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177384

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
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 he is taking to reduce the burden of unnecessary bureaucracy on agency care workers so as to maximise the time spent with those for whom they provide home care.
tabling member constituency	Newport West
tabling member printed	Paul Flynn
uin	223116
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>It is not clear what ‘bureaucracy’ is being referred to. Some bureaucracy or form-filling is required for legitimate purposes e.g. care records and forms related to employment (for example timesheets to enable staff to be paid, record of training and development for regulation by the Care Quality Commission).</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care and Support statutory guidance issued under the Care Act 2014 clearly articulates that local authorities should ensure that commissioned services result in effective provision of care. It states:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>4.31 When commissioning services, local authorities should assure themselves and have evidence that contract terms, conditions and fee levels for care and support services are appropriate to provide the delivery of the agreed care packages with agreed quality of care. This should support and promote the wellbeing of people who receive care and support, and allow for the service provider ability to meet statutory obligations to pay at least minimum wage and provide effective training and development of staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This applies whether staff are directly employed or are agency staff.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act guidance can be found at:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315993/Care-Act-Guidance.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/315993/Care-Act-Guidance.pdf</a></p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 16:38:58 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	545 label Biography information for Paul Flynn

177512

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Anaemia: Vitamin B12
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, on what evidence the standard time between prescribed injections of replacement vitamin B12 for pernicious anaemia sufferers was determined; and if he will review the guidance on that time.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	223094
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>The treatment of pernicious anaemia, the result of a vitamin B12 (cobalamin) deficiency, is well established and reported in the British Committee for Standards in Haematology (BCSH) document, <em>Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of Cobalamin and Folate disorders</em>, which was updated in May 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Current clinical practice within the United Kingdom is to treat pernicious anaemia with Vitamin B12 intramuscular injections. The guideline states that standard maintenance therapy for patients presenting without neurological symptoms is 1,000 microgrammes every three months. Those with initial neurological symptoms should receive 1,000 microgrammes every two months. The guideline can be found via the BCSH website at the following link:</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p><a href="http://www.bcshguidelines.com/" target="_blank">www.bcshguidelines.com</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>However, the frequency with which vitamin B12 injections are provided to patients with pernicious anaemia is matter for individual clinicians, taking into account the relevant clinical guidance, the prescribed dose and the patient’s response to the treatment.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 12:16:40 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

177513

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Healthwatch England
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding was allocated to Healthwatch England for (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.
tabling member constituency	Copeland
tabling member printed	Mr Jamie Reed
uin	223100
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2015 answer text <p>Healthwatch England was allocated £4,083,000 in 2013/14 and £4,157,000 in 2014/15.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Final allocations for 2015/16 have not yet been made.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 09/02/2015 17:36:19 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1503 label Biography information for Mr Jamie Reed

177520

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Musculoskeletal Disorders
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, purusant to the Answer of 26 January 2015 to Question 221173, if he will make it his policy to require NHS England to (a) improve the collection of data relating to musculoskeletal conditions and (b) determine the number of people with musculoskeletal conditions who have had an operation cancelled for non-clinical reasons in this financial year.
tabling member constituency	Ealing, Southall
tabling member printed	Mr Virendra Sharma
uin	223006
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>The Health and Social Care Information Centre collects information in Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) on Outpatients and Admitted Patient Care at diagnosis and procedure level, which includes data relating to musculoskeletal conditions. HES does not, however, include information on cancelled operations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>NHS England collects and publishes quarterly data on elective operations cancelled on or after the day of admission for non-clinical reasons. It does not collect a breakdown of the type of operations that have been cancelled, or the diagnosis of the patients affected.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department has no plans to request changes to either of these data collections, neither does NHS England have any current plans to change data collections. However, the NHS England National Clinical Director for Musculoskeletal Services is working closely with the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Alliance to develop thinking around how improvements might be made to data sources in this area.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 12:19:39 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1604 label Biography information for Mr Virendra Sharma

177527

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	NHS: Translation Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to reduce translation and interpretation costs in the NHS.
tabling member constituency	Strangford
tabling member printed	Jim Shannon
uin	223190
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>It is for National Health Service providers to decide how much funding they allocate towards the cost of providing translation and interpretation services for patients, their families and the public.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 12:19:09 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	4131 label Biography information for Jim Shannon

177529

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Paediatrics
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Medical Workforce Census 2013, published in December 2014, what plans he has to facilitate integration between child health services and child mental health services.
tabling member constituency	Pudsey
tabling member printed	Stuart Andrew
uin	223146
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/02/2015 answer text <p>The Department is working closely with our partners to look at wider system improvements to support the integration of children’s services. This was the focus of a Children’s Health and Wellbeing Partnership seminar on 16 July, which brought together over 50 representatives of national and local government, national health organisations and voluntary sector partners to share expertise and encourage innovation around integrated care and support for children and young people. Following this, the Partnership agreed a work programme on integration, including development of testing pricing and incentive models; sharing best practice across organisations working on integration; using the Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing taskforce to extend learning from Special Educational Needs pathfinders; and bringing together and promoting the case for information sharing, including the use of the National Health Service number in Children’s Social Care.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Well-Being Taskforce will consider and make proposals on how we can provide more joined up and accessible services built around the needs of children, young people and their families. Its terms of reference make it clear the Taskforce will establish how improvements can be made including consideration of barriers which prevent change and how these can be overcome. This includes barriers and opportunities for empowerment of the children and young people’s workforce and training provision to develop high-quality services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Taskforce brings together a range of experts from across health, social care and education and it has sought the views of young people, their families and carers as well as those working with children and young people to inform their work. A government report of the work of the Taskforce will be published in spring 2015.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 09/02/2015 16:41:53 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	4032 label Biography information for Stuart Andrew

177533

registered interest
date	03/02/2015
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Care Homes: Zero Hours Contracts
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will bring forward proposals to amend the statutory guidance for the Care Act 2014 to ensure that local authorities take steps to discourage the use of zero-hours contracts by the care providers they commission.
tabling member constituency	Stockton North
tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
uin	223229
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2015 answer text <p>High quality, compassionate care for the most vulnerable in society can only be delivered by a well-trained, motivated and appropriately remunerated workforce. Zero-hours contracts in the care and support sector are often inconsistent with high quality services, risk continuity of support for those who need it, and in some cases may be exploitative.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>However, we know that some care workers and care businesses value the flexibility that zero-hour or part-time contracts provide and, in limited circumstances, they can be appropriate.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Government is taking action to improve working conditions for care workers, for example, working with the sector to launch the Recruitment and Retention Strategy. More widely, the new Care Act gives local authorities a core duty to promote their local markets in care and support services, with a particular focus on diversity, sustainability and quality. The Act will require local authorities to consider the impact of their own commissioning decisions on the quality of services individuals receive. Whilst local authorities do not directly employ the vast majority of care workers, they will now need to consider how to encourage an effective workforce able to deliver services to those individuals for whom they arrange care and support.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department has recently published statutory guidance to support the implementation of the Care Act that describes how local authorities must meet these new duties when commissioning, including assuring themselves that providers they contract with provide services through a remunerated workforce capable of delivering high quality care.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/02/2015 12:13:16 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham