Servants whether accepted or declined must be recorded in the log. Senior management are responsible for undertaking regular reviews of the hospitality log. The guidance is set out in the "Defence Business Services Gifts, Reward, and Hospitality Policy" documents which are available on the Department’s intranet site.

The Department’s policy is based on the rules of standards and conduct found within the Civil Service Code and is consistent with approaches taken by other Government Departments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-03-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many (a) nursing homes and (b) dual registered nursing homes there were in the North West of England in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England. The CQC has provided the following information.

Number of active nursing homes¹ in the North West region at end of 2012, 2013 and 2014 fiscal years

Date	Care homes with nursing service type only	Care homes with nursing service type and other service types	Total care home service with nursing locations
31 March 2013	566	79	645
31 March 2014	568	75	643
31 March 2015	570	77	647

¹Nursing homes are defined as “care homes with nursing service type only”. Dual registered nursing homes are defined as “care homes with nursing service type and other service types”.

Source: CQC database as at 7 April 2015

Note: Service types can change over time. The numbers provided are based on the service type(s) of the location as at April 2015 or date the location de-activated if inactive as at April 2015.

Local authorities in the North West Region: Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Bury, Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Cumbria, Halton, Knowsley, Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Sefton, St. Helens, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Warrington, Wigan and Wirral.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kate Hollern on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Strategic Defence and Security Review, which improvements in performance in the delivery of the Successor submarine programme (a) have been achieved and (b) he expects to be achieved in the next 12 months.

Mr Philip Dunne

We are working closely with all of our key suppliers to ensure that they make improvements, where required, to deliver both the capability and the capacity we need to successfully deliver the Successor programme. This work builds on the efficiencies and improvements already made as part of initiatives such as the Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme.

Discussions with our key suppliers are ongoing and it would not be appropriate for the Ministry of Defence to discuss this work publicly for commercial reasons.