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381491

	registered interest
	date	16/06/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals for changes to the Care Act 2014 to ensure that social carers spend sufficient time with each patient.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	2646
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2015 answer text <p>Care workers are routinely tasked with caring for individuals with intimate care and support needs, for example helping those who are older or who have a disability to do everyday things like wash, dress and get out of bed. It is unrealistic to think that very short home care visits, for example, those lasting less than 15 minutes would be enough time to do this - it is not fair on those who need care and it is not fair on care workers. Through the Care Act, the Government has made it clear that commissioning services without considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>It is the Government’s position that it would be inappropriate to introduce new or amend existing legislation to address this issue, for example, by specifying a minimum time length for home care visits. Short care visits may be appropriate for specific, non-intimate tasks such as checking medication has been taken.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Commissioning for high quality care requires a more fundamental culture shift where the outcomes individuals want to achieve sits at the heart of every decision made by a local authority. This is best achieved through guidance and support.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department has published statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act that describes how local authorities must meet these new duties when commissioning. The Department has also worked with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association to co-produce a set of standards to support local authorities to assess and improve their commissioning practices.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 24/06/2015 11:15:46 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

388280

	registered interest
	date	07/07/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Sign Language: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his policy is on future funding for supporting adult sign readers; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	5859
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/07/2015 answer text <p>It is the responsibility of local providers and commissioners to make the reasonable adjustments required by the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Arrangements for the provision of sign language interpretation and translation services by National Health Service bodies and NHS service providers are a matter for local determination.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In order to reduce unacceptable variation in the provision of accessible information and communication support to disabled people, including adult sign readers, NHS England published an accessible information standard, SCCI1605, on 3 July. The standard sets out that all organisations providing NHS or adult social care must take steps to ensure that people receive information that they can access and understand, and receive communication support if they need it. Organisations must comply in full with the standard by 31 July 2016.</p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p><p><strong> </strong></p><p> </p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 14/07/2015 13:24:00 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

421397

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Mental Health Services: Homelessness
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that people who are homeless have access to talking therapies.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	11880
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2015 answer text <p>Homelessness can lead to significant physical and mental health problems, and without accommodation and support, the chances of recovery are very limited. The £10 million Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund promoted new ways of improving the discharge arrangements of homeless people from hospital by working with other local services to help their recovery and improve their health.</p><br /><p>In April, the £40 million Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme was launched. This programme will join up health and housing services, and help support young people at risk of homelessness across the country. We will be announcing the successful programme bids shortly.</p><br /><p>Talking Therapies, like the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme are a key weapon in addressing the mental health needs of vulnerable groups, like homeless people. While the normal referral processes to IAPT services are through general practitioners (GPs), individuals can self-refer, meaning that homeless people can refer themselves to services without the need for a GP.</p><br /><p>Public Health England is also working with local authorities to help them understand better the physical and mental health needs of homeless people in which access to IAPT will play a part.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt grouped question UIN 11879 question first answered 22/10/2015 14:39:46 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

421398

	registered interest
	date	14/10/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Health: Homelessness
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he plans to take to improve the physical and mental health of homeless people.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	11879
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/10/2015 answer text <p>Homelessness can lead to significant physical and mental health problems, and without accommodation and support, the chances of recovery are very limited. The £10 million Homeless Hospital Discharge Fund promoted new ways of improving the discharge arrangements of homeless people from hospital by working with other local services to help their recovery and improve their health.</p><br /><p>In April, the £40 million Homelessness Change/Platform for Life programme was launched. This programme will join up health and housing services, and help support young people at risk of homelessness across the country. We will be announcing the successful programme bids shortly.</p><br /><p>Talking Therapies, like the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme are a key weapon in addressing the mental health needs of vulnerable groups, like homeless people. While the normal referral processes to IAPT services are through general practitioners (GPs), individuals can self-refer, meaning that homeless people can refer themselves to services without the need for a GP.</p><br /><p>Public Health England is also working with local authorities to help them understand better the physical and mental health needs of homeless people in which access to IAPT will play a part.</p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt grouped question UIN 11880 question first answered 22/10/2015 14:39:46 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

421722

	registered interest
	date	15/10/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that carers are able to give each patient an appropriate amount of time on visits.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	12117
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2015 answer text <p>In most cases, very short visits from care workers are incompatible with high quality care. However, short visits may be appropriate in certain circumstances. For instance, checking medication has been taken.</p><br /><p>Local authorities are responsible for the commissioning of services, not the Government but both Government and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) agree that inappropriately short home care visits are unacceptable.The Care Act sends a clear message that commissioning services without properly considering the impact on people’s wellbeing is unacceptable.</p><br /><p>In September 2015, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidelines on homecare which state that homecare visits should not normally be less than 30 minutes long. The Department published statutory guidance to the Care Act which directs local authorities when commissioning to consider national standards including NICE guidelines.</p><br /><p>Further, the Department worked with ADASS and the Local Government Association (LGA) to produce a framework of standards, ‘Commissioning for Better Outcomes’ which explicitly states that inappropriate use of short visits is not compatible with best practice. The framework is designed to support local authorities to improve their commissioning practices using self-assessment and peer challenge through the LGA’s programme of sector-led improvement.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 23/10/2015 13:23:58 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

