Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of (1) paediatric cystic fibrosis centres, and (2) adult cystic fibrosis centres, in England employed (a) a social worker, and (b) a clinical psychologist, as part of their multi-disciplinary team, for each year since 2015.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Kamall on 17 March (HL7072), what the (1) mean, (2) median, and (3) maximum, waiting times were for patients who had been coded as having received a specialised service in (a) February 2020, and (b) the most recent period for which figures are available; and how many had waited longer than 18 weeks before receiving their treatment in each period.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The information requested on mean and maximum waiting times is not held. In February 2020, the estimated median waiting time for admitted treatment was 14.6 weeks, with 10,272 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment. The estimated median waiting time for non-admitted treatment was 9.4 weeks, with 18,018 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment.
In January 2022, the estimated median waiting time for admitted treatment was 13.7 weeks, with 7,705 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment. The estimated median waiting time for non-admitted treatment was 10.7 weeks, with 21,868 patients having waited more than 18 weeks for treatment.
This data includes those patients referred to services directly commissioned by NHS England.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many patients were waiting for elective treatment for which NHS England’s specialised services function was responsible in (1) February 2020, and (2) the latest month for which figures are available; how many of these patients had already waited over 18 weeks; and what was the (a) mean, and (n) median, waiting time for those patients in each time period.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The data is not available in the format requested. Patients are coded as receiving a specialised service after their treatment has taken place, therefore the number of patients waiting for specialised services is not available.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 25 November (HL Deb, cols 1002–03), what sanctions may be imposed, and by whom, on financial services organisations that breach Financial Conduct Authority Guidance on the treatment of UK Politically Exposed Persons, their families and known close associates.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Further to the answer of 25 November 2021 by Viscount Younger of Leckie, from April 2018, the Financial Ombudsman has had jurisdiction to consider complaints from Politically Exposed Persons about their treatment by banks, and since 2018, have received fewer than 10 complaints in this area.
Where the Financial Ombudsman find that a bank has not followed regulations, best practice or acted in a fair and reasonable manner, the Financial Ombudsman will tell the bank to put the consumer in the position they would have been in had the bank’s error or wrongdoing not occurred. The Financial Ombudsman also has the power to order banks to pay for financial loss, distress or inconvenience depending on the experience of the consumer.
However, the Financial Ombudsman does not apply sanctions or penalties on banks. The Financial Conduct Authority, as anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing supervisor for financial services firms in the UK, has the power to impose civil penalties (fines and censure statements) and prohibitions on management.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration, if any, they have given to creating a new category of tax advantaged share scheme, analogous to the existing employee share ownership schemes, for which people in the gig economy would be eligible.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government is not considering creating a new tax-advantaged share scheme for self-employed contractors.
The purpose of all the existing schemes is to encourage employee share ownership and support employers' efforts to foster a more enterprising and productive relationship with their employees.
Where companies employ staff directly, they may offer tax-advantaged options to their employees through one of the existing schemes.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidelines the Department for Education (1) has, and (2) follows, for the time taken in responding to communications from members of the House of Lords.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
In line with Cabinet Office guidance, ministers within the department aim to respond to hon. and right hon. Members of the House of Lords within 18 working days to a piece of written correspondence, written parliamentary questions within 14 days of receipt, and commitments in the House to write to hon. and right hon. Members within 10 working days or as soon as possible.
As you will understand, the department has been dealing with unprecedented volumes of correspondence due to the impact of COVID-19. The department ensures that urgent cases raised by hon. and right hon. Members are prioritised wherever possible and is taking steps to provide substantive responses in as short a time as possible.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question
To ask the Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body (1) what plans they have to publish all submissions to the review of the Restoration and Renewal Programme received from Members of both Houses of Parliament and those outside Parliament, (2) if they have such plans, when they will publish those submissions, and (3) if they have no such plans, why not.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Needham Market
The Strategic Review report, which is now available on the Restoration and Renewal Programme website, includes a detailed summary of the submissions made by Members of both Houses and by others.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many written directions Ministers have been asked to give (1) to Permanent Secretaries, and (2) to other officials, in each of the last 10 years; and in each case, (a) which Ministers and officials were involved, and (b) to what the written directions referred.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
There have been 41 Ministerial Direction published since April 2011. There was no general requirement to publish Ministerial Directions prior to this date.
Thirty -eight of these direction were requested by Permanent Secretaries or Acting Permanent Secretaries. One of those (from the Permanent Secretary at the Department of Health and Social Care) was jointly requested by the Chief Executive of the NHS. Of the remainder, two were requested by the Chief Executive of UK Export Finance and one by the Chief Executive of the NHS.
Details of all published Ministerial Directions can be found on the gov.uk website.[1].
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-directions
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford on 1 May 2019 (HL Deb, col 1020) that they intend to "ensure that the review takes into account the benefits offered by new treatments for severe life-threatening and rare diseases", what plans they have to provide assurances that NICE will not end the use of rarity as a decision modifier in its highly specialised technology appraisal process.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It is too soon to comment on the potential outcomes of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) methods review and any changes to that may be proposed, but issues around the use of modifiers are being explored.
NICE expects to consult on the case for change later this year, and there will be a second consultation in 2021 on the updated methods manual.
Asked by: Lord Sharkey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 12 May (HL4366), which aspects of the forthcoming EU Clinical Trial Regulation (Regulation (EU) (No 536/2014) they currently consider to be in the best interests of (1) UK patients, (2) industry, (3) non-commercial researchers, and (4) hospitals.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Medicines and Medical Devices Bill 2020 will provide the mechanism to allow the United Kingdom to decide any aspects of the forthcoming European Union Clinical Trial Regulation (EU CTR) it would want to implement through national legislation.
The CTR is largely based on internationally recognised requirements to conduct a clinical trial and national UK legislation already implements many aspects of these international requirements.
Future changes made to the UK legislation will be done on the basis of what is in the best interests of the UK with the focus on remaining a leading global player, promoting patient safety; attracting more research to the UK; and enabling the UK to keep up with emerging technologies and maintain an internationally competitive clinical trials infrastructure.