Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to offer all child victims of crime Achieving Best Evidence-compliant service and video-recorded interviews in child-friendly environments, including those outside police stations, regardless of whether they have already made complaints to police officers.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring that child victims of crime are treated with sensitivity and care throughout the criminal justice process. The Achieving Best Evidence guidance makes clear that interviews do not need take place in police stations and provides practical advice on arranging a suitable interview environment. Registered intermediaries are also available to support effective communication between the child and the police during interviews.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that children and vulnerable adults who are victims of abuse receive the highest standard of care and support. To this end, the Ministry of Justice funds local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including child sexual abuse.
The Government continues to explore innovative models of support, including approaches inspired by the Barnahus model, to ensure that children and vulnerable adults in child abuse cases get the support they need.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to adopt as standard in criminal justice settings the Barnahus service approach for achieving best evidence and meeting the physical and mental health needs of children and vulnerable adults in child abuse cases.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
This Government is committed to ensuring that child victims of crime are treated with sensitivity and care throughout the criminal justice process. The Achieving Best Evidence guidance makes clear that interviews do not need take place in police stations and provides practical advice on arranging a suitable interview environment. Registered intermediaries are also available to support effective communication between the child and the police during interviews.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that children and vulnerable adults who are victims of abuse receive the highest standard of care and support. To this end, the Ministry of Justice funds local practical, emotional, and therapeutic support services for victims of all crime types, including child sexual abuse.
The Government continues to explore innovative models of support, including approaches inspired by the Barnahus model, to ensure that children and vulnerable adults in child abuse cases get the support they need.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to institute a review of the quality and effectiveness of services provided to children and vulnerable adults who are complainants, victims or witnesses in criminal trials.
Answered by Baroness Levitt - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Victims’ Code is statutory guidance that sets out the minimum level of service that victims of crime should receive from the criminal justice system. Witnesses who are not victims under the Code, are covered by the Witness Charter, which sets out standards of care for witnesses in the criminal justice system.
During the trial itself, the Victims’ Code includes the right for victims to make a Victim Personal Statement, the right to be given information about the trial and on the role of a witness, and the right to be given information about the outcome of the case. Recognising that certain victims are more likely to require specialised assistance, victims who are under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, as well as victims who service providers consider vulnerable or intimidated, are eligible for Enhanced Rights under the Code. This may include being offered a referral to a specialist support service, being contacted sooner after key decisions, and being assisted with accessing relevant special measures. Witnesses under the age of 18 and other vulnerable and intimidated witnesses under the Witness Charter may also be eligible for additional support during the police investigation and at trial.
We will be consulting on a new Code in due course to make sure we get the foundations for victims right.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) about the steps the CQC is taking to reduce the waiting time for (1) initial inspections, and (2) re-inspections, of healthcare providers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has introduced additional oversight measures to ensure significant improvements are made to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) operational performance.
The CQC is aware of the issues health and social care providers have experienced and is progressing four immediate actions and five foundational improvements, which include clearing the backlog of registration applications and making improvements to its assessment approach to enable them to complete more, and publish higher quality, assessment reports.
Action carried out to address the registration backlog includes changing the way providers apply for registration, recruiting additional registration inspectors, and streamlining the internal registration processes. The CQC’s registration team has been clearing the backlog of registration applications that are over 10 weeks old, focusing on the oldest ones first.
Action carried out to make improvements to the CQC’s assessment approach include making some changes to the internal technology systems the CQC uses to carry out assessments.
These actions will ensure the CQC is more efficient, and will lead to a reduction in the time providers wait before they receive a first inspection and rating.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the Care Quality Commission about the estimated timeframe for the elimination of the backlog for registering new healthcare providers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has introduced additional oversight measures to ensure significant improvements are made to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) operational performance.
The CQC is aware of the issues health and social care providers have experienced and is progressing four immediate actions and five foundational improvements, which include clearing the backlog of registration applications and making improvements to its assessment approach to enable them to complete more, and publish higher quality, assessment reports.
