Tag: Parliamentary Question

  • Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gavin Robinson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gavin Robinson on 2016-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential role of cranberries can play in reducing the frequency of prescribing antibiotics for simple infections such as urinary tract infections.

    Jane Ellison

    The research database, Cochrane, published a study in 2012 which assessed the effectiveness of cranberry products in preventing urinary tract infections in susceptible populations. Researchers found that there is no objective evidence for the benefit of cranberry juice in preventing urinary tract infections. Therefore the Department has not taken steps to promote the consumption of cranberry products.

    The UK five year Antimicrobial Resistance strategy set out the need to stimulate the development of new antibiotics, rapid diagnostics and novel therapies. The DH commissioned the Wellcome Trust to undertake a review of alternative treatments in 2014. The review concluded that while many approaches have potential, there is a continued need for conventional antibiotics to treat the majority of infections for the foreseeable future.

    A paper, summarising the review “alternatives to antibiotics – a pipeline portfolio review” was published in the Lancet in January 2016. This is available at the following link:

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(15)00466-1

  • Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Andy Slaughter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andy Slaughter on 2016-03-04.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of Lord Bridges of Headley, of 25 February 2016, Official Report, column 396, on public bodies: Israel, what the Government’s policy is on whether the Occupied Palestinian Territories are a territory of Israel under the definition of the World Trade Organisaiton.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    The World Trade Organisation does not define the territory of its members. The UK does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel in 1967. We therefore do not consider the Occupied Palestinian Territories to be part of Israel.

  • Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-04-08.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people receiving social care in (a) Dartford and (b) Kent who are entitled to public funding to support that care.

    Alistair Burt

    The Department does not hold this information in the format requested.

    Data collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre indicates that in 2014/15 there were 4,175 local authority supported long term residential and nursing care users aged 65 years and over supported by Kent County Council. This data is not available for the individual district councils in Kent, of which Dartford is one.

    The data can be found at:

    http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB18663

    An internal estimate carried out by the Department in 2012/13 estimated that 48% of people aged 65 and over in residential and nursing care in Kent were receiving local authority support at that time.

    “

  • Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Gary Streeter – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gary Streeter on 2016-05-09.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the latest assessment of liquefied petroleum gas within the Alternative Fuels Framework.

    Damian Hinds

    The Alternative Fuels Framework (AFF) was set out at Pre-Budget Report 2003, and focused on carbon emissions. Based on the evidence available at the time on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), the AFF found LPG to result in greater natural environmental damage compared to other road fuel gases. It was determined that the environmental case for LPG was poorer than diesel and so its duty differential should be reduce over time.

    The government continues to review evidence concerning the environmental impact of LPG and will announce any changes to the tax treatment at fiscal events.

  • Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Baroness Randerson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Randerson on 2016-06-29.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have assessed proposals from the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority that more carriages should be added to trains on the InterCity West Coast service to reduce overcrowding.

    Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

    Rail services between London and the Midlands are currently provided by the West Midlands and InterCity West Coast franchises. These franchises are due be replaced when they expire in October 2017 and April 2018 respectively. The Department has completed a consultation in respect of the replacement West Midlands franchise, and commenced another in respect of InterCity West Coast in May. The outcomes of those consultations will be used to inform what we ask the operator of the new franchise to provide. This information, including the key challenges and opportunities that the Department has identified for those franchises, will be published in due course.

  • Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Baroness Smith of Basildon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Smith of Basildon on 2016-09-09.

    To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken under the national Female Genital Mutilation Prevention Programme.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    The Department’s Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Prevention Programme was launched in 2014 to improve the way in which the National Health Service responds to the health needs of girls and women who have had FGM, and to actively support prevention. As part of the FGM Prevention Programme, working in partnership with NHS England, we have delivered a comprehensive change programme, with practical guidance and materials to support professionals and NHS organisations to understand how best they can tackle FGM. The programme outputs have:

    – Introduced the first ever FGM data collection across the NHS, now published quarterly by NHS Digital as an official statistic;

    – Published specialist FGM safeguarding guidance to help health professionals protect against FGM;

    – Published specialist guidance to help health professionals commission appropriate FGM services;

    – Commenced the early adopter phase for a new national safeguarding system linked to a child’s electronic health record;

    – Awareness-raising roadshows and outreach work across the country have directly reached over 3500 professionals;

    – Published educational films about FGM and updated content on the NHS Choices website.

