Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people have lost their sight or had their vision impaired as a result of delays in the provision of cataract surgery.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning cataract surgery for their local populations. Patients have the right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral for non-urgent conditions, or alternatively have the right to ask for an alternative provider who can see them sooner. All patients should be treated without unnecessary delay and according to their clinical priority.
Where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance does not exist on a particular treatment, it is for local National Health Service commissioners to make funding decisions based on an assessment of the available evidence and on the basis of an individual patient’s clinical circumstances. However, in light of concerns about lengthy waits for treatment and unacceptable variations in care, the Secretary of State has asked NICE to bring forward its guidance on cataracts from 2018 to 2017. This will provide NHS commissioners with evidence based guidance from NICE and ensure patients have access to the most effective treatment as early as possible.
The Government has not made an assessment of the effect of hospital-initiated postponement of cataract surgery on patients’ sight or of the impact of innovative technologies; we anticipate that these aspects will be considered by NICE in their assessment.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, what is their assessment of the impact of innovative technology and improvements in efficiency on outcomes for cataract treatment.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning cataract surgery for their local populations. Patients have the right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral for non-urgent conditions, or alternatively have the right to ask for an alternative provider who can see them sooner. All patients should be treated without unnecessary delay and according to their clinical priority.
Where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance does not exist on a particular treatment, it is for local National Health Service commissioners to make funding decisions based on an assessment of the available evidence and on the basis of an individual patient’s clinical circumstances. However, in light of concerns about lengthy waits for treatment and unacceptable variations in care, the Secretary of State has asked NICE to bring forward its guidance on cataracts from 2018 to 2017. This will provide NHS commissioners with evidence based guidance from NICE and ensure patients have access to the most effective treatment as early as possible.
The Government has not made an assessment of the effect of hospital-initiated postponement of cataract surgery on patients’ sight or of the impact of innovative technologies; we anticipate that these aspects will be considered by NICE in their assessment.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the statement by the Secretary of State for Health on 10 August that any patient who needs cataract surgery should get it without delay, what is their assessment of the impact on cataract surgery waiting times and local capacity to deliver cataract treatment of a higher priority being afforded to such treatment.
Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton
Clinical commissioning groups are responsible for commissioning cataract surgery for their local populations. Patients have the right to start consultant-led treatment within 18 weeks of referral for non-urgent conditions, or alternatively have the right to ask for an alternative provider who can see them sooner. All patients should be treated without unnecessary delay and according to their clinical priority.
Where National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance does not exist on a particular treatment, it is for local National Health Service commissioners to make funding decisions based on an assessment of the available evidence and on the basis of an individual patient’s clinical circumstances. However, in light of concerns about lengthy waits for treatment and unacceptable variations in care, the Secretary of State has asked NICE to bring forward its guidance on cataracts from 2018 to 2017. This will provide NHS commissioners with evidence based guidance from NICE and ensure patients have access to the most effective treatment as early as possible.
The Government has not made an assessment of the effect of hospital-initiated postponement of cataract surgery on patients’ sight or of the impact of innovative technologies; we anticipate that these aspects will be considered by NICE in their assessment.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to meet with the representative bodies of employee share ownership schemes to discuss the recent decision to withdraw HM Revenue and Custom’s valuation check service.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
Officials from HM Revenue and Customs have already met representative bodies of employee ownership schemes. HMRC will be working with those groups to develop further public guidance and discuss any other proposals their members might raise.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that those in the reserves of the armed forces have opportunities to use and develop linguistic skills.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) recognises the valuable skill sets of our reservists, all of whom have full access to the MOD's language schemes. We work to ensure that those reservists who already have a second language are able to use and develop that language. Any reservists employed in roles with direct requirements for language capability receive the same training as regular personnel.
The MOD maintains a pool of linguists through the Education and Training Services (Reserves), which provides additional language capability to exercises, operations and Defence Engagement tasks. A new training programme, which makes use of courses and bespoke training provided by the Defence Centre for Languages and Culture, has recently been introduced to develop the skills of linguists in the reserves.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many staff in each of the armed services work at the level of interpreter in each language.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Armed Services recognise 48 languages for which they declare a capability. The Joint Arms Control Implementation Group is the only unit which employs personnel in the direct role of interpreter. Across the Armed Services a total of 697 personnel are recorded as holding a level of language qualification and currency that is functional or above. These are broken down as follows:
| Army | RAF | Royal Marines | Royal Navy | Total |
Functional | 160 | 56 | 17 | 31 | 264 |
Professional | 191 | 52 | 17 | 41 | 301 |
Expert | 85 | 27 | 5 | 15 | 132 |
Total | 436 | 135 | 39 | 87 | 697 |
The number of languages that Ministry of Defence (MOD) employees could conceivably need to converse in is extremely broad. The MOD employs professional interpreters for more niche languages and has robust strategies in place to ensure the quality of contractors’ interpretation skills.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure there are sufficient linguistic skills in languages such as Russian and Mandarin across the armed forces.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) regularly reviews its requirements for linguists to ensure that all operational demands for linguists are met in full, and trains its personnel accordingly. For languages with little or no immediate operational requirement, the MOD ensures that there is a baseline of linguists that can be called on for contingency tasks and Defence Engagement.
Long and short-term language priorities are agreed at a strategic level and provide the basis for the statement of training requirement against which defence language training is delivered.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to respond rapidly to new requirements for linguistic skills across the armed forces.
Answered by Earl Howe - Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
The Defence Centre for Language and Culture (DCLC) has an extremely agile training delivery model, comprising a core of military and specialist civilian lecturers supported by a commercial training contract supplying contracted tutors. The DCLC covers a number of languages. This enables the Ministry of Defence to respond rapidly to new requirements, at scale, and at short notice. A dedicated Contingency Wing has been established specifically to respond to and manage this type of short notice demand, particularly in operationally focused languages. Plans are regularly reviewed to ensure that we have already considered broad options for the delivery of new requirements.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they received on the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises’ productivity levels following the withdrawal of HM Revenue and Custom’s valuation check service.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
No impact on the productivity of small and medium-sized enterprises is anticipated. HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation service for those share schemes most relevant to these enterprises.
These include:
Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI),
Company Share Option Plans (CSOP),
Save As You Earn share option schemes (SAYE),
Share Incentive Plans (SIP) and
Employee Shareholder Status (ESS).
HMRC has however announced a review of the valuation services for those schemes and is consulting interested parties.
HMRC has withdrawn valuation checks for income tax and PAYE that are not part of these recognised employee ownership schemes. Most people submitted acceptable valuations and therefore the valuation service offered was not seen as needed.
Asked by: Lord Harrison (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact on UK productivity of the planned withdrawal of HM Revenue and Custom’s valuation check service.
Answered by Lord O'Neill of Gatley
No impact on UK productivity is anticipated. HMRC has not withdrawn the valuation service for those share schemes most relevant to small and medium sized enterprises.
These include:
Enterprise Management Incentives (EMI),
Company Share Option Plans (CSOP),
Save As You Earn share option schemes (SAYE),
Share Incentive Plans (SIP) and
Employee Shareholder Status (ESS).
HMRC has however announced a review of the valuation services for those schemes and is consulting interested parties.
HMRC has withdrawn valuation checks for income tax and PAYE that are not part of these recognised employee ownership schemes. Most people submitted acceptable valuations and therefore the valuation service offered was not seen as needed.