The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many meetings he has had with his Department’s Chief Scientific Adviser in the last 12 months.
Dan Rogerson
The Secretary of State meets his Chief Scientific Adviser at least weekly, sometimes more frequently.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Douglas Carswell on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure GPs are accessible to patients.
Dr Daniel Poulter
Through the Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund, more than 7.5 million people in England will start to be offered increased access to local general practitioner (GP) services, including seven-day opening and appointments outside of office hours. The Fund is supporting over 1,110 practices covering every region as part of a pilot scheme.
The PM Challenge Fund is for one year and patients are expected to see positive changes from services from June/July onwards. An interim evaluation report is due in November this year. The full and final report is expected to be published in the early part of 2015-16. There will be a rolling programme of feedback on the pilots with case studies available from the summer onwards to help spread best practice across the country.
In addition, the new GP contract introduced a new Enhanced Service, which includes a commitment to same day phone consultations with a professional in the GP surgery where necessary for the most at risk in the population.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people were working in his Department on sexual health matters in each year since 2010; and how many people have worked in (a) his Department and (b) Public Health England on sexual health matters since the formation of Public Health England.
Jane Ellison
The following table shows staff numbers working directly on sexual health matters within the Department since 2010. There are also a number of senior civil servants and other staff, such as analysts, working in the Department who input to work on sexual health and a wide range of other issues.
|
Year |
Department staff numbers sexual health |
Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) |
|
2010 (estimated) |
19 |
17.2 |
|
2011 |
10 |
10 |
|
2012 |
9 |
8.7 |
|
2013 |
6 |
5.7 |
|
2014 |
6 |
5.7 |
The total number of Public Health England staff working on sexual health is 255.3 WTE.
Public Health England’s head count includes staff working on Health Protection, field epidemiology, microbiology services and Health and Wellbeing staff. Some staff are externally funded and are not exclusive to sexual health, working across disciplines.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bob Ainsworth on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of (a) adult and (b) child passport renewal applications were processed within the three-week service standard in each of the last six months.
James Brokenshire
he table below shows the number of straightforward passport applications
received within the UK which were processed within 3 weeks.
|
Month |
Proportion of straightforward applications processed within 3 weeks |
|
Dec 13 |
99.99% |
|
Jan 14 |
99.99% |
|
Feb 14 |
99.98% |
|
Mar 14 |
99.95% |
|
Apr 14 |
99.59% |
|
May 14 |
92.26% |
Her Majesty’s Passport Office does not hold a further breakdown of this information by
application type. The cost of bringing that information together would be
disproportionate and so it is not possible to provide the information you have
requested.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the number and success rate of Aarhus claims made in England and Wales since 1 April 2013; and if he will make a statement.
Mr Shailesh Vara
The Ministry of Justice does not collect judicial review data to this level of detail.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Cunningham on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Answer of 13 May 2014, Official Report, column 494W, on prisons: mobile telephones, when data on mobile telephones seized in prisons in 2013 will be made available.
Jeremy Wright
The number of mobile phone and SIM card seizures for the first six months of 2013 was 3398. The data for the whole of 2013 will be available by the end of August 2014, broken down by prison establishment.
One seizure may constitute a handset containing one SIM card or media card, a handset only, or a SIM card only.
All figures provided have been drawn from live administrative data systems which may be amended at any time. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Dowd on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has put in place to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the Battles of Harfleur and Agincourt.
Mrs Helen Grant
The previous Secretary of State, the Rt. Hon Maria Miller MP announced in October last year a commitment of £10million of funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for projects marking some of the UK’s most important anniversaries and commemorative events including Agincourt 600. This will ensure that those moments which form a central part of our national history are commemorated and understood by people today.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy McDonald on 2014-06-16.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason Newcastle was chosen as the National Insurance centre for residents of Middlesbrough; and what effect this choice is having on service provision.
Esther McVey
Newcastle was chosen as the National Insurance centre for residents of Middlesbrough as it has centralised expertise in administering applications for National Insurance numbers. Given this expertise, proximity to Middlesbrough and availability of public transport, Newcastle provides a viable service that maintains the level of expertise and security required
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of brownfield land in England is covered by a Local Development Order.
Nick Boles
At this point in time, this information is not centrally held.
However, I refer the rt. hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement of 16 June 2014, Official Report, Column 71-72WS, on the steps we are taking to promote the use of Local Development Orders on brownfield land.
In addition, the Written Ministerial Statement of 10 June 2014, Official Report, Column 33WS, provides a broader summary of steps we have taken to facilitate empty and redundant land and property being brought back into productive use.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-06-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment his Department has made of the (a) prevalence of additional health problems experienced by people with Parkinson’s Disease due to delays in receiving Duodopa and (b) costs incurred by the NHS as a result of such delays; and if he will make a statement.
Norman Lamb
We have made no such assessment.
From April 2013, NHS England assumed responsibility for commissioning adult specialist neurosciences services, including the majority of services for patients with Parkinson’s disease, with some being the responsibility of clinical commissioning groups.
NHS England has advised that it does not routinely fund Duodopa (co-careldopa) for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and is currently considering its clinical policy.
Clinicians can submit individual funding requests for this treatment on behalf of their patients as per NHS England’s individual funding requests standard operating procedure, which is at:
www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/cp-04.pdf
This process is monitored against the standard operating procedure to ensure that referring clinicians are informed of outcomes in a timely manner.
Once the commissioning position relating to this service area is agreed and service access criteria published, NHS England has advised that the number of individual funding requests from clinicians may reduce.