Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the Household Support Fund beyond 31 March.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
The Government has provided over £2 billion in funding for the Household Support Fund since October 2021.
The Government is committed to reducing poverty and supporting low-income households. Our approach to tackling poverty is based on clear evidence that employment, particularly where its full time, reduces the risk of poverty. In 2021/22, working age adults living in workless households were seven times more likely to be in absolute poverty after housing costs than working age adults in households where all adults work.
The Government is putting significant additional support in place for those on the lowest incomes from April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by 6.7% while the Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.
To further support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the Government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefitting 1.6 million low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25. Additionally, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform NHS dental contracts to ensure that they prioritise prevention.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. This included the transfer of all funding, Units of Dental Activity, and the management responsibility for National Health Service dentistry.
The current NHS dental contract already requires dental services to provide preventative care and treatment. To support dentists with this, NHS England and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities have produced a comprehensive toolkit for dentists, providing evidence-based interventions and advice on how dental health professionals can improve and maintain their patient’s oral health. This guidance is available on the GOV.UK website, in an online-only format.
As set out in Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, we are working on further reforms to the 2006 contract, in discussion with the dental profession, to properly reflect the care needed by different patients, and more fairly remunerate practices. We expect to develop options for consultation with the dental profession in advance of a further announcement later this year. Any changes would be phased in from 2025 onwards. The plan also includes a range of measures which will prevent poor oral health, particularly in the youngest children, including dental teams providing preventative advice and treatment to reception-age children in the most under-served areas, and a new Smile for Life programme which will provide education and advice for nurseries and other early years settings.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that dental services are represented in the governance structures of integrated care systems.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England.
ICBs are required to publish their constitution, which includes a list of ICB board members, in accordance with the Health and Care Act 2022. ICBs have made board member information, including members’ expertise and knowledge, publicly available on their websites.
The Health and Care Act 2022 sets out membership requirements of the ICBs that include representatives from NHS trusts, primary care, and local authorities. However, the local areas can go beyond the legislative minimum requirements in order to address their local needs. Most ICBs have used this discretion, and appointed additional members such as members for public health, voluntary, community and social enterprise representatives, and others based on their local area needs.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow specialist orthoptists independent prescribing responsibilities, thereby obviating glaucoma patients' requirement for a duplicate appointment with an ophthalmologist for eye drop prescriptions, and avoiding unnecessary delay in treatment for these patients and others.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Prescribing is a high-risk activity, and it is widely agreed that it should only be carried out in a regulatory context. There is a process in place for making changes to prescribing responsibilities, to ensure those changes are safe and beneficial for patients. NHS England leads on developing clinical cases for change, in collaboration with the professional bodies, and the Commission on Human Medicines reviews proposals and provides advice. If proposals are progressed, changes must be made to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, using the powers in the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021, and this requires a public consultation and regulations to be laid and debated in both Houses of Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Regulated orthoptists are currently able to supply and administer certain medicines via exemptions or patient group directions. There are no plans to extend this to independent prescribing at this time.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decrease in apprenticeship completion; and what steps they will take to help equip younger apprentices with the transferable skills to adapt to changing job roles and technological innovation.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In order to drive up the quality of apprenticeships, the department has raised the bar on the duration of apprenticeships, the time given to learn off the job, and the quality of assessment. All apprenticeships are now driven by employers and achievement rates are increasing year on year.
There were 162,320 achievements in the 2022/23 academic year, which is an increase of 25,100 on 2021/22. This is encouraging; the department wants to further improve the quality of apprenticeships to ensure that as many apprentices as possible stay on their programme, achieve, and have a high-quality experience.
To support this ambition and drive-up quality, the department is investing £7.5 million in a workforce development programme for teachers and trainers of apprentices, increasing the apprenticeship funding rate for English and mathematics by 54%, and has asked Ofsted to inspect all apprenticeship providers by 2025.
The department is also making sure that apprenticeships continue to meet apprentices’ and employers’ needs in a fast-changing world. Last year, the department reviewed over 125 apprenticeships to reflect technological advancements and employer needs, and approved funding uplifts for 80 apprenticeships, with the average increase being 35%.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the requirement set for companies by the Environment Agency that new flow monitors be installed on wastewater treatment works, what update can they provide on the progress of these installations.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Water companies are installing new monitors at sewage treatment works that have storm overflows which control the flows of sewage that they treat. These monitors will record when there is an overflow of the incoming sewage into storm tanks and other flow monitors will record the flow that is being passed forward for treatment while the overflow is operating. Around 400 sewage treatment works have had both of these monitors installed so far in AMP7, all such discharges will be fully monitored by the end of 2026.
These monitors are being installed to ensure that when these overflows operate, they only do so when the required flows are being treated by the works.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to enable faster registration tracks for dentists who have been trained in other countries.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Currently, to be entered into the dentists register, an individual must hold a recognised United Kingdom dentistry qualification; a European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss qualification recognised under European Union exit standstill arrangements; or they must pass the Overseas Registration Exam or License in Dental Surgery exam. Prior to January 2001, the General Dental Council (GDC) also recognised dentistry qualifications from a limited number of dental schools in specific countries outside the EEA, which is published on the GDC’s website in an online-only format.
Under legislative changes that came into force in March 2023, the GDC now has greater flexibility to amend routes to registration for dentists with overseas qualifications, including the power to recognise qualifications as sufficient for registration without further assessment. We will continue to discuss with the GDC how they can best utilise this new flexibility to enable suitably qualified dentists to enter the workforce as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support long-term investment in the necessary infrastructure for floating offshore wind and to help reduce the risk of investing in the UK's ports.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is delivering the Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS), worth up to £160 million, to support investment in the port infrastructure needed to deploy large-scale floating offshore wind turbines.
The Government is also working closely with representatives of the port industry to develop a shared understanding of the barriers to port investment and identify the most appropriate future levers to overcome them.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Swinburne on 25 September (HL10097), what steps they have taken to ensure that local authorities have up to date local plans in place; and how many authorities are yet to submit their plans.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) states that up-to-date local plans should provide a framework for addressing housing needs and other economic, social and environmental priorities.
As of the end of October 2023, 326 local planning authorities have an adopted local plan (under the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004). 219 local planning authorities have an adopted local plan that is over five years old, of which 91 have begun a consultation on a new plan and 43 have submitted a new local plan for examination. 12 have no adopted local plan, of which 5 have submitted their first local plan for examination.
The Government’s priority for getting up to date plans in place has not changed and we have been clear that local planning authorities should continue to progress their plans.
The Government funds the Planning Advisory Service which has a team of planning specialists who can give advice and support to local planning authorities on the local plan process.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of introducing a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to the steel industry for the purposes of decarbonisation through a tariff on carbon intensive products.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has recently consulted on potential future measures to mitigate carbon leakage risks, including the potential for a UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). The consultation received more than 160 responses from the UK and overseas, including responses from a range of industry sectors and from civil society. The government is considering the evidence to inform policy decisions and will respond in due course.