Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce the incidence of depression among new mothers.

    Alistair Burt

    Reducing the incidence of depression among new mothers is a high priority for the Government.

    The Mandate from the Government for the National Health Service includes an objective for NHS England to work with partner organisations to reduce the incidence and impact of postnatal depression through earlier diagnosis, and better intervention and support.

    The NHS Mandate also includes an objective that every woman has a named midwife who is responsible for ensuring she has personalised care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and during the postnatal period. This will help clinicians to identify perinatal mental health problems as early as possible and to give women the support they need.

    To help achieve this we have increased the number of midwives by over 1,800 and the number of health visitors by over 3,500 since May 2010. In addition, 6,400 midwifery students and an extra 1,000 health visitors are in training respectively.

    We are also working to improve the provision of perinatal mental health services which is why it was announced in the March budget that the Government would invest an additional £75 million over the next five years, £15 million per year, to support women with mental ill health in the perinatal period. NHS England is leading a work programme to ensure that this extra money is spent in the right way, at the right time and in the right places. This work is being carried out collaboratively with partner organisations, including the Department and Public Health England, clinical experts and service users.

    Health Education England (HEE) has committed to ensure that the right knowledge and training is available so that the NHS is skilled in how it looks after women’s mental as well as physical health. The HEE Mandate includes an objective that there will be specialist perinatal mental health staff available for every birthing unit by 2017. HEE is also committed to working with the medical royal colleges to support specific perinatal mental health training being incorporated into the syllabus for doctors in postgraduate training by 2017.

    The Department has funded the Institute of Health Visitors which has trained over 600 perinatal mental health visitor champions to enable health visitors to identify and manage perinatal depression and other maternal mental health conditions.

    The Department has also funded the Maternal Health Care Policy Research Unit to undertake a project to develop and pilot test a perinatal mental health indicator which would reflect the mental health care a woman receives at certain critical perinatal time-points; the antenatal booking, the early postnatal period, and approximately one year postnatally.

    In line with the approach on other access and waiting time standards, NHS England appointed the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health to run expert engagement and produce implementation outputs, for example commissioning guidance and model pathways. An Expert Reference Group has been formed to oversee this work. NHS England plan to be able to make the recommendations of the group public as soon as possible.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-12-10.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of car parking charges and their effect on the high street.

    Baroness Williams of Trafford

    We are committed to supporting our high streets and effective parking management is essential for businesses to survive and grow.

    Local authorities should be making it easier to park by looking to reduce the cost of parking in local authority owned car parks, and working with private sector providers to ensure they are providing a competitive offer that makes people want to visit high streets and town centres. This provides the best support to local shops, local jobs and tourism by increasing footfall.

    The Government has brought forward a range of measures to help motorists, including banning CCTV ‘spy cars’, introducing 10 minutes grace periods and a new guidance to challenge parking policies.

  • Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if police forces will be required to provide information to the Disclosure and Barring Service where a person has been arrested and bailed pending an investigation into their alleged offences.

    Karen Bradley

    The Home Secretary issues guidance to chief officers of police under section 113B(4A) of the Police Act 1997, which they must have regard to in making decisions about providing information from police records for inclusion in enhanced criminal record certificates.

    This guidance extends, for example, to information held by the police relating to someone being arrested and bailed.

  • Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Stuart C. McDonald – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stuart C. McDonald on 2016-02-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 19830, when he plans to report on his review of the UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

    Mr David Lidington

    We are currently finalising the review of the UK National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (BHR) and intend to publish it shortly. We are honouring the commitment made by the previous Coalition Government, showing our ongoing commitment to BHR. The plan covers the work of a wide range of Government departments and we have consulted widely as part of the process of updating the plan. The UK is the first country to go through such a revision process.

  • John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    John Mann – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Mann on 2016-03-07.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children arrived in the UK from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015.

    James Brokenshire

    The question has been interpreted as referring to unaccompanied asylum seeking children arriving in the UK.

    During 2015, there were 11 asylum applications from Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children, excluding dependants, received from nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

    Figures on asylum applications for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) are published quarterly by the Home Office in the Immigration Statistics release.

    A copy of the latest release, Immigration Statistics October to December 2015, is available from:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-october-to-december-2015

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-04-21.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many public consultations his Department has conducted on the subject of mayors in Cheshire and Warrington since 2010.

    James Wharton

    Devolution deals, including commitments for mayoral governance, are negotiated and agreed with those democratically elected to represent their area, and who are accountable to their local electorate.

    This Department has not undertaken direct public consultations on this matter in Cheshire and Warrington.

  • William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    William Wragg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by William Wragg on 2016-06-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many pilot areas his Department plans for the HPV vaccination for men who have sex with men; where his Department plans for those pilots to take place; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    It is estimated that up to 40,000 men who have sex with men (MSM) who attend genitourinary medicine (GUM) and HIV clinics will be offered the human papillomavirus vaccination.

    There has been a positive response from those invited to participate, and confidence that the pilot will include a good geographical spread of providers, including those with the highest populations of MSM, as well as in rural areas with smaller MSM populations. Public Health England is currently completing the selection of the GUM and HIV clinics that will take part in the pilot.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the relative difference in insurance premiums for (a) electric vehicles and (b) diesel or petrol models.

    Mr John Hayes

    Analysis carried out for the government in 2015 suggested that insurance premiums are broadly equivalent between electric vehicles and their petrol or diesel equivalents.

  • Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

    Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

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

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government in what way the Northern Ireland Parades Commission is accountable to them and to the courts.

    Lord Dunlop

    The Parades Commission operates independently of Government in line with the provisions contained in the Public Processions (NI) Act 1998.

    The Commission is accountable to the courts for its operational decisions.

    The Commission is accountable to the Northern Ireland Office for the management of its resources.

  • Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Andrew Percy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Percy on 2015-11-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to reduce loneliness and isolation for elderly people through increased contact during transitional care.

    Alistair Burt

    Prevention is core to the Government’s approach to people managing their health and care needs. My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health set out in his speech to the Local Government Association on 1 July that we all have a responsibility at an individual, family, and community level to identify people with care needs such as loneliness and provide support and improve their wellbeing.

    Through the Care Act 2014 the Department has required local authorities to have measures in place to identify people in their area who would benefit from universal services to help reduce, delay or prevent needs for care and support. This includes needs that may arise from social isolation.

    Given the complexity of loneliness and the different ways that people are affected there is no single solution that can tackle loneliness and having a range of interventions and solutions is helpful, and commissioners can consider how loneliness can be tackled when a person is transitioning between services.

    The Department has supported a ‘digital toolkit’ for local commissioners, which was developed by the Campaign to End Loneliness, and is now incorporated in their guidance Loneliness and Isolation: Guidance for Local Authorities and Commissioners. This supports commissioners in understanding, mapping and commissioning for loneliness and social isolation in their communities, and includes promising approaches to tackling loneliness.

    The Department has funded the Social Care Institute for Excellence to develop and run the Prevention Library which includes examples of emerging practice to prevent, reduce or delay peoples care and support needs from deteriorating. This includes examples of integrated working such as the Social Prescribing Scheme in Rotherham.