Tag: Parliamentary Question

Luciana Berger – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if the NHS will distinguish between sexuality and gender identity in the collection of data for people accessing Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

Alistair Burt

The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies dataset does not currently make the distinction between sexuality and gender identity. The dataset has two fields that may be of relevance to this question:

Sexual orientation, which is the current sexual orientation of a person and has the following valid codes:

1	Heterosexual
2	Homosexual Gay/Lesbian
3	Bi-sexual
4	Person asked and does not know or is not sure
9	Unknown
Z	Not stated (Person asked but declined to provide a response)

Gender, which is the current gender of a person. Note that the classification is phenotypical rather than genotypical; i.e. it does not provide codes for medical or scientific purposes. It has the following valid codes:

0	Not known
1	Male
2	Female
9	Not specified

01/01/2023

Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts on 2016-07-11.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce a smoothed discount rate for the purpose of pension fund valuation.

Baroness Altmann

Government consulted in 2013 on whether legislation should be introduced to allow the ‘smoothing’ of asset values and liabilities in funding valuations.

Responses to the call for evidence indicated that there was no strong case for legislating to permit smoothing, with the overwhelming majority of respondents against this option. Respondents instead favoured greater use of the flexibilities within the existing legislation governing scheme funding.

In its response to the call for evidence the Government advised that, given the views received, it did not intend to pursue the option of legislating to permit asset and liability smoothing, and that remains the Government’s position.

01/01/2023
Imran Hussain – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Imran Hussain on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure residents in deprived areas have access to dental care.

David Mowat

NHS England has a legal duty to commission National Health Service dental services to meet the needs of the local population. NHS dental services are commissioned by NHS England through contracts with independent providers. These contracts are set based on the outcome of an oral health needs assessment undertaken in partnership with local authorities, which identifies the level of dental need for a particular community.

NHS England is also working up plans to start testing new ways to improve children’s oral health in 10 high needs areas by innovative commissioning, focussed on encouraging take up of services that are available. The 10 high needs areas selected will be announced in November 2016.

01/01/2023
Philip Davies – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to prioritise (a) looked-after children and (b) other vulnerable groups within his Department’s children and young people’s mental health budget over the next five years.

Alistair Burt

Future in Mind, the previous Government’s report on the work of the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Taskforce, established a clear and powerful consensus for change across the whole system, including health, social care and education. This Government is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access and make services more widely available across the country so that, where possible, children can access high-quality support locally.

This transformation programme, backed by additional investment of £1.4 billion allocated over the next five years, will deliver a step change in the way children and young people’s mental health services are commissioned and delivered. Emphasis will be placed on prevention and early intervention, building care around the needs of children, young people and their families, including the most vulnerable, such as those who are looked-after and adopted.

Clinical commissioning groups, covering all areas in the country, have submitted Transformation Plans for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing developed with local partners which are currently being assured by NHS England.

A national programme of work will support local areas. This will include the extension and expansion of the use of evidence-based interventions, tacking stigma, improving data and information to inform greater transparency and accountability and developing a specialist and stronger workforce.

01/01/2023
Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-12-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the likely impact of the apprenticeship levy on wage growth over the next five years.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The OBR forecasts that wages will grow over the next few years, though at a slightly lower rate than would have been the case had the apprenticeship levy not been introduced.

However, we know that apprenticeships have long-run productivity and wage benefits for apprentices and the wider economy, which are not included in the OBR’s modelling. On average, an apprenticeship increases an individual’s earnings by 11-16% within three to five years.[1]

The medium-term benefits of apprenticeships can therefore outweigh short-term wage pressures. We thus consider the net impact of the apprenticeships levy on the economy to be positive.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/further-education-measuring-the-net-present-value-in-england

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01/01/2023
Jim Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2016-01-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department has spent on rebuilding projects in Libya since 2011; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Desmond Swayne

DFID’s work in Libya falls under two main objectives: humanitarian assistance to those affected by the conflict; and the promotion of long-term stability in support of the political agreement. DFID has not funded any rebuilding (infrastructure) projects in Libya to date.

