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105963

registered interest
date	03/11/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Social 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 has taken to work with local councils to improve their recording and reporting of complaints against providers of social care.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	212941
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>Each local authority is responsible for the quality of social care services it commissions. There is no national register or oversight of complaints in social care. However, local authorities are required, pursuant to the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service (England) Regulations 2009, to keep a record of each complaint received, the subject matter and outcome and timescales for responding.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They are also obliged to make a summary of this information available to the public via an annual report. The Government believes that we should be committed to ensuring the system for resolving complaints about care is compassionate, personal, responsive, timely and ensures lessons are learned.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department established a national complaints programme board in December 2013. A comprehensive programme has been developed with national partners, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, Healthwatch England, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman, the Local Government Association, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Association, to bring about important changes to the way complainants are supported and complaints are handled across the health and social care systems.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are informed by the CQC that it is committed to strengthening its approach to assessing complaints and concerns during inspections. During an inspection, CQC inspectors will use key lines of enquiry to ascertain the standard of care. A mandatory key line of enquiry used during inspections of adult social care is whether the service routinely listens and learns from people’s experiences, concerns and complaints.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Care Act, local authorities will have a new market shaping duty, meaning that they should work with local people and communities and engage with their local care providers to facilitate a diverse supply of high quality services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act reforms should increase transparency and support more effective competition in local care markets. This will help providers of high quality care to attract more people, and to grow and diversify their share in the market.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have just issued statutory guidance to local authorities about their new market shaping duties. Together with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association, we are developing a series of commissioning standards to improve local authority commissioning practices and encourage more flexibility, allowing providers to engage with them in new ways. We are keen to move commissioning from a “time and task” based to an outcomes-driven activity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb grouped question UIN 212937 212938 212939 212944 212945 question first answered 10/11/2014 16:42:56 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

105969

registered interest
date	03/11/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Social Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to ensure that (a) care agencies, (b) managers and (c) individuals who have been found to be involved in the provision of sub-standard care provision are prevented from working in that industry in any local authority area.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	212940
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>All care agencies must register with and be inspected and regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as regulator of health and adult social care services. The CQC regulates care providers against a set of registration requirements in relation to safety and quality of services. Should the CQC find a care provider is not complying with regulatory requirements, it has a range of enforcement powers which it can employ, up to and including cancelling its registration to operate.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department worked closely with the Home Office to set up the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The role of the DBS is to help employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups of people. The DBS provides a system of criminal records checking and barring functions, to prevent unsuitable people from being able to work with vulnerable groups in regulated work in care and health settings.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>This year, the DBS has been running a programme of free events targeted at those who have a responsibility for removing individuals from posts in regulated activity where harm has occurred. The events emphasise the responsibilities of employers to make referrals for barring and explain the DBS barring and decision making processes.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department has reinforced this message in the safeguarding guidance issued recently under the Care Act. The guidance is very clear that safe employment practices, including the duties to refer people who have caused harm, to the DBS, are a key part of effective safeguarding policies and practice in the care sector.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In order to make sure that people are held to account for the quality of care they provide, we are introducing measures to ensure that company directors who consent or turn a blind eye to poor care will be liable for prosecution. In the future, they and provider organisations could face unlimited fines if found guilty.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To ensure that social care providers and services employ and are run by people with the right values and skills, we are introducing a ‘fit and proper person’ test for Directors. Where the CQC considers a Director not to be fit to run a provider organisation, it will be able to insist on his or her removal.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb question first answered 10/11/2014 16:37:00 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

