Tag: Nick Thomas-Symonds

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department has made on developing proposals for implementing the Youth Obligation; and what organisations his Department are consulting to inform that process.

Priti Patel

The detailed policy design is still under development. We will set out our policy design for the Youth Obligation in due course.

We will be conducting a stakeholder engagement exercise with organisations and employers shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many safety inspections the Health and Safety Executive carried out in the last year for which figures are available; and what estimate he has made of the number of such inspections the Executive will be able to make with the planned budget for 2019-20.

Justin Tomlinson

The Health and Safety Executive undertook approximately 18,000 targeted inspections in 2015/16, and will seek to maintain current levels of its core regulatory activities, including inspection, each year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance his Department has provided for clinical commissioning groups on the commissioning of off-patent drugs for use in new indications.

George Freeman

NHS England supports the national commissioning system in England, including the provision of guidance to the service, where appropriate.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications. Where drugs are not appraised by NICE, it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how drugs should be funded locally, in line with any guidance from NHS England. The Department has produced no guidance and had no discussions with CCGs on off-label drug use.

Many thousands of patients benefit from the use of off-patent drugs, off-label, every day in the National Health Service. NICE publishes Evidence Summaries on unlicensed and off-label medicines. These provide a summary of the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment or no licensed medicines are appropriate for a significant proportion of people requiring treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, which universities have (a) introduced and (b) committed to introduce degree apprenticeships since September 2015; how many such degree apprenticeships each such university has introduced since September 2015; and in which industries those degree apprenticeships have been in.

Nick Boles

We will not have final numbers until after the academic year in question, however Individualised Learner Record (ILR) data for August to October 2015 (reported to date and rounded to the nearest 10) show that two universities – Sheffield Hallam University and University of Northumbria at Newcastle – have reported Level 6 apprenticeship standards starts. Sheffield Hallam University has 10 Level 6 apprenticeship standards starts in the management and leadership discipline, and University of Northumbria at Newcastle has 20 Level 6 apprenticeship standard starts in the digital industry.

A further 19 universities have committed to the introduction of higher and degree apprenticeships since September 2015.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of implementation of the Health and Safety Executive’s strategy, Helping Great Britain work well on the number of workplace accidents.

Justin Tomlinson

HSE regularly reviews the implementation of its strategies – including the new strategy for the health and safety system – and reports the findings in its annual report. HSE’s latest annual report is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/ara-2014-15.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with clinical commissioning groups on commissioning of off-patent drugs for use in new indications.

George Freeman

NHS England supports the national commissioning system in England, including the provision of guidance to the service, where appropriate.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not routinely appraise drugs outside their licensed indications. Where drugs are not appraised by NICE, it is the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to decide how drugs should be funded locally, in line with any guidance from NHS England. The Department has produced no guidance and had no discussions with CCGs on off-label drug use.

Many thousands of patients benefit from the use of off-patent drugs, off-label, every day in the National Health Service. NICE publishes Evidence Summaries on unlicensed and off-label medicines. These provide a summary of the published evidence for selected unlicensed or off-label medicines that are considered to be of significance to the NHS, usually when there is no licensed medicine for the condition requiring treatment or no licensed medicines are appropriate for a significant proportion of people requiring treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the minimum income floor on levels of relative child poverty.

Priti Patel

The Government is committed to eliminating child poverty and improving life chances for children. The objective of the Minimum Income Floor is to incentivise work and thereby raise the incomes of families and reduce dependency on benefits. Work remains the best route out of poverty and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. Evidence shows claimants move into work significantly faster and earn more than under the legacy system. In addition, from April 2016 Universal Credit provides for 85% of childcare costs meaning more support for hardworking families.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-05-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Health and Safety Executive’s effectiveness strategy on reducing deaths from work-related respiratory illnesses.

Justin Tomlinson

HSE regularly reviews the implementation of its strategies – including the new strategy for the health and safety system – and reports the findings in its annual report. HSE’s latest annual report is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/reports/ara-2014-15.pdf

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-11-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent representations he has received from (a) the Council of Europe, (b) the UN and (c) other international bodies on the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Dominic Raab

We have received no such formal representation. Ministry of Justice Ministers have met the Secretary General of the Council of Europe Jagland, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence de Greiff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effect of universal credit on the number of children in relative poverty.

Priti Patel

The Government is committed to eliminating child poverty and improving life chances for children. We know that work is the best route out of poverty, and Universal Credit is designed to strengthen incentives for parents to move into and progress in work. Evidence shows claimants move into work significantly faster and earn more than under the current system. In addition, from April 2016 Universal Credit provides for 85% of childcare costs meaning more support for hardworking families.