Action carried out to address the registration backlog includes changing the way providers apply for registration, recruiting additional registration inspectors, and streamlining the internal registration processes. The CQC’s registration team has been clearing the backlog of registration applications that are over 10 weeks old, focusing on the oldest ones first.
Action carried out to make improvements to the CQC’s assessment approach include making some changes to the internal technology systems the CQC uses to carry out assessments.
These actions will ensure the CQC is more efficient, and will lead to a reduction in the time providers wait before they receive a first inspection and rating.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what recent discussions they have had with the Care Quality Commission about improving the consistency of the quality of reports about healthcare providers.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has introduced additional oversight measures to ensure significant improvements are made to the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) operational performance.
The CQC is aware of the issues health and social care providers have experienced and is progressing four immediate actions and five foundational improvements, which include clearing the backlog of registration applications and making improvements to its assessment approach to enable them to complete more, and publish higher quality, assessment reports.
Action carried out to address the registration backlog includes changing the way providers apply for registration, recruiting additional registration inspectors, and streamlining the internal registration processes. The CQC’s registration team has been clearing the backlog of registration applications that are over 10 weeks old, focusing on the oldest ones first.
Action carried out to make improvements to the CQC’s assessment approach include making some changes to the internal technology systems the CQC uses to carry out assessments.
These actions will ensure the CQC is more efficient, and will lead to a reduction in the time providers wait before they receive a first inspection and rating.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to reform regulatory procedures for doctors and dentists by utilising or amending powers pursuant to section 60 of the Health Act 1999.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has been considering its priorities for professional regulation and will be setting these out shortly.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of interim suspensions of doctors subject to fitness to practice investigations; and what plans they have to improve the interim suspension procedure for patients and doctors.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the independent regulator of all medical doctors, anaesthesia associates, and physician associates practising in the United Kingdom. It sets and enforces the standards all doctors, anaesthesia associates, and physician associates must adhere to. If an allegation is made about a professional on its registers, the GMC has a statutory duty to investigate and take action to safeguard the health and well-being of the public where necessary. In serious cases, an Interim Orders Tribunal can suspend, or impose conditions upon, a professional’s registration on an interim basis, pending completion of the GMC’s investigation and possible hearing of the case by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Services.
The GMC is independent of the Government, directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The Government has no current plans to discuss the interim suspension procedure with the GMC.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reduce the projected cost of clinical negligence claims over the course of the Parliament.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the National Health Service in England are of great concern to the Government. Costs have more than doubled in the last 10 years and are forecast to continue rising, putting further pressure on NHS finances.
The causes of the overall cost rise are complex and there is no single fix, as costs are likely to be rising because of a range of factors, including higher compensation payments and legal costs, rather than more claims or a decline in patient safety.
We recognise that this is an important issue, and ministers intend to look at all the drivers of cost.
Asked by: Lord Carlile of Berriew (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many students wishing to study (1) ancient history, and (2) classical history, at university were prevented from doing so as a result of a reduction in places in each of the past three years; and what assessment they have made of the future of these subjects as university courses.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on student entrants across UK higher education (HE) providers. This includes data on students entering courses in different subject areas, categorised using the HE Classification of Subjects system. Counts of entrants across all subjects from 2019/20 to 2022/23 are published in Table 52 of HESA’s Student Data, which are detailed below and can also be found here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-52.
Entrants to UK higher education providers by subject of study | |||
Subject | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 |
Ancient history | 645 | 595 | 540 |
Classical studies | 1,995 | 1,950 | 1,985 |
The department does not hold information on the number of university places available for each course. We are unable to assess the extent to which the decline in entrants was linked to the reduction of places.
English universities are independent, autonomous institutions and are therefore free to choose which courses they run. Quality is assessed by the Office for Students, the regulator of HE providers in England.