    – Delivered a patient and public facing FGM prevention advertising campaign using African satellite television, radio and Facebook. This has generated over 650,000 views on social media since its launch in July 2016;

    – Launched comprehensive e-learning on FGM, free of charge to all NHS staff. This was developed by Health Education England, with more than 4000 staff having used this to date;

    – Supported a number of projects with health partners including Royal Colleges, delivering a range of practical measures to improve clinical skills, awareness and preparedness to treat and safeguard women and girls with FGM;

    – Sent all GPs, approximately 8,000 practices, FGM information packs containing resources to enable them to support patients living with FGM; and

    – Worked with the York Health Economics Consortium to cost FGM treatment in the NHS and consider tariff implications. This work is nearing completion.

    In this next phase of the Programme we have launched an ambition to make sure FGM survivors are aware of and have access to the right mental health support. We are also focusing on embedding recent developments across NHS systems.

  • Conor McGinn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    Conor McGinn – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Conor McGinn on 2015-11-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the time taken to (a) implement broadband roll-out and (b) tackle non-spots on people and businesses in (i) St Helens North constituency, (ii) Merseyside and (iii) the UK.

    Mr Edward Vaizey

    The Government is committed to achieving the availability of superfast broadband to 95% of UK premises by December 2017. In May 2015 superfast coverage had reached 83% of UK premises.Of the 44,815 premises in the St Helens North constituency we estimate that 94% will have superfast broadband available to them through planned commercial rollout. The Connected Merseyside project will add a further 4% to that total.

    Telefonica (O2) have agreed a licence obligation to deliver indoor 4G coverage to 98% of premises in the UK by 2017; other Mobile Network Operators have indicated that they will also match this commitment.

  • Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Luciana Berger – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Luciana Berger on 2015-12-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reasons he has not yet announced funding for the Time to Change campaigns beyond March 2016.

    Alistair Burt

    We have provided £3.2 million in funding in 2015/16 to the Time to Change programme to support the excellent work the programme does in reducing the stigma associated with mental illness.

    The Time to Change programme received £16 million in funding from Government between 2011/12 and 2014/15.

    Officials are in discussions with Time to Change, and its other funding partners, about the next phase of the programme.

  • Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    Kit Malthouse – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kit Malthouse on 2016-01-14.

    To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much HM Revenue and Customs has paid out in supplements following late payment of VAT returns in (a) 2015-16 and (b) each of the previous 10 years; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that amount.

    Mr David Gauke

    HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) does not routinely publish this information.

    The Government recognises the importance to businesses of receiving VAT repayments as quickly as possible. HMRC also has a duty to ensure that incorrect or fraudulent repayments are identified and prevented. All repayment claims are subject to automated risk analysis on receipt and 94% are processed for immediate payment. Of the remainder, 50% are approved for payment within 5 days. Repayment Supplement is designed to compensate customers where HMRC fails to make a repayment within 30 days. In 2014-15, HMRC paid Repayment Supplement in 0.3% of all cases.

    In the first half of 2015-16, HMRC carried out an extensive review of its repayment process with a view to minimising delays in cases where repayments are not authorised automatically. Following the review, new processes have been introduced and HMRC expects to reduce the incidence of Repayment Supplement as a result.

  • 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, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 27 January (HL5180), how they will ensure that the forecast increase in the level of podiatry commissions by 2020 will be met by the podiatry workforce; and what assessment they have made of the risks presented by the reduction in Health Education England commissioned student places in 2016–17 and the end of bursaries in August 2017.

    Lord Prior of Brampton

    Health Education England (HEE) operates an annual comprehensive planning process to ensure their investments meet the future needs of the population. This process determines the education commissioning volumes for the following financial year.

    The HEE Commissioning and Investment Plan – 2016/17 includes a forecast increase in the available supply of podiatrists into the National Health Service workforce of 36.4% by 2020. The forecast reflects the planned commissions but also the net effect of different levels of non-retirement, leavers and joiners other than from HEE training programmes.

    HEE local teams are responsible for assessing the forecast supply and demand. The activity of gathering evidence, modelling and decision making at the local level is supported by Partnership Councils, including NHS and non-NHS service providers.

    The Department will run a consultation on how the funding reforms for nursing, midwifery and allied health education can be most successfully implemented. We currently expect to consult during March 2016. As part of this, an economic impact assessment and equality impact assessment will be published.

    HEE will continue to have a central role in the commissioning of nursing, midwifery and allied health courses which will include podiatry. They will continue to provide sufficient clinical placement funding for those places needed to meet the workforce planning needs of the NHS.

    We estimate that the reforms will allow universities to be able to offer up to 10,000 more nursing, midwifery and allied health training places over this parliament.