Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-11-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what formal role NHS England has in the development of the Accelerated Access Review.

    George Freeman

    The Accelerated Access Review (AAR), chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, will make recommendations to government on reforms to accelerate access for National Health Service patients to innovative medicines and medical technologies making our country the best place in the world to design, develop and deploy these products. The terms of the reference for the review focus on faster access to innovations, which may include certain off-patent repurposed drugs, as opposed to the routine availability of medicines or medical technologies.

    Prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR, the Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS including the Innovation, Health and Wealth report. As a result, building upon the lessons of previous reviews is explicit with the terms of reference of the AAR.

    The AAR has regular meetings with senior officials from NHS England via a steering group as recommendations are being developed. In addition, some staff from NHS England have been assigned to support the review team.

    Sir Hugh is still in the process of developing final recommendations which will be published in spring 2016. In his Interim Report published in October, Sir Hugh sets out a proposition on “galvanising the NHS”. This involves supporting the NHS to adopt innovation, more rapidly through better practical support, stronger incentives and the potential streamlining of local structures.

    The Department reviewed evaluation reports and met with officials from previous initiatives on the uptake of innovation in the NHS prior to establishing the terms of reference for the AAR. It was clear that whilst progress has been made on the uptake of innovation in the NHS there is still much to do. Sir Hugh and the head of the External Advisory Group, Professor Sir John Bell, set out the case for uptake of innovation in the recently published AAR Interim Report.

    The AAR has senior level contact with officials working on Lord Carter’s review of NHS efficiency to ensure that information is shared between the two teams.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-05.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what provision his Department has made for public sector employers to pay the (a) national living wage, (b) 3.4 per cent increase in Secondary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from 2016-17 following the abolition of Contracted Out NICs and (c) Apprenticeship Levy.

    Greg Hands

    It is the responsibility of each Department to ensure they have sufficient funding available to cover any additional costs associated with either the National Living Wage, the 3.4 per cent increase in Secondary National Insurance Contributions (NICs) from 2016-17, or the apprenticeship levy. HM Treasury has only made provision for the costs that it will incur in respect of its own staff as a result of these changes.

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Prime Minister

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-01-26.

    To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to the Answer of 14 September 2015 to Question 9202, what steps he has taken to reduce the number of peers.

    Mr David Cameron

    The Leader of the House of Lords has convened cross-party talks to consider the best way forward in addressing the size of the House. Those talks are ongoing.

  • Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Chi Onwurah – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chi Onwurah on 2016-02-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many full-time equivalent officials are (a) budgeted for and (b) actually employed in each African country in which the UK has an Embassy or High Commission.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The attached spreadsheet (PQ 28132 – FTE Africa v0.3) details the number of UK based FCO staff budgeted for and employed in each African country which the UK has an Embassy or High Commission.

  • Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Diana Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diana Johnson on 2016-03-18.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many press officers are employed by his Department.

    Harriett Baldwin

    As stated in the most recent HM Treasury annual report and accounts (2014-15), the department’s communications during 2014-15 focused on ensuring the public and stakeholders understood changes to government economic and fiscal policy. The department continues to pursue a low cost communications approach, making full use of media relationships and social media.

  • Caroline Ansell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Caroline Ansell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Ansell on 2016-04-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to assist teachers in managing their workload.

    Nick Gibb

    We are continuing our extensive work with the profession to remove unnecessary workload so that teachers can concentrate on teaching and not bureaucracy and paperwork.

    This includes establishing three review groups to tackle the top issues raised by teachers in the Government’s Workload Challenge in 2014: marking, lesson planning, and data management.

    The reports from these review groups were published on 26 March 2016. We have accepted all their recommendations for Government.

    As the reports make clear, it is for everybody involved in education to act on the principles and recommendations in these reports so teachers can focus on what really matters – inspiring their pupils to achieve their full potential.

    We will continue to work with the teaching profession to make sure they have the ongoing support they need. We have recently conducted the first biennial Teacher Workload Survey, a commitment which will allow us to track teacher workload over the coming years. The results of the first survey will be published later this year.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-05-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the Treasury ascertains that the funds of UK companies that operate in North Korea do not contribute to that country’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme or its human rights violations.

    Lord O’Neill of Gatley

    The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury is responsible for ensuring that financial sanctions, including those relating to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (North Korea), are properly understood, implemented and enforced in the United Kingdom.

    OFSI is not an investigative or prosecutorial body but reviews suspected breaches of financial sanctions and then passes information to law enforcement bodies who would determine whether an investigation and or prosecution is appropriate.

  • Peter Bottomley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Bottomley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Bottomley on 2016-07-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether East Lancashire Hospitals Trust authorised Mr David Chang to say that the General Medical Council had ever given formal advice or a warning or decided on a sanction on Mr Aditya Agrawal.

    Mr Jeremy Hunt

    This is an employer and employee matter between the East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Mr Aditya Agrawal respectively. The Department cannot comment on individual employment matters that are the responsibility of independent organisations, and that are subject to ongoing legal proceedings or on matters relating to individual clinical cases or other personal information. We understand that the cost to East Lancashire Trust of legal proceedings concerning Mr Agrawal is £296,848.42 to date, and that the Trust does not have insurance costs for legal awards in the event of the Trust or one of its employees being subject to legal action for defamation.

  • Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Kirsten Oswald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kirsten Oswald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2016 to Question 44386, on Defence Business Services: Contracts, if he will consult current and former members of the armed forces before any decision is taken on the operation of the repatriation and burial of war casualties.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence currently has no plans to change the operation of repatriation and burial of war casualties. In the event of significant changes being proposed, Ministers, the single Services, Permanent Joint Headquarters and other interested parties would be consulted.

  • Baroness Stern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Baroness Stern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Stern on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken in response to the October report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons on HM Prison Liverpool that the prison’s daily routine was chaotic and unpredictable” and that 44 per cent of prisoners were locked in their cells during the working day.”

    Lord Faulks

    HMP Liverpool is committed to implementing the recommendations of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons report of 20 October 2015.

    Hours worked in Industry have increased month on month from 57% to 88%. A new activity centre has been opened and provides additional regime places for 100 prisoners. Vulnerable prisoners have been re-allocated to alternative regime places within the prison following the disbanding of B wing. This unit did not have activity places allocated to it. Prison laundry activity places have been allocated to prisoners located on the drug rehabilitation unit providing additional regime places.

    Plans to introduce a new Welcome centre which will allocate shorter term prisoners to activity places more quickly, will soon become operational.

    Further improvement methods such as electronic prescribing are currently being piloted to improve the efficiency of treatment and medication practices, thereby providing a more consistent regime.