Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department makes available for young people diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.

    David Mowat

    Crohn’s Disease Management in Adults, Children and Young People, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in October 2012, sets out best practice guidance for clinicians and commissioners in the diagnosis, treatment care and support of patients with Crohn’s disease. The guidance includes a number of specific recommendations concerning young people such as the need to offer age-appropriate multidisciplinary support to deal with any concerns about the disease and its treatment, including concerns about body image, living with a chronic illness, and attending school and higher education.

  • Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Kyle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Kyle on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether any patients in Hove constituency were put at risk as a result of the South East Coast Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust’s project relating to the prioritisation of NHS 111 calls in winter 2014-15.

    Jane Ellison

    Departmental officials were first notified of a project which was run between December 2014 and February 2015 in the south of England on 23 October 2015 by Monitor, the independent health sector regulator.

    We are advised that Monitor is taking action with South East Coast Ambulance Service Foundation Trust regarding concerns about the project and the regulator is working with the Trust now to identify the negative impact this project could have had on patients. It is Monitor’s function to undertaken such investigations independently of the Department where there are no immediate patient safety issues. Monitor and Departmental officials regularly discuss such issues on a routine basis.

    As part of regulatory action, Monitor advises it has asked the trust to carry out a detailed independent review of the impact the project had on patients. Monitor has asked the Trust to do this with the help of an external expert, who the regulator will select. The full details of what the review will look at and how long it will take are being worked on by the trust and Monitor, including consideration of publication of the review finding.

    In March, NHS England convened a risk summit meeting involving all partners following the suspension by South East Coast Ambulance Service of their unofficial call-handling project. It was agreed that NHS England would undertake an external investigation. The report of the investigation was published by NHS England today and is attached.

  • Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Lord Kennedy of Southwark – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Kennedy of Southwark on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have made no assessment of the number of people experiencing food insecurity.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    There is no single definition of food insecurity. The factors that impact on household food security are complex. There are multiple indicators such as quality, variety and desirability of diet as well as total intake, not all of which are measured consistently. It is therefore very difficult and potentially misleading to attempt to develop a single classification of food insecurity.

    Defra publishes statistics annually to show the proportion of household income spent on food by (a) all households and (b) the lowest income 20% of households.The most recent statistics are in the Food Statistics Pocketbook 2015 on the GOV.UK website.

  • Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    Tom Blenkinsop – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what estimate her Department has made of the whole system costs of different energy technologies; and when that information will be published.

    Andrea Leadsom

    Quantifying the whole system impacts of electricity technologies is a complex exercise which requires sophisticated electricity system modelling. In order to build on previous internal analysis quantifying system costs for some electricity technologies, DECC has commissioned a project titled: Whole System Impacts of Electricity Generation Technologies.

    This project will improve DECC’s internal electricity system modelling capability to better capture the costs and benefits of all generation technologies on the whole electricity system. It will also allow a better representation of the dynamics behind these costs and benefits, in particular how they vary over time and with the background electricity mix.

    This project is currently ongoing and given the complex modelling involved, it requires a rigorous quality assurance process to ensure the analysis is robust. We are aiming to complete the project in the first half of 2016, and will publish the results as soon as possible.

  • Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Brendan O’Hara – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Brendan O’Hara on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what definition his Department use of the term exigency of duty.

    Mark Lancaster

    The Ministry of Defence Police policy on overtime working states that:

    "Exigencies of Duty should be interpreted as relating to situations where there is an unavoidable operational need, which necessitates a change of rostered duties".

  • Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Simon Hart – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Hart on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is possible for prisoners to start their universal credit application so that it is processed and ready to be applied when they are released.

    Priti Patel

    Prisoners are supported and advised whilst in prison on which benefits they can claim and how to make a claim and we are developing arrangements to enable them to make advance claims to Universal Credit.

    Appropriate support measures for prison leavers with mental health issues will be considered following the initial claim interview.

    Universal Credit is assessed and paid calendar monthly in arrears. Prison leavers will receive payment within the timescale of 5 weeks from the date of claim.

    Prison leavers who are in financial need can apply for an advance payment of up to 50% of their total Universal Credit award following their initial interview.

    The information requested in relation to the timescales for applications is not readily available for publication. To quality assure this information according to the standards of the UK Statistics Authority would incur disproportionate costs.

  • Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Sarah Wollaston – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether, when considering whether to acquire a bulk personal dataset from another government department under the Investigatory Powers Bill, she plans to consult the Secretary of State for that department.

    Mike Penning

    The Investigatory Powers Bill provides for robust and transparent safeguards relating to the security and intelligence agencies’ use of bulk personal datasets (BPDs). This includes a new requirement for warrants to authorise the retention and examination of BPDs. The Bill provides for both class BPD warrants, covering datasets of a particular class, and specific BPD warrants, covering an individual dataset. The draft statutory Code of Practice provides further guidance on the factors that the security and intelligence agencies should consider in determining which type of warrant to apply for. These include whether the nature or the provenance of the dataset raises particularly novel or contentious issues; whether it contains a significant component of intrusive data; and whether it contains a significant component of confidential information relating to members of sensitive professions. All warrants will be subject to the ‘double-lock’ safeguard meaning that they will be subject to approval by both a Secretary of State and a Judicial Commissioner.

  • The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The Marquess of Lothian – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Marquess of Lothian on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children and teenagers in the UK were referred to NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in each of the last five years; how many children and teenagers in each of those years received treatment; and how many did not.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Health is a devolved service and this answer relates only to England.

    The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) advises that it does not currently hold data to answer the questions asked. However, it has been capturing child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) data since January 2016 within the new Mental Health Services Data Set. On 20 April 2016 it published the first month (January 2016) of data from this new data source on a select number of measures it developed and quality assured to a certain level with the help of stakeholders, although these data remain experimental and could be subject to change.

    As at 31 January 2016, there were 104,480 people in contact with CAMHS. HSCIC is currently unable to identify those who are already receiving treatment and those who are awaiting assessment.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to make Personal Health Budgets available for the provision of wheelchairs; what arrangements they plan to put in place for wheelchair users; and whether the funding stream will be managed centrally and independently from local wheelchair service budgets.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    In May 2016, Simon Stevens announced that NHS England would be developing a personal health budgets model for the provision of wheelchairs. This work is in the early stages of development.

    The intention is to introduce personal wheelchair budgets from April 2017, to cover everyone who accesses the current wheelchair voucher scheme. This includes those with both low level and complex wheelchair requirements.

    Personal health budgets are not about new money but about using existing budgets differently. Therefore the budget will continue to be held at a local level.

    NHS England is working with a number of clinical commissioning group clusters to develop guidance on the delivery model. This work will cover care planning, information support and advice for wheelchair users, budget setting (using learning from the development of the Wheelchair Tariff where appropriate) and review. The guidance will be available in advance of the start of roll out in April 2017.

  • Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Deidre Brock – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Deidre Brock on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to seek to prohibit (a) non-UK-registered and (b) non-UK-owned fishing vessels from fishing within (i) UK territorial waters and (ii) the UK fisheries limits after the UK’s exit from the EU.

    George Eustice

    Exit from the EU presents us with an opportunity under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea to improve the way in which waters within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone are managed. Defra officials will be working with the new Department for Exiting the European Union, Devolved Administrations and stakeholders to develop proposals that will allow the UK to best take advantage of this opportunity.