Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    Royston Smith – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Royston Smith on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to improve (a) productivity across the Civil Service and (b) efficient use of office space.

    Matthew Hancock

    Improving the efficiency and productivity of the public sector is central to the work of the Cabinet Office. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform, and tackling fraud, error and uncollected debt (against a 2009/10 baseline).

    The Government Hubs programme will reduce the government office estate from around 800 buildings to around 200 by 2023 and generate savings of over £2bn over ten years.

    This is being supported by a smart working revolution to transform how and where civil servants work. In line with what many private sector organisations have achieved, we expect this to increase productivity, reduce costs, improve wellbeing, and contribute to wider objectives such as localism, sustainability, and reducing pressure on the transport system.

  • Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Derek Twigg – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Derek Twigg on 2016-03-23.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GPs retired in Halton constituency in the last 12 months; and how many GPs in that constituency have given notice of their intention to retire in 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    This information is not collected centrally. However, this information is available from the Halton Clinical Commissioning Group.

  • Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-04-27.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will extend the protective award to employees made redundant at a company which dismisses more than 20 people across the organisation but fewer than 20 people in individual working environments.

    Nick Boles

    The Government has no plans to bring forward legislation amending collective redundancy provisions and the treatment of ‘establishment’. The European Court of Justice has confirmed that ‘establishment’ means the individual workplace and not necessarily the whole enterprise.

  • Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Craig Whittaker – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Craig Whittaker on 2016-06-13.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent representations he has received from Calderdale Council on the construction of a new rail station at Hipperholme.

    Claire Perry

    We are aware of aspirations for a new station at Hipperholme but have not received any representations about it from Calderdale Council. The promotion of any new station is a matter for the relevant local transport authority, in this case West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

  • Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-09-06.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK’s vote to leave the EU on the relationship between the European Investment Bank and UK universities.

    Joseph Johnson

    The UK is and continues to be a shareholder of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the EIB has publically stated that its engagement in the UK is unchanged. All existing loan contracts signed between UK promoters and the EIB remain in force, and the EIB has continued to sign and approve new projects since the EU referendum.

  • Harriet Harman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    Harriet Harman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Harriet Harman on 2016-10-18.

    To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she expects to reply to the letter of 14 September 2016 from the Rt hon. Member for Camberwell and Peckham on the contract for future delivery of the Equality Advisory Support Service.

    Caroline Dinenage

    We are aware of the Rt Hon. Member’s letter of 14 September 2016 regarding the contract for future delivery of the Equality Advisory Support Service. I regret that we were not able to respond by her deadline of 10 October 2016 but assure the Rt Hon Member that the response has now been sent to her, as of Friday 21 October.

  • Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Jonathan Reynolds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Reynolds on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the rate of suicide among members of the fire service; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce such numbers.

    Greg Clark

    We do not hold information on the rate of deaths by suicide of firefighters. Individual fire and rescue authorities as employers are responsible for the health and welfare of firefighters, including their mental health. In October last year the Government announced the allocation of nearly £10 million to help support 200,000 emergency services personnel and volunteers, funded through LIBOR fines. Of this funding up to £4 million was allocated to mental health charity MIND to develop a programme of targeted mental health support and information for all emergency services personnel across England. The programme includes an anti-stigma campaign, a confidential advice line for emergency service staff, training for leaders and line managers, peer learning events and resources to promote better mental health in the work place. I encourage fire and rescue authorities to engage with this important programme.

  • Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Nigel Dodds – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Dodds on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much has been spent on the provision of eye clinic care liaison officers in each year since 2010.

    Alistair Burt

    In England, eye clinics and their staffing, including Eye Clinic Liaison Officers (ECLO), are commissioned and funded by individual clinical commissioning groups on the basis of local assessments of need.

    The Department does not collect data on the number of eye clinic liaison officers employed in hospitals or how much has been spent on funding ECLOs.

    The Government fully appreciates the impact that sight loss can have on a person’s life and the importance of information being available for those newly diagnosed with sight loss, including signposting patients to appropriate support and rehabilitation services.

  • Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Pauline Latham – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Pauline Latham on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include the removal of VAT on sun safety products in his negotiations on VAT on sanitary products with his counterparts in the EU.

    Mr David Gauke

    EU VAT rules do not currently allow for the application of a zero rate of VAT to sanitary products. That is why I have written to the European Commission and other Member States setting out our strong view that Member States should have full discretion over what rate of VAT they can apply to these products.

    Drugs and medications that are dispensed by a registered pharmacist against a prescription issued by a qualifying health professional are zero rated for VAT.

    High-factor sunscreen is on the NHS prescription list for certain conditions and is therefore provided VAT free when dispensed by a pharmacist to patients.

  • Lord Hunt of Kings Heath – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    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 2016-02-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government how NHS England are ensuring that there is no conflict in how Bain and Company supports both vanguards in their application for funds, and NHS England in deciding how to allocate funds.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) commissioned Bain and Company to support vanguards as an extension to work previously commissioned from the company as part of a programme called Future Focused Finance, an initiative sponsored by the Department of Health and arm’s length bodies. This earlier work for the HFMA had focused on the design of a value-based decision effectiveness tool, piloted in Mid-Cheshire and Liverpool. The HFMA, in partnership with NHS England, commissioned the extension to this work so that the tool could be used to support value-based decision-making in the 2016-17 New Care Models programme.

    Alternatives were not sought from competitors because the vanguard support built on the original Bain and Company work for the HFMA.

    The value of the vanguard support contract is £650,000. Value for money was obtained by negotiation, having been benchmarked with other commissions made by the National Health Service to external health consultancies.

    As part of the contract, Bain and Company will be handing over its approach to NHS England, so that NHS England can support other areas in implementing new care models.

    Bain and Company has not been commissioned to assess evidence to support transformation and potential for replication of new care models in other areas. The company is commissioned to develop and implement a framework that appropriately experienced NHS staff can use to assess such evidence. Intellectual property rights in respect of the framework in the future are assigned to HFMA under the terms of the contract. The NHS is entitled to use the framework free of charge in perpetuity.

    Bain and Company is involved in the development of the tool used to make the assessment, and in the implementation of the process to use that tool. The company is specifically commissioned to help vanguard sites to use the tool and to summarise the resulting value propositions to facilitate decision-making by NHS England.

    No conflict of interest arises as decisions concerning funding allocations for individual vanguards are made by NHS England’s Executive Team and Investment Committee and not Bain and Company.