Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Laurence Robertson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Laurence Robertson on 2016-02-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding her Department plans to make available to small childcare facilities to help them meet the costs of the proposed free 30 hours of childcare per week.

    Mr Sam Gyimah

    As part of the Spending Review in November 2015, we announced that we will be investing over £1billion more per year by 2019-20 to fund the government’s commitments on the early education entitlements. The funding includes £300 million per year for a significant increase to the rate paid for the two, three and four year old entitlements. From April 2017, the national average funding rates will increase to £4.88 for three and four year olds and £5.39 for two year olds. Local authorities are responsible for deciding how to distribute this funding across their area and for setting the rate paid to early years providers.

    We will introduce a national funding formula for early years so that funding is transparently and fairly matched to need and fairly distributed between different types of providers and different parts of the country. We will be consulting on detailed proposals later this year.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the quality of end of life (a) care and (b) provision in the NHS in England.

    Ben Gummer

    The Government is committed to making improvements in the quality of care people experience at the end of life.

    In 2014, we set out five priorities for care of the dying person which should underpin the care being delivered to all dying people. The priorities for care state that an individual plan of care, which includes food and drink, symptom control and psychological, social and spiritual support, is agreed, co-ordinated and delivered with compassion.

    The priorities also set out the critical importance of compassion, respect and dignity in delivering care to dying people and the implications, for staff, commissioners and providers, when making decisions about how end of life care services will meet the needs of local people. The new approach to care, based on these fundamental principles, is being used by clinicians across the country.

    The Government’s forthcoming response to the independent Review of Choice in End of Life Care will set out further actions we are taking to achieve high quality, personalised end of life care.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that medical assessors and people considering appeals have sufficient knowledge of muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The assessment for Personal Independence Payment is carried out by registered health professionals who have specialist training in assessing the impact of disability and health conditions on an individual’s functional ability, including conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions.

    All health professionals receive comprehensive training in disability analysis which includes a functional evaluation as to how medical conditions such as muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular conditions and other rare and progressive conditions, and the long-term medical treatment of those conditions, affect their ability to perform day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment they routinely refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar.

    The Department’s Decision Makers and Appeal Writers receive training in health conditions to assess each case individually using the evidence provided by the claimant and the Health Professional, and can call on additional support from a Health Professional as necessary.

    In all Personal Independence Payment assessments consideration is given to whether claimants can complete activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and in a reasonable time period.

    We have also worked closely with medical experts and charities to make significant improvements to the Work Capability Assessment, including strengthening the training programme to put more emphasis on making sure that assessors do not just focus on how someone manages on a ‘good day’ but also consider their ‘bad days’ if they have a health issue that fluctuates.

  • Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Colleen Fletcher – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Colleen Fletcher on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has undertaken an assessment of the potential effect of changes to employer national insurance and pension contributions on (a) primary and (b) secondary school budgets.

    Nick Gibb

    The most recent change to the employer contribution rate for the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) took place in September 2015. At that time the rate was increased from 14.1% to 16.4% of the total pay bill from September 2015. The current employer contribution rate will not change until after the next scheme valuation is complete, which is expected to be in April 2018.

    On 1 April this year, the single tier state pension was introduced. Members of previously contracted out schemes will no longer receive a National Insurance rebate. The National Insurance rate for employers has increased therefore by 3.4% for all salary payments between £8,112.01 and £40,040. Based on data from the last scheme valuation this change is expected to add on average 2% to schools’ pay bill, in relation to the TPS, from 1 April 2016.

  • Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Nicholas Brown – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2016-06-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to improve teacher retention.

    Nick Gibb

    It is vital for schools to be able to retain good teachers – that is why we have made policy interventions in the areas that teachers tell us matter most, such as improving pupil behaviour and reducing unnecessary workload.

    We have appointed behaviour expert Tom Bennett to lead a review to ensure new teachers are fully trained in managing behaviour in 21st century schools.

    In response to our Workload Challenge, we set up three independent review groups to address unnecessary workload in the key areas of marking, planning and data management. The groups reported early this year, and set out clear principles about what should happen in schools to reduce unnecessary workload in these areas. The Government has accepted all the relevant recommendations made by the groups, and we will continue to work with the teaching profession to make sure they have the ongoing support they need to continue reducing unnecessary teacher workload.

