Tag: Roger Godsiff

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will intervene on behalf of Khalid Younis so that he receives drugs needed to treat his chronic myeloid leukaemia condition.

George Freeman

Ministers are unable to intervene in or comment specifically on an individual patient’s clinical care, which is a matter for the relevant clinicians.

In the absence of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, funding decisions for individual treatments should be made by the relevant National Health Service commissioner, based on an assessment of the available evidence. Commissioners are also required to have processes in place for the consideration of exceptional funding requests.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-11-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2015 to Question 16265, what procedures jobcentre advisers follow when their clients request a referral to a foodbank for the fourth time in any given year.

Priti Patel

If a claimant wishes to access the services of a foodbank, Jobcentre Plus can signpost them to an appropriate organisation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2015 to Question 20080, by what date his Department will review all reports which relate to the Welfare Reform and Work Bill; and whether his Department will publish a response to or make a statement on those reports after completing that review.

Priti Patel

The Department continually monitors published reports in the public domain. This includes those which relate to policies in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which is currently being discussed in Committee in the House of Lords.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to launch its planned consultation on increasing the transparency of property ownership by foreign companies.

Matthew Hancock

In due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps are being taken to support children who have experienced abuse; how much funding has been allocated to (a) mental health services, (b) therapeutic services and (c) other support services for such children over each of the last five years; and what plans there are to vary the level of that funding.

Alistair Burt

The Government is committed to delivering the vision set out in the Future in mind report and is driving forward the transformation of children and young people’s mental health services to improve access to high quality support across the country. This transformation is being supported by £1.25 billion of additional Government investment, as well as an extra £150 million to help young people with eating disorders.

Local Transformation Plans will set out how local organisations will use the additional investment of £1.4 billion the Government is making during the course of this Parliament to transform local child and adolescent mental health services. All clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), working closely with their partners in local government, Children’s Services and education, have developed plans to transform their local offer. These plans cover the full spectrum of mental health issues: from prevention and resilience building, to support and care for existing and emerging mental health problems, as well as transitions between services and addressing the needs of the most vulnerable. This includes those who have been exposed to sexual abuse or exploitation.

NHS England increased funding of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs) from £8.98 million to £16.5 million in 2014/15 recurrently, especially to improve the paediatric response to the needs of sexually abused children. NHS England continues to make the health services response to sexual abuse a priority, and in addition to producing a five year plan for commissioning SARCs, they are planning to engage with CCGs on the delivery of therapeutic care to support survivors.

The Government has set up the first ever cross-Government Ministerial Child Protection Taskforce to overhaul the way police, schools, social services and others work together in tackling abuse of children. The Taskforce’s work will build on the Government’s wide-ranging reforms to create a care system that puts children’s needs first.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to start the consultation on introducing legislative change to require transparency of the beneficial ownership of all UK properties.

Matthew Hancock

Further to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member in November to UIN 17111, I can confirm that a consultation will be launched shortly.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he expects NICE to begin assessing (a) drugs for rare cancer and (b) cancer drugs under the proposed new Cancer Drugs Fund.

George Freeman

NHS England and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have jointly consulted on draft proposals on the future direction of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF). The consultation closed on 11 February 2016 and the responses received are being analysed and will inform the new way of working for the Fund. A consultation report will be published on NHS England’s website in due course.

NICE is working closely with NHS England to support the new way of working for the CDF. NICE’s Board is expected to consider the proposed process and methods for the Fund at its next meeting in March.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the illustrative rotas for junior doctors, published by NHS Employers on 18 February 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of doctors switching to night shifts for a single shift only on the effectiveness of those rotas.

Ben Gummer

It is a matter for employers to design rotas that meet the service needs of the National Health Service organisation and the training needs of the doctor. This would include the pattern of working night shifts subject to the limitations in the new contract. NHS Employers is committed to supporting employers to adhere to good rostering practices as the new contract is introduced and will feed this into the contract review process agreed with the British Medical Association as part of the contract negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the availability of respite care and support for family carers.

Alistair Burt

The Short and Long Term (SALT) Care data collection for 2014-15 show the number of cared-for people receiving respite or other forms of carer support;

(a) England – 55,735

(b) Birmingham local authority area – 635

(c) Swindon local authority area – 160

The data include other forms of support as well as emergency respite places; a precise figure for emergency respite places is not available. We are working with councils to improve data in this area for future iterations of the SALT Care data collection.

The Government recognises the invaluable contribution made by unpaid carers and the importance of supporting them in their caring roles. That is why we continue to support implementation of the improved rights for carers enshrined in the Care Act 2014. This includes a right to an assessment on the appearance of needs for support. These assessments cover carers’ wellbeing and what support they may need in their caring role.

The Department has provided £104 million of funding to local authorities for these improved carers’ rights in 2015/16. We have also made an additional £400 million available to the National Health Service between 2011 and 2015 to provide carers with breaks from their caring responsibilities to sustain them in their caring role. The equivalent annual allocation of £130 million for carers breaks is now included in the Better Care Fund.

The Department is also leading the development of a new cross-Government National Carers Strategy that will look at what more we can do to support existing carers and future carers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-04-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether EU member states from which the UK recoups the costs of treatment provided to EU nationals by the NHS pay the full amount requested of them by the UK.

Alistair Burt

All European Economic Area countries, including the United Kingdom, have a legal obligation to pay agreed claims relating to healthcare treatment provided. Once both sides are satisfied that such claims are accurate, they are paid in full.