Tag: Paula Sherriff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the effect on patient care and safety of planned reductions in NHS funding for community pharmacies.

Alistair Burt

Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020/21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.

The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what consultations have taken place on privatisation of railway stations currently owned by Network Rail; and which stakeholders have been so consulted.

Claire Perry

Network Rail is exploring new models for station management and ownership with the goal to bring improvements for both passengers and the communities they serve. They have engaged Citigroup as advisors to consider a range of potential options but no decisions have been taken at this early stage. Any decisions on such potential future options will take account of the ‎findings of Nicola Shaw’s report into the longer term shape and financing of Network Rail.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-03-17.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.63 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015 and paragraph 2.16 of the Budget 2016, for what reasons the funding to support women’s charities equivalent to the annual VAT raised on sanitary products has changed from £15 million to £12 million.

Mr David Gauke

As announced at Autumn Statement 2015, the Tampon Tax Fund is a £15 million annual fund to support women’s charities, equivalent to the amount of VAT raised on sanitary products. The Chancellor announced initial donations at Autumn Statement totalling £5m. Further grants totalling £12 million have been announced at this Budget.

The Government has introduced legislation in the Finance Bill to enable the zero rate of VAT for women’s sanitary products.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-05-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions officials of his Department have had with external bodies on reintroducing a national clinical director for liver disease.

Jane Ellison

The appointment of national clinical directors (NCDs) is a matter for NHS England. It has recently reviewed these roles and is now supported by 18 NCDs, although there is no specific NCD for liver disease. However, NHS England advises that clinical advice relating to gastrointestinal and liver disease will be sought from a variety of sources, including: experts at Public Health England for alcohol related issues; the NCD for obesity and diabetes for issues relating to obesity induced fatty liver disease; and through the Clinical Reference Group for Hepatitis C and the Medical Royal Colleges.

The full list of NCDs can be found at:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/whos-who/ncd/

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what procedures are in place to safeguard patient transport services if a private provider of such a service goes into administration.

Mr Philip Dunne

It is the primary responsibility of commissioners to ensure continuity of commissioned services through contracting and contingency planning. Where a provider is considered hard to replace in the event of failure, its services can be designated as Commissioner Requested Services. This requires the provider to obtain a provider licence, if not otherwise required to hold a licence, and places the provider in NHS Improvement’s financial oversight regime for private providers of essential NHS services.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-10-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Syrian passports have been returned to the Syrian government on the basis that they have been reported stolen by that government.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Home Office does not currently return Syrian passports to the Government of Syria.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to paragraph 2.90 of the Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015, what assessment he has made of the effect of phasing out the Transport for London (TfL) resource grant on TfL’s funding of the British Transport Police.

Claire Perry

It is for Transport for London (TfL) to determine future policing arrangements as they contract policing from the British Transport Police on a commercial basis.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 December 2015 to Question 18454, what progress his Department is making on updating the Accessibility Action Plan; and when he plans to publish it.

Andrew Jones

The Department for Transport is preparing a revised Accessibility Action Plan (AAP) at the moment in discussion with the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee. We plan for the AAP to be ready for wider consultation in the summer and that it will likely be published by the end of the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans there are for (a) Transport for the North, (b) Transport for Greater Manchester and (c) Transport for London to take over from Network Rail the management or ownership of railway stations.

Claire Perry

The Department for Transport is working with Network Rail and other parties to explore new models for station management and ownership with the goal to bring improvements for both passengers and the communities they serve.

Any decisions on such potential future options will take account of the ‎recommendations of Nicola Shaw’s report into the longer term shape and financing of Network Rail, and the government would expect any proposals to demonstrate improvements for passengers and value for money for the taxpayer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paula Sherriff on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the new junior doctor contract on the recruitment and retention of junior doctors.

Ben Gummer

Medicine is an extremely popular career choice and we expect that to continue.

The new contract for doctors in training will have a positive impact on the working life of doctors and on the training they receive. It introduces stronger safeguards to ensure doctors are not required to work long, unsafe hours, enforced through contractual obligations on employers and external scrutiny of those hours by the Care Quality Commission and the independent Guardian of safe working hours.