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Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • John Glen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    John Glen – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by John Glen on 2014-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the purpose is of NHS England’s review of specialised services commissioning; on what date the decision to commission the review was taken; when he expects the review to conclude; whether he intends to consult on the outcome of the review; and if he will make a statement.

    Jane Ellison

    Since April 2013, NHS England has been responsible for the commissioning of services that have been identified as specialised. NHS England’s role is to ensure that the National Health Service delivers better outcomes for patients requiring these specialised services in a consistent manner across the country.

    NHS England is committed to commissioning and planning a healthcare system that seeks to reduce health inequalities. In line with the UK Strategy for Rare Diseases, NHS England promotes equity of access to allow everyone with a rare disease to follow a clear, well defined care pathway, in order to achieve high quality services for every individual through integrated personal care plans. The aim is to ensure no one gets left behind just because they have a rare disease.

    NHS England has advised that the review of specialised services commissioning was initiated at the start of May and will run for an initial period of three months. Dr Paul Watson, Regional Director for the Midlands and East Region, is leading the specialised commissioning taskforce. National discussions took place at the end of April and the taskforce was established in April 2014 in order to make some immediate improvements to the way in which NHS England commissions specialised services, and to put commissioning arrangements on a stronger footing for the longer-term. This taskforce comprises of seven distinct work streams, which will focus on financial control in 2014-15, and planning for the 2015-16 commissioning round. The seven work streams each have a distinct portfolio of work, some of which is short-term, and some of which includes looking to the future and the development of a sustainable and effective model of specialised commissioning.

    Around 50 additional individuals, from different disciplines, have been drawn from across NHS England, coming together to support intensive, focussed attention in a number of these work streams.

    There are aspects of the work which will require engagement with clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). In consultation with the Commissioning Assembly, a specific working group has been established to enable the joint discussions with CCGs to take place. The first meeting of this group was on 4 July.

    NHS England advise that there are currently no plans to consult on the outcome of the work of the taskforce.

  • Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Frank Field – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Frank Field on 2014-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to the Answer of 25 June 2014, Official Report, column 210W, on human trafficking, how many calls in each of the years from 2011 to 2014 came from (a) victims, (b) other police forces, (c) the UK border force, (d) other professionals and (e) the public; and how many (i) traffickers were arrested and (ii) victims rescued as a result of information provided by those calls.

    Karen Bradley

    This information is recorded by the Trafficking and Kidnap Unit at the
    Metropolitan Police Service. The breakdown of data requested is only available
    from 2013 onwards. This is detailed in the tables below:

  • Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Timms – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2014-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what budget was set for the youth contract in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15.

    Esther McVey

    Following the Youth Contract launch in 2012-13, the Department has set the following budgets:

    12/13 – £260m

    13/14 – £196.3m

    14/15 – £183.8m

  • Stephen Lloyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Stephen Lloyd – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Lloyd on 2014-06-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many child support agency arrears cases are cases where there is no ongoing liability.

    Steve Webb

    At March 2014 there were 532,500 Child Support Agency cases which had arrears with no ongoing liability.

    Note: This includes cases administered on the 1993 and 2003 schemes only.

  • Lord Birt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Lord Birt – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Birt on 2014-06-27.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the ratio of the aggregated value of sovereign, corporate and personal debt to gross domestic product is higher in the United Kingdom than in other leading economies.

    Lord Deighton

    The aggregate value of general government, non-financial corporations and household sector debt (as a proportion of GDP) for all G7 countries are shown below:

    Country

    Debt as a proportion of GDP in 2012

    Canada

    347%

    France

    335%

    Germany

    248%

    Italy

    329%

    Japan

    476%

    UK

    309%

    US

    320%
  • Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Angus Robertson – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Angus Robertson on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much of the £1.2 billion underspend in his Department’s equipment budget in 2012-13 arose as a result of programme slippage; what programmes were behind schedule; and for what reason those programmes were behind schedule.

