Tag: Oliver Dowden

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, what steps he is taking to enforce the General Product Safety Regulations 2005.

Anna Soubry

Consumer products such as laser pens intended for use by consumers are regulated under The General Product Safety Regulations 2005. BIS is responsible for the legislation but it is enforced by Local Authority Trading Standards Services.

Under the rules, Trading Standards Officers have a range of powers available to them with regards enforcement of the legislation such as requirements to mark or to warn, or to issue withdrawal or recall notices. They also have the power to prosecute traders.

This is a well-established regime that has seen many hundreds of dangerous products taken off the market including laser pens.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 25 January 2016 to Question 23018, on lasers: regulation, what steps he is taking to restrict direct sale into the UK to individual customers.

Anna Soubry

I refer to my answer of 25 January.

Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 and the General Product Safety Regulations, a business importing into the EU/EEA must have a representative within the EU/EEA who is responsible and liable for the safety of imported goods. This enables Customs and Trading Standards to check that imported laser products comply with safety standards. It is harder for them to carry out these checks where customers order goods from a company outside the EU and receive them directly through the post.

We therefore advise customers who want to buy laser products to go to a reputable dealer with authorised representation in the European Union. If consumers are concerned about the safety of laser products on sale they should report the website or retailer to their local Trading Standards department.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Oliver Dowden on 2016-02-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that information relating to infertility and its treatment is available to those affected.

Jane Ellison

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority have a statutory duty to publish information for patients and donors about fertility treatment and the clinics that it licenses. The Authority is currently reviewing the information published on its website following extensive research and is working with NHS Choices to make sure that all patients are directed to the right information at the right time.

Individuals with fertility problems can discuss these issues with their general practitioners and ask to be referred to a fertility specialist to discuss the difficulties that they are having in conceiving and the options that are open to them.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how the Government is monitoring the effects of the £1.25 billion funding for child and adolescent mental health services.

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 2016-03-17.

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.