Tag: Sarah Wollaston

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on patient outcomes of the planned transfer of obesity surgery commissioning responsibilities to clinical commissioning groups from April 2016.

George Freeman

We do not expect obesity outcomes to be affected, as the change will primarily be in regard to commissioning responsibilities. However, we believe the transfer should support better integration between Tier 3 and Tier 4 services (which include obesity services) which in turn should improve patient pathways.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-02-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will ask the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to conduct an equality impact assessment as part of its decision-making process on the vaccination of adolescent boys.

Jane Ellison

I refer the hon. Member to the Written Answer I gave the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr John Baron) on 20 July 2015 to Question 7298.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure that UK nursing is effectively represented at (a) the World Health Assembly and (b) other EU and international fora.

Ben Gummer

The World Health Assembly (WHA) is usually attended by the Chief Medical Officer and senior health officials. In the past the Chief Nursing Officer has attended the WHA, though in recent years has not been part of the Department’s delegation. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) is largely focussed on public health and the Chief Nurse at Public Health England works with and contributes to international nursing development with the WHO, including attendance at the WHO Nursing Forum, and also contributes to other global programmes.

There is a European Chief Nursing Officers forum which Government chief nurse advisors attend. It is for the Chief Nursing Officer for England to attend this meeting. In her absence one of the other United Kingdom Chief Nursing Officers should attend.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fully-qualified coastguard staff were on (a) daytime and (b) nighttime duty at Falmouth Coastguard operations centre on (a) 2 May and (b) 9 July 2015.

Mr John Hayes

The number of fully qualified Coastguard staff on duty at Falmouth, within Her Majesty’s Coastguard’s national network, was as follows:

(a) 2 May 2015

(a) Day Watch – 4 (Total staffing for the national network – 25)

(b) Night Watch – 2 (Total staffing for the national network – 19)

(b) 9 July 2015

(a) Day Watch – 2 (Total staffing for the national network – 37)

(b) Night Watch – 3 (Total staffing for the national network – 25)

The operational concepts and procedures that underpin HM Coastguard’s national network mean that the Coastguard Centres within it no longer have fixed geographic boundaries. This enables Coastguards at either the National Maritime Operations Centre (NMOC) or any of the 9 Coastguard Operations Centres (CGOC) to coordinate any incident anywhere around the UK coast irrespective of their location. As a result workload is now managed on a national basis rather than Centre by Centre as was previously the case. National capability and Coastguard staff from any Centre are now available to provide additional support to any individual Centre within the network when it is considered necessary by senior operational managers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many fully-trained staff are based at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham.

Mr John Hayes

Her Majesty’s Coastguard currently have a total of 58 staff who are qualified Coastguards at the National Maritime Operations Centre in Fareham. There are an additional 12 staff who are communication/systems trained, but awaiting to complete their final training and assessments, who are able to undertake watchkeeping tasks commensurate with their training.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that funding is sufficient to meet patient demand in (a) community mental healthcare and (b) inpatient mental healthcare; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt

NHS England’s Planning Guidance for 2015/16, Forward View into action: planning for 2015-16, sets out the expectation that clinical commissioning groups’ (CCGs) spending on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least as much as each CCG’s allocation increase to support the ambition of parity between mental and physical health. Compliance with the Planning Guidance is being assured at national and Area Team level.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-02-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of how many men who have sex with men (MSM) are expected to receive the HPV vaccine each year as a result of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s recommendation that it be offered at sexual health clinics; and what proportion of the MSM population aged up to 45 his Department estimates will have been vaccinated within (a) one year, (b) five years and (c) 10 years of that vaccine first being so offered.

Jane Ellison

In November 2015, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the expert body that advises the Government on all immunisation matters, advised that a targeted human papillomavirus vaccination programme should be undertaken for men who have sex with men (MSM) up to 45 years of age who attend genitourinary medicine and HIV clinics. They noted that this should be subject to procurement of the vaccine and delivery of the programme at a cost-effective price. JCVI acknowledged that finding a way to implement its advice would be challenging and made clear that work was needed by the Department and others to consider commissioning and delivery routes for this programme. This work is already underway and we will announce our plans as soon as we can.

The Department is not yet in a position to suggest estimates of the numbers or proportion of MSM who might be vaccinated from this potential vaccination programme.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2016-06-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to ensure nurses are consulted on his Department’s future policies after the proposed closure of the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professions policy unit in his Department.

Ben Gummer

The Department leads the health and care system in England, working closely with a range of organisations on whose expertise it draws, including the nursing and midwifery expertise in NHS England and Public Health England. The Department’s approach to ensuring that nurses are consulted about future policies is to flexibly access professional advice from a wide range of sources, including arms-length bodies, regulators, stakeholders and professional bodies.

The Department’s policy teams will establish new networks and relationships with stakeholders and partners and collaborate with the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) to ensure systems are in place to secure advice when developing evidence based policy. These changes do not affect the role of the CNO, who as CNO of the Department already advises, and will continue to advise all Ministers and the Department on the range of nursing and midwifery issues.

The Department is changing the way it works to deliver its essential work for the Government while achieving efficiency savings. All of the changes we are making through the resulting DH2020 programme are being done transparently and communicated to staff.

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 Falmouth Coastguard operations centre.

Mr John Hayes

There are no vacancies at any grade at the Coastguard Operations Centre in Falmouth at present.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sarah Wollaston on 2015-12-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to include a commitment to constructing safe paths alongside busy roads in rural areas in the forthcoming National Road Safety Strategy to improve cycle safety.

Mr Robert Goodwill

The Conservative Manifesto 2015 had a commitment to reduce the number of cyclists and other road users killed or injured on our roads every year. We have been working closely with road safety groups to consider what more can be done and expect to publish our Road Safety Statement shortly.

The Road Safety Statement will set out the high level plan and overarching approach to road safety that we expect to take over the rest of the Parliament, and will be followed by a series of more detailed proposals and consultations. The Department for Transport will publish a Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy in 2016 which will set out our plans for investment in safer cycling and walking infrastructure.

Busy roads in rural areas will either be the responsibility of Highways England or local authorities.

Highways England have committed to provide a safer, integrated and more accessible strategic road network for cyclists and other vulnerable road users. To support this, the Government has outlined a commitment to invest £100m between 2015/16 and 2020/21 to improve provision for cyclists on the strategic road network.

On a local level, provision of cycling infrastructure is for local traffic authorities. The Department encourages them to ensure cycling is considered as part of the planning process.The Department for Transport’s Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance supports local authorities on providing cycle-safe infrastructure for cyclists.

It is also worth noting that from within the record £6 billion to be allocated to local highways authorities between 2015 and 2021 for road maintenance, from 2018/19 the plan is to change the formula used to allocate local highways maintenance capital funding so that it also takes into account footways and cycleways as well as the roads, bridges and street lighting, which it is currently based on. Once implemented, around 9% of the funding will be based on footway and cycleway lengths.