Tag: Matthew Pennycook

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support and guidance his Department has provided to clinical commissioning groups and NHS mental health trusts to support innovative home treatment and specialist nursing in the community for patients requiring mental health treatment.

Alistair Burt

The majority of mental health commissioning is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). The specialised commissioning teams within NHS England work with CCGs and providers to ensure that the impact of any changes to community based services and specialised services upon the whole care pathway are handled in a coordinated way.

The planning guidance for the National Health Service for 2016/17 includes a requirement for CCGs, with their mental health provider, to have in place a service development and improvement plan for the development of local Crisis Resolution and Home Treatment Teams with a particular focus on ensuring that they are able to offer intensive home treatment with frequent visits to patients’ homes.

The recently published report of the independent Mental Health Taskforce sets out plans for expanding crisis resolution home treatment teams across England to ensure that each is available to deliver 24/7 treatment to support 12,000 more adults by 2020. This will be backed by over £400 million investment, as announced by the Prime Minister on 11 January, to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that UK rail operators who may lose their franchise as a result of the recently announced proposals to transfer the responsibility for inner suburban rail services in London from his Department to Transport for London maintain and improve their services while this change takes place.

Claire Perry

No current franchises will be affected by the proposals, therefore we would not expect to see any operator lose their franchise as a result. The proposed transfer will take place at the start of, or within the, successor franchises.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to make oral contraceptive pills available without a doctor’s prescription.

George Freeman

The Government has no plans to make oral contraceptive pills available without a prescription.

Any applications to reclassify specific products from prescription only to non-prescription supply would be considered in accordance with its usual procedures by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the revised 30 September 2016 deadline for DCC the go-live on energy consumers.

Jesse Norman

The Data and Communications Company is in the final stages of testing the national new data and communications infrastructure for smart metering. It is important to get this right to ensure a good consumer experience from the outset.

In parallel, the roll out continues to make good progress. Consumers are able to receive smart meters ahead of the national infrastructure going live and more than 3.6 million smart meters are already operating in homes and businesses across the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when she plans for the next contracts for difference auction to take place; and whether she plans to make any amendments to how that auction operates from previous such auctions.

Andrea Leadsom

As my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced on the 18^th November 2015, the current intention is to hold the next Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round for ‘less established’ technologies in late 2016.

We will announce further plans in relation to the next allocation round in due course.

The auction design for the next round will not change materially. It will be a pay-as-clear auction with ‘less established’ technologies competing for a set budget. Further information will be announced in due course.

Government has also responded to recommendations made by the Energy and Climate Change Committee, and in the recent EMR Evaluation and Competition Market Authority reports. Published responses can be found on the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electricity-market-reform-evaluation

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444530/50105_Cm_9090_Accessible.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/deccs-response-to-the-cma-updated-issues-statement-uis-of-their-investigation-of-the-energy-market.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what reports she has received from the Metropolitan Police in the Royal Borough of Greenwich of delays in processing Disclosure and Barring Service applications.

Karen Bradley

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) provides a formal monthly performance report to the Home Office and Home Office Ministers. This includes updates on the performance of police forces in meeting the Service Level Agreement (SLA) standards for the time taken to complete local disclosure checks.

The DBS monitors the performance of all police disclosure units and works closely with any force, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) which is having difficulty in meeting its targets. An MPS Gold Group is overseeing the recovery plan in place at the MPS. London Boroughs do not operate their own disclosure units.

The number of applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service from people living in Greenwich and Woolwich constituency that have taken more than 60 days to process in each of the last 12 months is listed in the table below.

Month	Total Disclosures Issued to Applicants from the Constituency of Greenwich and Woolwich	Disclosures that took longer than 60 days
February 2015 – January 2016	11,446	1,688

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what capacity of existing Capacity Market Units were awarded Capacity Market contracts in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

Andrea Leadsom

The capacity of existing Capacity Market Units awarded Capacity Market agreements including those awarded refurbishing agreements was:

a) 46,464MW in 2014; and

b) 42,099 MW in 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate she has made of the number of households which will refuse a smart meter.

Andrea Leadsom

The Government has not made a specific estimate of the number of consumers that will refuse a smart meter. We will monitor this as the roll-out progresses.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-09-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of further delays to the DCC go-live date on the effectiveness of smart meter rollout.

Jesse Norman

The Data and Communications Company is in the final stages of testing the national new data and communications infrastructure for smart metering. It is important to get this right to ensure a good consumer experience from the outset.

In parallel, the roll out continues to make good progress. Consumers are able to receive smart meters ahead of the national infrastructure going live and more than 3.6 million smart meters are already operating in homes and businesses across the country.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the amount in the Levy Control Framework increased when the Carbon Price Floor was frozen in the 2014 Budget.

Andrea Leadsom

The Levy Control Framework cap was not adjusted in response to the freezing the Carbon Price Floor in 2014 Budget. The Carbon Price Floor is a policy led by HM Treasury. In the 2014 Budget, the Carbon Price Support, the mechanism by which the carbon price floor is delivered, was capped at £18/tCO2 until 2019/20. DECC analysis on projected levy expenditure under the Levy Control Framework to 2020/21 reflects these rates.