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 2016-01-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the financial monitoring and accounts returns submitted to his Department, what the (a) year to date and (b) forecast outturn spend is in each NHS (i) trust and (ii) foundation trust on total agency nursing costs, excluding outsourced bank, in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority have confirmed that they plan to publish data on the implementation of the agency caps in coming months.

  • Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Kelvin Hopkins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kelvin Hopkins on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the end-dates are of his Department’s contracts with Hewlett Packard Enterprise; which such contracts he plans to extend, for what reasons and to what dates; and if he will make a statement.

    Justin Tomlinson

    The Department has four contracts with Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Application Development and Application Maintenance & Support – these two contracts expired on 29/02/2016 and an extension has been agreed to 28/02/2018. Hosting – this contract runs till 23/02/2018. Desktop – this contract runs till 08/01/2017. DWP future contracting plans are commercially sensitive. The Department is progressing its strategy to deliver its technology requirements, and this includes both in-house services, and externally provided services sourced through procurement exercises using open competitions under the EU Procurement Directives and call-off competitions under Government Frameworks.

  • 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 2016-03-15.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to address historic allegations of mistreatment of whistleblowers in the NHS.

    Ben Gummer

    The Department supports the right of staff working in the National Health Service to raise concerns and expects all NHS organisations to support staff in raising concerns. We expect all NHS organisations to adopt the national whistleblowing policy for the NHS as a minimum standard, which will be published by NHS Improvement and NHS England next month, and comply with the Employment Rights Act 1996, as amended by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.

    A regulation-making power was included in the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 to prohibit discrimination against whistleblowers (or applicants believed by the prospective employer to have been whistleblowers) when they apply for jobs with prescribed NHS employers. The Department is aiming to consult shortly on draft regulations to implement this power.

    NHS England, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority are currently developing a support scheme for NHS workers and former NHS workers, whose performance is sound and who can demonstrate that they are having difficulty finding employment in the NHS as a result of having made protected disclosures. This scheme will be piloted in the next financial year.

  • Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-04-12.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many Looked After Children were (a) referred to mental health services and (b) accepted for treatment by mental health services in each of the last five years.

    Alistair Burt

    This data has not been collected centrally. However, in February this year for the first time the Health and Social Care Information Centre began collecting a range of data about children and young people’s use of secondary mental health services via the new Mental Health Services Dataset. This includes data on whether children and young people using services are looked-after. Data quality and quantity will take time to build, but we expect a range of national reports to be developed during the course of 2016.

  • 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 2016-05-19.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the (a) year-to-date and (b) forecast out-turn spend is in each NHS (i) trust and (ii) foundation trust on total agency nursing costs, excluding outsourced bank, in 2015-16.

    Alistair Burt

    Last year the Government introduced a series of tough financial controls to help the National Health Service tackle overspending on expensive agency staff. Although, it is not possible to provide the information requested by individual NHS trust or foundation trust, NHS Improvement has confirmed that a total of £3.64 billion was spent on agency and contract staff in 2015-16. This represents a saving of £300 million to the NHS, which had been on course to spend up to £4 billion prior to the controls being put in place.

    NHS Improvement has also set each NHS trust and foundation trust an annual expenditure ceiling on the total amount that can be spent on agency staff in 2016-17. Again, it is not possible to provide the information requested by individual NHS trust or foundation trust; however all trusts have been allocated ceilings for 2016-17 and these will be monitored by NHS Improvement on a monthly basis going forwards.

  • Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    Jonathan Edwards – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Trade

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Edwards on 2016-07-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans he has to protect public services in future negotiations on trade agreements.

    Dr Liam Fox

    My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has established the Department for International Trade to promote British trade across the world and ensure the UK takes advantage of the huge opportunities open to us.

    The trade agreements the UK is currently party to include specific guarantees for public services. Decisions on how to deliver public services for the best outcomes for UK citizens are made by the UK Government. The Government wants to ensure the continued provision of quality public services.

  • 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 2016-09-14.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civilian casualties have resulted from the 26 brimstone missiles dropped by UK aircraft in Syria in 2016 to date.

    Mike Penning

    The Ministry of Defence is not aware of any credible evidence to date of civilian casualties as a result of UK airstrikes over Syria and Iraq.

  • Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Tom Elliott – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Elliott on 2015-10-28.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps HM Revenue and Customs are taking to stop illegal fuel laundering and smuggling in Northern Ireland.

    Damian Hinds

    The government is committed to reducing revenue loss due to fuel duty fraud in Northern Ireland. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has a comprehensive anti-fraud strategy in place that has helped drive down the estimated illicit market for diesel in Northern Ireland (NI) from 26% to 8% since its launch in 2002. Autumn Statement 2013 also announced the expansion of HMRC Road Fuel Testing Unit and Criminal Investigation capacity in NI and GB.

    The fight against fraud will be further enhanced by the new rebated fuel marker introduced in April 2015, which makes it much harder to launder marked fuel and sell it at a profit.

    HMRC also works closely with the Revenue Commissioners in the Republic of Ireland to fight fuel fraud on a wide range of fronts. This multi-agency approach includes regular exchange of information and joint operational activity. Ireland have also introduce the same new marker as the UK.

  • Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Mark Hendrick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Hendrick on 2015-11-25.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, which (a) magistrates and (b) crown courts in the North West and London ask for wage slips, P60s, certified accounts or letters confirming benefit entitlement when setting fines.

    Mr Shailesh Vara

    Data on the number of instances when individual magistrates’ or the Crown Court make such directions is not collated by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service.

  • Peter Dowd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Peter Dowd – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Peter Dowd on 2015-12-17.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will estimate the number of patients who went to A&E after being unable to make an appointment with their GP in the most recent period for which figures are available.

    Alistair Burt

    Of those patients who either were not able to get an appointment or get a convenient appointment in the last GP Patient Survey, 9.9% indicated that they went to accident and emergency or a walk-in centre (an increase of 0.5 percentage points since 2013-14).