Tag: Maria Caulfield

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to encourage uptake of sight tests amongst children and adults with learning disabilities in the Learning Disability Action Plan.

Alistair Burt

The Department is coproducing the learning disability action plan with self-advocates, family carers and other experts and stakeholders. It will support people with learning disabilities of any age and level of need being able to live good and fulfilling lives with the opportunities that other people have. This includes people being able to access health and care services in the right place at the right time. The programme of sight tests in special schools underway in London commissioned by NHS England from See Ability will provide evidence on access to sight tests by people with learning disabilities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when human papilloma virus vaccinations will be available to men who have sex with men through genito-urinary medicine clinics; and what steps his Department is taking to promote that availability.

Jane Ellison

In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.

The Department is considering the JCVI’s advice and is undertaking a full equality analysis. The Department will confirm its plans in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to encourage uptake of sight tests amongst children and adults with learning disabilities in the Learning Disability Action Plan.

Alistair Burt

The Department is coproducing the learning disability action plan with self-advocates, family carers and other experts and stakeholders. It will support people with learning disabilities of any age and level of need being able to live good and fulfilling lives with the opportunities that other people have. This includes people being able to access health and care services in the right place at the right time. The programme of sight tests in special schools underway in London commissioned by NHS England from See Ability will provide evidence on access to sight tests by people with learning disabilities.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to extend the age group entitled to receive the human papilloma virus vaccinations for women.

Jane Ellison

The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme for girls was introduced in 2008, on the recommendation of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters. The aim of the programme is to prevent cervical cancer related to HPV infection.

When the routine programme was introduced in 2008, a catch-up programme was also rolled out to offer the vaccine to women up to age 18 years. This was also based on advice from the JCVI that the catch-up, as well as the routine programme, would be cost-effective.

The JCVI also noted that ‘catch up’ vaccination for women aged 18 to 25 years was not cost-effective at the vaccine price considered and, on this basis, did not advise the routine vaccination of women beyond the age 18. In 2015, the JCVI revisited the issue and noted that the cost-effectiveness of a catch-up programme for women above 18 years who had not received the vaccine was considered unlikely to be cost-effective. On this basis, we do not have any plans to offer HPV vaccine routinely to women aged 18 and over at this time. Clinicians are however able to offer vaccinations outside of the national programme to women at high risk using individual clinical judgement.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many times Southern Trains has cancelled a scheduled stop at Plumpton Station in East Sussex in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Claire Perry

We do not hold information to this level of detail. Govia Thameslink Railways, that operates Southern Trains, might hold this data.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to carry out an equality impact assessment of the tender decision on the universal girls vaccination programme for the human papilloma virus; and what the implications are for that programme of a decision to award it to one using the bivalent vaccine.

Jane Ellison

The Department has no plans to conduct an equality impact assessment on the tender decision following the on-going re-procurement of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for the adolescent girls programme. The current programme, recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the expert body that advises the government on all immunisation matters, protects girls against HPV strains 16 and 18 which are responsible for about 70% of cervical cancers.

The Department and Public Health England are currently undertaking a procurement exercise to secure vaccine to support the girls programme and as this is a competitive tender, it would not be appropriate to pre-judge the outcome of that exercise. The procurement will take account of the costs and benefits of all vaccines offered to establish which provides best value for money for the National Health Service.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-04-13.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to reform the valuation of business rates.

Greg Hands

The Budget confirmed that the government will aim to deliver more frequent revaluations. A discussion paper setting out options to deliver this was published last month and can be found on gov.uk. I would encourage those who may be effected to make their views known.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2015-11-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many student midwives were in receipt of a bursary in each of the last 10 years for which figures are available; what the average bursary paid to a student midwife was in each of those years; and what the total cost to the public purse in bursaries paid to student midwives was in each such year.

Ben Gummer

The number of midwifery students who were in receipt of a bursary, the average bursary paid to those students and the total cost of all bursaries paid to student midwives in each of the last 10 academic years is shown in the following table.

Year	Number of Bursary Holders1	Total-Amount Paid2	Average amount paid per Bursary holder
2005/06	3,901	£22,067,168	£5,657
2006/07	3,812	£21,787,618	£5,716
2007/08	3,996	£23,228,490	£5,813
2008/09	4,265	£24,373,689	£5,715
2009/10	4,777	£27,539,804	£5,765
2010/11	5,218	£29,854,947	£5,722
2011/12	5,345	£31,358,058	£5,867
2012/13	5,448	£33,344,511	£6,121
2013/14	6,077	£35,631,880	£5,863
2014/153	6,305	£35,591,467	£5,645

Source: NHS Business Services Authority

Notes:

¹ The figures relate to the number of students whose academic year fell within the period 1 September to 31 August. Includes nil award holders (European Union fees only students and students whose living allowance element of the bursary has been reduced to nil after income assessment)

² Includes the basic award and all supplementary allowances and one off payments.

³ Figures are provisional and may be subject to minor change as a result of subsequent retrospective payments.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-01-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what equality impact assessment he has made of the effect of extending entitlement to the human papilloma virus vaccination only to designated categories of people and not to others.

Jane Ellison

In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price.

The Department is considering the JCVI’s advice and is undertaking a full equality analysis. The Department will confirm its plans in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Caulfield on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides (a) at home and (b) in schools for children who have special educational needs and disabilities.

Edward Timpson

The system for identifying and meeting the needs of all children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabilities is designed to deliver the right support for all children, so that they can achieve their potential and their education prepares them well for fulfilling adult lives.

We legislated through the Children and Families Act 2014 to strengthen the system and have invested in practical and financial support for schools, local authorities and other key players in the system to help ensure that the reforms lead to a real improvement in children’s experiences. We have, for example, protected the overall school budget and increased the funding for children and young people with high needs by over £90 million this year. To ensure that local authorities have capacity to implement the reforms effectively, our additional funding included a £70 million SEN Reform Grant in 2014-15 to help local authorities plan for the SEN and disabilities reforms, and three grants (£45 million in 2014-15, £32 million in 2015-16 and £35.8 million in 2016-17) to local authorities to pay for the additional costs of implementing the reforms.

All schools are required to put in place systems for the early identification of SEN and disabilities and to use their best endeavours to meet those needs. For most pupils with SEN, schools will meet needs through ‘SEN Support’. Schools will use the ‘graduated approach’, a cycle in which they assess what support is needed, plan and deliver it and then review its impact and improve the support a child actually needs. For those pupils with more complex or severe SEN and disabilities, following a multi-agency assessment, local authorities will issue an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan setting out the provision that must be made.

A key element of the SEN and disabilities system and the recent reforms is ensuring that parents and carers are empowered to work with schools and others over the provision that is made for their children. By working together, families, local authorities and schools can provide more effective support to a child (in school and at home) to meet their SEN. For example, the 2014 Act requires local authorities to work with families over producing a Local Offer. That offer sets out in one place information about provision an authority expects to be available across education, health and social care for children and young people in its area who have SEN and disabilities, including those who do not have EHC plans. This should provide clear, comprehensive, accessible and up-to-date information about the available provision and how to access it. The offer should include what support is available to parents to aid their child’s development at home. The local authority has to publish a statement on short breaks for disabled children, young people and their families and this will form a core part of its offer. The statutory 0-25 SEN and Disabilities Code of Practice also describes a wide range of services that schools, Early Years providers, local authorities, health bodies and others provide to families to help meet SEN within the home. This includes, for example, services for pre-school age children and therapies that include programmes for implementation at home.