Tag: Matthew Offord

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the planning system gives priority to creating additional school places.

Nick Boles

The Government recognises the importance of building new schools. The National Planning Policy Framework therefore makes clear the importance of planning for new school development in order to ensure that a sufficient choice of school places is available. The Government has also introduced additional permitted development rights to allow the change of use from some existing buildings to a state funded school.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps he is taking to ensure that the renewable heat incentive scheme is targeted on households most in need of help with their energy bills.

Gregory Barker

The domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is targeted at, but not limited to, homes off the gas grid, which are more expensive to heat than those with mains gas. Households without mains gas have the most potential to save on their fuel bills and decrease their carbon emissions. The RHI is funded through general taxation rather than through a ‘green levy’ on energy bills.

As well as homeowners, the domestic RHI is also open to social landlords and private landlords. Following the very successful Renewable Heat Premium Payment Social Landlords’ Competitions, with over 4,200 installations to date, we expect to see significant take-up in the social housing sector.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the role independent pharmacies play in relieving pressures on other health and welfare services; and what steps he has taken to disseminate best practice.

Norman Lamb

Pharmacy already plays a vital role in supporting the health of people in their local communities, providing high quality care and support, improving people’s health and reducing health inequalities. However, as we move to more integrated care, there is real potential for pharmacists and their teams to play an even greater role in the future, particularly in keeping people healthy, supporting those with long term conditions and helping make sure patients and the National Health Service get the best use from medicines.

NHS England’s public consultation, Improving care through community pharmacy – a call to action, which closed on 18 March, has provided an important opportunity to explore the contribution community pharmacists and their teams can make. This will inform a strategic framework for commissioning wider primary care services in the autumn. A copy of the consultation document is at:

www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/calltoaction/pharm-cta/

In the meantime, NHS England’s The earlier, the better campaign, launched in January 2014, specifically sought to raise the profile of community pharmacy with the public, to increase the number of people accessing community pharmacy services when they have a minor ailment and reduce pressures on other parts of the NHS.

On 14 April, the Department and NHS England published Transforming Primary Care – Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most. This sets out plans for more proactive, personalised and joined up care, part of which is harnessing the potential of pharmacists. This recognises the vital role that pharmacists have in optimising medicines use, helping to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and supporting people to manage their own care. A copy has been placed in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to increase public understanding of the services offered by independent pharmacies.

Norman Lamb

Pharmacy already plays a vital role in supporting the health of people in their local communities, providing high quality care and support, improving people’s health and reducing health inequalities. However, as we move to more integrated care, there is real potential for pharmacists and their teams to play an even greater role in the future, particularly in keeping people healthy, supporting those with long term conditions and helping make sure patients and the National Health Service get the best use from medicines.

NHS England’s public consultation, Improving care through community pharmacy – a call to action, which closed on 18 March, has provided an important opportunity to explore the contribution community pharmacists and their teams can make. This will inform a strategic framework for commissioning wider primary care services in the autumn. A copy of the consultation document is at:

www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/calltoaction/pharm-cta/

In the meantime, NHS England’s The earlier, the better campaign, launched in January 2014, specifically sought to raise the profile of community pharmacy with the public, to increase the number of people accessing community pharmacy services when they have a minor ailment and reduce pressures on other parts of the NHS.

On 14 April, the Department and NHS England published Transforming Primary Care – Safe, proactive, personalised care for those who need it most. This sets out plans for more proactive, personalised and joined up care, part of which is harnessing the potential of pharmacists. This recognises the vital role that pharmacists have in optimising medicines use, helping to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and supporting people to manage their own care. A copy has been placed in the Library.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Offord on 2014-04-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many law firms were permitted to resubmit their tenders to the then Legal Services Commission bid for a contract to provide publicly funded immigration services in the 2010 tender round after the deadline set out in the tender rules.

Mr Shailesh Vara

These questions relate to ongoing litigation against the Lord Chancellor and in the circumstances it would be inappropriate to respond at the current time.