428175

	registered interest
	date	13/11/2015
	answering body	Department of Health
	answering dept id	17
	answering dept short name	Health
	answering dept sort name	Health
	hansard heading	Home Care Services: Standards
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to reduce variations in the quality of at-home care given by carers' agencies across the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	16177
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2015 answer text <p>The Government is committed to improving the quality of adult social care. We have taken a number of recent steps to do so.</p><p>In October 2014, we introduced a tougher inspection system by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Following inspections, CQC now also awards each service a single quality rating, with providers rated as “Outstanding”, “Good”, “Requires Improvement” or “Inadequate”. Services rated “Inadequate” are being placed into Special Measures. They will have access to a range of resources to help them to improve, but if they fail to do so, they could face closure.</p><p>These new ratings and other information about the type and quality of care at every care home and homecare service in the country are now available on NHS Choices and the MyNHS Transparency website, making it much easier for people to compare the quality of services.</p><p>This year we introduced a <em>Certificate of Fundamental Care</em>, now known as the Care Certificate. This will help ensure that care workers can deliver a consistently high quality standard of care.</p><p>The Department is funding and working with a number of organisations including the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Skills for Care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence, the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association on a range of projects to help adult social care organisations and staff improve the quality of care. These resources include new NICE Quality Standards and Guidelines which bring clarity to what excellence looks like in care and Commissioning for Better Outcomes – A Route Map<sup>*</sup> that sets out a series of commissioning standards that will</p><p>be used as part of local government sector-led improvement to drive best practices in local authority commissioning under their new duties in the Care Act 2015.</p><br /><p><sup>*</sup>Available at <a href="http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5756320/Commissioning+for+Better+Outcomes+A+route+map/8f18c36f-805c-4d5e-b1f5-d3755394cfab" target="_blank">http://www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/5756320/Commissioning+for+Better+Outcomes+A+route+map/8f18c36f-805c-4d5e-b1f5-d3755394cfab</a></p> answering member constituency North East Bedfordshire answering member printed Alistair Burt question first answered 18/11/2015 16:50:21 answering member 1201 label Biography information for Alistair Burt
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

419005

	registered interest
	date	01/09/2015
	answering body	Wales Office
	answering dept id	28
	answering dept short name	Wales
	answering dept sort name	Wales
	hansard heading	Health Services: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions he has had with Ministers in the Welsh Government on equality and diversity training in health and social care in Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	901182
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/09/2015 answer text <p>I, along with Ministerial colleagues, have regular discussions with Welsh Government Ministers on a range of issues, including equality and diversity within the health and social care sectors in Wales.</p><p> </p><p><br></p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Vale of Glamorgan answering member printed Alun Cairns question first answered 16/09/2015 12:22:29 answering member 4086 label Biography information for Alun Cairns
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

428947

	registered interest
	date	10/11/2015
	answering body	Wales Office
	answering dept id	28
	answering dept short name	Wales
	answering dept sort name	Wales
	hansard heading	Tourism: Wales
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of Government support for the tourism sector in Wales.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	902192
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/11/2015 answer text <p>In July, the Government published its 5-point plan to ensure the benefits of tourism extend beyond London and across the UK. The Welsh economy continues to benefit from a thriving tourist industry, with recent figures showing the amount spent by overseas visitors increased by £34 million over the last year.<strong> </strong></p> answering member constituency Vale of Glamorgan answering member printed Alun Cairns grouped question UIN 902195 question first answered 18/11/2015 17:10:46 answering member 4086 label Biography information for Alun Cairns
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

384686

	registered interest
	date	22/06/2015
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Housing: Renewable Energy
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what (a) funds and (b) subsidies are available to encourage people to install renewable energy in their homes.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	3545
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 29/06/2015 answer text <p>There are two schemes which support deployment of domestic renewable energy installations.</p><p>The Feed-in Tariff incentivises domestic deployment of renewable electricity generation by providing a guaranteed tariff over 20 years to solar PV, wind, hydro, anaerobic digestion and micro CHP installations up to 5MW. Generators benefit from tariffs generation and export to the grid, as well as through bill savings.</p><p>The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) provides financial incentives to install renewable heating in place of fossil fuels, with payments based on an installation’s renewable heat output. The scheme supports air-to-water heat pumps; biomass-only boilers and biomass pellet stoves with integrated boilers; ground-to-water and water-to-water heat pumps; flat plate and evacuated tube solar thermal panels. Payments are made on a quarterly basis over seven years, with tariffs reflecting the expected cost of renewable heat generation over 20 years.</p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 29/06/2015 16:29:58 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett

419979

	registered interest
	date	09/10/2015
	answering body	Department for Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept id	63
	answering dept short name	Energy and Climate Change
	answering dept sort name	Energy and Climate Change
	hansard heading	Combined Heat and Power
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if she will bring forward proposals to allow the creation and sale of licences and franchises to provide heating using power station waste heat.
	tabling member constituency	Bath
	tabling member printed	Ben Howlett
	uin	10707
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/10/2015 answer text <p>The Government has a range of policies in place to promote the use of Combined Heat and Power (CHP), which is a key technique capable of generating heat from power station waste heat. Environmental permitting requires developers of power plants to consider opportunities for operating CHPs, and provides them with CHP permits if these are cost effective. CHP installations that are certified by our Quality Assurance Programme are eligible for Enhanced Capital Allowances, Business Rates exemptions, a partial exemption from the Carbon Price Support tax, and Renewable Obligation Certificates and Renewable Heat Incentive payments for any heat they generate from biomass. Developing heat networks offers further opportunities for power plants to recover and supply heat.</p> answering member constituency South Northamptonshire answering member printed Andrea Leadsom question first answered 16/10/2015 13:47:31 answering member 4117 label Biography information for Andrea Leadsom
	tabling member	4445 label Biography information for Ben Howlett