Tag: Parliamentary Question

Craig Mackinlay – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Mackinlay on 2016-10-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed reductions in pharmacy funding on specific patient populations.

David Mowat

The Government’s proposals for community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered against the public sector equality duty, the family test and the relevant duties of my Rt. hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health, under the National Health Service Act 2006.

Our assessments include consideration of the potential impacts on the adequate provision of NHS pharmaceutical services, including the supply of medicines, access to NHS pharmaceutical services, supplementary hours, non-commissioned services, individuals with protected characteristics, impacts on other NHS services, health inequalities, individuals with restricted mobility and access to healthcare for deprived communities.

An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

Our proposals are about improving services for patients and the public and securing efficiencies and savings. We believe these efficiencies can be made within community pharmacy without compromising the quality of services or public access to them.

Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency departments, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven day health and care services.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.

NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective NHS primary care patient pathway.

The rollout of the additional 1,500 clinical pharmacists announced by NHS England will help to ease current pressures in general practice by working with patients who have long term conditions and others with multiple medications. Having a pharmacist on site will mean that patients who receive care from their general practice will be able to benefit from the expertise in medicines that these pharmacists provide.

01/01/2023

Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-10-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of frostbite diagnosed in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Yorkshire and Humber and (c) the UK in each year since May 2010.

Jane Ellison

The table below sets out the count of finished admission episodes (FAEs)¹ with a primary diagnosis² of frostbite³ in Barnsley Central constituency⁴, North Yorkshire and Humber, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Area Teams of residence⁵ and England for years 2010-11 to 2013-14⁶

Activity in English NHS Hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector

	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Barnsley Central	0	0	0	0
North Yorkshire and Humber Area Team of Residence	2	0	1	0
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw Area Team of Residence	2	1	3	2
West Yorkshire Area Team of Residence	5	7	6	3
England	84	43	48	51

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Notes:

1. Finished admission episode

A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. FAEs are counted against the year or month in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the period.

2. Primary diagnosis

The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 7 prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was admitted to hospital.

3. ICD-10 Codes

The following ICD-10 codes were used to identify frostbite:

T33 Superficial frostbite

T34 Frostbite with tissue necrosis

T35 Frostbite involving multiple body regions and unspecified frostbite

4. Parliamentary constituency of residence

The parliamentary constituency containing the patient’s normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another parliamentary constituency for treatment. This field is only available from 2009-10 onwards.

5. Area Team of residence

The area team containing the patient’s normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another area for treatment.

6. Assessing growth through time (Inpatients)

HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, changes in activity may be due to changes in the provision of care.

01/01/2023

Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-11-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they plan to take to minimise the restrictions and difficulties experienced by Palestinians both inside the Occupied Territories and in adjoining countries.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We remain deeply concerned about restrictions on freedom of movement in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Our Ambassador in Tel Aviv raised this issue with Israeli National Security Advisor Cohen on 2 November. Our Consul-General to Jerusalem also raised this issue with the Mayor of Jerusalem on 28 October.

01/01/2023
Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners took their own life in each month of (a) 2010, (b) 2011, (c) 2012, (d) 2013, (e) 2014 and (f) 2015 to date.

Andrew Selous

Statistics for deaths in prison custody are not published monthly as they do not give a clear indication of trends.

Statistics for deaths in prison custody are published quarterly, and the latest information is available in Table 5 of the Safety in Custody statistics bulletin available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/472712/Safety-in-custody-summary-q2-2015.xls

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01/01/2023
Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what plans he has for call-in and scrutiny arrangements for the work of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

James Wharton

I refer the hon. member to my answer of 19 January, PQ 921796 and would add that the Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill received Royal Assent on 28 January.

The provisions of that Act, including those on overview and scrutiny, are now in force for the purposes of making secondary legislation and for all other purposes will come into force two months after Royal Assent. My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Greg Clark) intends to exercise his powers to make further provision about the membership and operation of overview and scrutiny committees as soon as practicable.

