Tag: Sarah Wollaston

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to use the (a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund and (b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Mr Robert Goodwill

a) £175 million cycling, safety and integration fund

Highways England is developing a programme of initiatives to improve the safety of the network and to also improve facilities for cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians, identifying further opportunities for improved integration with wider transport networks such as Park & Ride.

This fund supports their ambition to reduce the number of casualties on the strategic road network and encourage walking and cycling as an everyday mode of travel, as set out in the DfT Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

(b) £75 million air quality investment fund referred to in the Government’s Road Investment Strategy for the period 2015-16 to 2019-20.

Highways England’s Delivery Plan commits them to start 10 air quality pilot studies in the first 2 years of this road investment period.

These studies are designed to identify new and innovative solutions that will be funded using the air quality designated fund, to improve air quality alongside the strategic road network and support delivery of the major improvement schemes identified in the Road Investment Strategy.

Highways England’s work in relation to air quality, and the use of the £75million air quality designated fund (2015 – 20), is in support of the Government’s National Air Quality Plan.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-04-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether regulations are in place to ensure that (a) town councils, (b) parish councils and (c) local communities can exercise a community right to bid for independent qualified contractors to deliver highways infrastructure works that are funded by Section 106 contributions from developments within their parish as part of any competitive bidding process carried out by the local highways authority.

Brandon Lewis

Provisions are in place under the Community Right to Challenge to enable town and parish councils and voluntary and community organisations to challenge how council services are delivered by submitting a bid (Expression of Interest) to the relevant council.

Expressions of Interest need to be made in respect of an existing service and one that the local authority has responsibility for providing, which councils must consider and can only reject if specific circumstances set out in legislation apply. If a developer is undertaking work as part of an agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, then this would not fall under the scope of the Right to Challenge as it would not be a local authority service.

However, if a highways service was to be delivered by a local authority as a result of a Section 106 contribution then this would be within the scope of the Right, although it is important to note that local authorities are able to reject an Expression of Interest if a service is already the subject of a procurement process or pre-procurement negotiations. If this is the case, the town or parish council or community group would be able to participate in the procurement process.

The Community Right to Bid provides local people and parish councils with the opportunity to nominate a building or land for listing by a local council as an Asset of Community Value (ACV), which, if the owner decides to sell, a moratorium of up to six months is triggered. During the moratorium period, the asset cannot be sold except to a community bidder.

If a highways service was to be delivered by a local authority as a result of a Section 106 contribution then this should be within the scope of the Community Right to Challenge. It is important to note though that local authorities are able to reject an expression of interest if a service is already the subject of a procurement process or if the authority has entered into negotiations with a third party to deliver the service and these are at least in part conducted in writing. Where the services are currently being procured, the organisation in question would be able to participate in the procurement exercise.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department plans to respond to the policy briefing from the Royal College of Surgeons on English language testing of EEA healthcare professionals, dated 17 August 2016; and what plans he has to introduce clinical language tests for EEA healthcare professionals working in the UK.

Mr Philip Dunne

Changes to United Kingdom law introduced in April 2014 and March 2015, allow the General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing Midwifery Council, General Dental Council (GDC), General Pharmaceutical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland to carry out language controls for European Economic Area (EEA) doctors, dentists, nurses, midwives, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Britain. The regulators are now able to apply proportionate language controls for EEA professionals before registration and admission onto the register ensuring that only those healthcare professionals who have the necessary knowledge of the English language to do their job in a safe and competent manner are able to practise in the UK.

Under the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive (MRPQ) regulatory healthcare bodies, including the GMC and GDC, are required to recognise primary and specialist medical qualifications gained in an EEA healthcare professional’s home member state.

The people of the UK have voted to leave the European Union, however until exit negotiations are concluded the UK remains a full member of the EU and all the rights and obligations of EU membership remain in force. This includes implementation of the MRPQ Directive.

A number of concerns have been raised about the constraints that the Directive places on the ability of UK regulators of health professionals to carry out robust checks of both the clinical and language skills of medical professionals from the EEA seeking to practice in the UK. The Government shares these concerns and will review the checks that UK regulators are able to apply in light of the EU exit negotiations.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what change there has been in the number of incidents reported along the south coast from Plymouth to Selsey Bill in the last five years.

