Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Justin Madders – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Madders on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether meeting notes, correspondence and plans produced by the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprint leadership teams are included within the remit of clinical commissioning groups in their capacity as public authorities for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000; and if he will place in the Library a list of contacts for each footprint area.

    George Freeman

    Every health and care system in England is producing a multi-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), showing how local services will evolve and become sustainable over the next five years – ultimately delivering the Five Year Forward View vision of better health, better patient care and improved NHS efficiency. Freedom of Information (FoI) requests would be responded to in line with the FoI Act. It is the intention is to publish STPs once they are final and agreed. Organisations within footprints such as clinical commissioning groups will adhere to their own local governance and engagement arrangements.

    The list of Footprint leads is attached and also contained on the NHS England website:

    https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/03/leaders-confirmed/

  • Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Ruth Smeeth – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Smeeth on 2016-09-06.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many prosecutions of community amateur sports clubs for operating incorrectly there have been in the last two years.

    Jane Ellison

    Rather than prosecute Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs) for operating incorrectly, any club that does not meet the new regulations, introduced in April 2015, will be de-registered by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and assessed for potential Capital Gains Tax charges on the deemed disposal and acquisition of assets.

    Statistics are not kept on former CASCs that set up a charity that they subsequently register with HMRC. These new charities are required to simply register the charity with HMRC in the normal way.

  • David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    David Crausby – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Crausby on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time for a final decision on a visitor’s visa application was in each of the last five years.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    Published data on visa processing times is available from the Home Office website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data

  • Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Norman Lamb – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Norman Lamb on 2015-11-05.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with the Chief Executive of NHS England on introducing new access and waiting time standards for mental health services.

    Alistair Burt

    NHS England (NHSE) and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health published on 3 August 2015, a commissioning guide for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that will set out how to implement the access and waiting time standard for children and young people with an eating disorder. The standard will be refined for implementation from 2017–18. From 2017, NHSE will set a minimum proportion of young people referred for assessment or treatment that are expected to receive treatment within the standard’s timeframe.

    We expect that the Mental Health Taskforce report and Mental Health Five Year Forward View will set a plan for developing appropriate pathways and we will work with NHSE to agree next steps.

    Departmental Ministers meet with the Chief Executive of NHS England regularly and discuss a wide range of issues, including access and waiting time standards for mental health services.

    CCGs do not receive a specific allocation for mental health services, but are required to allocate funds as appropriate to all the services that they are responsible for commissioning. For 2015/16, CCGs received increases in allocations in total of 3.7%, though the increase varied for each CCG.

    In the planning guidance for 2015/16, NHS England asked that all CCGs increase their spend on mental health by at least as much as their overall increase in allocation.

    In total, CCGs have set plans for 2015/16 which reflect an increase in mental health care expenditure which exceeds the increase in their allocation.

  • Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nick Thomas-Symonds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nick Thomas-Symonds on 2015-12-03.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what arrangements his Department plans to put in place for new patients who wish to access drugs included in the Risk Sharing Scheme for the supply of disease modifying treatments for multiple sclerosis, glatiramer acetate and beta interferon after funding for that scheme ceases.

    George Freeman

    Colleagues are in discussion with NHS England colleagues to plan for a smooth transition from the end of the Scheme in England, and with colleagues in the Devolved Administrations in respect of Multiple Sclerosis services in their countries.

  • Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Alison Thewliss – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison Thewliss on 2016-01-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to offer a discounted rate for dependents who apply for a Certificate of Entitlement for Right of Abode in the UK.

    James Brokenshire

    This Government has no plans to offer discounted rates for such dependants.

    Income from application fees helps provide the resources necessary to operate the immigration system, with the remainder of funding provided through general taxation. The Government’s aim is to reduce the overall contribution of funding that comes from general taxation.

  • Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Baroness Crawley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Crawley on 2016-02-02.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their review into Trading Standards, first announced on 10 July 2015 as part of their report into productivity Fixing the foundations: Creating a more prosperous nation.

    Baroness Neville-Rolfe

    The Government is still considering the issues raised during this review and will respond in due course.

  • Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jim McMahon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McMahon on 2016-02-29.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much the Government plans to provide each local authority to meet the cost of planned changes to national insurance.

    Mr Marcus Jones

    All new Government policies which impact on local government are assessed for whether they will represent a new burden on local authorities, against the criteria published in the New Burdens guidance. The New Burdens doctrine does not apply to policies which apply the same rules to local authorities and to private sector bodies, such as the apprenticeships levy, the national living wage and changes to national insurance. The guidance is available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-burdens-doctrine-guidance-for-government-departments.

    In setting the future funding settlement for local government at the Spending Review in November 2015, the Government took account of a wide range of factors, including some which fell outside the New Burdens doctrine but nonetheless represented new costs for local authorities such as the apprenticeships levy, the national living wage and changes to national insurance.

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will issue guidance to schools on the terminology used for children who do not reach the national standard grade under the proposed reforms to Key Stage 2.

    Nick Gibb

    Schools have been informed that pupil outcomes will be described as meeting or not meeting the expected standard in the Key Stage 2 (KS2) tests. Pupils who do not meet the expected standard in the teacher assessment of writing will be awarded one of a number of standards: Foundations for the expected standard, Early development of the expected standard, Growing development of the expected standard or Working towards the expected standard. The Standards and Testing Agency will provide additional guidance on scaled scores in July 2016.

    Schools are required to report to parents of year 6 children their child’s scaled scores for the KS2 tests; whether they have met the expected standard or not; and their teacher assessed standards for English writing, English reading, mathematics and science. Schools are also required to give parents more general information about the child’s achievements, general progress and attendance record. This is intended to give a more comprehensive view of a child’s overall achievements at the end of the key stage than just their attainment in the national curriculum assessments. The Department does not prescribe the terminology to be used in these reports.

    We expect schools to ensure that children’s achievements are reported in a professional and appropriate manner.

  • Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-04-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Assembly on increasing connectivity with Northern Ireland through expansion of Heathrow.

    Mr Robert Goodwill

    There have been no recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Assembly on increasing connectivity with Northern Ireland through expansion of Heathrow.