Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Care Quality Commission plans to inspect medical care services at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is not usual practice for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to announce when inspections will take place.
Unannounced inspections of healthcare services allow the CQC to obtain a realistic view of how the service is operating. It also allows the CQC to observe normal practice and assess more accurately the quality of care being provided. While most inspections are unannounced, some services may receive notice to minimize disruption to care.
The CQC can also inspect at any time in response to risk.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure NHS trusts consistently meet the 62 day target for starting cancer treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the new plan for reforming elective care, the Government is committed to improving performance on cancer waiting times. The National Health Service’s annual operational planning guidance set out a national commitment to improve waiting times, including improving performance against the 62-day cancer standard to 75% by March 2026.
The Department is committed to improving waiting times for cancer treatment across England by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment; we have exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments, having now delivered over three million more appointments. £70 million will also be spent on replacing out-of-date radiotherapy equipment so that cancer patients benefit from faster and safer cancer treatment using the most up-to-date technology. Replacing these older machines will save as many as 13,000 appointments from being lost to equipment breakdown.
Additionally, providers have also been asked to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the faster diagnosis standard, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer and start treatment.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled Evaluation of Action Access, an Alternative to Detention Pilot by UNHCR, published in January 2022, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of community-based alternatives to detention for women.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a range of experts and stakeholders.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what oversight mechanisms her Department has established to ensure that Serco fulfils its contractual obligations as the operator of Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Onsite Home Office Compliance Teams are responsible for ensuring that Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) contracted centre providers are fulfilling their contractual requirements.
Performance is monitored through a robust and comprehensive system of contract management, to ensure that the Home Office is receiving effective service and value for money.
As part of this contract monitoring process, contractual failures have been identified at Derwentside IRC and appropriate action taken.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any penalties have been applied to Serco for non-compliance with contractual obligations at Derwentside Immigration Removal Centre in the past 12 months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Onsite Home Office Compliance Teams are responsible for ensuring that Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) contracted centre providers are fulfilling their contractual requirements.
Performance is monitored through a robust and comprehensive system of contract management, to ensure that the Home Office is receiving effective service and value for money.
As part of this contract monitoring process, contractual failures have been identified at Derwentside IRC and appropriate action taken.