Tag: Parliamentary Question

Roger Godsiff – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what modelling her Department has undertaken of the potential effect of freezing her Department’s budget in cash terms on (a) educational outcomes and (b) pupil wellbeing.

Mr Sam Gyimah

We are protecting the schools budget in real terms, as we pledged in our manifesto. Throughout this Parliament, the amount of money for our schools will increase as pupil numbers rise. In 2015-16 we increased funding for the 69 least well-funded local authorities by £390 million, and that increased level of funding will be included in the baseline for future years. We will go further to target funding effectively, and end historic unfairness in the system, by introducing a national funding formula. We will provide every school with a fair allocation matched to need, that allows them to continue driving up educational standards and support every child to achieve to the best of their potential, whatever their background and wherever they live.

01/01/2023
Stephen Timms – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2016-01-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential efficacy of the Transmarche Metro proposal connecting Kent with the Nord-Pas-de-Calais; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry

The Government has made no assessment of a Transmanche Metro. The efficacy of a route would be for the market to determine.

01/01/2023
Tim Loughton – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tim Loughton on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children have died as a result of abuse or neglect in each of the last 10 years.

Edward Timpson

The death of any child is a tragedy. We want all children at risk of abuse or neglect to be identified early, to have timely and proportionate assessments of their individual needs, and to have the right services provided at the right time.

The death of each child must be reviewed and the Department collects information on the outcomes of these reviews. Since 2010-11, the Department has published annual statistics on the numbers of reviews of child deaths and the numbers of reviews where the category of death was abuse or neglect. In 2010-11, there were 47 reviews completed of deaths of children due to abuse or neglect; 43 in 2011-12; 46 in 2012-13; 62 in 2013-14; and 60 in 2014-15.

01/01/2023
Diane Abbott – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Diane Abbott on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications of the findings of the report by Europol, Migrant Smuggling in the EU, published in February 2016, for her policies on tackling smuggling through the criminal justice system.

James Brokenshire

The Government’s system-wide approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime is based on information and intelligence from a wide variety of sources. The Government takes Organised Immigration Crime very seriously – we are working to smash the criminal gangs that are fuelling this terrible trade in people. In June 2015 the Prime Minister announced the creation of the Organised Immigration Crime Taskforce bringing together officers from the NCA, Border Force, Immigration Enforcement and the Crown Prosecution Service. The Taskforce was subsequently expanded in November 2015 to more than 100 officers, and has had its funding extended until 2020. The Government values the intelligence-led approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime Europol helps to facilitate, including through Joint Operational Team Mare, and welcomes the launch by Europol on 22 February 2016 of the new European Migrant Smuggling Centre which will proactively support EU Member States in dismantling criminal networks involved in organised migrant smuggling. The UK has been at the forefront of calls in the EU for a robust approach to tackling Organised Immigration Crime.

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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by MiDavies on 2016-03-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how his Department defines a vulnerable and intimidated witness; and what processes are in place to support such witnesses when giving evidence.

Mike Penning

Vulnerable witnesses are defined under section 16 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 as all child witnesses (under 18 years), or any witness whose quality of evidence is likely to be diminished because they are suffering from a mental disorder (as defined by the Mental Health Act 1983), have a significant impairment of intelligence and social functioning, or a physical disability or disorder.

Under section 17 of the 1999 Act, a witness is considered ‘intimidated’ if they are giving evidence in a case involving a sexual, knife or gun, human trafficking or modern slavery offence, or if the court is satisfied that the quality of evidence given by the witness is likely to be diminished by reason of fear or distress on the part of the witness in connection with testifying in the proceedings.

Vulnerable and intimidated witnesses are eligible for special measures to support them to give their evidence. Measures include the use of intermediaries to help communication, allowing witnesses to give evidence by way of pre-recorded video and /or live video links from outside the courtroom, screening the witness from the accused, removing people from the public gallery whilst the witness gives evidence and the removal of gowns and wigs.

The full list of special measures available can be found in sections 23 to 30 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1999/23/part/II/chapter/I/crossheading/special-measures

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01/01/2023
Ian Murray – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the (a) average and (b) maximum time taken for contractors to return assessments to his Department was for Scottish claimants of (i) employment and support allowance and (ii) personal independence payments in each of the last four quarters for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson

The information you have requested on the average and maximum time taken for the contractor in Scotland to return ESA assessments to the Department is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

PIP average actual clearance times for Scotland, measured from the point of referral to the assessment providers to a decision being made on the claim by the DWP, is available in published data at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-april-2013-to-january-2016. Information on maximum time is not available in the published statistics and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

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01/01/2023
Alan Whitehead – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alan Whitehead on 2016-04-27.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33974, what regard she has given to to Section 14 of the Cabinet Office publication, Guide to making legislation, when determining the relative timing of issuing the impact assessment and the closure of the consultation on further reforms to the Capacity Market.

Andrea Leadsom

Section 14 of the Cabinet Office ‘Guide to making legislation’ states that Impact Assessments are generally required for all UK Government interventions of a regulatory nature. The latest version of the ‘Better Regulation Framework Manual’, in its definition of “Regulation”, clarifies that Regulation does not include tax and spending decisions.

The Capacity Market, and the proposals outlined in the consultation on further reforms to the Capacity Market, is classified as ‘Tax and Spend’. Therefore Section 14 does not apply to this policy and a consultation stage Impact Assessment is not needed. The Government will, however, publish a final Impact Assessment alongside its response to the recent consultation.

