Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of his plans for youth custody on (a) young children and (b) girls.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
We have considered the impacts of our Transforming Youth Custody proposals on different groups. We believe that Secure Colleges have the potential to deliver improved educational and rehabilitative outcomes for all the young people they will accommodate.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce clinical guidelines for the diagnosis, treatment and management of obstructive sleep apnoea; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England is committed to working with partners across the health system to reduce mortality and improve outcomes for people with respiratory disease.
NHS England is now responsible for commissioning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines relating to National Health Service services and is responsible for liaising with NICE about the prioritisation of NHS quality standards in development. We understand that NICE has not been asked to develop a clinical guideline specifically on obstructive sleep apnoea.
NICE has been commissioned to develop a quality standard on sleep disordered breathing and will in due course consider which conditions will be covered under the scope of the quality standard and the need for associated clinical guidance. Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their local populations and for commissioning services to meet those needs. For patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, NHS England expects CCGs to take into account the NICE guidelines when deciding what services should be made available.
NHS England currently has no plans to continue the work of the obstructive sleep apnoea working group. However, the National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, Professor Mike Morgan, will continue to consider whether any additional specific initiatives or commissioning protocols are needed to promote best practice and treatment for people with obstructive sleep apnoea and to provide advice on this.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that commissioning of service provision for obstructive sleep apnoea is appropriate to the predicted prevalence in local areas in England.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England is committed to working with partners across the health system to reduce mortality and improve outcomes for people with respiratory disease.
NHS England is now responsible for commissioning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines relating to National Health Service services and is responsible for liaising with NICE about the prioritisation of NHS quality standards in development. We understand that NICE has not been asked to develop a clinical guideline specifically on obstructive sleep apnoea.
NICE has been commissioned to develop a quality standard on sleep disordered breathing and will in due course consider which conditions will be covered under the scope of the quality standard and the need for associated clinical guidance. Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their local populations and for commissioning services to meet those needs. For patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, NHS England expects CCGs to take into account the NICE guidelines when deciding what services should be made available.
NHS England currently has no plans to continue the work of the obstructive sleep apnoea working group. However, the National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, Professor Mike Morgan, will continue to consider whether any additional specific initiatives or commissioning protocols are needed to promote best practice and treatment for people with obstructive sleep apnoea and to provide advice on this.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what body has responsibility for the implementation of recommendations made by his Department's former Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Working Group.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England is committed to working with partners across the health system to reduce mortality and improve outcomes for people with respiratory disease.
NHS England is now responsible for commissioning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines relating to National Health Service services and is responsible for liaising with NICE about the prioritisation of NHS quality standards in development. We understand that NICE has not been asked to develop a clinical guideline specifically on obstructive sleep apnoea.
NICE has been commissioned to develop a quality standard on sleep disordered breathing and will in due course consider which conditions will be covered under the scope of the quality standard and the need for associated clinical guidance. Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their local populations and for commissioning services to meet those needs. For patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, NHS England expects CCGs to take into account the NICE guidelines when deciding what services should be made available.
NHS England currently has no plans to continue the work of the obstructive sleep apnoea working group. However, the National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, Professor Mike Morgan, will continue to consider whether any additional specific initiatives or commissioning protocols are needed to promote best practice and treatment for people with obstructive sleep apnoea and to provide advice on this.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to introduce a quality standard for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disordered breathing covering the range of conditions from simple snoring to obstructive sleep apnoea.
Answered by Jane Ellison
NHS England is committed to working with partners across the health system to reduce mortality and improve outcomes for people with respiratory disease.
NHS England is now responsible for commissioning National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines relating to National Health Service services and is responsible for liaising with NICE about the prioritisation of NHS quality standards in development. We understand that NICE has not been asked to develop a clinical guideline specifically on obstructive sleep apnoea.
NICE has been commissioned to develop a quality standard on sleep disordered breathing and will in due course consider which conditions will be covered under the scope of the quality standard and the need for associated clinical guidance. Local clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) are responsible for assessing the needs of their local populations and for commissioning services to meet those needs. For patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, NHS England expects CCGs to take into account the NICE guidelines when deciding what services should be made available.
NHS England currently has no plans to continue the work of the obstructive sleep apnoea working group. However, the National Clinical Director for Respiratory Disease, Professor Mike Morgan, will continue to consider whether any additional specific initiatives or commissioning protocols are needed to promote best practice and treatment for people with obstructive sleep apnoea and to provide advice on this.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment she has made of the effect of the Government's welfare reform policies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Lord Robathan
We have worked hard with the Executive to adapt our reforms flexibly to Northern Ireland circumstances. They will ensure work always pays, and help lift people out of poverty by moving them into work. When fully implemented, Universal Credit will make over 3 million low to middle income households across the UK better off.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to take steps to bring music video ratings into line with BBFC standards.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Parents tell us they want age ratings on music videos which are unsuitable for younger children.
We recently consulted on legislation to introduce BBFC age ratings for music DVDs unsuitable for children under 12. We expect to introduce the legislation to Parliament within the coming months and will bring the new age rating requirements into force as soon as possible.
I also welcome the commitment the music industry has made to pilot BBFC age ratings for online music videos.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what proportion of local authorities in England and Wales require a Disclosure and Barring Service check on applicants before issuing a (a) taxi and (b) private hire vehicle licence.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Local authorities are under a statutory duty to ensure that any person to whom they grant a taxi or private hire vehicle driver's licence is a “fit and proper person”. As part of this process they can undertake criminal record checks on applicants but we do not keep details of the assessment policies and procedures adopted by local authorities.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the effect of the removal of the under-occupancy penalty on the number of children living in relative income poverty.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
This information could be only provided at disproportionate cost.
This Government has made good progress in tackling the root causes of child poverty and has recently published the 2014-17 draft child poverty strategy for consultation which outlines the actions we are taking. The latest figures from 2011/12 show that 2.3m (17%) children are in relative income poverty – down 300,000 since 2009/10. These are the lowest level since the mid-1980s.
Asked by: Julie Hilling (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 15 January 2013, Official Report, column 715W, on child poverty, what estimate his Department has made of the effect of (a) the new timetable for the implementation of universal credit and (b) changes to work allowances on the level of relative income poverty among (i) children and (ii) adults.
Answered by Esther McVey - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
After full roll-out, the Department's latest analysis suggests that Universal Credit will reduce the number of individuals in relative income poverty by some 600,000; including up to 300,000 children and up to 350,000 adults (numbers do not sum due to rounding).
This figure does not take into account the expected increase in numbers of people in work as a result of universal credit, and excludes the impact of the minimum income floor for the self-employed which is designed to encourage those affected to improve their income levels and for which the behavioural response is very difficult to model.
This estimate is not affected by the timetable for the implementation of Universal Credit, and changes to the policy on uprating of work allowances make negligible difference to the impact of Universal Credit on child or adult poverty as measured by relative income.