Tag: Laurence Robertson

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what his policy is on requiring areas which are bidding for devolved powers to introduce directly elected mayors.

Andrew Percy

The Government is clear that devolution deals are locally-led and bespoke – not one-size-fits-all. The Government has, however, been consistent in stating that the most ambitious deals in terms of the powers and funding devolved will be those that are the most ambitious in their governance proposals, for example those willing to offer a directly elected, single point of accountability by establishing mayoral combined authorities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-15.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions he has had with charities on respondents being required to tick boxes if they do wish to receive further communications; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Rob Wilson

Government is supporting all of therecommendations of the recent review by Sir Stuart Etherington following the high profile cases of poor charity fundraising practice earlier this year. In line with the review charities should have clear consent to contact donors andcurrent reliance on ‘opt out’ boxes hidden in the small print is not acceptable.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-20.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ensure that paper forms are more readily available to people who do not have computers who are required to fill in annual tax returns; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

I can confirm that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) customers can continue to choose whether to file their Self Assessment (SA) tax returns on paper or online. If a customer receives a Notice to File a SA tax return (SA316) but wishes instead to complete a paper SA return they can still do this. HMRC provides the customer with a Self Assessment Helpline number (0300 200 3310) on which they can talk through their needs with an adviser, and at their request HMRC will send out a paper return.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will pay for the cost of traps used in the trial badger culls.

George Eustice

While cull companies are encouraged to be self-sufficient in procuring their own equipment, Defra has loaned cull companies a number of traps from its existing stocks, which are used for a number of projects. All cage traps loaned must be returned on completion of culls.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the ease with which nursing homes find sufficient numbers of nurses to employ; and if he will make a statement.

Ben Gummer

In response to concerns about the shortage of nurses in adult social care homes identified in the Care Quality Commission report The state of health care and adult social care in England, 2013/14, the Department held a symposium to discuss the recruitment and retention of registered nurses in the care sector in February 2015.

Following feedback at the symposium, the Department established a Care Sector Nursing Taskforce to take forward actions to help ease the recruitment of nurses in care and nursing homes. This includes improving the image of nursing in the care sector through the development of career pathways for registered nurses, as well as developing new models of care provision, such as training for care assistants to take on enhanced roles, freeing up registered nurses to manage patients with the most complex conditions.

Currently, Health Education England (HEE) is responsible for planning and developing the National Health Service workforce, but has no remit over social care workforce. To solve this situation a Task and Finish Group led by Skills for Care, has been established to scope care sector nursing workforce data. Using data they collect, Skills for Care is able to use mathematical modelling to provide accurate workforce predictions for the care sector. An agreement has been reached that these data will in future be shared with HEE to inform their training commissions. This arrangement will be in place to inform the next commissioning round.

In addition, the announcement made by the Home Secretary on 15 October, that the Tier 2 restrictions will be temporarily changed for nurses so that they can be recruited from outside the European Economic Area (EEA), will enable care sector organisations to recruit nurses from outside the EEA, if they are unable to fill nursing vacancies with United Kingdom nurses.

The newly released Care Quality Commission report The state of health care and adult social care in England, 2014/15, has highlighted that the recruitment and retention of registered nurses into social care remains problematic. We will continue to work with all the relevant stakeholders, to improve staffing issues within the care sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that all Jobcentre Plus premises are fully accessible for people on the autism spectrum, in terms of both environment and staff awareness of autism; and what plans he has to evaluate the progress being made in achieving such accessibility.

Justin Tomlinson

We are committed to supporting all customers so that they are fully able to access our services, and will do this by assessing their individual needs and providing tailored support.

We are continuing to progress the commitments detailed in the Think Autism Strategy and have undertaken a significant amount of work to improve our services for people with Autism/ Hidden Impairments. We are working with Autism Alliance UK to develop greater capacity when supporting people with autism; creating a more appropriate environment and supporting the identification of reasonable adjustment solutions.

The Hidden Impairment Toolkit, which I have sponsored, is available to all DWP staff. This resource helps staff to better understand how to support people with autism and associated hidden impairment conditions. I have attached a copy of this for ease of reference.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether addressing barriers to licensing off-patent, repurposed drugs in an aim of the current Accelerated Access Review.

George Freeman

The Accelerated Access Review, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies (including devices, diagnostics and digital), making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. This will cover products that may already be on the market and off patent but are being innovatively repurposed to treat conditions other than those in remit of the existing license.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2015 to Question 12247, on breast cancer, what assessment his Department has made of the 26 recommendations produced by charities on access to off-patent, repurposed drugs following the roundtable event of February 2015.

George Freeman

The Government hosted a Roundtable Event to explore the issues around off-label prescribing as part of its response to a Private Member’s Bill presented in the last Parliament. The Government’s position on the current Off Patent Drugs Bill and how that relates to issues identified at the Roundtable Event will be shared at the Bill’s second reading on 6 November 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to monitor the cost to nursing homes of employing agency nurses; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

The Government has no plans to monitor agency costs to nursing homes.

Care providers are independent businesses and agreements with agency staffing providers are commercial contractual arrangements.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to make bisphosphonates routinely available on the NHS to prevent the spread of breast cancer to bones.

George Freeman

Where there is a clinical need to do so for a patient, clinicians are legally able to prescribe bisphosphonates for breast cancer prevention.

NHS England’s Breast Cancer Clinical Reference Group (CRG) has included the use of bisphosphonates in their draft service guidance for breast cancer. The CRG has highlighted bisphosphonates as a key issue for potential improvement in survival outcomes.

NHS England expects the draft service guidance to be finalised and available for dissemination in the autumn of 2015. It will then be up to clinical commissioning groups to consider how they adopt this in to their local commissioning activities.