Tag: Ruth Cadbury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had on (a) ending the role of GPs in (i) assessing eligibility for bus passes, parking badges, housing and gym membership and (ii) other non-NHS work and (b) ensuring that such work is commissioned from other sources by the requesting organisation.

Alistair Burt

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors who hold contracts with NHS England to provide primary medical services for the National Health Service. Under the terms of their contract, GPs are required to provide certain medical reports or complete certain forms, such as those required to support a claim for incapacity benefit, free of charge to their registered patients.

Outside of contractual requirements, GPs also provide a variety of other services which successive governments have regarded as private matters between the patient and the GP providing these services. Whether or not to provide these services is a matter for individual GPs. They may decline to provide them or charge a fee for doing so. Where GPs intend to charge for services to patients, the British Medical Association advises them to forewarn patients, at the earliest opportunity, of the likely level of fees.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of relocation of Ofcom departments from London to other areas of the country on Ofcom’s ability to maintain its service standards.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The location of Ofcom departments and its offices is a matter for Ofcom, who are independent from Government.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations she received from religious organisations on steps to prevent civil society organisations from objecting to school admission arrangements prior to her announcing proposals to limit such objections to local parents and councils.

Nick Gibb

The Department’s proposed changes are intended to ensure that the Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school, and is not held up by the need also to consider objections referred by interest groups from outside the area.

We do not believe that preventing other organisations from submitting objections will have a detrimental impact.

A full public consultation will be conducted in due course and careful consideration will be given to all the views expressed in that consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Heathrow Hub runway extension is being considered as an alternative to a third runway.

Mr Robert Goodwill

On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes – namely additional runways at Gatwick or Heathrow, or an extension to the existing northern runway at Heathrow. The Government will not be considering any other options.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many clinical commissioning groups and local authorities are jointly commissioning children’s palliative care as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.

Ben Gummer

The Department does not collect information centrally on commissioning of children’s palliative care by clinical commissioning groups. Clinical commissioning groups have responsibility for ensuring that they are meeting the needs of those requiring children’s palliative care services, considering the full range of local provision, both statutory and voluntary sectors and the wishes of children and young people and their families.

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires joint commissioning arrangements between local authorities in England and their partner commissioning bodies for children and young people with special educational need and disability. It does not require clinical commissioning groups and local authorities to jointly commission children’s palliative care.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will take steps to reduce indemnity costs on general practice.

Alistair Burt

The Department and NHS England committed in the recently published General Practice Forward View to review the current arrangements for indemnity cover for general practitioners. To take this review forward, a General Practice Indemnity Steering Group has been established by the Department with NHS England to look at the rising cost of indemnity, and to bring forward proposals for discussion by the end of July 2016.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that (a) lorry drivers from outside the UK have the appropriate licences and skills to drive on roads safely and (b) left-hand drive lorries have appropriate extra mirrors to improve visibility of cyclists and other road users to the lorry driver.

Andrew Jones

Road traffic legislation applies to everyone using British roads and this includes the obligation to provide documentation if required to do so by the police.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has check sites in the Port of Dover and throughout the strategic road network of Great Britain. At these sites, all classes of Large Goods Vehicles are checked to ensure vehicle roadworthiness, the correct documentation and compliance with drivers’ hours regulations.

The mirror requirements for heavy goods vehicles are the same throughout the EU.However, Department for Transport officials have currently negotiated improved requirements for mirrors on the passenger side of vehicles. The implementation process is now underway in the EU and means that drivers of newly registered HGVs from 1 July 2016 will have a better view of the area adjacent to the cab on the passenger side, which should improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Furtherchanges will also allow camera monitoring systems and enable the redesign of lorry cabs for better vision.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will review its aircraft noise policy after the updated WHO guidelines are published in summer 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Government’s current policy on aviation noise is to limit, and where possible reduce, the number of people in the UK significantly affected by aircraft noise. The Government will continue to ensure that its policy on aviation noise takes into account emerging evidence that is relevant, including on the health impacts of noise.

It should be noted that the current WHO guidelines do not refer solely to noise from aviation, but relate to noise levels from any of various sources including other transport sources such as from road, rail, and non-transport sources such as construction, industry and the neighbourhood.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that charities or other civil society organisations who wish to object to the admission arrangements of a school can do so on behalf of parents local to that school.

Nick Gibb

The Department’s proposed changes in relation to objections are designed to ensure that the Schools Adjudicator is able to focus on the concerns parents may have about the fairness of the admission arrangements of their local school and is not held up by the need also to consider objections referred by interest groups from outside the area. Local authorities will continue to have the right to object so that they are able to act on behalf of the local community.

We will be conducting a full public consultation in due course and will give careful consideration to all the views expressed in that consultation.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ruth Cadbury on 2016-03-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what he expects the decision-making process after any announcement regarding a third runway at Heathrow to be.

Mr Robert Goodwill

On 14 December 2015, the Government formally announced that it accepted the Airports Commission’s case for new runway capacity in the South East, as well as the Commission’s three shortlisted schemes. We continue to consider all three schemes, including a third runway at Heathrow. At the same time, it was also announced that the Department for Transport would prepare an airports national policy statement as the framework for implementing decisions on airport capacity in line with the Planning Act 2008.