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Written Question
Lithium-ion Batteries: Explosions
Wednesday 20th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Environment Agency on the impact of lithium-ion battery explosions.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

I have discussed the risks that incorrect disposal of waste batteries can have at a senior level with the Environment Agency, including in the context of fires at waste sites.


Written Question
Nutrition: Curriculum
Tuesday 19th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on enhancing (a) diet and (b) nutrition education in the school curriculum.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care have met to discuss a range of issues and projects.

This department’s independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, which will aim to deliver a curriculum that ensures young people leave compulsory education with the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to achieve and thrive throughout life. The call for evidence is drawing to a close, but the review group will be continuing with other forms of engagement for the rest of the first term of the 2024/25 academic year.

The importance of a healthy diet and good nutrition is already covered through a number of subjects in the national curriculum, including design and technology (D&T), science and relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).

The cooking and nutrition strand of D&T, which is compulsory for key stages 1 to 3, aims to teach children how to cook, with an emphasis on savoury dishes, and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. It recognises that cooking is an important life skill that will help children to feed themselves and others, healthy and affordable food.

Similarly, in science, healthy eating is covered through topics relating to nutrition and digestion, which cover the content of a healthy diet and the impact of diet on how the body functions.

Furthermore, within health education as a part of RSHE, it is expected that by the end of primary, pupils should know what constitutes a healthy diet, including understanding calories and other nutritional content, the characteristics of a poor diet and the risks associated with unhealthy eating. By the end of secondary, pupils should know how to maintain healthy eating and the links between a poor diet and health risks, including tooth decay and cancer.

At GCSE, pupils can delve deeper into diet and nutrition by choosing to study Food Preparation and Nutrition. The subject requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food.

The department is also providing additional support for teachers through the Oak National Academy, who have been working to give teachers and their pupils access to free, optional and adaptable high quality digital curriculum resources. They have a wide array of lesson plans for D&T that contain healthy and tasty recipes to help children to understand the significance of what they put into their bodies.


Written Question
Lithium-ion Batteries: Waste Disposal
Monday 18th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to regulate the safe disposal of lithium-ion batteries.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Existing UK regulations place a number of obligations related to battery disposal on producers of lithium-ion batteries and products containing lithium-ion batteries.

These obligations include the requirement for all batteries sold in the UK to be clearly marked with the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol indicating that they should not be disposed of by throwing them in the bin.

Those selling batteries are required to provide a means to take back waste batteries and producers of industrial batteries (which includes electric vehicle, e-bike and e-scooter batteries) must take back waste batteries free of charge upon request.

This Government is committed to cracking down on waste as we move towards a circular economy where we keep our resources in use for longer and reduce waste. Proposals to consult on reforms to the UK batteries regulations are being reviewed before setting out next steps.


Written Question
Telecommunications: Power Failures
Monday 18th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of telecommunications systems resilience during power cuts.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Government recognises the importance of the issue of power resilience for the sector. Whilst most power cuts are brief, we recognise the impact that they can have on the telephone network. We are working closely with the regulator, communications providers and the power sector to improve resilience and minimise disruption to the public and businesses as much as possible.

Communications providers have statutory responsibilities to take all appropriate and proportionate steps to minimise disruption to services and must ensure at least one form of communication is available for contacting emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power outage. On 6 September 2024, Ofcom published detailed resilience guidelines specifying the measures that providers are expected to meet throughout their networks, including resilience to power cuts, and set out the analysis they are completing to consider whether additional resilience is required for mobile services.


Written Question
Telecommunications: Power Failures
Monday 18th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to improve the resilience of local telecommunications networks through power outages.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Government recognises the importance of the issue of power resilience for the sector. Whilst most power cuts are brief, we recognise the impact that they can have on the telephone network. We are working closely with the regulator, communications providers and the power sector to improve resilience and minimise disruption to the public and businesses as much as possible.

Communications providers have statutory responsibilities to take all appropriate and proportionate steps to minimise disruption to services and must ensure at least one form of communication is available for contacting emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power outage. On 6 September 2024, Ofcom published detailed resilience guidelines specifying the measures that providers are expected to meet throughout their networks, including resilience to power cuts, and set out the analysis they are completing to consider whether additional resilience is required for mobile services.


