Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans he has for the UK's future immigration system.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
In December 2018, the Government set out its proposals for a future immigration system in its White Paper “The UK’s future Skills-based Immigration System.”
The new system will be focused on those with the skills this country needs, who will bring the most benefit to the United Kingdom. The system will support the UK economy, and our public services, while enabling us to control migration.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on bringing forward the release of the revised NICE guidelines on ME, due to be published in October 2020.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and responsible for developing its guidelines in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE expects to publish its final updated guideline in October 2020 with a consultation on draft guidance starting in April 2020.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with NICE on issuing an interim warning on the potential dangers of graded exercise therapy (GET) as a treatment for ME, prior to issuing its revised guideline in October 2020.
Answered by Steve Brine
The Department has had no such discussions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is an independent body and is responsible for developing its guidance in accordance with its published methods and processes. NICE takes into account the best available evidence in determining whether to recommend a treatment.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of medical training bodies on ensuring that training programs for doctors, nurses and other health professionals include the most up to date guidance on diagnosis and appropriate treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis.
Answered by Steve Brine
Ministers at the Department regularly meet with medical training bodies including the General Medical Council, to discuss many issues. However, there have been no recent discussions with medical training bodies to discuss the guidance on myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
In terms of training, the General Medical Council sets out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that new United Kingdom medical graduates must be able to demonstrate and Royal Medical Colleges, such as the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) set the standards for postgraduate medical education in general practice. General practice is where most patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/ME are likely to be managed, and the condition is identified as a key area of clinical knowledge in the RCGP Applied Knowledge Test (AKT) content guide.
The AKT is a summative assessment of the knowledge base that underpins general practice in the UK within the context of the NHS and is a key part of general practitioners’ qualifying exams.
On 20 September 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence announced its decision to undertake a full update of the guideline, ‘Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children’, following a review of the latest available evidence on the diagnosis and management of CFS/ME and a public consultation. New guidance is expected in October 2020. More information on this decision can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of ring-fencing Medical Research Council funds for biomedical research into ME in order to ensure that overall research funding for ME is proportional to that spent on research into similarly prevalent health conditions.
Answered by Chris Skidmore
The Medical Research Council (MRC) is part of the BEIS partner organisation, UK Research and Innovation. The MRC supports research relating to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) in response to high-quality proposals from the research community.
The MRC does not generally ring-fence funding for specific conditions, however CFS/ME is an identified priority area for the MRC. Proposals are particularly encouraged in areas that explore the underpinning mechanisms of CFS/ME (including immune dysregulation), pain, improved sub-phenotyping and stratification of CFS/ME disease, and mechanisms of CFS/ME in children.
All proposals are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made according to their scientific quality and importance to human health.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
What steps the Government is taking to prepare contingency plans for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Leaving the EU with a deal remains the Government’s top priority. Our no deal preparations will ensure the country is prepared for every eventuality. Extensive preparations have been underway for over two years and these are continuing.
We have passed critical legislation, signed international agreements, recruited additional staff and guaranteed certain EU funding in a no deal scenario. Border Force is recruiting c.600 additional Border Force officers and HMRC have already hired over 2,300 extra staff for Brexit, including additional operational staff, like customs inspectors.
In September 2018, and again in December and February, HMRC sent letters to the 145,000 VAT registered businesses who currently trade with the EU advising them what action they need to take on customs in the event of no deal.
We have also published and updated 106 specific technical notices to help businesses, citizens and consumers prepare for a no-deal scenario.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the competitiveness of solar power.
Answered by Claire Perry
Solar is a UK success story. Since 2010, solar capacity deployed has accounted for 81% of total capacity deployed under the Feed-in Tariffs scheme. Cost reductions have now enabled developers of large-scale solar PV to bring forward projects without Government subsidy, with two such sites having already deployed.
On 8 January, Government published a consultation on the future for small-scale low-carbon generation. This can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-for-small-scale-low-carbon-generation.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
What assessment the Government has made of the effectiveness of universal credit in helping people into work.
Answered by Alok Sharma - COP26 President (Cabinet Office)
Universal Credit has had a positive impact since its start, as shown through published research and analysis. This research shows us that people are spending more time looking for work, applying for more jobs and even doing jobs they would not have considered doing before. Our Labour Market Impacts Analysis is available online at gov.uk.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people will be made bankrupt as a result of the 2019 Loan Charge.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Disguised Remuneration schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. When taking into account the loan they received, loan scheme users have on average twice as much income as the average UK taxpayer.
HMRC data indicates that fewer than 3% of those affected work in medical services (doctors and nurses) and teaching. Further information can be found in HMRC’s issue briefing: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans.
HMRC is working hard to help individuals to get out of tax avoidance for good. HMRC does not want to make anybody bankrupt and very few cases ever reach that stage.
HMRC has simplified the process for those who choose to settle their use of avoidance schemes before the charge arises, so that those earning less than £50,000 a year and no longer engaging in tax avoidance can agree a payment plan of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information. There is no maximum period within which an overall settlement can be agreed, and HMRC will deal with individual cases appropriately and sympathetically.
Since the announcement of the 2019 loan charge at Budget 2016, HMRC has agreed settlements on disguised remuneration schemes with employers and individuals of over 650 million pounds. More than 90% of this amount was collected from employers, with less than 10% from individuals.
Asked by: Lord Bellingham (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of (a) doctors and (b) nurses that will be subject to the 2019 Loan Charge.
Answered by Mel Stride - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Disguised Remuneration schemes are contrived arrangements that pay loans in place of ordinary remuneration with the sole purpose of avoiding income tax and National Insurance contributions. When taking into account the loan they received, loan scheme users have on average twice as much income as the average UK taxpayer.
HMRC data indicates that fewer than 3% of those affected work in medical services (doctors and nurses) and teaching. Further information can be found in HMRC’s issue briefing: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans/hmrc-issue-briefing-disguised-remuneration-charge-on-loans.
HMRC is working hard to help individuals to get out of tax avoidance for good. HMRC does not want to make anybody bankrupt and very few cases ever reach that stage.
HMRC has simplified the process for those who choose to settle their use of avoidance schemes before the charge arises, so that those earning less than £50,000 a year and no longer engaging in tax avoidance can agree a payment plan of up to five years without the need for detailed supporting information. There is no maximum period within which an overall settlement can be agreed, and HMRC will deal with individual cases appropriately and sympathetically.
Since the announcement of the 2019 loan charge at Budget 2016, HMRC has agreed settlements on disguised remuneration schemes with employers and individuals of over 650 million pounds. More than 90% of this amount was collected from employers, with less than 10% from individuals.