UKPOL.CO.UK

Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Alex Cunningham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2016-01-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that local authorities follow the guidance given by the Environment Agency on the building of houses on floodplains.

    Brandon Lewis

    National planning policy on flooding must be taken into account by local planning authorities in preparing their local plans and we are clear they should take advice from the Environment Agency and other relevant flood risk management bodies in doing so.

    Additionally, a local planning authority must, as set out in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, consult the Environment Agency on planning applications for development proposed on a floodplain and, in determining the application, they must take into account their advice. As an added safeguard, if a local planning authority wants to approve an application that the Environment Agency has objected to because of concerns about flood risk, they must first refer it to the Secretary of State to consider whether it should be ‘called-in’. Between April 2011 and March 2015 over 99% of proposed new homes had planning outcomes in line with Environment Agency advice where they had been made aware of the decision.

  • Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim Fitzpatrick – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Fitzpatrick on 2016-01-28.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many cases heard by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator were closed within three months in (a) 2014 and (b) 2015.

    Joseph Johnson

    Data is not collected in the way the Hon Member has requested. The Office of the Independent Adjudicator has a key performance indicator which tracks cases closed within six months from the receipt of the complaint form. In its most recently published annual report, the Office of the Independent Adjudicator reported that 39 per cent of cases were closed within this period.

  • Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Julie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Julie Cooper on 2016-02-24.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to prevent patient data being used for purposes other than direct care.

    George Freeman

    The Department takes protection of patient data very seriously. It is the role of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to ensure that high quality information is used appropriately to improve patient care. The organisation has legal powers to collect and analyse information from all providers of National Health Service care. It is committed, and legally bound to the very highest standards of privacy, security and confidentiality to ensure that patient confidential information is protected at all times. Access to information is strictly controlled. Under further safeguards introduced by the Care Act 2014, the HSCIC may only use its general dissemination powers for information where there is a clear purpose for the provision of health care or adult social care or the promotion of health.

    The Department has recently made considerable investment in conjunction with the HSCIC and strategic partners in order to create the Care Computer Emergency Response Team service (CareCERT).

    CareCERT was launched in September 2015 and exists to be a centre of excellence for Cyber Security advice and Security Incident Management.

    CareCERT has sent regular alerts and advisories to every NHS organisation and local authority on a range of Cyber Security issues. This specifically helps to protect patient data by ensuring health and care organisations are prepared and implement appropriate security technology to protect information.

    To improve health and social care services for everyone patient information is used for purposes beyond direct care, including for commissioning, public health, research and monitoring services. Commissioners need good information about the types of illnesses people have and the treatments they receive, as well as the result of that care or treatment so that they can commission the services that people need. Information also helps researchers to improve medicines and treatments for patients and to find better ways to prevent illness and treat conditions. Health and care information can also be used to identify who is most at risk of particular diseases and conditions.

    The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out rights to which patients, public and staff are entitled, and pledges which the NHS is committed to achieve, together with responsibilities, which the public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively. The NHS Constitution states that:

    ― You have the right of access to your own health records and to have any factual inaccuracies corrected.

    ― You have the right to privacy and confidentiality and to expect the NHS to keep your confidential information safe and secure.

    ― You have the right to be informed about how your information is used.

    ― You have the right to request that your confidential information is not used beyond your own care and treatment and to have your objections considered, and where your wishes cannot be followed, to be told the reasons including the legal basis.

    Dame Fiona Caldicott, the National Data Guardian, is taking forward an independent review to develop clear guidelines for the protection of personal data against which every NHS and care organisation will be held to account and will be recommending a new data security standards and a new consent or objections model for health and care information. The Independent Review is expected to report to the Secretary of State for Health shortly.

  • 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 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of mental health trusts (a) offer female patients a choice of a female care coordinator, (b) conduct routine enquiries with female patients about experiences of abuse and violence and (c) provide gender-sensitive care.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not held centrally.

  • Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Lord Myners – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Myners on 2016-04-25.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the effectiveness of the recommendations on public sector procurement by Sir Philip Green.

