Tag: Oliver Colvile

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department is doing to narrow the 12 year difference in life expectancy between council wards in Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport constituency.

Nicola Blackwood

Addressing health inequalities is a Government priority. This was clearly set out in the Prime Minister’s inaugural speech in July. Key to this message was the importance of addressing the gap in life expectancy.

Achieving measurable and sustained reductions in health inequalities by 2020 and reducing the gaps in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are priority objectives in the Department’s Shared Delivery Plan: 2015 – 2020. Action is largely led locally to ensure that the solutions put in place reflect the needs of individual communities.

To address the differences in life expectancy across Plymouth, Plymouth Clinical Commissioning Group and health services have introduced the ‘Thrive’ initiative. This aims to tackle the four lifestyle choices (inactivity, diet, alcohol consumption and smoking) that lead to respiratory diseases, cancer, stroke and heart disease. The work, currently in its second year, is the start of the long term drive to improve health and reduce inequalities in Plymouth. Health organisations such as Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Livewell Southwest and general practitioner Practices have signed up in support of the Thrive initiative.

In order to ensure that health services are supporting those communities with the highest need, the ‘Success Regime’ has been introduced across Devon, which aims to protect and promote services for patients in local health and care systems that are struggling with financial or quality problems. Additionally, the Sustainability and Transformation Plan for Wider Devon includes a requirement to ensure that sustainable general practice is in place for all populations with equitable access times for routine and urgent treatment.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-01-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children under the age of 16 in Plymouth who have been diagnosed with an autism spectrum condition or have been identified as having autism-related needs are being home educated.

Edward Timpson

Our reformed system for meeting the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disabilities is designed to ensure that their needs are identified at an early stage, that the right support is in place, and that problems do not escalate.

All early years providers are required to have arrangements in place to identify and support children with SEN or disabilities and to promote equality of opportunity for children in their care. All schools should have a clear approach to identifying and responding to SEN and must use their best endeavours to ensure that children with SEN, including those with autism, get the support they need.

As part of their Initial Teacher Training, all teachers are expected to learn to identify and address various types of SEN, including autism. The Government is also funding the Autism Education Trust in 2015-16, providing £650,000 to provide tiered training at universal, enhanced and specialist levels for early years, school and post-16 staff to help them understand how best to recognise and support children and young people with autism.

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of autistic children who are home educated nor the numbers of children who are not in school. The Alternative Provision Census does collect data about children who are not in school or in a pupil referral unit. However, it covers as a single ‘Not in School’ category only those who are educated otherwise than at school under arrangements made and funded by local authorities. The information does not reflect types of special educational need.

The data may be available from Plymouth City Council, since it has a duty under Section 22 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to carry out its functions with a view to identifying all the children and young people in its area who have or may have special educational needs or a disability, and also a duty to provide children of compulsory school age with an education.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-03-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has allocated to Plymouth City Council for pothole maintenance since 2010; and what estimate he has made of how many potholes have been repaired as a result of that funding.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport allocated funding of £4.7 billion for local highways maintenance to local highway authorities in England from 2010 to 2015 which would be enough to repair approximately 89 million potholes based on an average of £53 per pothole. A further £6.1 billion is being allocated between now and 2021, including £250 million as part of a Pothole Action Fund, which could fix a further 115 million potholes. For Plymouth City Council we are providing over £25 million for local highways maintenance between 2010 and 2021 enough to help them repair over 400,000 potholes.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department is giving to dispersal centres for asylum seekers to help foster community cohesion.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office funds strategic migration partnerships which are local authority-led partnerships designed to provide structures and support services for those organisations working with migrants and refugees in local communities.

The Home Office also provides a dedicated integration loan directly to recognised refugees. The loan is designed to help refugees integrate into UK society by offering financial support towards housing costs, employment and training.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department is making on research on the production of diverse forage mixtures to optimise animal production.

George Eustice

Innovate UK, Defra and BBSRC are co-funding the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform (SAFIP), worth £90 million over five years with match funding by industry. There are a number of projects funded under SAFIP on the development of alternative and diverse forages to optimise the sustainability of animal production in the UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what geological assessment his Department has made to ensure the stability of (a) the sea wall at Dawlish, (b) the cliff at Teignmouth and (c) the line between Newton Abbott and Plymouth.

Claire Perry

Network Rail is carrying out a further study to look at options to increase the long term geo-environmental resilience of the existing main line from Exeter to Newton Abbot. The study looks at the coastal and sea wall elements and the cliffs. It is due to be fully complete in April 2016 with an options assessment report available by the end of 2015. There has been no geological assessment of the rail route from Newton Abbot to Plymouth.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to promote tenant management.

Brandon Lewis

We have allocated funding of £1million in 2015/16 (through the Tenant Empowerment Programme) to support social housing tenants’ involvement in their local communities. This includes support to those who wish to manage delivery of services to their homes and estates by taking up their Statutory Right To Manage.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to increase capacity on the railway between Exeter and Plymouth.

Claire Perry

Future rail proposals are being developed with local stakeholders the department and Network Rail, this group will be deliver a local plan for rail investment covering the next 10-20 years. The first step in this process is a meeting of interested parties which is being organised by the South West Peninsular Group, and is due to take place early February. This meeting will work through what is required to provide the South West with greater accessibility and to examine wider issues surrounding connectivity to and within the South West Peninsula.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-02-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 3 July 2014, Official Report, column 710W, on pharmacy, what progress his Department has made on the introduction of data-sharing between GPs and pharmacists.

Dr Daniel Poulter

The Proof of Concept (POC) project is making good progress. The project has completed the implementation stage of providing Summary Care Record (SCR) access for community pharmacies.

By the end of 2014, 135 pharmacies across all five areas (West Yorkshire, Sheffield, Northamptonshire, Derbyshire and Somerset), have been enabled to have access to the SCR. The pharmacies involved include independent pharmacies, national multiple providers, and representatives from the major supermarkets. Over 1,300 patient SCRs have been accessed to date to support direct patient care.

The POC project team are now working on the findings and associated recommendations. Initial analysis is promising and the final report is due in the coming months.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Colvile on 2015-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to better enforce building regulation inspections to ensure quality housing builds.

Stephen Williams

The duty to comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations lies on the person carrying out the building work. The duty of the building control bodies, local authorities and approved inspectors, is to take all reasonable steps to satisfy themselves that the requirements have been satisfied. Where they have not been complied with a compliance certificate should not be given. It is also possible for building control bodies to take formal enforcement action in the courts against builders for non-compliance where they consider this would be justified. Issues relating to warranties which may be provided for new homes are matters for the relevant warranty body.