Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Mawhinney – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Mawhinney on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether it is (1) their policy, or (2) the policy of NHS England, that primary care centres should be amalgamated into larger units.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    As part of the New Care Models Programme, NHS England is supporting local health and care commissioners and providers to come together to improve the health and care they provide. This includes the development of population-based care models known as integrated Primary and Acute Care Systems and Multispecialty Community Providers (MCPs). Where and how to develop new care models are decisions taken by local partnerships, in response to local conditions. The Programme is not directing or requiring the amalgamation of primary care centres.

    There are 14 MCP vanguards, with a single organisation accountable for joined-up General Practitioner (GP) and community services and some specialist care, mental health services, and social care for a defined population. The building blocks of a MCP are the ‘care hubs’ of integrated teams. Each typically serves a community of around 30,000-50,000 people. These hubs are the practical, operational level of any model of accountable care provision. The wider the scope of services included in the MCP, the more hubs you may need to connect together to create sufficient scale. All 14 MCP vanguards now serve a minimum population of around 100,000.

    The majority of GP practices are already working in practice groups or federations. This provides opportunities to expand services, stabilise practice income and work at scale, which has benefits for patients, practices and the wider system. These include economies of scale, quality improvement, workforce development, enhanced care and new services, resilience and system partnerships.

    A new voluntary MCP contract will be introduced from April 2017, to integrate general practice services with community services and wider healthcare services. Measures from the GP Access Fund and vanguard sites that are currently piloting this approach, will be learned from to support mainstreaming of proven service improvements across all practices, and funding will be provided for local collaborations to support practices to implement new ways of working.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Craig Whittaker – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2015-11-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that school (a) staff and (b) pupils are protected from violence in schools.

    Edward Timpson

    Any violence in schools is deplorable. The Department issues health and safety advice designed to help schools meet their statutory obligations. The employer in a school has the overall responsibility of ensuring that reasonable steps are taken to ensure staff and pupils are not being exposed to risks to their health and safety, including making the school secure.

    We have appointed Tom Bennett, an expert in behaviour, to look at improving training for new teachers, to deal with school disruption and more widely at what needs to be done to improve behaviour in schools.

    Schools should be safe and secure environments. Combined figures relating to the number of exclusions for physical assault against pupils and adults and verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against pupils and adults show a decrease for fixed period exclusions in recent years. We have given powers to schools to search pupils and confiscate inappropriate items. Schools continue to be vigilant and I expect that they will take all the necessary steps to ensure staff and pupils are appropriately protected.

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to control the number of polecats.

    Rory Stewart

    Wildlife management is a devolved matter, so I can only respond on behalf of England.

    Defra’s general policy is that individuals should be free to manage wildlife within the law. In the first instance controlling polecats is the responsibility of the owner or occupier of the property where the problem occurs.

    Polecats are protected by the Bern Convention, which means the UK is obliged to protect their populations from unsustainable management and methods of control which are indiscriminate or capable of causing their local disappearance or serious disturbance. We meet our obligations through the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 and the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

    Whilst polecats are not protected from killing or taking, those who wish to kill or take polecats may not use methods prohibited by those pieces of legislation (for example poisons, traps, snares or nets), unless they acquire a licence from Natural England permitting them to do so.

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-01-12.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which contracts with his Department G4S are currently bidding for.

    Matthew Hancock

    To ensure fair and open competition the Government does not publish the names of bidders during the tender process.

    Successful bidders for all central government contracts are published on Contracts Finder:

    https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Search

    Successful bidders for all Crown Commercial Service (CCS) contracts are published on the CCS web site:

    http://ccs-agreements.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/

    “

  • Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Gordon Marsden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gordon Marsden on 2016-02-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he consulted the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before deciding to withdraw funding from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.

    Nick Boles

    The decision by Whitehall Departments to withdraw funding from the UKCES during 2016-17 was taken as part of the spending review given the need to make savings in non-participation budgets to allow the core adult skills participation budgets to be protected in cash terms.

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has subsequently been working with the Devolved Administrations on the future arrangements for working together on common issues within the context of our devolved skills systems.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-03-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the whiplash reform programme.

    Dominic Raab

    Further reforms were announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement in November. Those reforms will remove the right to compensation for pain, suffering and loss of amenity from minor whiplash injuries, and reduce legal costs by raising the small claims limit for personal injury claims to £5,000. The government will consult on the detail of these reforms in due course, with a view to implementing them as soon as the necessary legislation is in place.

  • Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Greg Knight – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Knight on 2016-04-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he was consulted before the imposition of a 40 mph speed limit on the A15 north Caenby Corner; what guidance is provided to highway authorities on imposing and varying speed limits; and if he will make a statement.

    Andrew Jones

    Setting local speed limits is a matter for the local highway authority, as they are best placed to determine the speed limits for their areas, based on local knowledge and the views of the community. The Department for Transport (DfT) has issued guidance to help them determine the most appropriate speed limit in ‘Speed Limit Circular 01/2013 – Setting Local Speed Limits’.

  • Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Chris Law – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Law on 2016-06-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many times he has visited Scotland since the 2015 General Election; and what meetings, with whom, were held on each of those visits.

    Mr Mark Francois

    Whilst the Secretary of State has not visited Scotland since the 2015 General Election, officials have had a number of meetings on proposed City Deals across Scotland.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether any requests from Falmouth Coastguard Operations Centre asking for assistance in running an incident have been turned down by (a) the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham and (b) any other station in the last two years.

    Mr John Hayes

    Her Majesty’s Coastguard do not specifically record requests for assistance from the National Maritime Operations Centre or any Coastguard Operations Centre within its Incident Management System. Information may be held in the text narrative of an incident within this system but this would require a check of tens of thousands of records, diverting resources from critical parts of their budget and would be disproportionately costly to collate.

    It should be noted that any decision to provide assistance to Coastguard Operations Centre will be on the basis of the professional judgement of a senior operational manager.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2016-10-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to encourage house building on sites where planning permissions have been given for house building.

    Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth

    We are keen to drive up delivery of new housing once permission has been granted and we are actively taking steps to tackle some of the factors which can delay a start to development. We are taking forward measures through the Neighbourhood Planning Bill, which was introduced on 7 September, to improve the use of planning conditions to avoid unnecessary delays to development. We have also, through the Housing and Planning Act 2016, introduced a provision for a section 106 dispute resolution process. This will assist in speeding up negotiations on the content of section 106 planning obligations, where developers and local authorities have failed to reach an agreement. Secondary legislation is required to implement the provision. We also expect the members of the Home Builders Federation to adhere to their commitments in May to provide local authorities with transparent annual returns on build-out rates. And we will be setting out further measures in the forthcoming Housing White Paper.