Tag: Parliamentary Question

Susan Elan Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Susan Elan Jones on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the results of the sentencing review of motoring offences and penalties will be published.

Dr Phillip Lee

Both the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Transport are aware of concerns about a number of issues relating to serious driving offences and the maximum penalties those offences carry. The Government are committed to making sure that the courts have sufficient powers to deal with driving offences appropriately and proportionately within the context of our wider sentencing framework. It is our intention to commence a consultation before the end of the year which will look at driving offences and penalties.

The new Justice Secretary will meet the new Transport Secretary to discuss further in due course.

January 1, 2023
Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure consistency of provision in the quality of care in mental health services across England.

Nicola Blackwood

Mental health is one of the six core clinical areas to be covered by NHS England’s new CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework. NHS England is working to ensure that this will provide as broad a view as possible of how well commissioners are supporting and driving improvement in mental health.

A dashboard for mental health will be published this autumn, containing a set of standard indicators to articulate progress in mental health services at a national level and allow benchmarking of services across the country.

NHS England will continue to ensure that mental health is represented within the full suite of levers and incentives at its disposal including Commissioning for Quality and Innovation payment framework (CQUINs), Quality Premium, the NHS Standard Contract and within the design of new models of care. The Technical Guidance for NHS planning covering 2017/18 and 2018/19 that accompanied the publication of the main NHS Planning Guidance earlier this autumn included a number of draft proposals for specific mental health CQUINs:

– Improving services for people with Mental Health needs who present to A&E;

– Improving physical health care for people with Severe Mental Illnesses; and

– Improving transitions for children and young people.

The Quality Premium is based on measures that cover a combination of national and local priorities, and on delivery of the fundamentals of commissioning. The Premium is paid to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in 2018/19 and 2019/20 reflects the quality of the health services commissioned by them in 2017/18 and 2018/19. There will be six mandated indicators including a mental health indicator.

Mental health service providers are responsible for the consistency and quality in the services that they provide. Services in England are regulated by the Care Quality Commission which introduced a new regulation and inspection regime in 2014. CCGs are expected to increase their spending on mental health in line with overall growth in their baseline allocations.

January 1, 2023
Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for Rural Community Councils.

Rory Stewart

The Secretary of State discussed a range of issues with the Chancellor of the Exchequer as part of the Spending Review. The Chancellor announced the outcome of the Spending Review on 25 November.

January 1, 2023
Emily Thornberry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Emily Thornberry on 2015-12-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the Government has ended the (a) Mandatory Work Activity scheme and (b) Community Work Placements element of the Help to Work scheme.

Priti Patel

The economy and labour market have improved since the introduction of our employment programmes. Long-term unemployment has fallen by 35% since 2010 to 509,000, the lowest level in six years. The support we provide to claimants needs to reflect recent labour market changes and the needs of claimants. That is why there will be an increase in funding and new contracted provision to help people with disability and health conditions and the very long-term unemployed return to and remain in work.

The Mandatory Work Activity and Community Work Placement contracts come to an end in March 2016. We always intended to review the contracts at this time. We will provide support to the long-term unemployed through a strengthened JobCentre Plus offer for those out of work for 12-24 months, and for anyone still unemployed after 2 years we will refer them to contracted provision for further support.

This approach builds on our best evidence of what works to support claimants back into work, and gets a good deal for the taxpayer.

January 1, 2023
David Mackintosh – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Mackintosh on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 22430, what plans his Department has to communicate those developments in domestic and international research referred to UK Gulf War veterans.

Mark Lancaster

As stated in my answer to Question 22430, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has funded extensive research into Gulf War Illness, including some research into rehabilitative therapies for those veterans with persistent symptoms. There are no plans to fund any further research.

The MOD has no plans to issue guidance on treatment best practice to healthcare professionals or partners in the military charity sector in respect of veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf Conflict. Neither do we have any plans in January 2016 to communicate the findings of independent research on the 1990-91 Gulf Conflict, published in the UK or overseas, to UK veterans.

There is a wide range of support already available to veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf conflict. This can be accessed through MOD’s Veterans UK website and free help line.

January 1, 2023
Lord Blencathra – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Attorney General

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Blencathra on 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Keen of Elie on 19 February (HL5998), whether there are any circumstances under which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may alter the speed at which video evidence is shown in court, and if so, whether the CPS is obliged to inform the court that the speed of the video evidence has been altered.

Lord Keen of Elie

Video evidence is routinely examined in court during criminal trials either frame by frame or at different speeds in order to aid the court’s understanding. In the case of image stills, time stamps can be used to indicate the passage of time between images. Both defence and prosecution lawyers are under a professional duty not to mislead the court.

January 1, 2023
Daniel Kawczynski – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Kawczynski on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will commission a cost-benefit analysis on the potential benefit of extending the M54 to Shrewsbury on Shrewsbury and the surrounding area.

Andrew Jones

Highways England’s forthcoming work on the next iteration of their Route Strategies is the means of assessing pressures and needs and generating proposals across the entire strategic road network, including the M54 and A5. The Route Strategies will inform the preparation of the next Road Investment Strategy. Any specific proposals that require investment will of course need to be underpinned by a strong and clear business case.

January 1, 2023
Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-04-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether concessionary travel passes are available for drivers prevented from driving whilst their medical condition is being assessed.

Andrew Jones

The national disabled person’s concessionary travel pass is evidence based. Assessment of a person’s eligibility for a disabled person’s bus pass is conducted by local Travel Concession Authorities. Unless they deem the applicant to be automatically eligible, a pass will not be granted until evidence has been provided and where necessary an assessment has been completed. The Government issues guidance to assist them in doing this.

January 1, 2023
Charlotte Leslie – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Charlotte Leslie on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Camp Liberty, Iraq.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

We remain concerned about the residents of Camp Liberty. Our Embassy in Baghdad regularly raises this issue with the Government of Iraq and we support the United Nations’ calls for more to be done to protect residents. We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to relocate all the residents to safe third countries.

That being said, Monitors from the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) regularly visit Camp Liberty and issue daily reports which provide an update on the situation there. Their assessment remains that the provision of life support systems such as water, electricity and food continue to be well in excess of basic humanitarian standards. They have reported that the relocation of protective bunkers and installation of additional protective concrete walls, to increase the security and safety of the residents, has been completed. Iraqi government officials have reported that diesel tankers and trucks containing food and other supplies continue to routinely enter the camp, that residents continue to be referred to hospitals and that the clinic remains in operation. Residents’ representatives have confirmed this to be accurate.

January 1, 2023
Chris Elmore – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Elmore on 2016-07-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to ensure consistency in the length of intervals between awards of personal independence payments.

Penny Mordaunt

The assessment for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is designed to treat people as individuals, considering the impact of their impairment or health condition on their everyday life and how each claimant has personally adapted to living with a disability. The length of an award for PIP is based on the needs of the individual claimant and whether these are likely to change in the future, as a result, for example, of treatment or changes in their health condition.

The Department monitors all aspects of the PIP application process including the performance of the assessment providers, Atos Healthcare and Capita. The reports of Health Professionals who carry out assessments are subject to quality audit, to ensure accurate advice on the best time to review a case based on a claimant’s individual circumstances.

The PIP Assessment Guide for Health Professionals carrying out assessments includes guidance on how to determine the length of an award – Section 2.9 Prognosis (page 54) and 2.10 Review dates (page 56).

This guidance can be accessed on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449043/pip-assessment-guide.pdf

There is also guidance and information for DWP decision makers on how best to establish the length of an award.

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January 1, 2023