Written Question
Temporary Accommodation: Care Leavers
Thursday 14th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of removing the local connection test for care leavers seeking to access temporary accommodation.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Homelessness legislation includes eligibility criteria such as the local connection test, to ensure that resources are prioritised effectively, ensuring accommodation is there for people who need it most.

There are already existing provisions in homelessness legislation in respect of local connection for care leavers. Under the legislation, a young person owed leaving care duties under section 23C of the Children Act 1989 will have a local connection to the area of the children services authority that owes them the duties. If the children services authority is a county council and not a housing authority, the young person will have a local connection with every housing authority district falling within the area of the children services authority.

Where a care leaver is aged under 21 and normally lives in a different area to that of a local authority that owes them leaving care duties, and has done for at least two years including some time before they turned 16, the young person will also have a local connection in that area. This means a care leaver who is looked after by one area but is placed in another will have a local connection to both areas and if homeless may choose to either remain where they have been living or return to their home area.

We have already committed to improving access to social housing for care leavers under 25 and exempt them from local connection and residency tests for social housing. We will work with the sector and engage with relevant stakeholders to bring forward these changes in due course.


Written Question
GB Energy: Power Failures
Wednesday 13th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of GB Energy providing temporary back-up sources of power for homes impacted by long power cuts.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government works closely with electricity networks to improve and maintain energy infrastructure resilience. In the event of a disruption, electricity network operators have well practiced response plans in place to minimise disruption to customers. Great British Energy (GBE) will speed up the deployment of technologies to support Government’s aim of decarbonising our electricity system, whilst ensuring we can meet future demand and provide energy security. The GBE Bill outlines that activities for ensuring security of energy supply are within GBE’s scope, which could include supporting energy storage projects. As GBE will be operationally independent, the exact mix of technologies it chooses to invest in will be determined in due course, influenced by available opportunities and alignment with the strategic priorities that government sets out.


Written Question
Prostate Cancer: Screening
Monday 11th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential benefits of making prostate cancer screening mandatory.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Screening for prostate cancer is currently not recommended by the UK National Screening Committees (UK NSC). This is because of the inaccuracy of the current best test, called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). A PSA-based screening programme could harm some men as many would be diagnosed with a cancer that would not have caused them problems during their life. This would lead to additional tests and treatments which can also have harmful side effects, such as sexual dysfunction and incontinence.

The UK NSC regularly reviews its recommendations, and the evidence review for prostate cancer screening is underway and plans to report within the UK NSC’s three-year work plan.

The evidence review includes modelling the clinical effectiveness and cost of several approaches to prostate cancer screening, including different potential ways of screening the whole population from 40 years of age onwards, and targeted screening aimed at groups of people identified as being at higher than average risk, such as black men or men with a family history of cancer.


Written Question
Communications Ombudsman: Powers
Monday 11th November 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the Communications Ombudsman's powers to increase the accountability of telecommunications providers.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Communications Ombudsman is one of two Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes accredited by Ofcom, the independent regulator of services, in the telecoms sector.

Ofcom launched a review of ADR in November 2023 which examines the extent to which schemes are working effectively, whether customers are receiving an accessible and fair service; and the potential need for changes to the monitoring of performance. Ofcom expect to provide an update on their review by the end of the year.

The government will consider any potential next steps once Ofcom’s review has concluded.


Written Question
Trastuzumab Deruxtecan
Monday 28th October 2024

Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Hitchin)

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 on the provision of Enhurtu to Her2 low metastatic breast cancer patients.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department’s ministers and officials have had a number of recent meetings at which the issue of the availability of Enhertu for the treatment of HER2 low metastatic breast cancer has been discussed, including with Breast Cancer Now and other campaigners.

The Government wants patients to be able to benefit from access to innovative and effective new treatments such as Enhertu at a price that fairly reflects the benefits that they bring to patients, and does not displace funding for other valuable treatments and services. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England have been clear with the companies that the price represents the main barrier to access to Enhertu for patients with HER2 low breast cancer, and we encourage the companies to come forward with an improved commercial offer.