Tag: Rosie Cooper

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how (a) residents, (b) patients, (c) clinical commissioning groups and (d) NHS England can assess the standard and quality of care offered by an NHS body that has not yet received a Care Quality Commission inspection rating.

Mr Philip Dunne

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator of health and adult social care providers in England. All providers of regulated activities, including National Health Service and independent providers, have to register with the CQC and follow a set of fundamental standards of safety and quality below which care should never fall. The CQC monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards. This gives patients and the public a fair, balanced and easy to understand assessment of the performance of a provider.

During 2014, the CQC progressively introduced a new inspection regime for all providers. Since the CQC introduced its new inspection regime in 2014 it has issued ratings for the majority of providers. All remaining NHS hospitals and general practitioner providers will be inspected by March 2017.

Some of the providers that do not have ratings have already been inspected within the new inspection regime but at a time when ratings were not completed. For all providers that were inspected in this way, the CQC has published an assessment of care quality that has been designed to be helpful to patients and the public.

Other sources of information on care quality include the MyNHS website, NHS Choices, quality accounts, specialised services dashboards published by NHS England, and the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how householders can access funding for flood prevention measures for their properties directly and without the requirement to be part of a flood action group.

James Wharton

It is a matter for local authorities to determine how those householders not part of a flood action group will be able to access funding for flood prevention measures. Full details should be available from the relevant local authority.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if police forces will be required to provide information to the Disclosure and Barring Service where a person has been arrested and bailed pending an investigation into their alleged offences.

Karen Bradley

The Home Secretary issues guidance to chief officers of police under section 113B(4A) of the Police Act 1997, which they must have regard to in making decisions about providing information from police records for inclusion in enhanced criminal record certificates.

This guidance extends, for example, to information held by the police relating to someone being arrested and bailed.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training staff in (a) Lancashire and (b) the North West who handle NHS 111 calls receive other that the mandatory training covered by the NHS 111 Commissioning Standards.

Jane Ellison

This information is not held centrally and is a matter for the local providers and commissioners.

The NHS 111 commissioning standards issued in June 2014 state that all staff involved in handling NHS 111 calls must comply with the Licensing Requirements of the Clinical Decision Support Software used (NHS Pathways). Staff must also undertake training on: how to interact with urgent care services; the use of local Directories of Services; NHS Values; delivering excellent customer services; and safeguarding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Disclosure and Barring Service renewal applications were made prior to the renewal date and issued after the applicants’ certificate expired in the last 12 months.

Mike Penning

The Disclosure and Barring Service is responsible for issuing criminal record certificates and the maintenance of children’s and adults’ barred lists. The Disclosure and Barring Service has a target of processing 85% of all disclosure applications within 21 days. In the vast majority of cases (95%), disclosure certificates are issued within 8 weeks (2015/16).

Criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service do not expire after a specific period of time and do not include a renewal date. A certificate has no set period of validity. Information revealed through a Disclosure and Barring Service check reflects the information that was available at the time of its issue. Disclosure certificates are primarily designed to be used by an employer at the point of recruitment for a particular position.

Some roles and some employers require the person concerned to “renew” their Disclosure and Barring Service check at specific intervals. The person can do that either by applying for a new certificate or by using the Disclosure and Barring Service Update Service.

It would not be appropriate to comment on specific cases, but there are a number of factors which can affect the timely completion of checks. These include the length of time if can take for an employer to deal with the initial application, the accurate completion of the application form, the clarity of the information provided, the existence of conviction or non-conviction information, legal challenges and the operational effectiveness of the disclosure units of the police forces involved, if any, in the enhanced process. In some cases, forces will ask Disclosure and Barring Service to clarify some details provided by the applicant which requires further investigation and this can cause further delays.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how NHS England assesses bids for contracts where some of the bidding organisations have not provided a similar service previously or have not provided a similar service which has been subject to NHS quality measures or inspection.

David Mowat

As commissioners, clinical commissioning groups and NHS England use predetermined questions to establish the credentials and capabilities of potential providers. This includes the assessment of evidence of delivery that providers are required to submit as part of the tender exercise. If evidence of ability to provide such a service is not assessed as sufficient, then the potential provider may be disqualified from the process following further clarifications and lack of additional reassurance to meet the service specification requirements.

NHS England only assesses bids for contracts for services which NHS England itself commissions in accordance with its statutory functions and which are put out to tender.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will review the decision by the Environment Agency to turn off five satellite pumping stations in 2017 operating in the Alt Crossens catchment.

Rory Stewart

By serving a two-year notice period on the five pumping stations in Alt Crossens, the Environment Agency intends to provide time for all local parties to agree on an alternative solution for managing the pumps. I hope all the local parties will continue to work with the Environment Agency to agree a way forward.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-21.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the proposed timescales are for the completion of the business case work for the electrification of the Southport to Salford Crescent and Kirkby to Salford Crescent railway lines set out in the March 2015 report of the North of England Electrification Task Force.

Andrew Jones

The report of the independent North of England Electrification Task Force made recommendations on the prioritisation for a rolling programme of electrification of all currently unelectrified lines in the North, in three tiers. It recommended that full business case analysis of all Tier 1 schemes should be urgently progressed. Both Southport-Salford Crescent and Kirby-Salford Crescent were placed in Tier 1.

The Task Force’s recommendations are being taken into account by Network Rail as it prepares an updated national electrification strategy based on a comprehensive sifting and appraisal process. The strategy will be subject to public consultation this year and will inform the Government’s Rail Investment Strategy for 2019-2024.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what training staff in (a) Lancashire and (b) the North West who handle NHS 111 calls receive other that the mandatory training covered by the NHS 111 Commissioning Standards.

Jane Ellison

This information is not held centrally and is a matter for the local providers and commissioners.

The NHS 111 commissioning standards issued in June 2014 state that all staff involved in handling NHS 111 calls must comply with the Licensing Requirements of the Clinical Decision Support Software used (NHS Pathways). Staff must also undertake training on: how to interact with urgent care services; the use of local Directories of Services; NHS Values; delivering excellent customer services; and safeguarding.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-07-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Disclosure and Barring Service checks are yet to be processed which are (a) one, (b) three and (c) six months after the relevant renewal date.

Mike Penning

The Disclosure and Barring Service is responsible for issuing criminal record certificates and the maintenance of children’s and adults’ barred lists. The Disclosure and Barring Service has a target of processing 85% of all disclosure applications within 21 days. In the vast majority of cases (95%), disclosure certificates are issued within 8 weeks (2015/16).

Criminal record certificates issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service do not expire after a specific period of time and do not include a renewal date. A certificate has no set period of validity. Information revealed through a Disclosure and Barring Service check reflects the information that was available at the time of its issue. Disclosure certificates are primarily designed to be used by an employer at the point of recruitment for a particular position.

Some roles and some employers require the person concerned to “renew” their Disclosure and Barring Service check at specific intervals. The person can do that either by applying for a new certificate or by using the Disclosure and Barring Service Update Service.

It would not be appropriate to comment on specific cases, but there are a number of factors which can affect the timely completion of checks. These include the length of time if can take for an employer to deal with the initial application, the accurate completion of the application form, the clarity of the information provided, the existence of conviction or non-conviction information, legal challenges and the operational effectiveness of the disclosure units of the police forces involved, if any, in the enhanced process. In some cases, forces will ask Disclosure and Barring Service to clarify some details provided by the applicant which requires further investigation and this can cause further delays.