The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trust chief executives have become private sector consultants after leaving that post.
Ben Gummer
We do not hold information on the employment of chief executives after they have left the National Health Service.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2016-03-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Annual Report of the National Clinical Audit for Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis, published on 22 January 2016, what plans his Department has to introduce national measurements for rheumatology services for commissioners and NHS England to inform service design and funding.
Jane Ellison
National Clinical Audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). The first annual report of the national clinical audit of rheumatoid and early inflammatory arthritis was published on 22 January 2016. The report identifies that although most services offer prompt educational support and agree targets for treatment with their patients, performance against criteria for referral and assessment could be improved. Since the audit, HQIP has reported that a number of trusts have successfully reconfigured their services in order to improve patient care.
In terms of plans to introduce national measurements for rheumatology services, NHS England’s National Indicators Group is reviewing service level metrics that could provide commissioners with assurance in this area. NHS England will also review whether a new best practice tariff in rheumatoid arthritis could be developed, subject to suitable data being available.
The Department is currently taking a number of steps to improve the systems for capturing, coding and integrating data from National Health Service outpatient clinics. For example, where trusts have identified local requirements for improving the capture of information, including for outpatient data, funds have been made available for improved electronic systems through the Integrated Digital Care Fund and the South Local Clinical Systems Programmes. This includes for improvements to patient administration, patient records, and document management systems which will help the recording and accessing of data at the point of care.
Going forward, through the work of the National Information Board, the Department is taking the following steps to improve the systems for capturing, coding and integrating data from NHS outpatient clinics:
– supporting providers to implement technology systems further in outpatient departments where they do not already exist, to collect better data and become paper free at the point of care. £1.4 billion of the recently announced investment of £4.2 billion in NHS technology over the next five years is intended for this purpose;
– examining the potential to move outpatient departments to capture activity in a standardised terminology (SNOMED CT) so it may be available elsewhere in the hospital and to support reporting and clinical audit. SNOMED CT includes representation of codes pertaining to rheumatoid and inflammatory arthritis that are generally well-developed; and
– In 2017/18, expanding the a current programme of work which is looking information exchange for inpatient transfers, to cover other care domains including the exchange of outpatient information between acute trusts and patients’ general practitioners.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-04-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the minimum standards required to practice as a care worker are; and what steps he is taking to ensure online training courses in care work are regularly assessed and adequate to meet those requirements.
Ben Gummer
All providers of health or adult social care activities that fall under the supervision of the Care Quality Commission have a legal duty to ensure that all staff working to provide those activities have the qualifications, competence, skills and experience necessary for the work to be performed.
Health and social care support workers should meet the Care Certificate standards. The Certificate comprises 15 standards that cover the fundamental skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required to provide safe, effective and compassionate care.
The Care Certificate contains practical components that must be completed. There are a number of online commercial Care Certificate training products that do not make this clear. Health Education England and Skills for Care are working on online training materials to provide a free-of-charge and authoritative alternative to the current commercial offerings.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anne Main on 2016-05-20.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what operational contingency plan his Department has made in the event of the UK leaving the EU.
Michael Fallon
None.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of the foreign aid budget was given directly to the governments of recipient nations in each of the last three years.
Sir Desmond Swayne
Direct financial aid to governments of recipient nations constituted 14%, 12% and 9% of DFID’s total programme expenditure for years 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15 respectively. These are the three most recent years for which this data is currently available. General Budget Support reduced from 2.2% to 0.5% of DFID’s total programme expenditure over the same period.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Edward Argar on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans the Government has to replicate the system of Historic Environment Records used in Wales in England.
Tracey Crouch
In England local planning authorities are required to have regard to the terms of the National Planning Policy Framework, which indicates that they should either maintain or have access to an Historical Environment Records (HER).
The Heritage Information Access Strategy (HIAS) programme intends to secure an improved and more cost effective approach to handling digital historic environment data, especially that held by local authority Historic Environment Records. It is intended to improve the accessibility of that information and work with HERs to become more user focused. As part of HIAS Historic England will continue to champion the development, maintenance and implementation of standards for the creation, management and storage of digital historic environment data.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Patrick Grady on 2015-11-18.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Transport for London on the ability of its ticket machines to accept banknotes issued by Scottish banks.
Mr Robert Goodwill
The Secretary of State has not had any discussions with Transport for London (TfL) on the ability of its ticket machines to accept banknotes issued by Scottish banks.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2015-12-10.
To ask the Attorney General, how many alleged human traffickers have been prosecuted by the CPS as a result of calls made to the NSPCC human trafficking and modern slavery helpline between July 2014 and June 2015.
Robert Buckland
In the last financial year the CPS successfully prosecuted 130 human trafficking cases. However, the CPS does not record how an allegation of human trafficking or modern slavery was brought to the attention of the investigative authorities.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-01-21.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the reasons are for the delay in transferring his Department’s Transactional Bulk Print Services contract to Williams Lea from the current provider, Hewlett Packard, originally scheduled for February 2015; what the revised timetable is for that transfer; what assessment he has made of potential risks to service delivery arising from loss of key staff as a result of that delay; and what contingency plans his Department has prepared to mitigate such risks.
Justin Tomlinson
The DWP Print service will transfer to Williams Lea on 31st March 2016. All staff currently working on Print within Hewlett Packard (HP) will transfer over on this date via TUPE unless they have decided to opt out and accept alternative positions within HP prior to the date of transfer. All staff have been informed and consultation is actively underway in line with legislative requirements.
In terms of contractual obligations, Williams Lea are obligated to transfer the service over by 31st March 2016. Williams Lea remain on track to meet their transfer date obligation and no service disruption is anticipated.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost to the NHS has been of supporting a patient on dialysis in each of the last three years.
Jane Ellison
The information is not available in the format requested.
National Health Service reference costs are the average unit costs to NHS hospital trusts of providing defined services to patients in a given year. Reference costs for acute care are published by healthcare resource group (HRG), which are standard groupings of similar treatments that use similar resources. The HRGs describe renal dialysis activity for the treatment of chronic kidney disease and acute kidney injury separately. NHS reference costs data for each of the years requested can be found at the following links:
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