Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential merits of the Children’s House model for children who are victims of abuse.

    Mike Penning

    This government has made tackling child abuse a priority. We set up the first ever cross-government Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling this abhorrent crime. We have also invested an extra £100m to support vulnerable children and we are providing £7m for services supporting child abuse survivors.

    We have not had any ministerial discussions about the Children’s House model, but more widely the Government is committed to improving the experience of child witnesses in the criminal justice system. We have increased the number of intermediaries to support them to give their best evidence. In addition, vulnerable witnesses can give evidence away from the courtroom and away from the court building at remote sites set up nationally in each criminal justice region.

  • Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Christian Matheson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christian Matheson on 2016-04-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust has a Risk Register covering staffing at the Accident and Emergency department at Chorley and South Ribble District Hospital.

    Ben Gummer

    These are operational matters for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and we have written to Stuart Heys, Chair of the Trust informing him of the hon. Member’s questions. He will reply shortly and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

  • Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Anne Main – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-23.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the income tax paid each year by EU nationals who remain in the UK for less than one year in each of the last three years.

    Damian Hinds

    The information requested is not available.

  • Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-07-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, by what mechanisms (a) clinicians and (b) patients can request NHS England review specialised services commissioning policies that previously conferred a not routinely commissioned status to procedures (i) as part of the Commissioning through Evaluation Programme and (ii) in general.

    David Mowat

    Commissioning through Evaluation (CtE) is an innovative £25 million programme introduced by NHS England in 2013. It specifically aims to generate valuable new evaluation data in promising areas of specialised care where the current evidence base of cost and clinical effectiveness is insufficient to support routine National Health Service commissioning, and where further formal research trials are thought to be less likely.

    Each scheme – put forward by senior clinicians and other stakeholders – is funded on a time limited basis in a small number of selected centres, and then evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

    Once the planned number of patients has been recruited across the participating centres, each scheme closes to new patients and analysis begins. This means that the funding identified for each scheme can then be reinvested into the evaluation of additional potentially life changing specialised treatments to maximise the value and impact of the overall evaluation fund for patients. As an example, routinely funding Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy contrary to the currently published clinical commissioning policy and in advance of a formal review of any new evidence would mean that between £2 million and £4 million per year (covering the surgical costs and immediate follow up only) would then be unavailable to support the evaluation of other promising treatments.

    The analysis phase for each CtE scheme will typically take between one and two years depending on how long we need to follow up patients after their treatment to identify its effectiveness. The three cardiology based CtE schemes are currently scheduled for a 15 month analysis and reporting phase, after which the data can be used by NHS England to support policy review.

    However, CtE is only one form of data that might be put forward in considering a new (or revision to an existing) policy and clinicians do not need to await the final report from CtE schemes if they feel that other new substantive data becomes available more quickly.

    NHS England’s published clinical commissioning policies (which set out eligibility for NHS funded specialised care on the basis of the available evidence) can be reviewed at any time where there is thought to be substantive new evidence available, and around 100 such proposals were developed and considered by NHS England during 2016/17.

    The policy development process is subject to both informal stakeholder testing and formal public consultation, including the opportunity for patients, clinicians and industry representatives to review and comment on the evidence base considered and the assessed impact on patients, existing services and cost.

    Where a new service is routinely commissioned as a result of a policy review, NHS England works with commissioned providers to ensure that sufficient clinical expertise and supporting infrastructure is in place to provide a safe service to patients in line with nationally set requirements.

  • Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Andy McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2016-10-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many volunteer coastguards were recruited by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in each year since 2010-11.

    Mr John Hayes

    There is no central national record of the enrolment of volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers as enrolment is conducted locally at the 340 Coastguard Rescue Teams in the UK, as the need arises.

    To provide the information in the format you have requested would be at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.

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

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

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2015-11-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to reduce instances of antibiotic resistance developing in farmed animals; and if she will make a statement.

    George Eustice

    In September 2013, the government published the UK Five-Year Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Strategy. The strategy sets out three strategic aims to minimise the development of antibiotic resistance and protect human and animal health and welfare.

    In December 2014, the Government published the first annual progress report against the UK 5 year AMR Strategy[1]. The report sets out the work underway in each of the seven key areas, more specifically:

    – infection, prevention and control,

    – education and outreach,

    – better access to surveillance data,

    – strengthening International collaboration

    The report also includes the further measures on animal health to be taken over the next four years to respond to the risk of AMR and to promote the responsible use of antibiotics.

    [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/progress-report-on-the-uk-five-year-amr-strategy-2014

    “

  • Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Warner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Warner on 2015-12-21.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 19 November (HL3563), what provision was made in the 2015 Spending Review in the Department for Communities and Local Government allocation for local authorities in 2016–17, and in each subsequent year, for the introduction of the National Living Wage.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    Spending Review decisions took the National Living Wage into account along with a range of other financial and economic factors. I refer the noble Lord to the provisional local government finance settlement, published on 17 December, which builds on the Spending Review outcome and also took account of pressures on adult social care. Policies to provide funding for social care include:

    • The social care precept in council tax, which puts money raising powers into the hands of local areas who understand the need in their area and who are best placed to respond. This could raise up to £2 billion a year for social care by 2019/20;

    • Making an extra £1.5 billion available for social care by 2019-20 in an improved Better Care Fund – with funding going direct to councils to ensure health and social care services work together to support older and vulnerable people;

    • More than doubling the Disabled Facilities Grant to over £500 million a year by 2019/20.
  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department’s aid policy of the research on global income distribution published by Oxfam on 19 January 2016.

    Mr Desmond Swayne

    Eradicating extreme poverty is central to DFID’s mission and the Sustainable Development Goals. Oxfam say inequality affects the politics around growth. Our economic development strategy takes account of this by supporting inclusive growth and tackling inequality by creating opportunities, widening access to them (including through education and health), economically empowering women and leaving no-one behind.

  • Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Valerie Vaz – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Valerie Vaz on 2016-02-22.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the planned availability of toilet facilities is (a) on Crossrail trains and (b) at Crossrail train stations.

    Claire Perry

    The Elizabeth line, being constructed by Crossrail, will be a high-frequency metro-style train service, and will carry an estimated 200 million passengers a year.

    The vast majority of journeys will be of a short duration and on board toilets would take up a significant amount of space.

    It is therefore not intended that toilets will be provided on the new trains as these would displace approximately 600 passengers per hour. 80 per cent of stations on the Elizabeth line will have toilet facilities.

  • Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Julian Sturdy – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julian Sturdy on 2016-03-16.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what safeguards are in place to ensure that private hire vehicle operators remain responsible for journeys sub-contracted to other licensed operators across licensing authority boundaries.

    Andrew Jones

    Whilst private hire vehicle operators have the freedom to subcontract bookings, the operator that originally accepted a sub-contracted booking remains ultimately responsible for that booking.

    Both the initial operator who accepts the booking and the operator who fulfils the booking by providing a driver and vehicle are under a duty to keep records of the booking. The relevant enforcement authorities are able to check those records.

    All bookings, including those subcontracted, have to be fulfilled by operators, drivers and vehicles all of whom have been licensed by their local authority.