Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent representations she has received from women in Jarrow constituency affected by measures taken to equalise the state pension age; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The policy of increasing State Pension age due to changes in life expectancy and equality legislation is enshrined in the 1995, 2007 and 2011 Pensions Act. It is a policy agreed by all governments in the last 23 years whatever their political persuasion – in 1995 Conservative, Labour in 1997-2010 and Coalition 2010-2015.
The Department for Work and Pensions receives a number of recent representations on the measures taken to equalise the State Pension age from individuals and from Members of Parliament writing on their behalf, as it does on many issues. We are unable to state specifically how many representations are from Jarrow constituency
This matter has been comprehensively debated on many occasions in Parliament. The Government will not be making changes to its policy on state pension age for women born in the 1950s.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Budget 2018 how much of the £400 million capital funding for schools will be allocated to schools in (a) Jarrow Constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear and (d) the North East.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is allocating an additional £400 million of capital funding to schools in 2018–19. This funding is in addition to the £1.4 billion of condition allocations already provided this year to those responsible for maintaining school buildings.
The Department will publish a calculation tool by December that will enable schools to estimate their own allocation. Final allocations for all schools in England will be published in January. The Department expects an average size primary school to receive £10,000 and an average size secondary school to receive £50,000 from the £400 million investment.
The additional funding will be allocated to: maintained nurseries, primary and secondary schools, academies and free schools, special schools, pupil referral units, non-maintained special schools, sixth-form colleges, and special post-16 institutions that have eligible state-funded pupils.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much central Government funding the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service has received in each year since 2010.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In 2018/19, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority is receiving £47.8 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 0.8% compared with 2017/18. In addition, at March 2018, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority held £25 million in reserves, equivalent to 52.3% of core spending power.
Details of Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority Spending Power and the contribution from formula grant or the Settlement Funding Assessment since 2010 can be found on line at:
Since 2010 there have been changes to the finance and function of local government, therefore spending power, Formula Grant and Settlement Funding Assessment are not directly comparable over this period.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities is receiving around £2.3 billion in 2018/19. Financial reserves held by single purpose Fire and Rescue Authorities increased by 80% to £545 million between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2018. This is equivalent of 42% of their core spending power.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial support his Department provides to the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In 2018/19, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority is receiving £47.8 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 0.8% compared with 2017/18. In addition, at March 2018, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority held £25 million in reserves, equivalent to 52.3% of core spending power.
Details of Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority Spending Power and the contribution from formula grant or the Settlement Funding Assessment since 2010 can be found on line at:
Since 2010 there have been changes to the finance and function of local government, therefore spending power, Formula Grant and Settlement Funding Assessment are not directly comparable over this period.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities is receiving around £2.3 billion in 2018/19. Financial reserves held by single purpose Fire and Rescue Authorities increased by 80% to £545 million between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2018. This is equivalent of 42% of their core spending power.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the allocation of funds to the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Hurd
In 2018/19, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority is receiving £47.8 million in core spending power. This is an increase of 0.8% compared with 2017/18. In addition, at March 2018, Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority held £25 million in reserves, equivalent to 52.3% of core spending power.
Details of Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Authority Spending Power and the contribution from formula grant or the Settlement Funding Assessment since 2010 can be found on line at:
Since 2010 there have been changes to the finance and function of local government, therefore spending power, Formula Grant and Settlement Funding Assessment are not directly comparable over this period.
Fire and rescue services have the resources they need to do their important work. Overall fire and rescue authorities is receiving around £2.3 billion in 2018/19. Financial reserves held by single purpose Fire and Rescue Authorities increased by 80% to £545 million between 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2018. This is equivalent of 42% of their core spending power.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Budget 2018, how much of the the £420 million to be provided to councils to fix potholes and carry out other road repairs will be allocated to (a) South Tyneside Council and (b) Gateshead Council.
Answered by Jesse Norman
From the £420 million for road maintenance announced in the Budget 2018, the Department for Transport has allocated (a) South Tyneside Council with £0.686 million and (b) Gateshead council with £1.2 million. This funding was provided to authorities on 13 November 2018.
This funding is in addition to just under £6.2 billion the Department are allocating to highway authorities between 2015 and 2021 for local highways maintenance, including £296 million through the pothole action fund.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many practising GPs there were in (a) Jarrow constituency and (b) South Tyneside in each of the last five years.
Answered by Steve Brine
The number of general practitioners (GP) (headcount), excluding retainers, registrars and locums, for NHS South Tyneside Clinical Commissioning Group is available in the following table. Figures are not available for Jarrow. Due to changes in the data source, comparisons before and after 2015 should be treated with caution.
Census Date | All GPs (excluding registrars, retainers and locums) |
September 2013 | 105 |
September 2014 | 110 |
September 2015 | 96 |
September 2016 | 97 |
September 2017 | 97 |
March 2018 | 95 |
Source: NHS Digital
Notes:
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
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 to ensure that people in (a) Jarrow constituency and (b) South Tyneside have access to an adequate number of GP surgeries; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Steve Brine
The average waiting time for a general practitioner (GP) appointment is not collected or held centrally. In the 2018 GP patient survey 61.6% of respondents (who could remember whether or not they were able to get an appointment, and when they wanted the appointment) stated they saw or spoke to someone at a time they wanted to or sooner. NHS England is working with NHS Digital to consider ways of improving the availability and quality of GP data, including waiting times data.
