Rear-Admiral Tufton Beamish: There appears to be one present who has been in the wars at the Chichester by-election. I note with real sorrow the undercurrent of attacks against the Prime Minister. I think it is a thing which ought to be brought to the surface. I was glad that the hon. Member for Kidderminster was ready to say what his views really were and why he was making his statement—with which, in certain...
Baroness Andrews: ...data-monitoring, clinical and financial risk-assessment procedures and service-specific commissioning consortia. Those are the pillars of good practice. They are spelled out in the guidance and CCGs that follow the guidance will be well on their way to intelligent and successful commissioning. We envisage the regional groups as fulfilling an extremely important role—as they have—and...
Malcolm Wicks: ...trigger event for lone parents. We can guarantee a Budgeting Loan payment to help people in these circumstances, provided the applicant satisfies the eligibility criteria. Community Care Grants (CCGs) are also available to help people with the cost of setting up home. In particular it is available to people leaving institutional care, families under exceptional pressure, and people taking...
Mr Chris Pond: The information is in the table. Actual average clearance times for Social Fund community care grants (CCGs), crisis loans (CLs) and budgeting loans (BLs) for the period April to December 2004 Government office region CCGs CLs BLs East of England 9.1 1.4 2.6 East Midlands 9.3 1.3 3.5 London 10.8 1.3 3.7 North East 6.1 1.2 3.2 North West 7.3 1.3 2.5 ...
Mr Chris Pond: Information is only available on the number of Social Fund claim applications received. The available information is in the table. Numbers of applications for Social Fund Community Care Grants (CCGs), Crisis Loans (CLs) and Budgeting Loans (BLs) received in Scotland since January 2002 CCGs CLs BLs January 2002 6,700 29,290 17,100 February 2002 8,060 27,810 19,730 March...
Steve Webb: ...10 2008-09 178.2 40 218.20 2007-08 178.2 50 228.20 2006-07 178.2 120 298.20 Allocation between elements of the discretionary social fund £ million Amount allocated to CCGs Amount allocated to Contingency reserve Amount allocated to loans 2010-11 141 1 177.7 2009-10 141 1 158.1 2008-09 141 1 76.2 2007-08 141 1 86.2 2006-07 141 1...
John Martin McDonnell: ...of applications demonstrate their importance. In 2009-10, there were 640,000 applications for community care grants, 3.64 million for crisis loans and 1.69 million for budgeting loans. Some 263,000 CCGs were awarded, 2.7 million crisis loans were awarded, and 1.2 million budgeting loans were awarded, so the expenditure was significant. They have a significant impact on individuals’ lives...
Dr Dixon: On whether the Bill helps, there is a risk on the commissioning side that CCGs will be pretty inert, apart from in one or two go-ahead areas. Remember the phrase about practice-based commissioning—it is a corpse in need of resuscitation, or not. The big risk is that commissioning will not fire, so what is in the Bill to fire up the provider side, which should be integrating to...
Simon Burns: ...not doubt that the framework that we are endeavouring to put in place does so. We have tried to strike a balance in the amendments between clarifying on the face of the Bill the responsibilities of CCGs and retaining a degree of flexibility to ensure through regulations that we have the scope to adapt as necessary policy on urgent and emergency care and entitlement charging, or to meet our...
Simon Burns: ...be upheld in new legislation.”––[Official Report, Health and Social Care Public Bill Committee, 15 February 2011; c. 185.] The amendments do just that. They place new duties on the board and CCGs requiring them, when exercising their functions, both to act with a view to securing the provision of health services in a way that promotes the NHS constitution, and to promote awareness of...
Simon Burns: I can be extremely brief. The hon. Lady raised two issues. One of them was the funding of the administrative costs of the commissioning board and the CCGs. We have always made it plain that a global figure will be allocated by the commissioning board, for its own use and for the CCGs. That has not changed. We have also made it clear that the figure we have in mind for the CCGs for their...
Simon Burns: ...arrangements locally to meet the needs of their patients and their populations. The programme of local pathfinders is the practical result, as groups of GPs come together to develop emerging CCGs and to explore key issues with PCTs. It is for those reasons that the Government have not hitherto proposed requiring a particular model of governance for CCGs. The Bill as currently drafted and...
Simon Burns: ...commissioning groups, and replace the board’s current duty in relation to integration. Having listened to the concerns of the Future Forum and others that the existing duties on the board and CCGs are insufficient to promote integrated care centred on the needs of patients, we are responding with these amendments, which reaffirm the Government’s commitment to integration. National...
Grahame Morris: ..., I think that is an excellent point. If the health and well-being boards and the commissioners are working effectively, can determine local need and have the proper evidence base, perhaps the CCGs can legitimately make that decision.
Simon Burns: ...to provide a better service for the growing number of people with long-term health conditions. We have made amendments elsewhere to address those concerns, for example by putting a new duty on CCGs, and a strengthened duty on the NHS commissioning board to promote integrated services for patients, both within the NHS and between health, social care and other local services. Monitor will...
Owen Smith: The clause deals with conflicts of interest. We did not have an occasion last time to talk about conflicts of interest as they relate to CCGs. That was a shame, as that is an area where we see significant conflicts of interest. The conflicts of interests in respect of Monitor are perhaps less significant than those that we would have debated at some length, had we sufficient time to do so...
John Baron: The all-party group on cancer and others lobbied for a greater focus on outcomes, but the one-year and five-year cancer survival rates may now be less statistically robust, as CCGs cover smaller population sizes than primary care trusts. Will the Government therefore give added priority to the excellent work of the National Cancer Intelligence Network in producing a set of evidence-based...
Simon Burns: ...the matter. I can tell my hon. Friend that no, we do not intend to use the power comprehensively in that way. The purpose of the regulations will be to ensure that the commissioning board and the CCGs respect good practice and protect patient choice, and that they do not restrict competition to the detriment of patients. In some cases that would mean competitive tendering, but in others it...
Debbie Abrahams: ...question for the Minister about the clause. In the previous Committee, we touched on the question of whether guidance is just that, or whether there will be more compulsion for practitioners and CCGs to accept it. Will it be considered a failure to discharge their functions if CCGs do not apply guidance, ignore it or make up their own? There is clear guidance about cataract surgery, for...
Lord Freud: ..., contradictory to wider message of developing financial independence. •Wide support for regulated resettlement grants: call for extending eligibility beyond groups currently eligible for CCGs, including those leaving prison. "we are considering whether to extend help with funeral costs to... students who do not qualify for welfare benefits" The Green Paper asked whether students...
