Tag: Tom Blenkinsop

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will provide additional resources to the Tees Valley Combined Authority and Local Enterprise Partnership to assist them in the key role envisioned for them in the independent report, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited, published on 7 June 2016.

James Wharton

Officials in the Cities and Local Growth Unit will continue to work with the Tees Valley to implement their current devolution deal – including additional resources of £15 million per year, and over £100 million in already agreed growth deals. Tees Valley Combined Authority is already putting in place plans for implementing Lord Heseltine’s report. Government is committed to work coherently with local leaders to support the economic growth opportunities that have been identified.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the financial cost to local authorities of Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards for people who are placed in care homes or hospitals for their care or treatment.

David Mowat

The Department published an impact assessment on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards in 2008; it has made no further estimate. The Law Commission’s review of the safeguards, which has been commissioned by the Department, is expected to be published at the end of the year.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 7 September 2016 to Question 44365, what assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made on the effect of long shift patterns on the incidence of (a) errors, (b) accidents and (c) injuries in (i) all sectors of the workforce and (ii) the mining industry.

Penny Mordaunt

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does not hold this information. However, HSE recognises that poorly designed shift-working arrangements and long working hours can result in fatigue, accidents, injuries and ill health and has produced guidance for employers on designing and implementing shift-working arrangements:

(http://www.hse.gov.uk/humanfactors/topics/fatigue.htm).

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 40132, whether there have been any changes to her Department’s plans for the roll out of the National Teaching Service; and when her Department expects to confirm the details of those plans.

Nick Gibb

We are currently reviewing the lessons learned from the National Teaching Service pilot alongside our growing evidence base on the recruitment challenges that different schools face. The next steps on this will be set out in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2015-11-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the ability of young drivers to gain insurance cover of the recent increase in the insurance premium tax.

Andrew Jones

My officials have not made an assessment. There are a number of behavioural, educational and technological interventions that have the potential to help improve young driver safety and hence have an impact on insurance premiums. We need better evidence about what works best, so we’re working with insurance companies to see how we can assess the impact of telematics products, amongst other things, on young driver safety.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-01-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of clinical trial capacity at muscle centres.

George Freeman

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I provided on 13 January 2016 to Question 21102.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-04-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will amend the remit of the taskforce created to respond to the closure of SSI in Redcar to include the Teesside economy as a whole.

Anna Soubry

Where there are redundancies within the Tees Valley, the Government will work with local partners, including the Tees Valley Combined Authority, the Local Enterprise Partnership and the SSI Task Force to determine how support can be most effectively targeted to affected individuals. The SSI Task Force is already supporting the Tees Valley economy more broadly, for example through the £16m Support for Businesses Schemes, which the Task Force reports has created 186 jobs, safeguarded 326 jobs and committed £4.1m funding, attracting £6m in private sector match.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will (a) establish an additional National Teaching Service (NTS) pilot in Teesside and (b) give priority to the Tees Valley in the NTS national roll-out in response to the recommendation in Lord Heseltine’s report, Tees Valley: opportunity unlimited to prioritise the Tees Valley for national roll-out of the NTS.

Nick Gibb

In November 2015 we announced that by 2020 the National Teaching Service (NTS) will have placed 1,500 high-performing teachers and middle leaders into challenging schools in areas of the country that struggle to attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers.

The NTS was launched with plans for a pilot scheme in the North West of England from September 2016 with the aim of attracting 100 NTS teachers and middle leaders into schools in the region. The national programme will include a clear focus on delivering cohorts of NTS teachers and middle leaders into eligible schools in Achieving Excellence Areas (AEAs) as set out in the Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper. We will confirm our plans for rolling out the NTS in due course.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many accidents have occurred in mines in each of the last five years.

Penny Mordaunt

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) operational data is derived from reports made under duties contained in the Reporting of Injuries and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) (and earlier versions). It is as follows:

Year	No. of reported injuries in underground mines in Great Britain* **
1 April 2011 – 31 March 2012	204
1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013	146
1 April 2013 – 31 March 2014	114
1 April 2014 – 31 March 2015	75
1 April 2015 – 31 March 2016	52
1 April 2016 – 31 August 2016	21

* A key change to RIDDOR occurred in April 2012, ie the threshold for reporting of those injuries to workers which result in the person being incapacitated for more than three days changed to over seven days.

** It should be noted that the reducing trend is, in part, due to the reduction in the number of large working mines in recent years.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Blenkinsop on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to target the recruitment of new GPs to practices with high levels of clinical need and deprivation.

Mr Philip Dunne

NHS England, Health Education England (HEE), the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners (GPs) have been working together to support recruitment in areas to which it has traditionally been hard to recruit to.

NHS England is offering £20,000 bursaries to attract over 100 GP trainees to work in areas of the country where GP training places have been unfilled for a number of years. The offer is open to GP trainees committed to working for three years in one of the locations. The initiative is designed to relieve pressure on some of the GP practices in England currently facing the most severe recruitment challenge.

The GP Forward View complements the 10 point plan that was introduced in January 2015. A £10 million investment was announced by NHS England from the infrastructure fund to kick start a new plan to expand the general practice workforce. The money is being used to recruit new GPs, retain those that are thinking of leaving the profession, encourage doctors to return to general practice and to develop a multi-professional workforce. HEE is responsible for five areas of the 10 Point Plan:

– Promoting General Practice;

– Improve Breadth of Training;

– Training Hubs;

– New Ways of Working (which includes the Primary Care Workforce Commission); and

– Easy Return to Practice.