The below Parliamentary question was asked by Michelle Donelan on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether it is planned that the Government’s childhood obesity strategy will include measures restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
Jane Ellison
Our Childhood Obesity Strategy, which will be launched in the summer, will look at everything that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese. It will set out what more can be done by all.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to devolve to Scotland the areas of law and policy on the environment formerly dealt with by the EU after the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.
George Eustice
Until we leave the EU, current arrangements for farming, fisheries, food and drink, rural affairs and our environment remain in place. Defra will continue to ensure the right policies are in place for a cleaner, healthier environment for everyone.
We are now preparing to negotiate our exit. Defra officials will be working with the new Department for Exiting the European Union to look at future support for the environment. The Government will work very closely with the Devolved Administrations, Parliament, and a wide range of other interested parties on this approach.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-10-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of proposed changes to pharmacy funding on (a) patients accessing services distant from where they live and (b) working age adults who travel considerable distance to work.
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 Anne-Marie Trevelyan on 2015-11-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the benefits of teaching first aid in schools on public health outcomes.
Edward Timpson
This Government believes that the teaching of first aid skills is important. The Department for Education works closely with expert organisations such as the Red Cross and St John Ambulance who provide learning materials to schools, including life-saving training kits produced by the British Heart Foundation. These kits provide young people with first-hand experience of life-saving skills and we have promoted the use of these via the termly school email and social media channels.
How first aid is provided is up to teachers and is taught as part of personal, social, health and economic (PHSE) education in schools. In line with the continued drive to reduce bureaucracy and burdens on schools, we do not ask schools to routinely collect data on this.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-12-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to encourage British Muslims to join the armed forces to tackle ISIL.
Penny Mordaunt
The Ministry of Defence is working up plans to meet the Government’s commitment to increase the number of black, Asian, ethnic minority (BAME) recruits into the Armed Forces to 10% by 2020, and have allocated additional resources for this purpose.
Diversity and inclusion is a Defence Board priority and we recognise that there are challenges we need to address and we are engaging with all communities that are under-represented in the Armed Forces to consider ways and means of doing so.
Some examples of actions we have taken that are aimed at increasing BAME, including Muslim, recruitment are:
Highlighting the benefits of a career in the Armed Forces including the ability to develop a trade or gain professional skills; as well as being a force for good, for example through conducting humanitarian operations.
Trying to build mutual understanding between the Armed Forces and local communities including highlighting the role that Muslims have played in operations from World War One to the present day.
Tackling the perception that there are no role models for Muslims in the Armed Forces.
The Armed Forces have recently (October 2015) won two of the seven awards being presented at the Race for Opportunity Awards. The Armed Forces Muslim Association, of which the Chief of Defence Staff is patron, won the Public Sector Employee Network Award and the Royal Air Force won the Future Workforce Award for their STEM/Employability Skills programme.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rehman Chishti on 2016-01-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions have been made under Article 222 of the Air Navigation Order 2009 since that order came into force.
Andrew Selous
The number of offenders found guilty at all courts for offences under article 22 of the Air Navigation Order 2009, in England and Wales, from 2009 t0 2014 (latest available) can be viewed in the attached table.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2016-02-10.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, (a) how many and (b) what proportion of the doctors applying to Round 1 for Speciality Training posts commencing in the period August to December 2016 applied directly from Foundation Year Two.
Ben Gummer
The information is not currently available. Analysis of training application numbers is carried out by Health Education England (HEE) once recruitment rounds have been completed. HEE will publish the data once this work is complete via the UK Foundation Programme Office (UK FPO) annual reports.
The 2015 annual report is available on the UK FPO Website:
http://www.foundationprogramme.nhs.uk/download.asp?file=FP_Annual_Report_2015_-_FINAL.pdf
The appointments to specialty or general practice are self-declared by the doctors in response to the survey and are not verified against recruitment data.
Whilst the survey is a fairly accurate predictor of the destination of doctors who have completed foundation training the figures are not intended to be an accurate employment record.
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dame Angela Watkinson on 2016-03-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what arrangements are in place to (a) record and (b) inspect small yachts arriving from Europe at marinas on the UK coastline.
James Brokenshire
Inspection of vessels by is undertaken by Border Force on a case by case basis depending on the intelligence held and the level of assessed risk.
Border Force operates an intelligence led and risk assessed approach to managing the maritime border. This allows Border Force to provide effective border controls up and down the country. Border Force maintains close working relationships with law enforcement partners and related agencies who also use an intelligence-led approach in accordance with assessments of known and inferred risk.
Border Force shares information on possible subjects of interest with EU law enforcement partners and continues to work very closely with them to enable real time interventions where appropriate.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kevin Brennan on 2016-04-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether employers who pay the proposed apprenticeship levy and provide training will be able to use levy vouchers in their own organisations.
Nick Boles
Employers will be free to spend levy money on apprenticeships training which they judge best meets their needs. If the employer is a registered training provider, they could use the levy money on in-house training which meets the required quality standards for an apprenticeship.
Where an employer wishes to provide their own in-house training, they must be registered on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Training Organisations. All providers are subject to inspection and reports by Ofsted on apprenticeship training provision.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Murray on 2016-05-26.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures are in place to ensure that the appropriate health services, mental health services and sexual health services are available to asylum seekers dispersed to (a) current dispersal areas, (b) new dispersal areas and (c) Scotland.
James Brokenshire
The Home Office maintains an active partnership with local governments across the UK, including those in Scotland, and funds Strategic Migration Partnerships to plan for the most appropriate dispersal of asylum seekers. The partnerships consider the impact on communities and local services so that adjustments to dispersal patterns can be made where appropriate.
Free access to NHS healthcare is provided to asylum seekers. Asylum Health Teams are commissioned by NHS England and Scotland to provide healthcare and screening. Strategic Migration Partnerships work with Care Commissioning Groups to plan for the health care needs of asylum seekers in their regions.
All children are entitled to free primary and secondary education. To enable access to education, internal checks are in place to triage applications involving children of school age for priority dispersal into permanent accommodation. Strategic Migration Partnerships discuss education provision as part of their local authority engagement. Asylum seekers are able to access legal advice via the Legal Aid system and are provided details of local solicitors as part of their induction into their dispersal region.
Local authorities are consulted before asylum seekers are placed in their area, so that the potential impact on communities and local services is fully considered. During discussions on widening dispersal in Scotland we are and will continue to ensure that Local Authority leads and partners on health and education, as well as the Scottish Government and the Scottish Law Society, are involved to address any concerns and to ensure the close and successful partnership working in Glasgow is replicated elsewhere.