01/01/2023
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 2016-02-22.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what pressure, if any, they have placed on Health Education England to penalise NHS Foundation Trusts in respect of the funding of training places if they do not implement the junior doctors’ contract consistently.

Lord Prior of Brampton

The Government has not pressured Health Education England to penalise National Health Service foundation trusts. The emphasis of the letter sent by Health Education England’s Chief Executive, Professor Ian Cumming OBE, to all trusts on 15 February this year, was clear on the need for consistent implementation to ensure that patients get the care they need where they need it and junior doctors get the training they need across the whole of the NHS:

“A single national approach is essential to safeguard the organisation and delivery of postgraduate medical training to ensure all doctors can secure the professional development they require to complete their training programmes. We are not prepared to see a system where a competition based on a local employer’s ability to offer different terms is part of the recruitment process. The recruitment process should be based on patient and service need and quality of training as it always has been. Therefore implementation of the national contract will be a key criterion for Health Education England in making its decisions on our investment in training posts.”

01/01/2023
Lord Moynihan – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Moynihan on 2016-03-17.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the current proportion of women on the Board of the British Olympic Association and on each winter and summer British governing body of sport represented in the Olympic and Paralympic movement, and how they intend to achieve their declared objective of requiring the proportion of women on each governing body to be at least 25 per cent by 2017.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The government’s recently published sport strategy ‘Sporting Future: A New Strategy for an Active Nation’ states that UK Sport and Sport England, along with the other Home Nations’ Sports Councils, will agree a new UK Sports Governance Code by September 2016 to strengthen existing commitments, including the ambition for all sports’ boards to have at least 25% female representation by 2017.

UK Sport and Sport England are already working with funded NGBs and partners to ensure best practice is adhered to when constructing job descriptions and writing adverts, and are working with expert organisations such as Sporting Equals and Women in Sport to ensure a more diverse range of people are aware of vacancies within the sector as they arise.

01/01/2023
David Anderson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Anderson on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department advises schools on the steps they should take to ensure that children are not over exposed to electromagnetic fields in schools.

Edward Timpson

The Department does not specifically monitor exposure to electromagnetic fields in schools.

We provide advice to schools on health and safety matters. Schools must take reasonable steps to ensure that staff and pupils are not exposed to risks to their health and safety by conducting a risk assessment and, if necessary, putting measures in place to minimise any known risk.

Schools should be aware that where concerns are raised that they can access the appropriate advice; Public Health England provides advice via GOV.UK[1] on exposure to electromagnetic fields in the everyday environment.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/electromagnetic-fields

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01/01/2023
Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-05-24.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will direct the NHS to review its decision on the expansion of access to pre-exposure prophylaxis treatment for people most at risk of contracting HIV.

Jane Ellison

NHS England’s Specialised Services Commissioning Committee (SSCC) have considered and accepted NHS England’s external legal advice that it does not have the legal power to commission pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, work on PrEP is ongoing and up to £2 million will be invested in a pilot programme to target those at highest risk over the course of two years.

Public Health England is working to identify the most effective locations for the introduction of this pilot. The Department will be discussing future commissioning with stakeholders.

PrEP is a new use of HIV drugs which has shown effectiveness in research trials at preventing HIV in people at high risk of getting HIV such as men who have sex with men and people with HIV-positive partners. The drug used in United Kingdom trials, Truvada, is not yet licenced for use as PrEP. As with any new intervention, PrEP now needs to be properly assessed in relation to clinical and cost effectiveness to see how it could be commissioned in the most sustainable and integrated way and how it compares with other cost-effective approaches.

Our £2.4 million national HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion Programme also gives those at highest risk the best advice to make safer choices about sex.

01/01/2023