Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the reduction in the number of university applications to study medicine including dentistry; and what plans they have to fill any increase in the number of vacancies for doctors, nurses and dentists.
Answered by Lord Kamall
The latest available data from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data shows that applicants to undergraduate dentistry courses have remained at a similar level, with 3,625 applicants in 2011 and 3,635 applicants in 2021. As at March 2022, there are 38,972 full-time equivalent registered nursing vacancies and 8,016 medical vacancies. Many of the vacancies will be covered by bank and agency staff. Data on dental vacancies is not held centrally.
The Department has committed to deliver an additional 50,000 nurses by the end of this Parliament to ensure a sustainable long-term supply for the National Health Service. As of March 2022, the number of nurses had increased by over 30,000 compared to September 2019. More than 30,000 students have accepted a place on nursing and midwifery programmes in the 2021 recruitment cycle - an increase of 28% compared to 2019. We have also increased the number of medical school places by 25%. The NHS Retention Programme is also targeting interventions to encourage staff to stay in the NHS whilst supporting their health and wellbeing.
We are working with the British Dental Association to reform the NHS dental contract to make it more attractive to the profession. In its ‘Advancing Dental Care Review’, Health Education England made recommendations to improve the recruitment and retention of dentists and other professionals. We are also working to allow greater flexibility to expand on the registration options open to international dentistry applicants.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to prevent agricultural products from rotting because of a lack of agricultural workers.
Answered by Lord Benyon
The Government recognises the importance of a reliable source of seasonal labour for crop picking and packing, and that it is a key part of bringing in the harvest for the horticultural sector.
On 24 December 2021, the Government announced that the seasonal worker visa route will be extended to 2024 to allow overseas workers to come to the UK for up to six months to harvest both edible and ornamental crops. This will provide a greater degree of certainty to the sector after a series of annual pilots between 2019 and 2021. An initial allocation of 30,000 visas was made available for 2022.
We have just announced in the Food Strategy that the Government will release an extra 10,000 visas for the Seasonal Worker visa route (bringing the total to 40,000 visas for 2022) with 8,000 of these going to the horticulture sector and 2,000 to the poultry sector. Further information on the operational details will be provided very soon.
We have also been working closely with the operators of the Seasonal Worker visa route to ensure that they can source potential workers in spite of the war in Ukraine. Operators are currently confident that they will be able to replace affected workers by recruiting from other countries.
The recently announced Food Strategy addresses the challenges faced by the food and farming sector, including a commitment to deliver an independent review to tackle labour shortages in the food supply chain, considering the roles of automation, domestic labour and migration routes.
Defra’s Review of Automation in Horticulture will also be published in early summer, to be followed by a formal Government response. Defra continues to work with other Government departments to ensure that opportunities for domestic recruitment are optimised.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to allow asylum seekers to be deployed to pick fruit and vegetables in the UK while their applications are being assessed; and if not, why not.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
The Government has no plans to do this.
We recently conducted a review of the policy in this area and have already published its outcome.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many civil servants, including (1) medical, and (2) security, staff, will accompany deportees on deportation fights to Rwanda.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
We do not routinely disclose commercial or operational information relating to individual charter flights, but I can assure my Noble Colleague that the appropriate and relevant number of Home Office staff and contractors will be present on the aircraft in order to protect the safety, wellbeing and security of those people being relocated.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government which ministers, if any, will accompany deportees on deportation flights to Rwanda.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
We do not routinely disclose commercial or operational information relating to individual charter flights, but I can assure my Noble Colleague that the appropriate and relevant number of Home Office staff and contractors will be present on the aircraft in order to protect the safety, wellbeing and security of those people being relocated.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the (1) total cost, and (2) cost per person, of deportation flights to Rwanda.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford
We do not routinely disclose commercial or operational information relating to individual charter flights, but I can assure my Noble Colleague that the appropriate and relevant number of Home Office staff and contractors will be present on the aircraft in order to protect the safety, wellbeing and security of those people being relocated.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to prevent the discharge of raw sewage into the River Chelt (1) near Charlton Kings, (2) at St Peter’s Park, and (3) at Hatherley Brook.
Answered by Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
We are the first government to take concerted action to reduce storm sewage discharges. The current use of sewage discharges is unacceptable, which is why this government is committed to a step change on action to protect public health and the environment from storm overflows.
The Strategic Policy Statement for Ofwat sets an expectation on water companies to make progressive reductions in the adverse impacts from storm overflows, including reducing their frequency and volume, and the landmark Environment Act has placed this ambition on a statutory footing. The Environment Act also places new duties on water companies to monitor water quality upstream and downstream of overflows, which will drive further environmental protections and help hold water companies to account.
We recently consulted on the largest programme to tackle storm overflows in history, and proposed targets will see an 80% reduction in all discharges. If we do not see progress, we will not hesitate to take further action.
Since privatisation of the water industry, around £30 billion has been invested to reduce pollution. Water company investment is being scaled up to a further £7.1 billion, in the current five-year price review period.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of willingness of the government of Canada to enter discussions for a reciprocal social security agreement.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
There are two separate social security arrangements in place between the UK and Canada, made in 1995 and 1998. The UK Government is not intending to change the social security relationship with Canada.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support UK pensioners in Commonwealth countries.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The UK State Pension is payable worldwide to those who meet the qualifying conditions, and we continue to up-rate it abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so – for example where there is a reciprocal agreement that provides for up-rating.
People move abroad for many reasons and it is their own choice to do so. There is information available in leaflets and on GOV.UK on how to claim State Pension from overseas and on what the effect of going abroad will be on entitlement to the UK State Pension.
Asked by: Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to reports that members of the Welsh football support team will not attend the World Cup in Qatar because of that country’s treatment of gay people, what discussions they have had with the government of Qatar about such treatment.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Ministers and senior officials have raised LGBT+ visitors with the Qataris at all levels, including Minister Milling with the Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy on 15 March. Qatari authorities have repeatedly committed that "everybody is welcome". This engagement will continue between now and the tournament so that anyone, of any background, can go and enjoy themselves.
We are encouraging all British nationals considering travel to the World Cup to read the Travel Advice page, and sign up for email alerts to stay up to date on the latest information.