Tag: Oliver Dowden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to paragraph 1.233 of the March 2015 Budget, how much of the £1.25 billion funding for child and adolescent mental health services has been allocated.

Alistair Burt

Following the March Budget 2015 announcement of £1.25 billion additional funding for children and young people’s mental health services being available over the following five years, £143 million has been allocated for 2015-16. From this, £75 million has been allocated to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to work intensively with key partner agencies to transform local services through delivery of their Local Transformation Plans (LTPs) to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, and £68 million is being spent centrally on workforce and system development to support local transformation. For 2016-17, £119 million has been included in CCG baseline allocations. The profile of spending for future years has not yet been fully determined.

The guidance for LTPs issued in August 2015, specified that plans had to be signed off by Health and Wellbeing Boards to ensure a shared ambition across all local partners, and included details of a robust bespoke assurance process for 2015-16, put in place by NHS England. This included the completion of detailed financial tracking templates, backed by a programme of regional and national support, to ensure that the additional money was spent for the purposes intended and that locally determined key performance indicators are being met. The intention from 2016-17 is to mainstream children and young people’s mental health as part of the normal NHS England planning cycle and to integrate LTPs into the new Sustainability and Transformation Plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government remains committed to the success of the deal. The IAEA’s 26 February report on Iran’s nuclear activities concluded that Iran was complying with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). We have been working to help businesses take advantage of new commercial opportunities and to ensure that Iran benefits from sanctions relief.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-03-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made on implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with Iran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Government remains committed to the success of the deal. The IAEA’s 26 February report on Iran’s nuclear activities concluded that Iran was complying with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA). We have been working to help businesses take advantage of new commercial opportunities and to ensure that Iran benefits from sanctions relief.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-06-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discretion his Department has to waive rules on non-payment of housing benefit to people with savings over a prescribed amount for (a) looked after adults, (b) vulnerable adults and (c) adults with disabilities.

Justin Tomlinson

The capital limit of £16,000 applies to all Housing Benefit claimants, other than those on the guarantee element of Pension Credit.

While it is important to encourage saving, it has been the consistent policy of successive governments that substantial amounts of capital should not be ignored altogether when deciding entitlement to benefits which are based on need.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what meetings officials in his Department have had with their Iranian counterparts on the detention of Kamal Foroughi in Evin Prison.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain very concerned about the case of dual-national Mr Mr Kamal Foroughi and in particular recent reports of deterioration in his health whilst in detention. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such has not granted us consular access. I met his family on 1 December, and confirmed that we have raised his case with the Iranian authorities on repeated occasions, urging Iran to provide regular medical assistance and access to a lawyer. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) raised this with Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani during his trip to Iran in August. He also raised it most recently with Foreign Minister Zarif in New York at the UN General Assembly in September. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) raised the case with President Rouhani during a telephone call in July, and wrote a further letter on the matter in October regarding our consular cases.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will consider setting up a system of Finnish-style care packages for elderly people leaving hospital and going into care homes.

David Mowat

Despite a welcome shift towards more care provision in community settings, our ageing population means a growing number of people require care in care and nursing homes, with an increasing level of acuity and complexity of need.

The Enhanced Health in Care Homes vanguards, implemented by NHS England, are beginning to show how addressing this inequity in access to services can reduce unnecessary, unplanned and avoidable admissions to hospital, shorten the length of hospital stays and improve peoples’ quality of life, wellbeing and clinical outcomes.

NHS England is also leading the multi-agency Community Services and Hospital Discharge programme, which will deliver a series of interventions to transform community services and improve discharge of older people from hospital. These include initiatives such as “discharge to assess”, which will increase the number of patients who are discharged quickly and safely to their usual place of residence.

The Department is not aware of a clothing grant for people who enter care homes and is therefore unable to consider reinstatement. Where a local authority arranges care and support to meet an adult’s eligible needs, it may charge them. Where care is arranged in a care home, a local authority must not, through charges, reduce the adult’s income below the Personal Expenses Allowance of £24.90 per week.

The allowance means that local authority supported care home residents have money to spend as they wish on personal items, including clothing. It must not be spent on meeting their eligible care needs.

Local authorities have discretion to be more generous where they think this would be appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what regulations govern the manufacture, import and sale of laser pens in the UK.

Anna Soubry

All products intended for use by consumers are regulated under the General Product Safety Regulations (GPSR) 2005 which implements the EU’s General Product Safety Directive (GPSD). This requires such products to be safe when placed on the market and applies to products where there is no other applicable legislation with more specific provisions on safety. This includes laser pens.

In addition to the legislation, lasers sold in the UK and EU are covered by the safety standard BS EN 60825-1: 1994 Safety of Laser Products. This specifies those lasers which should be used by trained operators and therefore not suitable for use by the general public. Laser products up to 1 mW are considered safe for general consumer use.

Trading Standards has the powers under the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 to remove laser products from sale to the public, which are unsafe for general consumer use. If anyone is concerned about the safety of a product they should not use it and report it to their local Trading Standards department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the Government will consider reinstating clothing grants for care homes for elderly residents who have just arrived from hospital.

David Mowat

Despite a welcome shift towards more care provision in community settings, our ageing population means a growing number of people require care in care and nursing homes, with an increasing level of acuity and complexity of need.

The Enhanced Health in Care Homes vanguards, implemented by NHS England, are beginning to show how addressing this inequity in access to services can reduce unnecessary, unplanned and avoidable admissions to hospital, shorten the length of hospital stays and improve peoples’ quality of life, wellbeing and clinical outcomes.

NHS England is also leading the multi-agency Community Services and Hospital Discharge programme, which will deliver a series of interventions to transform community services and improve discharge of older people from hospital. These include initiatives such as “discharge to assess”, which will increase the number of patients who are discharged quickly and safely to their usual place of residence.

The Department is not aware of a clothing grant for people who enter care homes and is therefore unable to consider reinstatement. Where a local authority arranges care and support to meet an adult’s eligible needs, it may charge them. Where care is arranged in a care home, a local authority must not, through charges, reduce the adult’s income below the Personal Expenses Allowance of £24.90 per week.

The allowance means that local authority supported care home residents have money to spend as they wish on personal items, including clothing. It must not be spent on meeting their eligible care needs.

Local authorities have discretion to be more generous where they think this would be appropriate.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department provides to local planning authorities on whether (a) a Local Plan and (b) other local planning policies can be amended following the granting of planning permission on appeal for substantive development.

Brandon Lewis

The National Planning Policy Framework says that Local Plans can be reviewed in whole or in part to respond flexibly to changing circumstances. Our planning guidance also indicates that a local planning authority should review the relevance of the Local Plan at regular intervals to assess whether some or all of it may need updating. It is for the local planning authority to decide whether and when to review its planning policies.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department has issued on whether the existence of extant planning permission for development in the Green Belt would count as exceptional circumstances to permit a planning application for an alternative, less intrusive form of development in that location.

Brandon Lewis

An extant planning permission does not prevent consideration of a further planning application for the same site. It would be for the local authority to assess each proposal on its merits, in the light of all material considerations, including the protections for Green Belt set out in our National Planning Policy Framework. If the development proposed would be inappropriate in Green Belt, the Framework states that planning permission should generally be refused. However, if the local authority finds that any harms caused by the development would be clearly outweighed by other considerations, and that very special circumstances justify planning permission, permission may be granted. If necessary the local authority can impose planning conditions or require design changes to mitigate any adverse impact.

A Local Development Order or Supplementary Planning Guidance would also have to be designed by the local authority to accord with policies in the Framework, including the need to protect the openness of Green Belt land.