Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure consistency in the granting of NHS Continuing Healthcare throughout Clinical Commissioning Groups.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
There will always be some variation across clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility (NHS CHC), due to a wide variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the age dispersion within the local population and variations between geographical areas in terms of their level of health need.
In 2017 NHS England launched an NHS CHC Strategic Improvement Programme and is helping CCGs to improve their application of the NHS CHC National Framework. The Programme aims are to provide fair access to CHC in a way which ensures better outcomes, better experience, and better use of resources.
As part of this programme NHS England is working with NHS CCGs to address variation in performance and NHS CHC eligibility rates. To better understand the nature of variation in eligibility, NHS England has developed a clustering methodology, which groups together NHS CCGs with similar demographics. Additionally, the national CHC e-learning offer has been extended and enhanced, and a national competency framework developed to support CHC staff to deliver the National Framework consistently.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives from Abellio on Rail Gourmet’s decision not to pay the Living Wage on the East Midlands franchise.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
No discussion has occurred with Ministers. However, following a similar question from Grahame Morris, MP (and the response provided), officials have since raised this issue with East Midlands Railway.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of introducing a national landlord register for the private rented sector in England.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Government has no current plans to introduce a national landlord register, which could place an additional regulatory burden on landlords. The case would need to be made that such a register would drive up standards in the private rented sector. The Government is instead committed to improving the private rented sector by driving out criminal landlords and landlords who consistently neglect their responsibilities to provide safe and decent accommodation.
Local authorities already have a wide range of powers available to them including banning orders for the very worst offenders, civil penalties of up to £30,000 and a database of rogue landlords and property agents targeted at persistent and criminal offenders. To support the powers that local authorities already have we have provided £2.3 million in grant funding for local authorities to develop self-sustaining enforcement, released refreshed guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities on their rights and responsibilities and carried out a review of selective licensing.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 ensure that (a) self-employed and (b) other carers that work with (i) elderly and (ii) vulnerable people are DBS checked.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
The requirements for Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks for carers working with elderly and vulnerable people differ for those employed by a registered care provider, and those that are self-employed.
- DBS checks are not mandatory for self-employed carers, whether the individual requiring care is eligible for a personal health budget or is self-funding. It is for local authorities to inform individuals who choose to use a self-employed carer that while a DBS check is not mandatory, they may still want to obtain one as part of their overall risk management plan.
- All health and social care providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) are responsible for checking the suitability of their staff. The CQC expects providers to undertake checks at the appropriate level for staff and volunteers who are eligible for them. They should consider the eligibility of everyone employed including contracted staff, temporary staff, bank staff, practitioners working under practising privileges, volunteers, students and learners and contractors. The CQC expects providers of the services it regulates to undertake the appropriate level of DBS check required for the care staff it employs. In all settings, the eligibility for checks and the level of that check depends on the roles and responsibilities of the job. The CQC has the power to take enforcement action if providers decide not to take up DBS checks on eligible staff, or if the provider cannot provide sufficient evidence of seeking appropriate assurances that a check has been undertaken.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a salary sacrifice car scheme for teachers in state schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There is a statutory process for revising the pay and conditions of teachers and any change must first be referred by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB). The demands on the STRB’s time and resources mean that the Government has to make hard decisions on prioritising the issues it refers. The Government is committed to making the teaching profession an attractive and competitive career but is not currently considering proposing an extension to the current salary sacrifice schemes for teachers to cover cars.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to change the qualifying criteria for the enhanced mobility component of personal independence payment to allow claimants with dwarfism to access specially adapted mobility vehicles.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is intended to act as a contribution towards the extra costs that arise as a result of a long-term health condition or disability.
Entitlement to PIP is assessed on the basis of the needs arising from a health condition or disability, rather than the health condition or disability itself.
We consulted extensively while developing the mobility component of the assessment, notably undertaking a second consultation exercise following feedback that the moving around activity was difficult to understand.
We carefully considered all the responses, including the suggestions for alternative approaches and the final consultation response was published on 21 October 2013.
The enhanced rate of the PIP Mobility component was always intended to be for those "unable" or "virtually unable" to walk and we believe the current assessment criteria are the best way of identifying those whose physical mobility is most limited.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made in compensating victims of historical abuse at Aston Hall, Derbyshire.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
NHS Resolution is managing compensation claims related to Aston Hall on behalf of the Secretary of State. As the management of these claims is ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this stage.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department taking following the collapse of London Capital & Finance to ensure that mini-bond holders in Crewe and Nantwich will be properly compensated.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The administrators for London Capital & Finance (LCF) are currently estimating recoveries for investors affected by LCF’s failure.
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), as the compensation scheme of last resort, can only provide compensation for claims connected with certain types of regulated activities. They are working closely with LCF’s administrators and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to understand more about LCF’s activities and whether there are grounds for compensation.
The FSCS is an independent non-governmental body. The FSCS carries out its compensation function within rules set by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the FCA, who are also independent of Government.
If there are circumstances that give rise to potentially valid claims, the FSCS will communicate this on their website. They have invited LCF investors to register for updates on their website. More information on this can be found at https://www.fscs.org.uk/failed-firms/lcf/.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
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 adequacy of legislation regulating body modification following the prosecution of Brendan McCarthy.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government is committed to supporting people to make informed and safe choices about any body modification procedure they are considering and to make sure that the person they choose is appropriately qualified, registered and insured. The Government is currently exploring options to further support this commitment.
Asked by: Laura Smith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has any plans to reintroduce blood glucose test strips on prescription for Type 2 diabetics.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Blood glucose test strips are available on prescription for people with type 2 diabetes. However, it is for clinical commissioning groups to make decisions on the commissioning of health services that best meet the needs of their local population, taking into account local priorities and needs.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance on the management of type 2 Diabetes in adults. This guideline states:
“1.6.13 Do not routinely offer self-monitoring of blood glucose levels for adults with type 2 diabetes unless:
More information is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng28/chapter/1-Recommendations#blood-glucose-management-2