Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS paid translators in the last financial year.
Answered by Norman Lamb
We do not hold this information centrally. National Health Service organisations have a duty to follow equalities legislation. This includes making sure their communities can understand information about the NHS services and that patients and clinicians can communicate with each other. However, we would encourage the NHS to be efficient and save money where possible by working together and sharing resources.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Leeds Bradford International Airport connectivity study, published in November 2014.
Answered by John Hayes
The Leeds Bradford International Airport Connectivity Study set out the potential benefit of a new link road and recommended further consideration of the opportunity for a rail link to be provided in the longer term. The Chancellor set out the Government’s response to the study in the Autumn Statement, in which he encouraged the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to consider how to take the recommendations forward.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to help children affected by the crisis in Syria.
Answered by Justine Greening
The UK has committed 700 million pounds in response to the Syria crisis, which is providing food, medical care and relief items to some of those most affected – including children. At the UN in September I announced a further 50 million pounds of funding specifically for the No Lost Generation Initiative. These funds will provide education, psycho-social support, and protection for Syrian children within Syria and in neighbouring countries.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that people suffering from Huntington's Disease have access to appropriate care and support from healthcare professionals.
Answered by Norman Lamb
Patients with Huntington's disease have access to a range of services including the services of their general practitioner, Associated Health Professionals Neurology services, Occupational Therapy, Speech and Language therapy, local mental health services for sufferers and their families, palliative care where appropriate and online resources, including factsheets on england.nhs.uk
In addition, the Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group is continuing to work on the development of a draft Neuropsychiatry service specification and hope to have this completed for consideration in the next few months which will, if implemented, be of relevance for patients with Huntington’s Disease.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government plans to take to support bees and pollinators.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
Taking action to support pollinators is a key part of my priorities to improve the natural environment and grow the rural economy.
Bees and other insect pollinators are vital to the diversity of our environment. They play an essential role in contributing to our £100bn food industry and are worth £400m to the economy. They face many threats and some species are in decline.
This is why we have published the National Pollinator Strategy on 4th November, a 10 year plan to build solid foundations to bring about the best possible conditions for pollinators to flourish.
The Government is committed to taking action to support pollinators across all types of land across our country, enhancing the response to pest and disease risks, and to improving our evidence base.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to introduce measures to track, manage and routinely supervise perpetrators of domestic violence and serial stalkers in a similar way to sex offenders.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
Convicted stalkers and perpetrators of domestic violence are already captured on the Police National Computer. We are working to make better use of existing databases and improve connectivity and information sharing rather than
creating new databases or registers for each offence. Since April 2014, offences of stalking and harassment are being reported separately in Police Recorded Crime figures. This will allow us to develop a more comprehensive
picture of the scale of stalking and monitor cases more effectively.
We introduced two new offences on 25 November 2012 to strengthen legislation around stalking and extended police search powers to improve investigation of these crimes.
In addition, the Home Secretary has established a National Oversight Group to ensure recommendations from HMIC’s Review into domestic abuse are acted upon. This includes work to improve data collection and data sharing on serial
abusers.
We have no current plans to legislate on this issue. However, the Home Office consultation on strengthening the law on domestic abuse closed on 15 October. We are currently assessing the responses and we will consider all of the issues
raised in order to determine next steps to offer the best possible protection for victims.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the level of infrastructure investment in Wales since 2010.
Answered by Stephen Crabb
I refer my hon Friend to the answer I gave earlier today to the hon Members for Harrogate and Knaresborough, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr and Stroud.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress has been made in training every GP and GP nurse in child physical and mental health.
Answered by Dan Poulter
It is the responsibility of the professional regulators to set the standards and content for education and training and ensure newly qualified doctors and nurses are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to provide high quality patient care.
Health Education England also has the role of ensuring the National Health Service workforce has high quality education and training to deliver the highest possible quality of care and is continuing its work with the Children and Young People’s Health Outcomes Forum to identify key training issues to improve the care of young people with physical or mental health issues during transition from childhood to adolescence.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to introduce a named doctor or health professional for every child with a long-term condition.
Answered by Dan Poulter
We have announced that from 1 April 2015, the general practitioner (GP) contract will require GP practices to assign all registered patients, including children with long-term conditions, a named GP who will be responsible for co-ordinating their care.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Pudsey)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will extend the patient survey of young people in inpatient settings to cover outpatient and community settings.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is currently undertaking a national survey of the experiences of children and young people who have experienced inpatient or daycase services in acute settings for the first time. They expect to publish the results of that survey in spring 2015 and will evaluate it fully at that time.
Depending on the outcome of that review, and in discussion with key stakeholder groups, CQC will determine whether to undertake the survey in future years and whether similar surveys should be developed to understand the experiences of children and young people elsewhere within the health and social care system.
This is in line with the recommendations from Dr Sheila Shribman in her report, Getting it right for children and young people. Dr Shribman was commissioned by Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, to advise on how CQC inspects hospital services for children and young people including stand-alone specialist children’s hospitals.