    Mr Philip Dunne

    Our analysis of the £1.2 billion underspend in 2012-13 in our equipment programme shows that it has been caused by a combination of factors, including better than expected outcomes from contract negotiations; budget being allocated for risks that did not materialise; and the impact of programme slippage against plans.

    A detailed analysis of programme slippage by programme is not currently available, but further work to improve our detailed understanding of variations against planned spending patterns and the implications for project costs in future years is nearing completion.

    Due to our improved financial discipline the Treasury have allowed us to carry over in-year underspends into our future year budgets. The last National Audit Office Major Projects Report showed an 88% reduction in overall project delays.

    We now have the assurance of a stable and well managed budget and confidence that defence programmes are affordable and deliverable.

  • Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    Maria Eagle – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to expand the training provided by the Badger Vaccination Deployment Project.

    George Eustice

    We are working with our Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency to consider training needs and how these can be met, building on lessons from the Badger Vaccination Deployment Project. Announcements on this will be made in due course.

  • Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nadine Dorries – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nadine Dorries on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure the same standard of care across the country for those diagnosed with prostate cancer.

    Jane Ellison

    To help reduce regional variations, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is increasingly incorporating information from accreditation and peer review programmes into its assessments of National Health Service trusts’ services, including the National Cancer Peer Review Programme. The CQC also intends to use data from the national clinical audit which is being developed for prostate cancer. In addition, national statistics on waiting times experienced by patients with suspected and diagnosed cancers continue to be collected, monitored and published in order to improve equity of access to cancer services and to contribute to an improvement in survival rates.

    The results of the latest national Cancer Patient Experience Survey (CPES) from 2013 show that, whilst variations between trusts still exist, the overall range of variation for many indicators has narrowed. For example, in 2010 the proportion of patients saying that they had been given the name of a Clinical Nurse Specialist ranged from 92% in the highest performing trust to 59% in the poorest performing trust (33 points); by 2013 this had reduced to 97% to 76% (21 points).

    NHS Improving Quality (NHS IQ) will be doing a suite of work across all surveys to understand what the barriers are to implementing change and to showcase best practice where real improvements can be demonstrated.

    NHS England is working with NHS IQ to develop better ways of using the CPES data within the NHS in order to maximise the impact of the survey, to be able to work with successful and struggling organisations to spread best practice for example.

  • Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Gregory Campbell – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the NSPCC’s Order In Court campaign seeking change changes to the way the criminal justice system treats children.

    Damian Green

    The Ministry of Justice is committed to protecting and supporting child witnesses to help give their best evidence. In doing so, we have equipped the majority of Crown Courts and Magistrates Courts with facilities to enable vulnerable witnesses to give evidence by secure video link from an alternative location to the trial court. We are exploring ways to increase the use of video links, including in cases involving vulnerable and intimidated victims and witnesses.

    We are also working with other criminal justice agencies to improve the uptake of Registered Intermediaries for child and other vulnerable witnesses. I am grateful to the NSPCC, whose campaign will assist in raising awareness.

    Specialist training for judges is the responsibility of the judiciary and the Judicial College.

  • James Arbuthnot – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    James Arbuthnot – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by James Arbuthnot on 2014-06-26.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department’s responsibility is for long range search and rescue at sea.

    Stephen Hammond

    The UK’s responsibilities for search and rescue are set out in Annex 12 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the Maritime Search and Rescue Convention. The Convention of the High Seas and the International Convention on the Safety of Life at Sea are also relevant. All four Conventions ask that the Department for Transport establish arrangements for search and rescue in the United Kingdom’s Search and Rescue Region and formalises international cooperation with neighbouring states by agreeing common response plans and the sharing of resources. The Conventions also compel ships’ masters to render assistance to those in distress at sea. The UK’s responsibility for search and rescue responsibilities extends out to 30º west in latitude and covers some 1 million square miles. The Department for Transport discharges this responsibility on behalf of the Government.