01/01/2023
David Amess – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve uptake of cervical screening among all age groups.

Jane Ellison

NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups. NHS England is committed to improving coverage and reducing variation between all age groups.

Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with general practices to improve coverage by sharing best practice. In addition a primary care cancer screening best practice guide has been developed jointly with the transforming cancer services team, clinical commissioning groups and local authority public health representatives.

NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the ACE (Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups.

A range of research studies are also underway, such as Imperial College conducting a randomised controlled trial to assess the effectiveness of texting non-responders on improving coverage. In addition, the Department’s Behavioural Insight team has undertaken a trial to investigate the use of behavioural insights to optimise the content of the invitation letter for cervical screening. Results are due shortly.

The Independent Cancer Taskforce recognised the importance of screening for cervical cancer and the potential of the new human papillomavirus (HPV) test in their report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes, published in July 2015. NHS England has appointed Cally Palmer as National Cancer Director to lead the implementation of the strategy, and an implementation plan outlining the key first steps for the national cancer programme was published on 12 May. In addition, the routine HPV vaccination programme, offering immunisation to girls aged 12-14 years, is expected to reduce the already low rates of cervical cancer in these young women and allow them to be protected for years to come.

Ministers welcome cervical cancer prevention week and we are fully supportive of the work Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust does to raise awareness of cervical cancer and the importance of cervical screening for eligible women.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report, Health at a Glance 2015: How does the United Kingdom compare?, the UK has cervical screening rates well above the OECD average. Further information is available at:

https://www.oecd.org/unitedkingdom/Health-at-a-Glance-2015-Key-Findings-UK.pdf

http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/download/8115071ec053.pdf?expires=1465810879&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=102E30B1A256588EDD14918B5BE3AA4C

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01/01/2023

Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-09-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people by age have been diagnosed with sepsis in the last five years.

Mr Philip Dunne

Public Health England does not hold data in the format requested.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is able to provide a count of the number of Finished Discharge Episodes (FDEs) with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis, split by age band for providers in England for the years between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

Information is not held centrally on patients diagnosed in the primary care setting.

Table 1: A count of the number of FDEs with a primary or secondary diagnosis of sepsis, by age band for providers in England for the years between 2010-11 and 2014-15.

Age Bands	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
0-4	18,417	20,080	22,915	23,840	26,725
5-9	577	648	790	853	1,010
10-14	446	415	523	461	635
15-19	814	778	926	980	1,094
20-24	1,220	1,246	1,490	1,770	1,899
25-29	1,373	1,499	1,843	2,032	2,478
30-34	1,510	1,701	2,142	2,540	2,924
35-39	1,697	1,849	2,230	2,319	2,601
40-44	2,213	2,403	2,711	2,988	3,223
45-49	2,775	3,123	3,661	3,937	4,385
50-54	3,462	3,890	4,459	4,942	5,702
55-59	4,130	4,829	5,694	6,115	6,826
60-64	6,162	6,835	7,592	7,893	8,706
65-69	6,624	7,790	9,619	10,805	12,079
70-74	7,766	8,667	9,623	10,458	12,066
75-79	8,955	9,815	10,654	11,793	13,862
80-84	9,427	10,079	11,009	11,584	13,789
85-89	8,340	8,756	9,088	9,739	11,876
90+	5,553	6,054	6,740	7,156	9,173
Unknown	420	558	576	617	719

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), NHS Digital

Notes:

Finished Discharge Episode – A discharge episode is the last episode during a hospital stay (a spell), where the patient is discharged from the hospital or transferred to another hospital. Discharges do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one discharge from hospital within the period.
Number of episodes in which the patient had a primary or secondary diagnosis – The number of episodes where this diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) record. Each episode is only counted once, even if the diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record.
ICD-10 codes for Sepsis include – “A02.1 Salmonella sepsis, A20.7 Septicaemic plague, A21.7 Generalized tularaemia, A22.7 Anthrax sepsis, A26.7 Erysipelothrix sepsis, A28.0 Pasteurellosis, A28.2 Extraintestinal yersiniosis, A32.7 Listerial sepsis, A39.2 Acute meningococcaemia, A39.3 Chronic meningococcaemia, A39.4 Meningococcaemia, unspecified, A40.- Streptococcal sepsis, A41.- Other sepsis, A42.7 Actinomycotic sepsis, B37.7 Candidal sepsis, O85.X Puerperal sepsis, P36.- Bacterial sepsis of newborn,
The following pair of codes is a dagger/asterisk code pair (D and A) which must be present together: A39.1 Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome, E35.1 Disorders of adrenal glands in diseases classified elsewhere.

01/01/2023

Lord Northbourne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Northbourne on 2016-10-18.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce legislation to require all schools, including academies, to provide high quality sex and relationship education as part of their syllabus.

Lord Nash

The Government is clear that all schools should make provision for high-quality sex and relationship education, which is a vital part of preparing young people for life in modern Britain.

Academies, like maintained schools, must teach a broad and balanced curriculum and in respect of sex and relationship education, they must – under the terms of their funding agreement – have regard to the Secretary of State’s statutory Sex and Relationship Education guidance published in 2000.

The issue of statutory personal, social, health and economic education and sex and relationship education was raised during the Education Select Committee session in September. The Secretary of State agreed that we need to look again at how schools deliver high-quality personal, social, health and economic education including sex and relationship education. The Government is considering all the options and will come to a view in due course.

01/01/2023