    Lord Bridges of Headley

    I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave him on 11 April 2016 to Question HL7227.

    As a result of the commercial and procurement reforms we made during the life of the last Parliament, we saved more than £21 bn.

  • Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Lord Alton of Liverpool – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Alton of Liverpool on 2016-06-06.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of North Korea on reports of widespread rape committed by its military; and whether the UK defence attaché to North Korea will raise this issue with their counterpart.

    Baroness Anelay of St Johns

    We are aware of the disturbing reports of sexual violence within the Korean People’s Army. We consistently raise our concerns about the appalling human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) directly with the regime. In June, our Ambassador to North Korea made clear the UK’s position on human rights in a speech in Pyongyang attended by DPRK senior officials. We regularly raise North Korean human rights issues in multilateral fora such as the UN Security Council and the Human Rights Council, and will continue to do so.

  • Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    Caroline Lucas – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Caroline Lucas on 2016-07-20.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s costings for nuclear power of the findings of the National Audit Office in its report published in July 2016 on Nuclear power in the UK, HC 511, paragraph 2.11, on the effect on running costs of nuclear power facilities of increased terrorist threats.

    Jesse Norman

    The Government considers safety and security at nuclear power plants to be of paramount importance. The operator bears most of the security costs for nuclear power plants. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy seeks independent costs estimates for new nuclear power, which incorporate security costs – the Department’s most recent cost estimates are available in the Electricity Generation Costs report, available at:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/269888/131217_Electricity_Generation_costs_report_December_2013_Final.pdf

    “

  • Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Adams – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2016-10-11.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential for community pharmacies to (a) deliver early identification of medical complaints and ongoing patient monitoring and (b) help reduce hospital admission rates.

    David Mowat

    We want a clinically focussed community pharmacy service that is better integrated with primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View. This will help relieve the pressure on general practitioners and accident and emergency, ensure better use of medicines and better patient outcomes, and contribute to delivering seven-day health and care services.

    The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, Dr Keith Ridge has commissioned an independent review of community pharmacy clinical services. The review is being led by Richard Murray, Director of Policy at The King’s Fund. The final recommendations will be considered as part of the development of clinical and cost effective patient care by pharmacists and their teams.

    NHS England is also setting up a Pharmacy Integration Fund to support the development of clinical pharmacy practice in a wider range of primary care settings, resulting in a more integrated and effective National Health Service primary care patient pathway.

  • Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Poulter – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Poulter on 2015-11-02.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many and what proportion of the doctors entering core and further specialty training were in each (a) specialty and (b) training region or deanery in each year since 2005.

    Ben Gummer

    Neither the Department nor Health Education England hold the information requested in the format specified. To collate the data would incur disproportionate costs.

  • The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The Lord Bishop of St Albans – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of St Albans on 2015-11-26.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many oak trees have been killed by Acute Oak Decline in the past five years.

    Lord Gardiner of Kimble

    Over the past five years Forest Research, in collaboration with Rothamsted Research, has conducted a systematic survey to model the distribution of acute oak decline (AOD) in England and Wales. The results show that the condition currently affects several thousand oak trees, mostly across East Anglia, the Midlands and southern England.

    The complex nature of the condition means it is often associated with other pathogens, as well as insect defoliators and the research has not yet concluded whether AOD kills trees or not. A large proportion of the infected trees monitored have entered remission suggesting some level of host resistance. We do not have information at the landscape level on the number of oak with AOD symptoms that die every year.

    Since 2013, Defra has invested £1.1 million in research to understand the causes, distribution and scale of AOD in the UK. This includes work to investigate the bacterial species associated with the condition and to understand whether the Agrilus biguttatus beetle plays a role in the dispersal of these bacterial species. Early findings from this research are still inconclusive. There is currently no firm evidence of transmission by the beetle.

    Earlier this year, Defra in collaboration with the Research Councils, Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission launched a further £2 million call for research proposals on ‘oak health’ and Phytophthora. The successful bids from this call are due to be announced shortly.