Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that Hongkongers who have (a) arrived in the UK under the BN(O) scheme and (b) will be naturalised as British citizens have access to UK (i) consulates and (ii) consular services.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) provides consular assistance to British nationals abroad. This includes British Nationals (Overseas) who, under the Memoranda to the Joint Declaration, are eligible for consular assistance in third countries, but not in Hong Kong, Macao or mainland China. The help we can provide to dual nationals depends on the circumstances and the agreement of the country of the individual's other nationality. China does not recognise dual nationality and considers anyone born in China to a Chinese parent Chinese. This applies to all British citizens travelling to China including those naturalised under the BN(O) scheme.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to communicate the risks associated with travel to Hong Kong to Hongkongers who have (a) arrived in the UK under the BN(O) scheme and are (b) due to be naturalised as British citizens.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
FCDO's Travel Advice for Hong Kong explains that Hong Kong does not recognise dual nationality and anyone born in China to a Chinese national parent would be considered by authorities to be of Chinese nationality and treated as a Chinese citizen. Anyone with both British and Chinese nationality may be treated as a Chinese citizen by local authorities, even if they enter on a British passport. This advice applies to all British citizens travelling to Hong Kong, including those naturalised under the BN(O) scheme.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has not published an annual report since 2019; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of ensuring that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs resumes publishing these reports.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention met the Chair of the ACMD, Professor Owen Bowden-Jones on the 29th October 2024, as part of this Government’s wider work on tackling the harms associated with drug misuse.
Regular meetings with the ACMD or its Chair will be held as appropriate, in accordance with the important work it does in assessing the evidence of drug harms.
The government will consider outstanding and forthcoming reports carefully.
The ACMD is independent. The publication of its annual report is a matter for the ACMD.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies on tackling drug-related harms of all of the recommendations made by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs between 2010 and 2014.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention met the Chair of the ACMD, Professor Owen Bowden-Jones on the 29th October 2024, as part of this Government’s wider work on tackling the harms associated with drug misuse.
Regular meetings with the ACMD or its Chair will be held as appropriate, in accordance with the important work it does in assessing the evidence of drug harms.
The government will consider outstanding and forthcoming reports carefully.
The ACMD is independent. The publication of its annual report is a matter for the ACMD.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings she has had with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs since 5 July 2024.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Minister for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention met the Chair of the ACMD, Professor Owen Bowden-Jones on the 29th October 2024, as part of this Government’s wider work on tackling the harms associated with drug misuse.
Regular meetings with the ACMD or its Chair will be held as appropriate, in accordance with the important work it does in assessing the evidence of drug harms.
The government will consider outstanding and forthcoming reports carefully.
The ACMD is independent. The publication of its annual report is a matter for the ACMD.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Mental Health Bill will (a) protect and (b) enhance the rights of (i) children and (ii) young people who are (A) detained in and (B) admitted informally to mental health hospitals.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The forthcoming Mental Health Bill will strengthen the rights of children and young people, to ensure they are involved in decisions about their care, that they can challenge these decisions and, above all, ensure that they are only detained for treatment in hospital when it is absolutely necessary. NHS England is working to minimise the number of children and young people informally admitted to inpatient mental health care.
Subject to the passage of the Bill through Parliament, it is proposed that children and young people formally detained under the Mental Health Act will have statutory Care and Treatment Plans, the right to choose a ‘Nominated Person’ to look after their interests and expanded access to Independent Mental Health Advocates. The latter will also apply to voluntary patients who are not detained under the Act.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to end the duty stamps scheme.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government will set out plans for the future of Alcohol Duty Stamps in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will ask the Office for Budget Responsibility to review its (a) price elasticity of demand and (b) other forecasting methodology for alcohol duty revenues.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The OBR regularly reviews its forecasting methodology. Its forecast is informed by economic factors including real household consumption and underlying trends in alcohol consumption.
The OBR published updated price elasticities for alcohol in July 2024.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress her Department has made on reviewing the fairness of PIP assessments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is not currently undertaking a review of the fairness of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments.
PIP is designed to treat all claimants fairly, focusing on the needs arising from a long-term health condition or disability, rather than the condition itself. Individuals can be impacted by their health conditions in different ways, so the PIP assessment considers the needs of each individual claimant against the assessment criteria set out in legislation, regardless of whether those needs relate to a physical or non-physical impairment.
DWP has set standards for the quality of assessments and closely monitors all aspects of the process including the performance of the assessment suppliers. Our audit process considers the initial review, evidence collection, further evidence provided, and the advice within the assessment report completed by a health professional (HP). The check is completed against a set of guidelines to ensure a consistent approach is taken. This ensures that assessment reports are fit for purpose, clinically justified and sound, and provide sufficient information for the department to make an informed decision on entitlement to benefit.
All assessment suppliers work with the department on plans to continuously improve assessment quality through a range of measures including audit procedures, clinical observations, tailored training and development plans, providing feedback and in the support available to HPs.
All claimants have the right to request a Mandatory Reconsideration (MR) if they disagree with their PIP decision. If they disagree with the outcome of their MR, they are able to appeal to an independent tribunal.
We are exploring potential changes to modernise the PIP service to improve claimants’ experience and trust in our services and decisions. We will set out the detail of any changes in due course.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to embed a Whole Education Approach to mental health and wellbeing in all education settings.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is committed to improving mental health outcomes for all children and young people, as this is critical to breaking down barriers to opportunity and learning.
The department, along with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, provides guidance to schools and colleges on a whole school or college approach to promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/614cc965d3bf7f718518029c/Promoting_children_and_young_people_s_mental_health_and_wellbeing.pdf. The department has also provided a free to access resource hub for mental health leads, which can be found here: https://www.mentallyhealthyschools.org.uk/whole-school-or-college-resources/.
Over 70% of all schools and colleges have accessed grants from the department to train a senior mental health lead, who develops their knowledge and skills to embed a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. Information is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/senior-mental-health-lead-training. In addition, as of April 2024, Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) cover 44% (4.2 million) of pupils in schools and learners in further education (FE) in England. Coverage of MHSTs is expected to cover at least 50% by the end of March 2025.
A key part of our approach is ensuring the right support is available to every young person that needs it, which is why we have committed to provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school. The government will also be putting in place new Young Futures hubs, including access to mental health support workers, and will recruit an additional 8,500 new mental health staff to treat children and adults.
For early years settings, the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. The EYFS statutory framework can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.
The department works closely with the FE sector to support providers to develop and implement a whole college approach to mental health and wellbeing. This is supported by the Association of Colleges refreshed Mental Health and Wellbeing Charter, which was published in March 2024.
To raise standards in the higher education sector, the Office for Students has provided £400,000 of funding to the student mental health charity, Student Minds. This has enabled significant expansion of the University Mental Health Charter Programme, with 113 universities now signed up. The programme helps universities to adopt a whole institution approach to mental health.