The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Mactaggart on 2015-12-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to publish her Department’s report on tied visas for domestic servants.
James Brokenshire
James Ewins’s report on visas for overseas domestic workers has been submitted to the Home Office and will be published shortly.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Whitty on 2016-01-18.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the effect of the reduction of the budget of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on activity and staffing in relation to air quality.
Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Budgets for 2016/17 to 2020/21 have not yet been finalised. Defra’s internal business planning process is still underway, and it would not, therefore, be appropriate at this time to comment on how particular policy areas may be affected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Murrison on 2016-02-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many army (a) personnel and (b) dependents (i) are based and (ii) will be based in Wiltshire in 2020.
Mark Lancaster
The number of Army personnel based in Army units located within Wiltshire as at 1 October 2015 is 13,010. The Army estimates that 9,900 entitled family members are currently associated with Army personnel based in Wiltshire.
The current planning assumption for the number of Army personnel based in Army units located within Wiltshire in 2020 is 17,700. It is estimated that 14,300 entitled family members will be associated with these Army personnel.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-03-01.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they will take to ensure that the NHS Supply Chain wound dressing generics project takes account of evidence comparing the cost of managing unhealed and healed wounds, and of the total cost of wound care in the NHS currently as compared with previous estimates.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The review of wound dressings by a dedicated working group resulted in the development of a number of clinical specifications for wound care products.
In order to progress this work, from April 2016 a new NHS Clinical Evaluation Team will be put in place. The Clinical Evaluation Team will assess wound care products through a comprehensive evaluation process, which will have extensive engagement with NHS clinical staff. Included in the process will be tissue viability and infection control nurses, clinical procurement specialists, doctors, nurses and midwives along with medicine management practitioners from community trusts.
The project’s remit is to review clinical products to identify those that enable high quality patient care whilst delivering the best outcomes for the NHS. The secondary consideration will be to identify products that could be procured more effectively through combined NHS buying power, to deliver greater overall value for money.
The Clinical Evaluation Team is made up of practising clinicians.
The project will therefore undertake assessments of the total costs and benefits of any recommendations to the overall NHS.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2016-03-24.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of new universal credit claims were processed within one month in the most recent 12 months for which data is available.
Priti Patel
The information you have requested is currently not available.
Additional breakdowns will be included in future Universal Credit official statistics as quality assurance of data from the Universal Credit systems progresses during 2016.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-05-04.
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what plans she has to establish a cross-government team on the deployment of renewable and low-carbon heating.
Andrea Leadsom
The Department actively engages with other Government departments, including at ministerial level, on a range of interdepartmental groups engaged in reducing emissions from heating and working towards our renewable energy targets.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-06-09.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many overseas citizens work in the UK in (1) hospitals, and (2) care homes.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The number of overseas citizens working in the United Kingdom in hospitals and care homes is not collected centrally.
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) publishes data on the number of staff working in National Health Service hospital and community health services in England. The HSCIC also publishes data on the nationality of NHS staff, which is a self-reported field within the NHS human resources and payroll system, the electronic staff record (ESR). The nationality information entered by an individual employee onto ESR may reflect their cultural heritage rather than their country of birth.
From the 1,151,138 headcount number of staff working in NHS trusts and clinical commissioning groups as at September 2015, 1,056,773 have self-declared their nationality. Of these, 217,063 (21%) have declared as having nationalities other than British.
Skills for Care, the partner in the Sector Skills Council for social care, collects information on the nationality of the adult social care workforce in England.
Skills for Care estimates that there were on average 135,000 residential care job roles filled by non-British adult social care workers in England in 2015.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Trefgarne on 2016-09-06.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the nature of the agreement between Morocco and the EU; and in particular whether Morocco has access to the European single market.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns
Morocco’s relationship with the EU is framed through the EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). Their relationship covers political and economic cooperation as well as trade and technical assistance. Morocco does not have full access to the European Single Market, but a free trade area established in the 2002 EU-Morocco Association Agreement allows for easier trade in goods between Morocco and the EU.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Maginnis of Drumglass on 2016-10-21.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the need for, and benefit to be derived from, the questionnaire issued by Brighton and Hove Council requesting information about children’s self-perception of their sexual orientation.
Lord Nash
These questions refer to an answer given by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 12 October 2016, and also link to previous questions asked by Lord Macginnis, and answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford in April 2016.
As Baroness Williams set out in her previous reply, the Department for Education provides guidance on the Equality Act 2010 to schools which contains advice on the Public Sector Equality Duty and on the protected characteristic of gender reassignment.
The Department is not responsible for the decision by Brighton and Hove Council to include gender identity information on the pupil registration form it issued in April 2016. The Council has the independence to make this decision. The Department has had no involvement and has not made any assessment of the questionnaire.
The Department does not hold details of any additional information collected by local authorities outside of those required by the Department for our centrally specified, mandatory data collections. Brighton and Hove Council is responsible for securing answers and restricting access to information generated by any questionnaire it issues.
The Department has not inquired into the gender identity of children in Brighton and Hove and has no correspondence on the matter.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that cancer communities are targeted towards all age groups and people with learning disabilities.
Jane Ellison
We understand the hon. Member is referring to cancer communications.
Public Health England (PHE) runs a number of Be Clear on Cancer (BCoC) campaigns to encourage symptom recognition and earlier general practitioner (GP) presentation. The campaigns have been running since early 2011 and have covered a number of cancers nationally and regionally. Incidence increases with age for most cancers and BCoC targets men and women over 50, especially those from lower socioeconomic groups, as there is evidence that these individuals are more likely to delay seeing their GP. Although BCoC campaigns target people over 50, they do reach a much wider age group because of national media campaign activity.
Specialist organisations are consulted on campaign development to ensure that communications are accessible and inclusive. These have included Mencap, the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, and EasyHealth, specifically targeting people with learning disabilities and using their networks to share information effectively. In addition, campaign materials are produced in alternative formats, including easy read. Disability and carer organisations are sent tailored briefing sheets and toolkits to ensure their members are aware of campaign messages and the availability of alternative formats. Following each campaign, PHE seeks feedback from the disability and carer organisations it has worked with to evaluate the success of the engagement and ensure improvements are made where possible.
Locally, there are also a number of good examples where the National Health Service is tailoring its communications to ensure they are accessible to all groups, including those with learning disabilities. NHS England is exploring how these can be taken forward and built on at a national level. For example, easy read versions of cancer screening leaflets are available for people with learning disabilities.