105970

registered interest
date	03/11/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Social Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assistance the Government provides to local authorities seeking to investigate failures in the provision of social care.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	212939
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>Each local authority is responsible for the quality of social care services it commissions. There is no national register or oversight of complaints in social care. However, local authorities are required, pursuant to the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service (England) Regulations 2009, to keep a record of each complaint received, the subject matter and outcome and timescales for responding.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They are also obliged to make a summary of this information available to the public via an annual report. The Government believes that we should be committed to ensuring the system for resolving complaints about care is compassionate, personal, responsive, timely and ensures lessons are learned.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department established a national complaints programme board in December 2013. A comprehensive programme has been developed with national partners, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, Healthwatch England, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman, the Local Government Association, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Association, to bring about important changes to the way complainants are supported and complaints are handled across the health and social care systems.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are informed by the CQC that it is committed to strengthening its approach to assessing complaints and concerns during inspections. During an inspection, CQC inspectors will use key lines of enquiry to ascertain the standard of care. A mandatory key line of enquiry used during inspections of adult social care is whether the service routinely listens and learns from people’s experiences, concerns and complaints.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Care Act, local authorities will have a new market shaping duty, meaning that they should work with local people and communities and engage with their local care providers to facilitate a diverse supply of high quality services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act reforms should increase transparency and support more effective competition in local care markets. This will help providers of high quality care to attract more people, and to grow and diversify their share in the market.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have just issued statutory guidance to local authorities about their new market shaping duties. Together with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association, we are developing a series of commissioning standards to improve local authority commissioning practices and encourage more flexibility, allowing providers to engage with them in new ways. We are keen to move commissioning from a “time and task” based to an outcomes-driven activity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb grouped question UIN 212937 212938 212941 212944 212945 question first answered 10/11/2014 16:42:56 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

105973

registered interest
date	03/11/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Social Services
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will publish a central register of complaints about the providers of poor-quality social care.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	212937
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>Each local authority is responsible for the quality of social care services it commissions. There is no national register or oversight of complaints in social care. However, local authorities are required, pursuant to the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service (England) Regulations 2009, to keep a record of each complaint received, the subject matter and outcome and timescales for responding.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They are also obliged to make a summary of this information available to the public via an annual report. The Government believes that we should be committed to ensuring the system for resolving complaints about care is compassionate, personal, responsive, timely and ensures lessons are learned.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department established a national complaints programme board in December 2013. A comprehensive programme has been developed with national partners, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, Healthwatch England, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman, the Local Government Association, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Association, to bring about important changes to the way complainants are supported and complaints are handled across the health and social care systems.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are informed by the CQC that it is committed to strengthening its approach to assessing complaints and concerns during inspections. During an inspection, CQC inspectors will use key lines of enquiry to ascertain the standard of care. A mandatory key line of enquiry used during inspections of adult social care is whether the service routinely listens and learns from people’s experiences, concerns and complaints.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Care Act, local authorities will have a new market shaping duty, meaning that they should work with local people and communities and engage with their local care providers to facilitate a diverse supply of high quality services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act reforms should increase transparency and support more effective competition in local care markets. This will help providers of high quality care to attract more people, and to grow and diversify their share in the market.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have just issued statutory guidance to local authorities about their new market shaping duties. Together with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association, we are developing a series of commissioning standards to improve local authority commissioning practices and encourage more flexibility, allowing providers to engage with them in new ways. We are keen to move commissioning from a “time and task” based to an outcomes-driven activity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb grouped question UIN 212938 212939 212941 212944 212945 question first answered 10/11/2014 16:42:56 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

