Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the development of intelligent liver function tests by the University of Dundee; and if she will make it her policy to increase the rollout of these tests in areas with the highest levels of liver disease in England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is working with the National Health Service to support earlier diagnosis of liver disease, and to identify patients at risk. This includes plans agreed as part of the £2.3 billion diagnostics transformation programme, to upgrade the digital capabilities of laboratories across the country and ensure that they have the capability required to offer Intelligent Liver Function Tests (iLFTs).
NHS England is reviewing the liver fibrosis pathways, and looking at developing a diagnosis pathway starting in primary care that will make use of both laboratory-based tests, such as iLFTs, and community diagnostic centres. The Government will make a further assessment of this work once it is complete, including the benefits of an increased rollout of iLFTs across England.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many biometric residence permits were delayed due to technical issues in each of the last three years, broken down by month.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
At the point that a decision is made to grant permission to remain, a BRP is automatically requested by the case working system and data is sent to the DVLA for the BRP to be produced. Any automatic requests that become "stuck" when sent to the DVLA are targeted and proactive reporting is being developed to identify such cases earlier.
During 2024, DVLA produced 100% of BRPs within 24 hours of this automatic request process.
During 2023, DVLA produced 99.6% of BRPs within 24 hours of this automatic request process and 100% within 48 hours.
During 2022, DVLA produced 97.2% of BRPs within 24 hours of this automatic request process and 100% within 48 hours.
During 2021, DVLA produced 75.1% of BRPs within 24 hours of this automatic request process and 100% within 48 hours.
Asked by: Alison Thewliss (Scottish National Party - Glasgow Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent discussions he has had on progress on the introduction of public registers of beneficial ownership in the (a) Crown Dependencies and (b) Overseas Territories.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 14 March 2024, the FCDO co-hosted, with the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Government, the inaugural UK-OT Joint Ministerial Dialogue on Illicit Finance. We discussed, among other areas, beneficial ownership transparency. I [Minister Rutley] re-stated the UK's expectation that access for those with a legitimate interest, including media and civil society, will be established by the end of 2024 as an interim step to full public accessibility. Overseas Territory Governments re-affirmed the commitments outlined in the Statement that I laid in December (HCWS150). The Home Office continue to lead engagement with the Crown Dependencies.