As Leader of the House I see it as essential that Noble Lords receive accurate and timely responses to all written questions tabled to His Majesty's Government. For that reason, I have spoken to all Front Bench Ministers regarding the importance of adhering to the 10 working day window for response to questions for written answer. I have also written to the Permanent Secretary of DHSC to reiterate the importance of his department responding to peers within this timeframe, as well as urging them to clear the backlog as soon as possible.<\/p>
My office has contacted DHSC regarding their repeated failure to meet the 10 day target for response. After the significant disruption caused to the delivery of parliamentary support to the House of Lords by the COVID-19 pandemic, the DHSC parliamentary team has implemented a Written Parliamentary Question Recovery Plan to deal with the backlog of written questions. This recovery plan has led to significant improvements in their performance. However, your question clearly highlights that there is more work to do to ensure that all questions are answered within the 10 day target. Parliament rightly expects that more work will be done on this matter.<\/p>
<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4200", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord True"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord True"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2023-06-19", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2023-06-19T16:28:12.707Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "92"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : ""} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Leader of the House of Lords"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2023-06-06", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Leader of the House what explanations he has had from the Department for Health and Social Care concerning their failure to answer 18 questions for written answer, dating back to 19 April, within the recommended time.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/883", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Jopling"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Jopling"} ], "uin" : "HL8246"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1235721", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1235721/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
As has been the case under successive administrations, appointments to the House of Lords are a matter for the Prime Minister. Members of the House of Lords are appointed from a wide range of backgrounds to ensure the House is able to carry out its scrutiny work effectively.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4200", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord True"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord True"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-10-01", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-10-01T16:36:03.057Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "53"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Cabinet Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-09-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "House of Lords: Membership"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultations they have held with (1) the Northern Ireland Executive, (2) the Scottish Government, and (3) the Welsh Government, about recommendations for appointments to the House of Lords which represent their respective nations.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/3691", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Roberts of Llandudno"} ], "uin" : "HL8246"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/916540", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Ministry of Justice"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/916540/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Ministry began collecting data on service in the Armed Forces in 2015 and all newly received offenders into custody are asked on reception if they have served in the Armed Forces.<\/p>
<\/p>
Latest figures published in April 2018 show approximately 3% of prisoners on their first reception (Q4 2017) responded to the question were ex-armed service personnel. This has remained relatively stable for 18 months. Due to the very small number of female ex-armed service personnel in prisons the number is not split by gender and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Full details of new receptions can be found in the attached table.<\/p>
<\/p>
Prisoners who choose to identify as former members of the Armed Services are given access to available specialist support. This includes support for issues such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that may affect them following their service. Additional support can be offered by military service charities working with prisons and rehabilitation services.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4538", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Keen of Elie"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Keen of Elie"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-06-18", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-06-18T15:57:51.57Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-06-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Prisoners: Veterans"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government how many women former members of the armed forces are currently serving custodial sentences; and for what offences.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4181", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Beecham"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Beecham"} ], "uin" : "HL8246"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/518085", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/518085/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Figures published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre show that there has not been a reduction in the number of consultant clinical pharmacologists employed in the National Health Service in England.<\/p>
<\/p>
As part of its workforce planning, Health Education England (HEE) take account of a range of factors including forecast rates of retirement. HEE has recently undertaken a review of the clinical pharmacology and therapeutics workforce, the findings of which will contribute to future workforce planning for this specialty in England.<\/p>
<\/p>
It is for the respective Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to consider workforce planning for their health system.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/127", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Prior of Brampton"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Prior of Brampton"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2016-05-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL8247"} , {"_value" : "HL8248"} , {"_value" : "HL8249"} , {"_value" : "HL8250"} , {"_value" : "HL8251"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2016-05-12T10:05:25.493Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2016-05-09", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Clinical Pharmacologists"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty\u2019s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on the NHS of the predicted loss of 35 per cent of current clinical pharmacologist consultant posts through retirements in the next decade and the reduction in the number of training grade clinical pharmacologist posts, as set out in the report by the British Pharmacological Society, A Prescription for the NHS: Recognising the value of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics<\/i>.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2024", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Hunt of Kings Heath"} ], "uin" : "HL8246"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 4, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }