The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-18.
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 14 April 2016 to Question 33354, who is responsible for (a) initial negotiation and (b) any renegotiation of centrally-supported PF1 and PF2 projects.
Greg Hands
Pursuant to the answer given on 14 April 2016 to PQ UIN 33354, it is the contract parties that are responsible for the initial negotiation or any renegotiations of PFI and PF2 projects.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-05-19.
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many former Child Support Agency (CSA) clients whose liability ended due to the CSA case closure process have been sent a notice of the validated child maintenance arrears balance in each month between January and March 2016.
Priti Patel
The table below shows the number of Arrears letters sent to the Parents with Care (PWC) as part of the case closure process in each month from January 2016 until March 2016.
|
Month |
Jan-16 |
Feb-16 |
Mar-16 |
|
Number of Arrears Letters sent to PWC |
13,110 |
27,480 |
20,830 |
Notes
We have at our disposal a range of strong enforcement powers, intended to ensure as many parents as possible fulfil their financial responsibilities towards their children. We are using all of the powers available to us where it is appropriate to do so. These include deducting maintenance directly from earnings, deduction directly from bank accounts, instructing bailiffs to collect arrears or seize goods, forcing the sale of property, commitment to prison and disqualification from driving.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-08.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 15 April 2016 to Question 33132, when he plans to publish details of NHS support funding for community pharmacies under the Pharmacy Access Scheme.
Alistair Burt
We expect to publish further details on the Pharmacy Access Scheme at the beginning of July.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many times the list of conditions eligible for a medical exemption certificate has been reviewed since its introduction.
Alistair Burt
We cannot be sure from our records how many times the list of medical conditions which provide eligibility for a medical exemption certificate has been reviewed since its introduction in 1968.
The most recent external review commenced in 2008 when the then Prime Minister announced the addition of cancer to the list of conditions which would be eligible for a medical exception certificate, and announced at the same time that there would be a review by Professor Sir Ian Gilmore on how to implement exemptions for all those with long term conditions. The report of the Gilmore review was published in May 2010, and it was announced in the 2010 spending review that the recommendations made in the report would not be implemented in light of the financial situation. There are no current plans to undertake a further review of the list.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on NHS services provision of the findings in the article entitled, Mental health services, suicide and 7-day working, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in July 2016, related to suicides at weekends.
Nicola Blackwood
The cross-Government Suicide Prevention Strategy (2012) identifies people under the care of mental health services as a high risk group. We have made significant progress in this area over the last decade with the number of inpatient deaths by suicide reducing by more than half. However, we recognise that the number of suicides in people under the care of mental health services in the community has been increasing.
We have implemented the Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat and now every local area has a crisis care action plan in place. We are also investing an additional £1 billion in mental health over the next five years which includes £290 million to improve perinatal mental health, £247 million to improve liaison mental health services in emergency departments and over £400 million to enable 24/7 treatment in communities as a safe and effective alternative to hospital.
We have accepted the recommendations of the independent Mental Health Taskforce’s Five Year Forward View for Mental Health to reduce the national suicide rate by 10% by 2020/21, local areas to implement multi-agency suicide prevention action plans by 2017 and to take steps so that lessons are learned from all suicides in NHS-funded mental health settings to prevent future deaths.
We will publish the annual progress report to the cross-Government strategy later this year which will set out ways we are strengthening the strategy, including how we can reduce suicides in high risk groups.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Prime Minister, whether she plans to attend the UN General Assembly meetings on refugees and migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016.
Mrs Theresa May
I refer the hon. Member to the Oral Statement I gave to the House on 7 September 2016, Official Report, column 336.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-02.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the adequacy of the level of investment in language subjects at school in each of the last five years.
Nick Gibb
The Government has invested some £5 million since 2011, funding projects in schools to raise standards of teaching in languages and to equip teachers to teach the new and more demanding languages curriculum.
We continue to offer generous bursaries for languages trainees, with up to £25,000 for those with a first class or 2:1 degree. In addition, from September 2016 there will be a programme of school-led teacher subject specialism training in modern foreign languages for qualified teachers who wish to develop skills in an additional language to their current specialism, and to provide refresher training for former languages teachers to return to teaching. This funding totals £1.5 million in the current academic year.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-14.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of Simon Kirby’s resignation from HS2 Ltd on achieving the 2026 target date for opening phase one of High Speed 2.
Andrew Jones
Simon Kirby has built a high calibre team and leaves HS2 Ltd in excellent shape. Sir David Higgins remains as chair and a new CEO will be appointed as soon as possible. The 2026 target date for opening phase one of HS2 is not affected.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-09-15.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to ensure the Mandarin Excellence Programme is delivered to all local authorities in the UK; and how many (a) schools and (b) pupils in Birmingham are planned to start the programme this year.
Nick Gibb
The Mandarin Excellence Programme offers intensive study in the language. The programme is expected to result in at least 5,000 young people heading towards a high level of fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.
Secondary school pupils in an initial 14 secondary schools will study Mandarin for eight hours a week – a significant increase on the time pupils currently spend on the subject.
Currently two schools in the Midlands, one in Coventry and one in Walsall, have joined the programme. Around 300 pupils are expected to join the programme this year. There will be further opportunity for schools to apply to join the programme in subsequent years.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-07.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2016 to Question 45660, what estimate he has made of the number of general practices that require assistance from the new practice resilience programme.
David Mowat
Following the launch of the General Practice Resilience Programme in July 2016, NHS England’s local teams have been working to finalise a range of offers that can be put in place to support practice sustainability and resilience. This includes selecting which practices will receive this support, by using nationally published criteria.
NHS England was initially due to set out which practices would be included in the first cohort to receive support through this programme, on 30 September 2016. The deadline for this assessment and report has been revised to 18 October 2016, to allow greater opportunity for practices to self-refer for assessment. The Department cannot provide an estimate of the number of general practices requiring assistance from the new practice resilience programme until this date, when NHS England will have completed its assessment and report.
Identifying practices in need of support is challenging, as there are elements which are subjective and it can be hard to measure the nature, severity and weight of issues facing individual practices. The national criteria seek to chart a middle route between those aspects that are measurable and those less tangible issues. The nature of the issues facing a practice can be generally grouped as follows; demand, capacity and internal issues. The national criteria acknowledges the importance of local input from clinical commissioning groups and local medical committees, as well as how self-referral of general practices is legitimate as a self-declaration of their support needs.
An earlier NHS England programme, the Vulnerable Practice Programme, launched in December 2015, identified around 900 practices as potentially vulnerable and in need of support.