Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to set national targets for early and accurate dementia diagnosis, and to publish annual data on regional variations and performance.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the importance of a timely diagnosis, and remain committed to increasing diagnosis rates and ensuring people can access any licensed and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence-recommended treatment, and support they need.
We remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate to the national ambition of 66.7%. NHS England continues to monitor the monthly dementia diagnosis rate and analyse trends at national, regional and integrated care board level.
Our health system has struggled to support those with complex needs, including those with dementia. Under the recently published 10-Year Health Plan, those living with dementia will benefit from improved care planning and better services.
We will also deliver the first ever Modern Service framework for Frailty and Dementia to deliver rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. This will be informed by phase one of the independent commission into adult social care, expected in 2026.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prioritise access to electricity grids for port electrification, including in relation to onshore power supply for ferries and cruise ships.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Department is working closely with Ofgem, the National Energy System Operator, and network companies on fundamental reforms to the connections process. This is expected to release up to 500GW of capacity from the queue enabling quicker connections for many demand projects. This may include acceleration of shore power projects where capacity is released in port locations.
As announced in the Industrial Strategy, my department is also developing measures to accelerate the connection of strategic demand projects in a wide range of sectors, including through a new Connections Accelerator Service, to be launched this year.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what fees the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency charge for providing information for the collection of parking charge notices, and how much they received from those fees in the past financial year.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The law allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to release vehicle keeper information where the requester can demonstrate reasonable cause to receive it. The fee payable by private sector organisations for this information is £2.50 per enquiry. The law also allows the DVLA to set fees to cover the full costs of the driver licensing and vehicle registration services it delivers as a whole. This means that some services attract a fee while others are provided free of charge if it is beneficial to do so. The DVLA regularly reviews all its statutory fees to ensure that they remain set at appropriate levels.
In the financial year 2024-25 the total revenue from vehicle keeper data was £37.5m. The DVLA is unable to break this down into just private parking enforcement companies so this figure also includes revenue from requests received from other companies and organisations.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made to ensure that every platform has level boarding at the new Old Oak Common station.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
Old Oak Common station provides full street to platform step-free access, with HS2 platforms designed to offer full level boarding. Platforms serving the Elizabeth Line and conventional rail services have been designed to accommodate different kinds of rolling stock that have different boarding heights. Therefore, the national standard platform height of 915mm has been used in their design. The government recognises that there are potential benefits for passengers using the Elizabeth Line if full level boarding could be provided at Old Oak Common for these services. The Department has instructed further work from HS2 Ltd to understand the technical feasibility and to mitigate any potential operational impacts of providing level boarding for the Elizabeth Line. All the evidence to enable a final decision on this matter is expected by the end of this year.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support ports wishing to offer onshore power connections to cruise line customers.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On 25 March, the government published the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy and a call for evidence on Net Zero Ports. This call for evidence focused on potential options to reduce emissions from vessels at berth and the future energy demand at ports, including the provision of shore power to customers, including cruise operators. We are considering the responses to the call for evidence.
In addition, research and development into the future fuels and technologies necessary to decarbonise the sector have been supported through the UK SHORE R&D programme, including projects such as Portsmouth’s shore power installation. This project will go live later this year, backed by nearly £20m of government funding, and will allow visiting cruise ships to connect.
The Government working closely with Ofgem and the National Energy System Operator on fundamental reforms to the connections process that will release up to 500GW of capacity from the connections queue. This may enable quicker provision of shore power where capacity is released in port locations.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what investment they have provided to Community Rail Network in this financial year, and what funding they plan to provide in the next three financial years.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The Community Rail Network (CRN) is a membership organisation which supports community-based groups and partnerships that connect their community with their railway. The Department provides funding towards the Network. Over £800,000 has been granted to the CRN via core and project funding in this financial year.
Support for wider Community Rail Partnerships is also provided via the Train Operating Companies. As we move towards establishing Great British Railways, the Community Rail movement will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to support community rail during and beyond the transition to Great British Railways.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
As we move towards establishing Great British Railways (GBR), the Community Rail movement will be integral to helping us deliver our priorities and will continue to deliver for passengers and communities. We will continue to work closely with the Community Rail Network to identify opportunities to support the community rail sector ahead of the standup of GBR.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to strengthen support for early dementia diagnosis, including through the enhancement of the NHS Health Check for those aged over 40, and the provision of risk reduction advice.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government and NHS England remain committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate. The new approach to planning guidance will improve the operating model, giving local leaders the freedom and autonomy they need to provide the best services to their local community, including those with dementia.
The NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention programme, aims to prevent some cases of dementia in eligible people by making them aware that many of the risk factors for CVD are the same as those for dementia, and that what is good for the heart is also good for the brain. Through the programme, people aged 65 to 74 years old are also made aware of the signs and symptoms of dementia, and are signposted to local memory services where appropriate.
We are considering the guidance supporting the dementia component of the NHS Health Check, to ensure it reflects the most recent evidence and best practice.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing for research and development into new diagnostic technologies for dementia, including blood-based biomarker tests.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Government responsibility for delivering dementia research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered via the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.
The Government’s Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme has invested £13 million into a range of biomarker innovation projects which include a broad range of biomarker technologies, ranging from an artificial intelligence tool designed to improve the accuracy of blood tests for dementia, to using retinal scans to detect early-onset dementia decades before symptoms. Some of these innovations could support improved diagnosis in the future, if validated for clinical use.
Alongside Alzheimer’s Research UK, Alzheimer’s Society, and the People’s Postcode Lottery, the NIHR is funding the Blood Biomarker Challenge which seeks to produce the clinical and economic data that could make the case for the use of a blood test in the National Health Service to support diagnosis of dementia.
The NIHR has also invested nearly £11 million of funding to develop new digital approaches for the timely detection and diagnosis of dementia. Funded projects include a range of innovative tests such as spatial awareness, image recognition, hearing tests, and monitoring sleep disturbances.
The UK Dementia Research Institute, primarily funded by the Government, aims to increase our basic scientific understanding of dementia and its causes, unlocking pathways to developing ways to prevent, diagnose, and treat the condition. The NIHR is investing £20 million in the UK Dementia Research Institute over four years to enable discoveries to be taken out of the laboratory and into the lives of people that need them.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including dementia. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Welcoming applications on dementia to all NIHR programmes enables maximum flexibility both in terms of the amount of research funding a particular area can be awarded, and the type of research which can be funded.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to introducing legislation to enable local authorities and other public organisations reclaim the costs of removing dumped electric hire-scheme bikes and scooters from scheme operators.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
The dumping of hire bikes and e-scooters is clearly unacceptable. As announced in December’s English Devolution White Paper, we will legislate to empower local leaders to manage shared cycle schemes. This will include consideration of how costs arising from monitoring of and enforcement against this kind of antisocial use could be recouped by local authorities in the future. Existing e-scooter trials are run under the supervision of the Department for Transport. Within these trials, local authorities, working with their e-scooter operator, will determine requirements for fleet management, including how to tackle overcrowding at parking bays.