    We have recently conducted the first biennial Teacher Workload Survey, which will allow us to track teacher workload over the coming years. The results of the first survey will be published later this year.

    Approximately 90 per cent of all teachers are in service in state-funded schools the year after they qualify, and 72 per cent of those who qualified in 2009 were still in teaching five years later. Over the longer term, over 60 per cent of teachers remain in service 10 years after qualifying.

  • Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the psychological support available for people with dystonia and other neurological conditions; and if he will take steps to improve the process of such support.

    David Mowat

    NHS England is responsible for commissioning specialised neurological services and has published a service specification for neurological care that sets out what providers must have in place to offer evidence-based, safe and effective services. Included in this is an expected availability of psychological support for people with movement disorders including dystonia. The specification can be found at the following link:

    www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf

    “

  • Baroness Helic – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Baroness Helic – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Helic on 2016-10-18.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of progress made by the African Union pilot project to respond to the needs of victims of sexual violence in the Central African Republic.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    An early assessment suggested that progress on the pilot of the project to respond to the needs on victims of sexual violence was not as swift as we had hoped but that lessons were being learned. We are discussing with the African Union (AU) on how we can better coordinate efforts to address sexual violence in the Central African Republic (CAR).

    The UK Government will continue to work with the AU and UN to support their efforts to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in CAR. We plan to use the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Rules Based International System Strategy Fund to support this work, particularly in regions outside of the Capital, Bangui.

  • Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the (a) number of electric charging points in air quality management areas, (b) number of such points needed to have an effect on air quality and (c) associated costs of upgrading the necessary grid infrastructure.

    Andrew Jones

    The Government wants almost every car and van to be a zero emission vehicle by 2050 and is investing £500m between 2015 and 2020 to help deliver this. The long-term transition to ultra low emission vehicles can help improve local air quality, and will also lower UK greenhouse gas emissions and provide high value jobs and growth, but our modelling suggests that even very rapid uptake can have only a marginal impact on today’s air quality problems because of the time taken to turn over the vehicle fleet.

    We are aware that a number of local authorities have been assessing electric car charging point requirements in air quality management areas.

    The Government is considering future grid and chargepoint requirements as part of its planning for this transition. The UK already has the largest network of rapid chargepoints across Europe and over 6000 publically accessible chargepoints have been part-funded by the Government. We will continue to collaborate with industry to ensure that the UK’s infrastructure network meets the needs of electric vehicle drivers.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2015-12-03.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many officials within the Department for Transport are currently working as part of the team liaising with Network Rail.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    A large number of staff within the Department for Transport’s Rail Executive liaise with Network Rail on a wide range of policy, delivery and operational issues – it is not possible to state an exact number as these staff also have other responsibilities. A team of seven officials currently handles issues specifically arising from Network Rail’s reclassification to the public sector in September 2014. Future resourcing will remain responsive to business needs and is not pre-planned over these years.

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

    Lord Freyberg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Freyberg on 2016-01-13.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centre and Genomic England have made of the barriers to adopting national molecular pathology.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Genomics England undertook a comprehensive assessment of the technological and scientific challenges faced by molecular pathology in the context of the 100,000 Genomes Project. As part of the Project there has been extensive experimental work to identify best practice for molecular pathology (and more specifically genomics). In particular, the sequencing of whole tumour genomes at scale poses a significant scientific and clinical challenge. The Project is pushing these boundaries, driving new scientific knowledge and transformational change. Like all transformative projects there are barriers but the Project is providing the impetus to address those challenges.

    Genomics England is working in partnership with NHS England, Health Education England and the newly inaugurated NHS Genomic Medicine Centres to facilitate the translation of scientific developments into practice, and to support the development of the molecular pathology workforce.

    The Project will involve in-depth analysis of tumour genomics, creating new scientific discoveries which will in turn inform precision oncology. The Project includes both common and rare tumours to spread the transformative impact of the project across a range of cancer types.

    In 2014, theNational Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centreadvised the NHS England Molecular Testing Group (cancer) on the potential for horizon scanning in the use of genomic tests for cancer.