105974

registered interest
date	03/11/2014
answering body	Department of Health
answering dept id	17
answering dept short name	Health
answering dept sort name	Health
hansard heading	Social 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 takes to ensure that local authorities are aware of their obligations to investigate complaints about poor-quality social care; and what assistance the Government provides to help them meet those obligations.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	212938
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/11/2014 answer text <p>Each local authority is responsible for the quality of social care services it commissions. There is no national register or oversight of complaints in social care. However, local authorities are required, pursuant to the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service (England) Regulations 2009, to keep a record of each complaint received, the subject matter and outcome and timescales for responding.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They are also obliged to make a summary of this information available to the public via an annual report. The Government believes that we should be committed to ensuring the system for resolving complaints about care is compassionate, personal, responsive, timely and ensures lessons are learned.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Department established a national complaints programme board in December 2013. A comprehensive programme has been developed with national partners, including the Care Quality Commission (CQC), NHS England, Healthwatch England, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, the Local Government Ombudsman, the Local Government Association, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Association, to bring about important changes to the way complainants are supported and complaints are handled across the health and social care systems.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We are informed by the CQC that it is committed to strengthening its approach to assessing complaints and concerns during inspections. During an inspection, CQC inspectors will use key lines of enquiry to ascertain the standard of care. A mandatory key line of enquiry used during inspections of adult social care is whether the service routinely listens and learns from people’s experiences, concerns and complaints.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Under the Care Act, local authorities will have a new market shaping duty, meaning that they should work with local people and communities and engage with their local care providers to facilitate a diverse supply of high quality services.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The Care Act reforms should increase transparency and support more effective competition in local care markets. This will help providers of high quality care to attract more people, and to grow and diversify their share in the market.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have just issued statutory guidance to local authorities about their new market shaping duties. Together with Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Local Government Association, we are developing a series of commissioning standards to improve local authority commissioning practices and encourage more flexibility, allowing providers to engage with them in new ways. We are keen to move commissioning from a “time and task” based to an outcomes-driven activity.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency North Norfolk answering member printed Norman Lamb grouped question UIN 212937 212939 212941 212944 212945 question first answered 10/11/2014 16:42:56 answering member 1439 label Biography information for Norman Lamb
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

100290

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Attorney General
answering dept id	88
answering dept short name	Attorney General
answering dept sort name	Attorney General
hansard heading	Stalking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Attorney General, how many employees of the Crown Prosecution Service have been trained on the law on stalking to date; and what further such training is planned.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	211538
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 28/10/2014 answer text <p>The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has developed two online e-Learning courses on all types of stalking. The “Cyber Crime: Cyber Stalking” course includes cyber stalking, non-cyber stalking and harassment. The “Stalking and Harassment” course (which was released in April 2014) deals specifically with stalking and harassment offences.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The CPS maintains a central record of the number of employees who have been trained on the law on stalking by way of the e-Learning courses. 1581 of its employees in post on 23 October 2014 have completed all elements of either of the e-Learning courses in the period between 1 November 2012 (the month when the Cyber Stalking e-Learning module was revised to include the new stalking offences) and 23 October 2014.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>In October 2014 the CPS issued follow-up, face-to-face training material on the Stalking and Harassment offences. It can be used flexibly at a local CPS level; accordingly, its delivery is not recorded on a central database.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Although there are no current plans for new training products to be launched, the CPS will continue to train its staff in this critical area of work.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency South Swindon answering member printed Mr Robert Buckland question first answered 28/10/2014 13:15:18 answering member 4106 label Biography information for Sir Robert Buckland
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

100459

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Stalking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police officers in England and Wales have been trained on the law on stalking to date; and what further such training is planned.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	211539
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2014 answer text <p>The College of Policing sets standards and provides relevant training products and services to police forces. This includes a College of Policing training package on stalking, which was completed 56,748 times between October 2012 and 30 September 2014 by police officers and staff in England and Wales, and continues to be available.<br><br>Neither the College of Policing nor the Home Office holds information which breaks this figure down by the number of police officers and staff in England and Wales that have completed the training.<br><br>In 2013-14, 743 prosecutions were commenced under the new stalking legislation. This is a significant increase from 2012-13 and shows that the legislation is taking effect. <br><br>We are also working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to raise awareness and improve professional knowledge. <br><br>To ensure prosecutors’ knowledge is continuously refreshed, in April 2014, the CPS launched a specific e-learning module on stalking which focused on victim support, working with the police and ensuring a strong case is built from the start. The College of Policing is also undertaking a review of how stalking incidents are investigated by the police. This will include how the police understand what constitutes a course of conduct in policing, how the police support victims, and further training on the appropriate use of Police Information Notices.<br><br>Since April 2014, offences of stalking and harassment are being reported separately in Police Recorded Crime figures. This will allow us to monitor the impact of the legislation more effectively. <br><br>Convicted stalkers will already be 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 and every offence.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker grouped question UIN 211541 211543 question first answered 31/10/2014 15:06:20 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

