Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average length of time was for Primary Care Support England to process a change in circumstances notified by a GP in relation to its pension scheme in 2016-17.
Answered by Steve Brine
NHS England has been closely monitoring the administration and performance of Primary Care Support England (PCSE) and reports that it has made good overall progress in improving the quality of the services provided.
Improvements in administering general practitioner (GP) pensions are currently underway. NHS England is working with PCSE to address a range of historical and current issues, and implement new, consistent national processes. These replace a range of different local legacy processes. PCSE does not administer GP salaries.
There is no data available on the average length of time taken to process changes in a GP’s circumstances in 2016-17. The speed of processing changes in a GP’s circumstances depends on the availability of complete information from the applicant, and appropriate authorisations for the change from relevant parties. NHS England has reported that recently received changes are typically being processed in two to six weeks.
Information on the number of overpayments and underpayments of GP pension contributions at 31 March 2017 is not yet available. It will be possible to calculate pension contributions for the year to 31 March 2017 in February 2018, once GPs have submitted details of their earnings for the financial year 2016/17.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of people saving into a pension scheme as a result of auto-enrolment.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
Automatic enrolment will give around 11 million people the opportunity to save into a workplace pension. We expect around 10 million people to be newly saving or saving more by 2018. Figures released on 13 December by the Pensions Regulator show that over 7 million people have now been automatically enrolled by more than 341,000 employers.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of whether the proposed extension of the National Employment Saving Trust's operations into the retirement income market is consistent with that organisation's Public Service Obligation; and what the implications of that proposal are for competition in that market.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We have recently undertaken a Call for Evidence to consider whether the National Employer Savings Trust should offer decumulation services and extend access to the scheme. The Call for Evidence closed on 5 October, and the Government is considering the full range of evidence submitted, including the organisation’s Public Service Obligation, and effect on competition. We intend to publish our response in due course.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential demand from members of the National Employment Savings Trust for retirement income products.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We have recently undertaken a Call for Evidence on whether the National Employment Savings Trust should be able to offer decumulation services and extend access to the scheme. We received a wide range of responses which we are taking into consideration, including evidence on the potential demand from members and impact on savers. We intend to publish a Government response in the New Year.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
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 cost of implementing proposals to allow the National Employment Savings Trust to offer retirement income products to its members; and how much has been spent to date on implementation of those proposals.
Answered by Lord Harrington of Watford
We have recently undertaken a Call for Evidence to consider whether the National Employer Savings Trust should offer decumulation services and extend access to the scheme. The Call for Evidence closed on 5 October, and the Government is considering the full range of evidence submitted, including the likely potential implementation costs. We intend to publish our response in the New Year.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels across the NHS and rates of C. Difficile bacteraemia in 2015.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use. Hand hygiene is an important component and we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example hand hygiene references in The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for prevention and control of infections and related guidance, were strengthened when it was revised in 2015. It will also form part of forthcoming guidance on reducing Gram negative infections such as E. coli.
Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility and information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Therefore, no national assessment has been made of the potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels and the above infections.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels across the NHS and rates of MSSA bacteraemia in 2015.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use. Hand hygiene is an important component and we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example hand hygiene references in The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for prevention and control of infections and related guidance, were strengthened when it was revised in 2015. It will also form part of forthcoming guidance on reducing Gram negative infections such as E. coli.
Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility and information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Therefore, no national assessment has been made of the potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels and the above infections.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what measures his Department is implementing to emphasise the importance of hand hygiene in the prevention of infection in hospitals.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use. Hand hygiene is an important component and we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example hand hygiene references in The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for prevention and control of infections and related guidance, were strengthened when it was revised in 2015. It will also form part of forthcoming guidance on reducing Gram negative infections such as E. coli.
Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility and information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Therefore, no national assessment has been made of the potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels and the above infections.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
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 relationship between hand hygiene compliance levels across the NHS and rates of E.coli bacteraemia in 2015.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Tackling healthcare associated infections is complex and requires a strong patient safety system that integrates cleanliness, infection prevention and control and antibiotic use. Hand hygiene is an important component and we continuously review and enhance national measures, systems and guidance. For example hand hygiene references in The Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice for prevention and control of infections and related guidance, were strengthened when it was revised in 2015. It will also form part of forthcoming guidance on reducing Gram negative infections such as E. coli.
Auditing of hand hygiene is a local responsibility and information on hand hygiene compliance is not collected centrally. Therefore, no national assessment has been made of the potential links between hand hygiene compliance levels and the above infections.
Asked by: Nigel Mills (Conservative - Amber Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans his Department has to review and update NICE guidance to take account of emerging new technologies in electronic auditing.
Answered by George Freeman
Neither the Department nor the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has any plans to do so.