01/01/2023
Tristram Hunt – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tristram Hunt on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and which local authorities have notified her Department about plans to dispose of grant-funded assets through the (a) sale, (b) transfer and (c) change of use of children’s centres under the requirements of the Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant.

Mr Sam Gyimah

Where local authorities dispose of or change the use of buildings or other assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants, they must repay the money through the claw-back process.

The Department for Education has a thorough set of monitoring arrangements in place regarding claw-back rules. Local authorities are required to notify the department of each and every proposed change of services and provide details about the level of early years services that are to continue. The department then considers if the local authority has continued to offer a sufficient level of early years services for children and their families from the building in question to meet the original aims of the grant.

If the department is satisfied that the funding for the asset will continue to be used for purposes consistent with the grant, the department may defer claw-back. Deferring claw-back means that we accept the change of usage at that time, however, the department retains its interest in the asset and if in the future the asset has its usage changed, is transferred or otherwise disposed of, and does not continue to meet the purposes of the grant the local authority must inform the department and we will claw-back the funding. The department’s interest in an asset funded by Sure Start capital grants is 25 years from designation of the building. If the grant was used to purchase capital items or re-furbish an existing asset, the length of time and value of any claw-back depends on the depreciation value of the items, according to local authority depreciation rules.

01/01/2023
Chris Stephens – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2016-03-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs has any current contracts with Google to provide services; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Gauke

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not have a direct contract with Google. As with most of HMRC’s IT services, licenses for Google products are provided through its existing IT contracts and also via G-Cloud (a government framework of digital contracts).

HMRC carefully selects all products and services to ensure its staff have the right tools to do the job. These tools aid collaborative working and support improved productivity.

01/01/2023
Richard Fuller – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Fuller on 2016-04-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which clinical commissioning groups in England fund (a) no, (b) one, (c) two, (d) three and (e) more than three cycles of IVF treatment.

Jane Ellison

The level of provision of infertility treatment, as for all health services they commission, is decided by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and will take into account the needs of the population overall. The CCG’s decisions are underpinned by clinical insight and knowledge of local healthcare needs. As such, provision of services will vary in response to local needs.

CCGs have a legal duty to have regard to National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. As such, NHS England expects that all those involved in commissioning infertility treatment services to be fully aware of the importance of having regard to the NICE fertility guidelines.

Following a meeting with Fertility Fairness in December 2015, officials from the Department and NHS England is considering options for addressing variation in the prices that CCGs are currently paying for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

Information about cycles of IVF treatment is not collected centrally.

01/01/2023
Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-05-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of hospitals have a policy of charging (a) blue badge holders and (b) carers for parking.

Alistair Burt

Data is not collected centrally in the exact format requested. Data on car parking is collected annually through two collections.

The Estates Return Information Collection asks whether organisations charge for the use of designated disabled parking spaces. Of the 1,038 sites that have designated disabled car parking spaces 87% do not charge.

The Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment asks about the number of sites that offer car parking charge concessions in accordance with the National Health Service patient, visitor and staff car parking principles. Of the 372 sites that charge for car parking, 86% offer concessions, which include either free car parking or reduced charges or caps.

01/01/2023
Lord Hylton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-07-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the British Red Cross report Not So Straightforward and its campaign to reunite refugee families, Torn Apart.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

We are reviewing our process for dealing with applications for refugee family reunion in consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Justice. We are working closely with the British Red Cross and are considering the recommendations made in the Not So Straightforward report in detail.

We have now improved our guidance on processing family reunion applications so that it is clear, consistent and accessible. We intend to publish this in the next few weeks. We have also committed to redesigning the application form to ensure that applicants better understand the process and what is required of them.

There are no plans to extend the family reunion criteria as called for in the British Red Cross Torn Apart campaign. The current family reunion policy meets our international obligations and strikes the right balance. Where family members cannot meet the requirements of the Immigration Rules, such as in the case of an 18 year old applying to join their refugee parents in the UK, we consider whether there are exceptional circumstances or compassionate reasons to justify granting entry clearance outside the Rules.

01/01/2023