100460

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Stalking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many complaints of stalking were recorded by the police in England and Wales in (a) 2011-12, (b) 2012-13 and (c) 2013-14.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	211537
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/10/2014 answer text <p>The Home Office collects data on the number of crimes recorded by the police but not how many complaints the police receive. <br><br>Prior to 1 April 2014, offences relating to stalking recorded by the police were included in the offence classification of harassment and cannot be <br>identified separately. From the 1 April 2014 these offences have been supplied to the Home Office as a separate classification of stalking. Therefore data are only available for the months April to June 2014, when the police recorded 695 offences. They are published in the quarterly Office for National Statistics publication of ‘Crime in England and Wales’. <br><br>The most recent data are available in Table A4 of the appendix tables in this link:<br><a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-june-2014/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/crime-stats/crime-statistics/period-ending-june-2014/index.html</a></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 30/10/2014 11:51:07 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

100480

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Stalking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what further training is planned for (a) the probation service, (b) magistrates and (c) judges on the new stalking laws.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	211540
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/11/2014 answer text <p><strong>(a)</strong> The National Probation Service is a new organisation that has only been in existence since June 2014. The Professional Skills Training team are in the process of putting together the national training plan and stalking awareness will be part of this.</p><p> </p><p>(<strong>b</strong>) &amp; <strong>(c)</strong> The responsibility for judicial training for courts judiciary lies with the Lord Chief Justice as head of the judiciary and is exercised through the Judicial College. Magistrates sit with legal advisers in court who advise them on the law.</p><p> </p><p>The new stalking laws came from the amendments made to the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 by the Protection of Freedom Act 2012. The Judicial College provides regular updates to judges and legal advisers on any changes to the law via a jurisdictional electronic internal newsletter, and did so in respect of these provisions in June 2012.</p><p> </p><p>The Home Office also issued a circular [Ref: 018/2012] on the new provisions in October 2012. This was issued to the Association Of Chief Police Officers (in England And Wales And Northern Ireland), Association Of Magisterial Officers, Central Council Of Magistrates Courts, Justices Clerks Society, Law Society, Magistrates Association, Ministry of Justice, and the Judicial College.</p><p> </p><p>In addition the Justices Clerks Society also issued a circular to their members outlining the new provisions in December 2012.</p><p> </p><p>The Judicial College regularly assesses judicial training needs and how to meet them. Ultimately, judges use the law to make independent decisions based on the evidence and information provided to them in court.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency North West Cambridgeshire answering member printed Mr Shailesh Vara question first answered 03/11/2014 16:40:29 answering member 1496 label Biography information for Shailesh Vara
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries

100481

registered interest
date	22/10/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Stalking
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to monitor the effects of section 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
tabling member constituency	Mid Bedfordshire
tabling member printed	Nadine Dorries
uin	211541
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/10/2014 answer text <p>The College of Policing sets standards and provides relevant training products and services to police forces. This includes a College of Policing training package on stalking, which was completed 56,748 times between October 2012 and 30 September 2014 by police officers and staff in England and Wales, and continues to be available.<br><br>Neither the College of Policing nor the Home Office holds information which breaks this figure down by the number of police officers and staff in England and Wales that have completed the training.<br><br>In 2013-14, 743 prosecutions were commenced under the new stalking legislation. This is a significant increase from 2012-13 and shows that the legislation is taking effect. <br><br>We are also working with the police and Crown Prosecution Service to raise awareness and improve professional knowledge. <br><br>To ensure prosecutors’ knowledge is continuously refreshed, in April 2014, the CPS launched a specific e-learning module on stalking which focused on victim support, working with the police and ensuring a strong case is built from the start. The College of Policing is also undertaking a review of how stalking incidents are investigated by the police. This will include how the police understand what constitutes a course of conduct in policing, how the police support victims, and further training on the appropriate use of Police Information Notices.<br><br>Since April 2014, offences of stalking and harassment are being reported separately in Police Recorded Crime figures. This will allow us to monitor the impact of the legislation more effectively. <br><br>Convicted stalkers will already be 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 and every offence.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker grouped question UIN 211539 211543 question first answered 31/10/2014 15:06:20 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	1481 label Biography information for Ms Nadine Dorries