The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on treatment of chronic bronchitis through the freezing of lungs.
Jane Ellison
There have been no such discussions.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-07-19.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into the collapse of the Uniting Care Partnership Contract in Cambridge and Peterborough, whether they intend to hold to account (1) the Strategic Projects Team, (2) Monitor, and (3) NHS England, for the failings identified in the NAO’s report.
Lord Prior of Brampton
The Department welcomes the National Audit Office (NAO) report. Decisions about the Strategic Projects Team (SPT) are, however, for NHS England. Following an internal review and the NAO report, NHS England identified concerns about the work of the SPT. As a result, the SPT will close and all its ongoing commitments will be reviewed with a view to bringing them to a conclusion.
NHS Improvement advises that it also welcomes the NAO report and is working closely with NHS England and the Department to consider assurance processes for such complex transactions. NHS Improvement further advises that its focus since May has been liaison with the NAO on its report and joint consideration with NHS England of the assurance issues raised.
NHS England confirms that the NAO investigation supports the findings of its previously published independent review. Before the NAO investigation, NHS England had already commissioned a follow-up review focusing on the role of external advisors, the effectiveness of the Gateway review process, and the role of the clinical commissioning group leadership and governing body. This work continues and NHS England expects to publish findings later this summer.
More widely, NHS England has been undertaking assessments of current and planned novel contracts and is developing an assurance framework for contracts of this sort. This is being informed by the findings of the Uniting Care reviews.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve Double on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the likely effect on accident and emergency services of the proposed changes to the pharmacy funding formula.
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.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Owen Smith on 2015-11-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons expenditure on personal tax credits has increased since 2009.
Damian Hinds
The OBR’s Welfare Trends Report 2014 sets out how historical spending changes have been driven by, for example, changes to caseloads and average awards.
As it sets out, policy decisions between 2003 and 2009 increased the caseload of tax credit claimants and increased discretionary uprating of the child element, contributing to expenditure as a percentage of GDP increasing from 1.1% in 2003/04 to 1.9% in 2009/10.
By 2010, 9 out of 10 families with children were eligible for tax credits. Reforms under the Coalition government decreased this to 6 out of 10.
http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/wordpress/docs/Welfare_trends_report_2014_dn2B.pdf
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Greg Mulholland on 2015-12-17.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the cost is to the public purse of Deloittes’ consultancy services on helping to develop commissioning policies for drugs to treat ultra-rare diseases.
George Freeman
There is no contract with Deloittes’ consultancy services for developing policies for drugs to treat ultra-rare diseases.
However, as part of NHS England’s wider responsibilities to directly commission specialised services, NHS England has a significant clinical commissioning policy work programme which enables the development and publication of fair and equitable eligibility criteria for specialised treatments for patients across England, based on a review of the latest evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness.
In order to provide support to this programme, NHS England awarded a contract to Deloitte in September 2015 to provide support to the lead clinicians and patients undertaking this work. The level of support, analysis and review work varies, but the cost of developing a policy from start to finish, using the support of the Deloitte contract, is around £33,000.
Deloitte will not be making any decisions on NHS England’s commissioning policies, accessing any patient or commercially sensitive data or accessing any privileged information about specific drugs or treatments. Furthermore, all policies, whether developed solely with support from NHS England staff, or with project support from Deloitte, will be subject to the same assurance and scrutiny requirements and will considered for adoption in the same way by NHS England.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Louise Haigh on 2016-01-27.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many consultants employed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP provided consultancy support for independent shared service centres; for how long those consultants were so engaged; what remit those consultants were given; and what the findings of those consultants’ work were.
Matthew Hancock
No consultants from Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP (PwC) have been employed during this parliament by the Cabinet Office to support independent shared services centres.
Cabinet Office employed a small team of consultants from PwC to provide commercial support to the ISSC2 programme during financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15. On average numbers ranged between 2 and 7 consultants.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-19.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the fall in China’s foreign currency reserves on the UK economy.
Harriett Baldwin
China’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen over the past year, down $582.5bn since the start of 2015. However, the stock of reserves still remains sizeable, standing at $3.23 trillion. The UK’s exports to China have increased by 85% since 2010 but are still only 5% of total UK trade.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2016-03-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the planned duration is of the appointment of Rachel Sandby-Thomas as shadow CEO of the Institute for Apprenticeships.
Nick Boles
The appointment of Rachel Sandby-Thomas as shadow CEO will commence on 4th April 2016 and will continue through to the launch of the Institute for Apprenticeships when arrangements will be made to appoint on a permanent basis.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2016-04-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget.
Alistair Burt
Data on recipients of personal health budgets is collected from clinical commissioning groups on a voluntary basis. Numbers are not currently collected for specific conditions so an estimate cannot be made on the number of people with autism who are in receipt of a personal health budget. NHS England is exploring options for formal data collection on personal health budgets and consideration is being given to the cohorts of recipients that will be included in this data collection.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the medical exemption criteria for determining prescription charges is suitable to allow for the changing nature and improving prognosis of many medical conditions.
Alistair Burt
The process for determining entitlement to a medical exemption is suitable for purpose, and takes account of whether someone continues to meet the criteria. We do not have any plans to make any amendments to the list of medical conditions which provide exemption from the prescription charge.