Asked by: Baroness Pidding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, what steps they are taking to ensure the resumption of mobile dental services for housebound patients in England; and what guidance is available to the public advising how these services can be accessed.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The commissioning responsibility for dental services lies with seven regions across England who will have local processes in place, including identifying areas of need and determining the priorities for investment to meet those needs, including services for housebound patients. Following the resumption of face-to-face dental services on 8 June 2020, dental providers were asked to prioritise urgent care and high needs vulnerable patients.
Information on dental treatment for people with special needs, including how housebound patients can access domiciliary services, is available in an online-only format on the National Health Service website. Community dental services provide specialised dental services and are available in a variety of places to ensure everyone can have access to dental care. These include hospitals, specialists’ health centres and mobile clinics, as well as home visits or visits in nursing and care homes.
Asked by: Baroness Pidding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the number of registered mobile dentists in England.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information is not held centrally.
Asked by: Baroness Pidding (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor the sale of Truphone to ensure that it does not undermine (1) the UK's sanctions relating to Russia, or (2) the UK's national security.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Truphone Limited are not currently subject to financial sanctions.
Financial sanctions restrictions apply to any entity that is itself designated, or is owned or controlled directly or indirectly by a designated person. This includes where that person holds (directly or indirectly) more than 50% of the shares or voting rights in an entity, has the right (directly or indirectly) to appoint or remove a majority of the board of directors of the entity, or it is reasonable to expect that the person would be able to ensure the affairs of the entity are conducted in accordance with the person’s wishes.
If any sanctioned individuals are due to receive funds as a result of the sale of a company which is not subject to financial sanctions restrictions, any funds they receive from a UK company or into a UK bank account will need to be frozen. A licence from the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) in HM Treasury would then be needed for any onward movement of such funds, otherwise breaches of financial sanctions restrictions may occur. Any suspected breach of financial sanctions should be reported to OFSI.
OFSI is the competent authority for implementing and enforcing the UK’s financial sanctions. The maintenance of national security is a cross-departmental effort and any activity to monitor and intervene in matters of national security may be undertaken by departments other than HMT.