The Government has committed to improving access to general practice services by 2019. This includes ensuring there are sufficient routine appointments available at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services. The latest National Health Service planning guidance, issued by NHS England in February 2018, requires clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to provide extended access to general practice to their whole population by 1 October 2018, to ensure additional capacity is in place ahead of winter 2018.
The General Practice Forward View (GP Forward View), published in April 2016, commits to increasing investment in General Practice by £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21 from £9.7 billion in 2015/16 to over £12 billion by 2020/21 – a 14% real-terms increase. This investment will improve patient care and access, and facilitate new ways of providing primary care.
Commissioners of primary medical care services monitor practice catchment areas to ensure that all areas of the country have primary medical care cover, and through an annual review of every primary medical care contract are aware of local primary medical care capacity and how this meets demand.
Practices are funded on a weighted population basis and therefore, where populations grow gradually, practices receive additional investment to take on new patients which allows them to grow to maintain services for patients. There has been a national trend in practices becoming larger, employing more staff and operating with a more diverse workforce in order to meet rising demand.
NHS South Tyneside CCG advises it has a number of schemes in place which maximise the availability of GP appointments. This includes support to diversify the workforce, a well-developed “Think Pharmacy First” scheme in South Tyneside community pharmacies and an extended access service which has offered approximately 15,000 additional appointments over the last nine months. Electronic consultations are also currently being piloted in the area.
NHS England Cumbria and the North East advises it also has a number of schemes in place to increase capacity in general practice. This includes a pilot of a tool to analyse workforce, capacity and demand and some CCGs are offering online consultations with more practices due to offer this service later this year. 45 practices have also received funding through the national resilience programme and the CCG has acquired funding for up to 25 GPs to take part in the Local GP Retention Fund to support retention of the workforce.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time to see a GP in (a) Jarrow constituency, and (b) South Tyneside, (c) Tyne and Wear, (d) the North East and (e) England was in each year since 2010.
Answered by Steve Brine
The average waiting time for a general practitioner (GP) appointment is not collected or held centrally. In the 2018 GP patient survey 61.6% of respondents (who could remember whether or not they were able to get an appointment, and when they wanted the appointment) stated they saw or spoke to someone at a time they wanted to or sooner. NHS England is working with NHS Digital to consider ways of improving the availability and quality of GP data, including waiting times data.
The Government has committed to improving access to general practice services by 2019. This includes ensuring there are sufficient routine appointments available at evenings and weekends to meet locally determined demand, alongside effective access to out of hours and urgent care services. The latest National Health Service planning guidance, issued by NHS England in February 2018, requires clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to provide extended access to general practice to their whole population by 1 October 2018, to ensure additional capacity is in place ahead of winter 2018.
The General Practice Forward View (GP Forward View), published in April 2016, commits to increasing investment in General Practice by £2.4 billion a year by 2020/21 from £9.7 billion in 2015/16 to over £12 billion by 2020/21 – a 14% real-terms increase. This investment will improve patient care and access, and facilitate new ways of providing primary care.
Commissioners of primary medical care services monitor practice catchment areas to ensure that all areas of the country have primary medical care cover, and through an annual review of every primary medical care contract are aware of local primary medical care capacity and how this meets demand.
Practices are funded on a weighted population basis and therefore, where populations grow gradually, practices receive additional investment to take on new patients which allows them to grow to maintain services for patients. There has been a national trend in practices becoming larger, employing more staff and operating with a more diverse workforce in order to meet rising demand.
NHS South Tyneside CCG advises it has a number of schemes in place which maximise the availability of GP appointments. This includes support to diversify the workforce, a well-developed “Think Pharmacy First” scheme in South Tyneside community pharmacies and an extended access service which has offered approximately 15,000 additional appointments over the last nine months. Electronic consultations are also currently being piloted in the area.
NHS England Cumbria and the North East advises it also has a number of schemes in place to increase capacity in general practice. This includes a pilot of a tool to analyse workforce, capacity and demand and some CCGs are offering online consultations with more practices due to offer this service later this year. 45 practices have also received funding through the national resilience programme and the CCG has acquired funding for up to 25 GPs to take part in the Local GP Retention Fund to support retention of the workforce.
Asked by: Stephen Hepburn (Independent - Jarrow)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Adjournment debate of 17 July 2018 on Access to Orkambi, Official Report, columns 377-386, if he will take steps to keep hon. Members updated over the summer recess in the event that any progress is made between Vertex and NHS England on making the drug Orkambi available on the NHS for people with Cystic Fibrosis.
Answered by Steve Brine
As was made clear in the Debate on 17 July 2018, Official Report, columns 377-386 Ministers are watching this issue very closely. However, it is vital that we go through the right process. It is the responsibility of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England, to work together with Vertex to secure the best outcome for patients and a price for Orkambi that is fair and responsible. NHS England and Vertex are therefore responsible for communicating any further information on progress.
It is an important principle that the National Health Service must ensure that healthcare services secure the best value for patients, and that is the approach NHS England is rightly taking. It is disappointing that Vertex has chosen to withdraw from NICE’s technology appraisal of its latest cystic fibrosis medicine, Symkevi, and NICE and NHS England wrote to Vertex on 31 August to signal their continued willingness to meet with Vertex to discuss access to its new cystic fibrosis medicines.