Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many patients diagnosed with terminal brain tumours have been (a) placed in the work-related activity group and (b) required to attend interviews by DWP officers administering benefits.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
The honourable lady might be interested to know that people diagnosed with a terminal illness, where as a consequence of that disease their life expectancy is reasonably believed to be six months or less, will not need to have a face-to-face assessment. They will be treated as having limited capability for work-related activity and will be placed in the Employment and Support Allowance Support Group, or Universal Credit equivalent, where they are not required to take part in any work-related activity, including attending interviews with DWP officers.
Claims made under these rules have a decision made on their entitlement as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Ministers were consulted by NHS England before they advised health bodies to request a signed authority from an honourable Member acting on behalf of a constituent; and for what reason that policy on this matter has been changed.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
There has been no change in policy with regards to obtaining consent of a patient for the purposes of an inquiry or investigation and therefore Ministers have not been consulted.
If a National Health Service body is to disclose patient information held by it in order to progress an inquiry from a hon. Member on behalf of a constituent, there are circumstances in which the body may provide patient information to a Member of Parliament without the Member evidencing the explicit consent of the patient, so long as that information is provided in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraph 24 of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018. An inquiry or an investigation will almost certainly require the disclosure by the NHS body of information relating to the constituent as patient.
The NHS body must be content that there is a legal basis under the General Data Protection Regulation/Data Protection Act for processing patient information (i.e. disclosing and sharing it for the purposes of the investigation). This is easier to satisfy if it is clear the patient has consented to the hon. Member making investigations on their behalf.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue instruction to NHS England that signed authority from a patient is not required for the NHS to progress an inquiry from an hon. Member pursuing a case on behalf of a constituent; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
There has been no change in policy with regards to obtaining consent of a patient for the purposes of an inquiry or investigation and therefore Ministers have not been consulted.
If a National Health Service body is to disclose patient information held by it in order to progress an inquiry from a hon. Member on behalf of a constituent, there are circumstances in which the body may provide patient information to a Member of Parliament without the Member evidencing the explicit consent of the patient, so long as that information is provided in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraph 24 of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 2018. An inquiry or an investigation will almost certainly require the disclosure by the NHS body of information relating to the constituent as patient.
The NHS body must be content that there is a legal basis under the General Data Protection Regulation/Data Protection Act for processing patient information (i.e. disclosing and sharing it for the purposes of the investigation). This is easier to satisfy if it is clear the patient has consented to the hon. Member making investigations on their behalf.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people (a) attempted and (b) succeeded in taking their own lives in each prison in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answered by Rory Stewart
The Government publishes quarterly statistics on deaths in prison custody and a more detailed annual breakdown, and both are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/safety-in-custody-quarterly-update-to-june-2018
The number of self-harm incidents in each prison can be seen in table 1.13 of Self-Harm in Prison Custody 2004 to 2017, and the number of self-inflicted deaths in each prison is in table 1.16 in Deaths in Prison Custody 1978 to 2017.
It should be noted that the statistics refer to self-harm (defined as “any act where a prisoner deliberately harms themselves, irrespective of the method, intent or severity of any injury”), and not to attempted suicide. Although incidents of self-harm may include attempts at suicide, it is hard to determine intent accurately enough for them to be recorded as such. For similar reasons the term “self-inflicted deaths” is used to include any death of a person who has apparently taken their own life, irrespective of intent. This includes not only suicides but also accidental deaths as a result of the person’s own actions.
The Government takes very seriously its responsibility to keep prisoners safe, and we are committed to reducing the number of self-inflicted deaths and the incidence of self-harm across the estate. This is why we have established a prison safety programme through which we are taking forward a comprehensive set of actions to improve safety in custody. They include:
investing in over 4,300 additional staff in order to deliver consistent, purposeful regimes;
improving staff knowledge and understanding of the factors known to increase risk of self-harm, to help them to identify and respond appropriately to prisoners at risk. Our revised introduction to suicide and self-harm prevention training has already reached over 24,000 staff;
renewing our partnership with Samaritans by confirming a further three years’ funding for their valuable Listeners Scheme, and working with them to share learning from the ‘Coping with Life in Prisons’ project, a successful pilot initiative in which Samaritans-trained ex-prisoners delivered emotional resilience training to groups of newly-arrived prisoners; and
improving the multi-disciplinary ACCT case management process for those identified as at risk of self-harm or suicide.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department issues to staff dealing with applications for benefit by people diagnosed with brain tumour; and if she will place a copy of that guidance in the Library.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The Department does not issue condition-specific guidance to its benefit processing or decision making staff. Assessment of the impact of health conditions, including brain tumour, is carried out by trained, independent healthcare professionals, who are clinically qualified and have received comprehensive training in disability analysis and identifying the effects that health conditions and impairments can have on individuals.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of (a) prosecutions for firework offences and (b) firework-related attacks on emergency workers in the last five years.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Court data held on prosecutions summarises into specific offence categories. There is not a combined group of fireworks offences, but there are some individual detailed offences that relate specifically to fireworks for which data is available. For example, ‘Possessing fireworks etc. in, or when entering, a designated sports ground’ and ‘Throwing or firing any fireworks in or into a street’. Numbers of prosecutions and convictions for these offences are published here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/738814/HO-Code-Tool-2017.xlsx
It is not possible to identify how many prosecutions involved firework-related attacks on emergency workers in the last five years within Ministry of Justice centrally held information. Detailed information on whether a firework-related attack on emergency workers was involved in the commission of an offence may be held on court record but to be able to identify these cases we would have to access individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that Sandy Lane Nursery and Forest School in Warrington receives adequate funding to ensure its future sustainability.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Maintained Nursery Schools (MNS) make a valuable contribution to improving the lives of some of our most disadvantaged children. They also experience costs over and above those of other early years providers. That is why we are providing local authorities with around £60 million of supplementary funding to enable them to protect MNS funding at least until the period of 2019 to 2020. It is for local authorities to determine how much funding is received by each MNS.
All early years funding after the period of 2019 to 2020 will be determined by the next Spending Review.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in the Warrington North constituency will receive a cash increase in their budget per pupil for 2019-20.
Answered by Nick Gibb
For the period of 2019-20, all schools will attract gains through the national funding formula in pupil-led funding of at least 1% per pupil, compared to their baselines for the period of 2017-18. Final allocations for individual schools will be set according to the local schools formula, which is yet to be determined by the local authority.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of injuries caused to livestock by fireworks in the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Defra does not hold details of injuries to livestock caused by fireworks and I am not aware of any such data being held centrally, although it is possible that local veterinary practices may hold some information where vets have been called out to attend to injured stock.
Asked by: Helen Jones (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what information his Department holds on the number of injuries to domestic pets caused by fireworks in the last five years.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We recognise that fireworks can cause considerable distress for pets and it is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to cause any deliberate unnecessary suffering to an animal through the use of a firework. Government does not hold details of injuries to pet animals caused by fireworks. However it is likely that local veterinary surgeries would hold such information on any animals brought to their practice suffering such injuries.