Alan Meale

Any appointments would be made in the usual way and would be vetted for propriety by the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

With regards to the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers Compensation) Act 1979, the Department for Work and Pensions have advised that the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

For the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme 1974 (CWPS) the figures for posthumous claims received and paid, and the reasons for the difference between the two are shown in the table below:

* Nil Offer – a claim under the 1979 Act resulted in a higher award than would have been payable under the CWPS

N.B. Figures only available from July 2011 onwards when current claims handler took on the contract.

There have been no such claims.

With regards to the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers Compensation) Act 1979, the Department for Work and Pensions have advised that the information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

For the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme 1974 (CWPS) the figures for posthumous claims received and paid, and the reasons for the difference between the two are shown in the table below:

* Nil Offer – a claim under the 1979 Act resulted in a higher award than would have been payable under the CWPS

N.B. Figures only available from July 2011 onwards when current claims handler took on the contract.

There was no separate tender document for the administration of the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme. The Department’s tender did not therefore have any bearings on the requirements under the Scheme.

Before payments can be made under the CWPS, claims handlers must ensure that the person making the claim is entitled to do so. Provision of probate is sometimes necessary in posthumous claims to ensure that the correct person receives the compensation and also to ensure that the positions of both the estate and the taxpayer are adequately and proportionately protected against fraud.

There was no separate tender document for the administration of the Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme (CWPS), hence there was no such consultation.

Defra’s Code of Recommendations for pigs, which all pig-keepers must be familiar with, provides guidance on how to comply with the legal requirements in relation to environmental enrichment and routine tail-docking. When carrying out an inspection of a pig unit, the Animal Health and Plant Health Agency evaluate the provision of enrichment material and whether pigs are routinely tail-docked without a justifiable reason and will apply breaches where non-compliances are found.

There are health and welfare reasons for continuing to tail-dock in certain circumstances, but we and the pig industry recognise a need to improve the quality of enrichment materials available for all pigs and increase opportunities to stop tail-docking.

Defra contributed to a European Commission research project by Bristol University which informed the EU Commission’s recently published guidance on tail docking and enrichment materials. We are working with the industry to implement these recommendations on tail docking and enrichment which were published earlier this year.

On 30^th April 2015, the Department for Transport received a formal notice of infraction from the European Commission concerning the UK’s application of Regulation (EC) no 1071/2009 (on access to the occupation of road transport operator). We will consider the content of this letter and respond within two months, in line with Article 258 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

As this is a live case, and communications with the European Commission concerning infractions are in most cases confidential, it would not be appropriate to publish our response.

At this stage, no decisions have been made about any actions the UK may take in the light of the issues raised by the Commission.

As an EU Regulation the United Kingdom is obliged to implement such measures as specified. The requirements under Regulation 1071/2009 were met by amending domestic legislation which was implemented on 4 December 2011. These legislative changes will be the subject of a Post Implementation Review in 2016.

The Qualifying Week for Winter Fuel Payment assessments is set at the third week of September to ensure that the maximum number of payments (over 95 per cent of eligible cases) are made automatically before Christmas, typically the coldest part of winter. Those that are not paid automatically are accepted as clerical claims up to the 31 March, and payment is issued as soon as possible. There are no plans to review the Qualifying Week.

The 100,000 Genomes Project is making good progress. The project is at the leading edge of global science, developing ground breaking new techniques and protocols.

Genomics England has developed semi-automated bioinformatics to analyse genomic data to find the cause of disease. To date, over 29,000 whole genomes have been sequenced and reports are already being returned to the National Health Service who are responsible for discussing clinical interpretations and next steps with patients.

The project is already changing the lives of patients with a rare disease – providing many patients with diagnoses for the first time, often after years of uncertainty and distress whilst helping to reduce considerable costs to health and social care budgets.

Genomics England and NHS England are actively developing a fast track pipeline for patients with cancer who are participating in the Project. We are aiming to reduce the time from sample acquisition to the return of a report to four weeks. This will increase the utility of the service to clinicians and patients alike.

NHS England and Public Health England are working to raise the profile of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and break down the barriers to genetic testing. Specifically, FH is emphasised in the NHS England Prevention aide memoire to support Sustainability and Transformation Planning, which is available at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/stp-aide-memoire-prevention.pdf

NHS England’s National Clinical Director for heart disease chairs an FH steering group which comprises representatives from relevant stakeholder organisations, including Public Health England. This group, with funding from the British Heart Foundation, has established FH specialist nurses in many areas of England, aimed at increasing FH cascade testing across the country so that more affected families can be identified. The steering group aims to develop a systems approach to the detection and management of FH.

One third of England is now covered by these FH nurses as well as cascade testing, and over the last three years more than 1,000 new people with FH have been identified.

Software to support cascade testing and provide a database for FH is available and will be increasingly used in England as FH services are established.

NHS England has also identified FH as a possible condition that it could focus on as part of the work looking into personalised medicine and how the NHS might make better use of increased genetic testing.

Finally, a cholesterol test is included as part of the NHS Health Check that is mandated by the Health and Social Care Act for delivery across all local authorities in England. Revised NHS Best Practice Guidance published in February now includes strengthened guidance for detection of FH as part of the NHS Health Check. Every patient with a cholesterol test result above 7.5mmol/l (as per National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance) will be alerted to their general practitioner for consideration of FH in combination with other diagnostic criteria.

NHS England and Public Health England are working to raise the profile of familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and break down the barriers to genetic testing. Specifically, FH is emphasised in the NHS England Prevention aide memoire to support Sustainability and Transformation Planning, which is available at:

www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/stp-aide-memoire-prevention.pdf

NHS England’s National Clinical Director for heart disease chairs an FH steering group which comprises representatives from relevant stakeholder organisations, including Public Health England. This group, with funding from the British Heart Foundation, has established FH specialist nurses in many areas of England, aimed at increasing FH cascade testing across the country so that more affected families can be identified. The steering group aims to develop a systems approach to the detection and management of FH.

One third of England is now covered by these FH nurses as well as cascade testing, and over the last three years more than 1,000 new people with FH have been identified.

Software to support cascade testing and provide a database for FH is available and will be increasingly used in England as FH services are established.

NHS England has also identified FH as a possible condition that it could focus on as part of the work looking into personalised medicine and how the NHS might make better use of increased genetic testing.

Finally, a cholesterol test is included as part of the NHS Health Check that is mandated by the Health and Social Care Act for delivery across all local authorities in England. Revised NHS Best Practice Guidance published in February now includes strengthened guidance for detection of FH as part of the NHS Health Check. Every patient with a cholesterol test result above 7.5mmol/l (as per National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance) will be alerted to their general practitioner for consideration of FH in combination with other diagnostic criteria.

It is difficult to draw causality between the Licensing Act 2003 and changing behaviours. The Licensing Act 2003 came into force in November 2005. Data on offences which are ‘alcohol related’ are drawn from the Crime Survey of England and Wales, which asks victims of violent incidents whether they perceived the offender to be under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offence. By this measure, the number of violent incidents considered to be‘alcohol related’ has fallen from around 1.02 million incidents in 2005/06, to around 0.88 million incidents in 2012/13 (a fall of 14%).

The definition of binge drinking used by the NHS is drinking more than double the lower risk guidelines for alcohol in one session – more than 8 units for men and 6 units for women. The Opinions and Lifestyle survey, published by the Office of National Statistics provides our best measure for this. The data shows that in 2005, 23% of men and 15% of women drank over twice the lower risk guidelines on at least one day in the week before interview. This fell to 19 % of men and 11 % of women in 2012.