The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department has taken to embed the family test into its policy making.
Jeremy Wright
The Family Test was announced by the Prime Minister in August 2014 and introduced in October 2014. DWP published guidance for Departments and officials on how the test should be applied when formulating policy and whenever appropriate the Law Officers’ Departments would follow that guidance.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department has taken to embed the Family Test into its policy making.
Priti Patel
Officials have undertaken a number of activities to embed the Family Test into the policy making process. This has included training officials on applying the Test, as well as disseminating relevant evidence, learning materials and best practice.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of her Department’s performance in adhering to the statutory time limit for responding to Freedom of Information requests.
Nick Gibb
The Secretary of State publishes statistics on the Department’s performance in responding to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, including on timeliness. These can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the recommendations from the Accelerated Access Review interim report and the Cancer Drugs Fund consultation are not contradictory.
George Freeman
The Accelerated Access Review’s independent chair, Sir Hugh Taylor, is considering a range of options for accelerating patient access to innovative products, as set out in the interim report. The review team is working closely with NHS England to ensure that the review recommendations are aligned with emerging thinking on the Cancer Drugs Fund.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-02-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications her Department received to the first application round for the Future Teaching Scholars programme.
Nick Gibb
The Future Teaching Scholars programme received 50 applications in the first recruitment round. We remain confident that we will secure 110 scholars by the end of summer 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-03-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of those eligible claimed winter fuel payments in 2014-15.
Justin Tomlinson
The information requested is not collated centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
The majority of Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically from information already held by the Department. We invite claims mainly from men under 65 who meet the eligibility criteria, as the largest group not identified and paid automatically. Claims can be made up to and including 31 March and are not accepted after that date.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 3.35 of Educational excellence everywhere, Cm 9230, what powers she has to require local authority maintained schools to provide details of everyone involved in governance for a new database; and when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to bar unsuitable individuals from being governors of maintained schools.
Edward Timpson
The Education Act 2002 gives the Secretary of State the power to give guidance to maintained schools governing bodies about their constitution. She also has a number of other information gathering powers in legislation. We expect to use this combination to make provision for the database by 1 September 2016. We also intend to bring forward legislation on barring unsuitable individuals from being governors of maintained schools at the earliest opportunity.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce variation across the UK in access to surgical and transcatheter interventions for heart valve disease.
Jane Ellison
NHS England is working with professionals across the healthcare system to look at ways in which services and outcomes for patients with heart valve disease can be improved further, for example, by encouraging practitioners to follow clinical guidelines.
Service specifications and policy for the surgical and interventional treatment of heart valve disease are published by NHS England’s Cardiothoracic Clinical Reference Group. These define what NHS England expects to be in place in order for providers to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. NHS England is working on the next iteration of the specifications, which will include important standards relating to mitral valve surgery.
In addition, NHS England is holding a clinical summit on 15 June 2016, which will bring together cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to examine the issues relating to heart valve disease, including variation. Outputs from discussions will be used to inform the future commissioning approach within specialised commissioning.
Information on the number of people with an undiagnosed heart valve condition is not collected centrally.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) science-related contracts and (b) outsourced activities in the health sector are awarded to organisations that demonstrate a commitment to high professional standards and invest in the professional development of their scientific workforce.
George Freeman
All procurement processes must identify key objectives, performance indicators and critical success factors and ensure these are reflected in the tender documents against which organisations are invited to bid. Where appropriate, specific ongoing training and development needs can be included as specific terms in the final signed contract.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nic Dakin on 2016-09-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement the measures in the Skills Plan.
Robert Halfon
The Post-16 Skills Plan sets out our plans to radically reform technical education provision and the wider skills system in England to ensure they match the best in the world, tackling long-standing issues which have harmed our nation’s productivity and international competitiveness. We are committed to taking forward this ambitious programme in full, implementing the reforms in a lasting and coherent way.
We have already started work to identify pathfinder technical education routes; design the new functions within an expanded Institute for Apprenticeships; map the occupations within each route to identify what technical qualifications should be included within their scope; design the employer panels that will develop new standards where required; and develop ‘transition year’ arrangements for young people not ready to progress into mainstream technical or academic provision at 16, or later if their education has been delayed. In addition, we are continuing to implement those reforms which are already in train, such as the programme of locally led area reviews of post-16 provision.
Later in the autumn, we will publish an implementation plan, setting out in greater detail how we will deliver the Post-16 Skills Plan and how we will engage with key stakeholders, including colleges and employers, on the ongoing design and delivery of our proposals.