Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether any animals affected by foot and mouth have been buried on his Department's land in Colchester known as Middlewick Ranges.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
There are no animals that died as a result of foot and mouth disease buried on Middlewick Ranges.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to ensure that every hospital has a bereavement suite.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
Since 2010, we have invested £35 million in the National Health Service to improve birthing environments and this included better bereavement rooms and quiet area spaces at nearly 40 hospitals to support bereaved families.
We are also funding Sands, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death charity to work with other baby loss charities, Royal Colleges and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Baby Loss to produce a National Bereavement Care Pathway to reduce the variation in the quality of bereavement care provided by the NHS. The pathway will cover all forms of baby loss to ensure that all bereaved parents are offered equal, high quality, individualised, safe and sensitive care.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that smoking rates among pregnant women fall.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Government is developing a new tobacco control plan, which will be published shortly. The plan will contain actions to reduce the prevalence of smoking during pregnancy.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the merits of introducing statutory paid leave for parents who suffer the loss of a child.
Answered by Margot James
I know my Hon. Friend has done a considerable amount of work on this, given his own tragic experience. I would like to reassure him that we are exploring options for supporting bereaved parents in employment.
We would expect employers to be compassionate and flexible at such a difficult time, however we understand this is not always the case.
So we are looking at ways to enable parents to take time away from work to grieve.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) number and (b) availability of dedicated maternity bereavement rooms and facilities across the NHS.
Answered by Philip Dunne
Decisions about the provision of bereavement services are best taken locally. It is for local National Health Service organisations to ensure that appropriate facilities and services are in place to support bereaved parents following the death of a baby.
The Department has published Health Building Note 09-02: Maternity Care Facilities a guideline on the design and planning of maternity care facilities in new healthcare buildings and on the adaptation/extension of existing facilities. In line with the guidance, we would expect new build or redesigned maternity units to have facilities available for women and families who suffer bereavement at any stage of pregnancy.
Since 2010, we have invested £35 million in the NHS to improve birthing environments and this included better bereavement rooms and quiet area spaces at nearly 40 hospitals to support bereaved families.
In 2016, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity, Sands, published Audit of bereavement care provision in United Kingdom maternity. The audit found that of the 62 trusts and health boards that responded:
- 63% has a bereavement room in each maternity unit in the trust or health board;
- 26% has a bereavement room in at least one maternity unit but not all in the trust or health board; and
- 11% had no dedicated bereavement room in the trust or health board.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of bereavement support midwife availability in maternity units across the NHS.
Answered by Philip Dunne
All bereaved parents should be offered the same high standard of care and support in an appropriate environment.
In 2016, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity, Sands, published Audit of bereavement care provision in UK maternity. The audit found that of the 66 trusts and health boards which responded, 62% of the maternity units they cover have at least one bereavement support midwife that is based there.
NHS England has commissioned Sands to undertake a project on the role of the bereavement midwife. The project will make recommendations for the remit of the role of the bereavement midwife and also give some guidance on the support structures required around the role. Sands are due to report their finds to NHS England later this year.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the level of cold cot availability in maternity units across the NHS.
Answered by Philip Dunne
All bereaved parents should be offered the same high standard of care and support in an appropriate environment.
In 2016, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Charity, Sands, published Audit of bereavement care provision in UK maternity. The audit found that of the 69 trusts and health boards responding to the survey 91% reported that each of the maternity units they covered have access to at least one cold or cuddle cot.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer to Question 62599, on Ministry of Defence: staff, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on the potential merits of armed forces medical personnel assisting the NHS at peak demand periods.
Answered by Mike Penning
There are frequent contacts, at various levels, between the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Health on areas of mutual interest.
The Defence Medical Services (DMS) exists to ensure that the Armed Forces are ready and medically fit to go where they are required throughout the world.
Currently over 90% of DMS secondary care personnel are working in the NHS. The remaining DMS personnel are currently delivering primary care, rehabilitation, mental healthcare, dental care and other medical services to our Armed Forces or their families, or deployed on operations, or preparing to deploy.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress the rail industry has made on making new data available to third party retailers in the rail ticketing market.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In the Action Plan for Information on Rail Fares and Ticketing, launched on 13 December 2016, the Rail Delivery Group committed to provide better and more targeted information to website and app developers to enable them to develop new products and services for consumers by December this year.
This information will include timetable and fares data and live running information, so that they can be used to create better and consistent consumer-facing products. The overall Action Plan is a set of stretching actions to drive real improvement for passengers. Progress is reviewed regularly, working towards two key reports as set out in the Action Plan.
Asked by: Will Quince (Conservative - Colchester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much compensation has been paid to passengers under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by Abellio Greater Anglia in each year for which compensation has been paid.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is not required to collect information on compensation paid by train operators to their customers under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, which came into force for all transport providers on 1 October 2016, and does not hold this information.
It is the responsibility of train operators to ensure that their customers are made aware of their rights to compensation or other redress in cases of service failure or disruption. Train operators’ existing compensation schemes provide the main means of redress for passengers.