Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his Department is making on the rollout of the pilot yellow card scheme for benefit sanctions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Jobseeker’s Allowance Sanctions Early Warning Trial in Scotland ran until September 2016 and involved approximately 6,500 claimants. Data was collected throughout the trial period to assess the extent to which the warning trial affected sanction decisions.
Qualitative interviews are currently being undertaken with a sample of these claimants to gain an understanding of how the new process affected claimant behaviour. The trial has now finished and a full evaluation is being undertaken.
The interim report will be published at the end of the year and the final report around April 2017. Findings from the trial will inform any decisions on future roll-out.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent steps his Department has taken to help rough sleepers and homeless people.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
One person without a home is one too many. That is why we launched a new £40 million Homelessness Prevention programme to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping.
This will enable authorities to support vulnerable people, preventing them from becoming homeless, and ensuring those who do have somewhere safe to stay.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans (a) NICE and (b) NHS England has to issue a consultation on changes to the highly specialised technologies evaluation programme.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England launched a joint consultation on 13 October 2016 setting out proposed changes to the arrangements for the evaluation and adoption of new technologies, including on the methodology for the evaluation of highly specialised technologies.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to appeal NICE's draft guidance on asfotase alfa for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia, issued in September 2016.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently evaluating the costs and benefits of asfotase alfa (Strensiq) for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia to determine whether it can be recommended for national commissioning by NHS England.
There has not yet been an opportunity for stakeholders to appeal NICE’s recommendations on the use of asfotase alfa for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia. NICE published a second iteration of draft guidance for consultation on 22 September 2016 and the closing date for comments was 13 October 2016. NICE’s independent Evaluation Committee will now consider the comments received in response to the consultation before deciding on the next steps for the evaluation.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that asfotase alfa is available on the NHS to all patients who may benefit from it.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently evaluating the costs and benefits of asfotase alfa (Strensiq) for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia to determine whether it can be recommended for national commissioning by NHS England.
There has not yet been an opportunity for stakeholders to appeal NICE’s recommendations on the use of asfotase alfa for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia. NICE published a second iteration of draft guidance for consultation on 22 September 2016 and the closing date for comments was 13 October 2016. NICE’s independent Evaluation Committee will now consider the comments received in response to the consultation before deciding on the next steps for the evaluation.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of implementing the recommendations contained in NICE's evaluation consultation document, Asfotase alfa for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia, published on 22 September 2016, on the outcomes of people living with that disease.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is evaluating the costs and benefits of asfotase alfa (Strensiq) for treating paediatric-onset hypophosphatasia to determine whether it can be recommended for national commissioning by NHS England.
NICE published its draft recommendations for consultation on 22 September 2016 and the closing date for comments was 13 October 2016. NICE’s independent Evaluation Committee will now consider the comments received in response to the consultation. NICE has not yet issued its final guidance on this treatment and its draft recommendations may change following consultation.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department holds data on the (a) use and (b) prevalence of setting and streaming in schools in England.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In-school organisation, such as streaming or setting, is a matter for individual schools, and data is not collected or held by the Department on this matter.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the introduction of the English language tuition scheme in supporting Muslim women to learn English.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
As the first step in rolling out the new £20 million programme we have committed just over £3 million to enable six providers who delivered the Department’s previous community-based English language programme to provide new tuition to over 10,000 people by March next year.
We will shortly be issuing a new Prospectus, inviting applications to run the bulk of the new programme from 2017. The nature and targeting of that provision will be informed by Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and Opportunity.
We will monitor the new Programme to assess its effectiveness in meeting its objectives.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many women have received tuition under the English language tuition scheme since January 2016.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
As the first step in rolling out the new £20 million programme we have committed just over £3 million to enable six providers who delivered the Department’s previous community-based English language programme to provide new tuition to over 10,000 people by March next year.
We will shortly be issuing a new Prospectus, inviting applications to run the bulk of the new programme from 2017. The nature and targeting of that provision will be informed by Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and Opportunity.
We will monitor the new Programme to assess its effectiveness in meeting its objectives.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much of the English language tuition fund his Department has spent since January 2016.
Answered by Marcus Jones - Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Commons)
As the first step in rolling out the new £20 million programme we have committed just over £3 million to enable six providers who delivered the Department’s previous community-based English language programme to provide new tuition to over 10,000 people by March next year.
We will shortly be issuing a new Prospectus, inviting applications to run the bulk of the new programme from 2017. The nature and targeting of that provision will be informed by Louise Casey’s Review of Integration and Opportunity.
We will monitor the new Programme to assess its effectiveness in meeting its objectives.