Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the rate of Insurance Premium Tax on the sustainability of the health insurance market.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government publishes assessments of all tax changes at fiscal events. This includes examining the economic and business impacts. The assessment for the last change in Insurance Premium Tax (announced at Autumn Statement 2016) can be found here:
These costings are certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The government keeps all taxes under review and remains in regular discussion with the insurance industry and other interested parties, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on the provision of insurance in the UK.
The government does not have a view on the impact of the size of the health insurance market on the NHS.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the size of the health insurance market on the NHS.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government publishes assessments of all tax changes at fiscal events. This includes examining the economic and business impacts. The assessment for the last change in Insurance Premium Tax (announced at Autumn Statement 2016) can be found here:
These costings are certified by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
The government keeps all taxes under review and remains in regular discussion with the insurance industry and other interested parties, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), on the provision of insurance in the UK.
The government does not have a view on the impact of the size of the health insurance market on the NHS.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department's Green Paper on Prevention is better than cure will include the role of (a) employers in supporting good health and (b) use of health insurance by employers to support the health of their staff.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
We are considering a number of policy options for the Prevention Green Paper and will be mindful of the role of employers in supporting their employees’ health.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the Government has made on improving transport infrastructure in areas with a high number of new build homes.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government has invested £1.2bn through the Housing Infrastructure Fund to support housing and further announcements through this £5.5bn fund are expected later this year. A significant number of HIF bids include transport infrastructure.
The Government is also investing in transport supporting new home construction through the Transforming Cities Fund, Major Road Network, and projects in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, and it is promoting integrated housing and transport planning, for example through the revised National Planning Policy Framework.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on reports that the Israel Defense Forces recently exposed a Hezbollah cell preparing an attack on Israel.
Answered by Mark Field
Whilst the Foreign Secretary has not had discussions with the Israel Defense Forces about this issue, the British Government routinely discusses concerns about the actions of Hizballah with the Israeli authorities.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with the NHS to tackle the cost of fraud to the NHS.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
To tackle the cost of fraud to the National Health Service, the Department has published and is implementing a counter-fraud strategic plan for the healthcare sector covering 2017-20. The plan includes:
- Establishing the NHS Counter Fraud Authority;
- Developing a coherent intelligence-led approach to enable the identification, prioritisation and management of fraud risk;
- Collaborative working to deliver a comprehensive programme of fraud prevention, deterrence and enforcement activities and loss recovery in the highest risk areas; and
- Strengthening counter-fraud capability with an increased emphasis on permanently preventing future losses.
As highlighted in the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS Improvement is supporting the NHS to deliver the opportunities for improvement in procurement, including efficiency savings by aggregation of volumes and standardising specifications. A new centralised NHS procurement organisation, Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL), has been introduced to help use this purchasing power on a national scale to get the best deals and deliver high quality affordable care for patients. By 2022, we will double the volume of products bought through SCCL to 80%, extend the number of nationally contracted products and consolidate the way local and regional procurement teams operate.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the (a) performance of the procurement process in the NHS and (b) susceptibility of that process to procurement fraud.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
To tackle the cost of fraud to the National Health Service, the Department has published and is implementing a counter-fraud strategic plan for the healthcare sector covering 2017-20. The plan includes:
- Establishing the NHS Counter Fraud Authority;
- Developing a coherent intelligence-led approach to enable the identification, prioritisation and management of fraud risk;
- Collaborative working to deliver a comprehensive programme of fraud prevention, deterrence and enforcement activities and loss recovery in the highest risk areas; and
- Strengthening counter-fraud capability with an increased emphasis on permanently preventing future losses.
As highlighted in the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS Improvement is supporting the NHS to deliver the opportunities for improvement in procurement, including efficiency savings by aggregation of volumes and standardising specifications. A new centralised NHS procurement organisation, Supply Chain Coordination Limited (SCCL), has been introduced to help use this purchasing power on a national scale to get the best deals and deliver high quality affordable care for patients. By 2022, we will double the volume of products bought through SCCL to 80%, extend the number of nationally contracted products and consolidate the way local and regional procurement teams operate.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of High Speed Two; and what recent assessment he has made of the value for money of that project.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Spending Review 2015 confirmed a funding envelope for the whole of HS2 of £55.7bn at 2015 prices. DfT remains determined that the project will be delivered within the £55.7bn funding envelope.
The benefit-cost ratio for the HS2 network as a whole, including wider economic impacts, suggests that for every £1 invested the UK will receive £2.30 of benefits.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using the budget allocated to High Speed Two to instead invest in (a) regional transport infrastructure projects, (b) upgrading existing rail lines and (c) reducing government expenditure.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Record investment is taking place in Control Period 6 with around £48 billion to be spent on the existing rail network over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024, including more maintenance and a huge uplift in renewals to increase reliability and punctuality for passengers. Together with new and refurbished trains, this Government is delivering an ambitious programme on rail.
In addition, HS2 will deliver more than £2 of benefits for every £1 of investment. HS2 will release capacity on existing railway lines so enabling new or additional services to be provided on those lines.
Asked by: Craig Tracey (Conservative - North Warwickshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to consult (a) the third sector and (b) patient groups in the development of the (a) workforce implementation plan and (b) implementation framework for the NHS Long-Term Plan.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The National Implementation Framework, to be published in the spring, will support local areas as they develop their implementation plans. Local implementation plans will provide staff, patients, the public and other stakeholders with the opportunity to help local organisations determine how to achieve the service and outcomes improvements set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
NHS England is asking local health systems to start this engagement soon and expect local politicians to have an opportunity to be involved in this, as well as other local stakeholders, local partners, communities, service users and patients.
Nationally, the National Health Service is working with Healthwatch England and the Voluntary and Community Sector Health and Wellbeing Alliance to provide additional support to local systems in their engagement with local communities.
The Chair of NHS Improvement, Baroness Harding, has been asked by the Prime Minister and Secretary of State to take forward the development of a workforce implementation plan, as part of the overall implementation plan for the Long Term Plan. This programme of work will engage with staff, employers, professional organisations, trade unions and think tanks to build a shared vision and a plan of action that puts NHS people at the heart of NHS policy and delivery.