Mr John Hayes

The number of incidents reported along the south coast from Plymouth to Selsey Bill over the last five years is as follows:

Year	Total
2011	7,776
2012	7,427
2013	6,470
2014	7,624
2015	3,927

Between September 2014 and December 2015, as part of Her Majesty’s Coastguard’s incremental transition of Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres into to its national network, its Incident Management System (IMS) was upgraded, centralised and improved. These new national network arrangements have removed the potential for incident duplication across the 18 individual IMSs and have led to more consistent classification of incidents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make one of the qualifying criteria for children under three years of age to access the mobility component of the disability living allowance possession of a blue badge by either of a child’s parents.

Justin Tomlinson

I refer the honourable lady to the answer provided to her on 2 November (13660).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-01-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many children and young people in need of specialist mental health support as a result of (a) experiences of sexual abuse, (b) non-sexual physical abuse or neglect, (c) emotional abuse or neglect, (d) bereavement or (e) other trauma have been (i) granted and (ii) not granted access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.

Alistair Burt

The information needed to link individuals who have experienced various forms of trauma with those who have experienced mental health problems is not collected centrally.

We are committed to improving child and adolescent mental health services, which is why we are investing an additional £1.4 billion in services for children and young people with mental health problems over the course of this Parliament. The guidance issued by NHS England in August last year on Local Transformation Plans for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing specified that the plans should address the full spectrum of need including those with particular vulnerability to mental health problems such as those who have been sexually abused or exploited. The bespoke assurance process that was undertaken by NHS England will therefore have addressed the extent to which this has been addressed in local plans.

NHS England has commissioned a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the Local Transformation Plans, in order to support policy makers, local commissioners and services to understand and use the data that is contained within the plans to drive further improvements. Local Transformation Plans will be reviewed from a narrative, analytical and financial perspective, with thematic reviews carried out in key focus areas that align with Future in Mind principles.

Sensitive and routine enquiry will be introduced in targeted health services, such as sexual health clinics and mental health services, to help identify those children who have been subjected to abuse and other traumatic experiences.

NHS England also published a Commissioning Framework for Adult and Paediatric Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) Services in August 2015 which outlines the core services in SARCs and referral pathways to other services. These are now being rolled out throughout England and should lead to improved services for those who have experienced sexual assault, including children and young people.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he expects to be consulted in cases where a Bulk Personal Dataset is required from his Department by an Agency under the provisions of Part 7 of the Investigatory Powers Bill.

George Freeman

The Investigatory Powers Bill does not include any powers to require the provision of a bulk personal dataset (BPD) to a security and intelligence agency. It does require that there should be robust and transparent safeguards relating to such an agency’s use of BPDs. This includes a new requirement for warrants to authorise the retention and examination of BPDs.

The Bill provides for both class BPD warrants, covering datasets of a particular class, and specific BPD warrants, covering an individual dataset. The draft statutory Code of Practice provides further guidance on the factors that the security and intelligence agencies should consider in determining which type of warrant to apply for. These include whether the nature or provenance of the dataset raises particularly novel or contentious issues; whether it contains a significant component of intrusive data; and whether it contains a significant component of confidential information relating to members of sensitive professions. All warrants will be subject to the ‘double-lock’ safeguard meaning that they will be subject to approval by both a Secretary of State and a Judicial Commissioner.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many vacant posts at each grade there are at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham.

Mr John Hayes

The current vacancies at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham are as follows:

• Maritime Operations Controller – 1
• Maritime Operations Specialist – 3
• Maritime Operations Officer/Senior Maritime Operations Officer – 9.5

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-09-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what maximum length of time is considered safe from when an emergency call is received in a coastguard control room to when the coastguard vehicle is ready to leave its station.

Mr John Hayes

Each incident involving a Coastguard Rescue Team is different in its context given geography, terrain, weather conditions, prevailing traffic conditions and the availability of individual volunteer Coastguard Rescue Officers. For this reason the Maritime and Coastguard Agency does not collate or maintain data in the format you have requested either locally or nationally. However, it can provide specific response times for specific incidents.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the planning protection for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty; and if he will make a statement.

James Wharton

The National Planning Policy Framework provides strong protection for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is for decision makers to apply that policy and related legislation. The local planning authorities have responsibility for determining planning applications and developing local plan policies in the first instance.

The strong protection for these valued areas is supported by planning guidance. We keep this guidance under review to ensure it reflects up-to-date planning policy.