Tag: Nicholas Brown

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of gambling on vulnerable people; and what provisions are in place to assist people who have gambling problems.

David Evennett

One of the three key licensing objectives set out in the Gambling Act 2005 is that vulnerable people should be protected from harm. All betting shop operators are required by the Gambling Commission’s Licence Conditions and Code of Practice (LCCP) to have policies and processes in place to meet this objective. In addition, the industry trade body, the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB), has a mandatory code of conduct which places additional social responsibility requirements on all of its members.

The rate of problem gambling is at 0.6% of the adult population, which is lower than comparable jurisdictions (USA, South Africa or Australia). However we recognise that rates are significantly higher among some sections of the population, such as young men, and that gambling-related harm is a real and significant problem. The majority of current provision for treatment of problem gamblers is through the Responsible Gambling Trust’s funding of organisations such as GamCare, who provide a helpline and counselling services, and the Gordon Moody Association, which provides specialist residential treatment. Local treatment can be found through GPs and NHS addiction clinics, there is also a specialist NHS service treating gambling disorder, based in London.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling. The Minister for Sport and Tourism has explained to the gambling industry that they are expected to demonstrate that they are improving existing player protection initiatives and evaluating the effects of previous initiatives. As the Minister said at the recent RGT harm minimisation conference, government and industry should never feel that there is an end point to social responsibility.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the Sustainability and Transformation Fund is applied to NHS Mental Health Trusts.

Alistair Burt

Full planning guidance for the National Health Service from England’s leading national health and care bodies was published in March 2016. This guidance sets out the steps to help local organisations deliver a sustainable, transformed health service and improve the quality of care, wellbeing and NHS finance. This includes some specific guidance on the use of the Sustainability and Transformation Fund and confirms that mental health providers will not receive allocations from the general element of the Sustainability and Transformation fund.

In 2016-17 the fund is being used to help sustain services facing significant financial challenges, and the greatest need is in the acute sector.

All trusts, including mental health trusts, will be able to bid for the separate targeted element of the fund.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been paid from the public purse to community rehabilitation companies under the payments-by-results arrangement.

Andrew Selous

Cohorts were established from 1 October 2015 and there will be a 26 month delay before the first Payment by Results payment to allow for robust measurement, cases to clear courts, and analysis of the data. We have therefore not made any payments through Payment by Results to Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what options his Department is considering for making access to an expanded range of cancer drugs available through the NHS after the end of the Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman

The Government remains committed to the Cancer Drugs Fund which has so far helped over 84,000 patients in England access the cancer drugs they need. £340 million has been allocated to the Fund in 2016-17.

NHS England has advised that it envisages, under the new arrangements that are being introduced for the Cancer Drugs Fund, that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2015-11-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average number of hours worked per week by junior doctors is.

Ben Gummer

We do not hold this information centrally.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of provision of paediatric palliative care services in North East England (a) in general and (b) in comparison to other English regions.

Ben Gummer

Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting the needs of those requiring children’s palliative care services, considering the full range of local provision, both statutory and voluntary sectors, and the wishes of children and young people and their families. We do not undertake national comparisons of the approach to palliative care in different regions.

We understand that NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG, together with partners across the region is working as a priority to commission a regional service that will be able to provide high quality care that can meet the needs of children, young people and families at this difficult time in their lives, replacing the current fast-track response agreed with local paediatric care service providers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the implications for her policies on harm caused by alcohol are of the finding in the Balance report, The second hand harm of alcohol in the North East, published on 17 February 2016, on the proportion of people in the North East who have suffered harm at least once due to the drinking of others in the last 12 months.

Karen Bradley

The Balance report ‘The second hand harm of alcohol in the North East’ highlights a range of harms caused by other people’s drinking. The Government acknowledges that the costs of alcohol-related harm are too high. Alcohol-related harm is estimated to cost society over £21 billion per year, including £11 billion costs of alcohol-related crime, £3.5 billion costs to the NHS and £7.3 billion costs in lost productivity based on 2009-10 data. The Government will soon be publishing a Modern Crime Prevention Strategy which will set out new action to reduce alcohol-fuelled crime and violence.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-04-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how deprivation factors are taken into account in school funding formulae.

Mr Sam Gyimah

In current funding arrangements, each local authority devises a local funding formula through which they distribute funding to schools in their locality. The formula must include a deprivation factor, and local authorities have the flexibility to use a pupil-based measure (eligibility for free school meals (FSM)), an area-based measure (the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index, which is known as IDACI) or both in order to identify pupils eligible for this funding.

We are committed to introducing a national funding formula so that schools’ funding is matched fairly and consistently to need. In our recent consultation on the principles and building blocks of a national funding formula, which closed on 17 April, we proposed to include a deprivation factor which uses a combination of the FSM and IDACI measures to identify eligible pupils. We are now reviewing all responses and will set out the detail of the formula in a second consultation, to be published later this year.

Further detail on our proposals for a deprivation factor in a national funding formula can be found on page 19 in our consultation document: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula/supporting_documents/Schools_NFF_consultation.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-05-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many offenders on probation have been (a) classified in each risk category, (b) moved up a risk category and (c) moved down a risk category in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous

The information requested could be only obtained at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-07-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department provides for people on their options for accessing safe and reliable treatments which are not offered through the NHS.

George Freeman

The decision to be treated privately outside the National Health Service is one for individuals and their clinicians to make, in accordance with the relevant professional and regulatory requirements.

Guidance on NHS patients who wish to pay for additional private care was issued in 2009 and is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/404423/patients-add-priv-care.pdf

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