Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to increase clinical resources for the East of England Ambulance Trust.
Answered by Ben Gummer
It is the responsibility of individual ambulance trusts and their commissioners to decide how clinical resources are used to meet local demand.
NHS Improvement advises that East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust is currently working with management consultants Operational Research in Health to remodel its future workforce requirements based on a new operating model and its demand profile. The Trust will discuss any additional funding this will require with its commissioners.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of Public Health England's recent findings that electronic cigarettes are 95 per cent less harmful than conventional cigarettes.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Public Health England (PHE) report is consistent with the Government’s current policy that the best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking and quit for good. Evidence in the United Kingdom indicates that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking, with similar or better results than nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum.
E-cigarettes are, however, not harmless and there is a lack of evidence on their effects in long term use. The Department has and will continue to monitor all emerging evidence and consider it in developing policy. PHE has been commissioned to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes annually until the end of this Parliament and to include within its quit smoking campaigns consistent messaging about the safety of e-cigarettes.
There are no current plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places in England.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential long-term health effects of trends in the use of electronic cigarettes amongst adult smokers.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Public Health England (PHE) report is consistent with the Government’s current policy that the best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking and quit for good. Evidence in the United Kingdom indicates that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking, with similar or better results than nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum.
E-cigarettes are, however, not harmless and there is a lack of evidence on their effects in long term use. The Department has and will continue to monitor all emerging evidence and consider it in developing policy. PHE has been commissioned to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes annually until the end of this Parliament and to include within its quit smoking campaigns consistent messaging about the safety of e-cigarettes.
There are no current plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places in England.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on prohibiting the use of electronic cigarettes in enclosed public spaces.
Answered by Jane Ellison
The Public Health England (PHE) report is consistent with the Government’s current policy that the best thing a smoker can do for their health is to quit smoking and quit for good. Evidence in the United Kingdom indicates that e-cigarettes can help people quit smoking, with similar or better results than nicotine replacement therapies such as patches or gum.
E-cigarettes are, however, not harmless and there is a lack of evidence on their effects in long term use. The Department has and will continue to monitor all emerging evidence and consider it in developing policy. PHE has been commissioned to update their evidence report on e-cigarettes annually until the end of this Parliament and to include within its quit smoking campaigns consistent messaging about the safety of e-cigarettes.
There are no current plans to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public places in England.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department had with (a) Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, (b) NHS Improvement and (c) the Care Quality Commission, prior to the announced merger of Colchester General Hospital and Ipswich Hospital.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Care Quality Commission’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards, and the Chief Executive of NHS Improvement, Jim Mackey, decided jointly upon the recommendation for a long-term partnership between Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust and The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust. A merger has not been announced.
The Department has regular conversations with NHS Improvement and the Care Quality Commission about trusts in special measures such as Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust. I also spoke with the Chair and Chief Executive of Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, scheduled at their request, on 15 March 2016.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the Government plans to make funding available to councils for care homes in addition to the two per cent council tax precept to cover costs arising from the increase in the national minimum wage.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Local authorities are responsible for commissioning adult social care services. Fee levels are agreed by local authorities and social care providers, reflecting local conditions. In setting fee levels, local authorities are obliged to consider the sustainability of their local social care market.
At the Spending Review, the Government made up to £3.5 billion extra available by 2019/20 to local authorities for adult social care through the social care precept and Better Care Fund. This will help give councils more flexibility to meet local priorities as they see fit.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Prime Minister's Oral Statement of 22 February 2016, Official Report, column 35, on the European Council, whether his Department is undertaking planning in the eventuality of a majority leave vote in the EU referendum.
Answered by Jane Ellison
At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position, as set out by the Prime Minister to the House on 22 February, is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to review the efficacy of the 111 service in ensuring that 999 is not used in medical non-emergencies.
Answered by Alistair Burt
NHS 111 services are commissioned by local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) that should ensure all the services they commission are effective.
NHS England’s monthly published data for the period April to September 2015 show that 11% of calls handled by NHS 111 resulted in dispatch of an ambulance.
Most recent figures show that nationally 90.4% of NHS 111 users are satisfied with the service they get.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will provide additional resources to North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group to allow GP surgeries in that group's area to take on new patients.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The Department is aware that three general practitioner practices in Clacton have temporarily closed their list to new patients. This is a matter for NHS England.
NHS England advises that it is working with these practices to agree actions needed to re-open their lists in the near future.
Asked by: Douglas Carswell (Independent - Clacton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of the increased spending on the NHS is being used to reduce the £2 billion budget shortfall forecast by the NHS Trust Development Authority for NHS trusts in 2015-16.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The National Health Service budget is entrusted to NHS England, which shares with the Secretary of State for Health the legal duty to promote a comprehensive health service. The Government sets out its priorities for NHS England in “The Mandate: A mandate from the Government to NHS England: April 2015 to March 2016”, and within that document a clear commitment is made to make £2 billion of extra funding available for front line spending.
Progress against this commitment and details of spending on front line services by type of provider and type of service will be made available at the end of 2015-16, in NHS England’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16.
The Government is committed to the NHS and will invest an additional £10 billion by the end of this parliament, to fund the NHS's own plan for the future. Next year, in 2016-17 the NHS will receive an extra £3.8 billion allocated in the Spending Review, a first step towards an extra £8 billion by the end of this Parliament.