Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance by NICE entitled Covid-19 rapid guideline: managing symptoms (including at the end of life) in the community, NG163, published on 3 April 2020, which medical experts were consulted during the commissioning process.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline NG163, published in 2020, was commissioned in accordance with an established agreement between NHS England and NICE. The focus at that time was given to providing rapid guidance on the management of affected patients with COVID-19. The following organisations were consulted on the guideline:
- Association for Palliative Medicine;
- Palliative Care Formulary;
- Wolfson Palliative Care Research Centre;
- Cicely Saunders Institute;
- NHS England;
- ICU Steps;
- Macmillan Cancer Support;
- Marie Curie;
- National Audit for Care at the End of Life;
- Palliative Care for Wales;
- Royal College of General Practitioners;
- Royal College of Physicians; and
- Sue Ryder.
The following organisations provided general practice consultation on the guidance:
- NICE GP Reference Group; and
- RCGP Network.
A number of NICE’s COVID-19 rapid guidelines were subsequently incorporated into a single guideline, NG191, for the management of COVID-19 in children and adults. The list of panel members for this guideline is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng191/documents/register-of-interests-2
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, when his Department plans to respond to the Eighth Report of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Session 2022-23 on Tilting Horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific, HC 172, published on 30 August 2023; and if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the recommendations in the Open Doors 2024 World Watch List.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
The Government will publish shortly its response to Foreign Affairs Committee report HC 172 on the Indo-Pacific. The Government welcomes the Committee's recognition of the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific to the UK's prosperity, security and development objectives.
We note the launch of the report by Open Doors entitled World Watch List 2024. Championing freedom of religion or belief for all remains a priority for the UK. We will continue to recognise, and seek to address, the issue of persecution of Christians globally on account of their faith, as well as the persecution of those of other religions or beliefs.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has held recent discussions with his counterpart in Nigeria on the persecution of Christians in that country.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Promoting the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is one of the UK's longstanding human rights priorities. Rising insecurity has impeded on the rights of people of all faiths in Nigeria. The UK supports Nigeria to deliver on its constitutional commitment to FoRB through ongoing development programming and security cooperation. The UK also regularly raises FoRB with the Nigerian Government and will be an active participant in the upcoming UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process for Nigeria which provides an opportunity to raise questions and recommendations on a country's human rights record, including FoRB.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to ensure that access to the electricity grid through Distribution Network Operators is consistent.
Answered by Graham Stuart
As set out in the Connections Action Plan published in November 2023, Government and Ofgem are working with Distribution Network Operators to ensure consistency and standardisation across distribution networks. This includes a review by Ofgem of the incentives, obligations and requirements that apply to the electricity network connection process, and work to standardise the approach to connections.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the National Planning Policy Framework for providing sufficient land for (a) warehouses and (b) other logistical infrastructure.
Answered by Lee Rowley
No.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether Ofgem has taken recent steps to encourage companies to sell (a) solar and (b) other forms of renewable energy back to the grid.
Answered by Andrew Bowie - Shadow Minister (Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government encourages companies and members of the public to sell solar energy back to the grid in many ways. Smaller scale energy generators can export renewable electricity to the grid under the Smart Export Guarantee, while larger scale generators can apply for a Contract for Difference.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing (a) social media and (b) telecoms firms into the scope of the mandatory advanced push payment reimbursement regime.
Answered by Bim Afolami
The government takes the issue of Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this devastating crime. That is why the government legislated in the Financial Services & Markets Act 2023 to enable the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) to require banks and other payment service providers to reimburse APP fraud victims.
The Online Safety Act introduces duties on platforms and services for having processes to remove illegal content, such as fraud. Companies found in breach will face a penalty of up to £18 million or ten per cent of their annual global turnover. The government has also recently agreed an online fraud charter with the world’s biggest tech companies, who have pledged to take additional action to block and remove fraudulent content from their sites.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the impact of automation on entry-level (a) fork-lift truck drivers, (b) elementary storage occupations and (c) other logistics workers.
Answered by Guy Opperman
The ‘Future of Freight: A long-term plan’ sets out a cross-modal approach to a freight and logistics sector that is cost efficient, reliable, resilient, environmentally sustainable and valued by society. Priorities in the plan include investing in innovation while also supporting a diverse range of people to pursue careers in the sector.
We have established a People and Skills Delivery Group, bringing together government and industry, to address key barriers to recruitment and retention in the sector. Through this group, we will be assessing what technological advancements we can expect to see in the sector and what training provision will be required to retain and upskill the workforce, as well as how technology can be utilised to improve accessibility to the workforce.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will review the safeguarding measures in place for the provision of telemedicine abortion services.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Safeguarding is an essential aspect of abortion care, including in telemedicine abortion services. The Department’s Required Standard Operating Procedures for approved independent sector abortion providers in England (RSOPs) include the requirement that all abortion providers have effective arrangements in place to safeguard vulnerable women accessing home-use early medical abortion. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspects against all of the Department’s RSOPs when it inspects an independent sector provider, and safeguarding procedures are included in the CQC’s Termination of Pregnancy inspection framework as areas to be considered during an inspection.
In addition, the Department commissioned the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health to develop new national safeguarding guidance for children and young people under 18 years old accessing early medical abortion services, which was published on 30 August 2022, to ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded across all abortion services.
Asked by: Andrew Bridgen (Independent - North West Leicestershire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 5 December 2023 to Question 3835 on Tobacco: Sales, what discussions she has had with Trading Standards on the resources required to enforce a generational smoking ban.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Smoking is responsible for around 80,000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and causes approximately one in four cancer deaths in the UK. It also costs our country £17 billion a year and puts a huge burden on the National Health Service.
That is why we will introduce the Tobacco and Vapes Bill in this parliamentary session to create the first smokefree generation, enable us to further crack down on youth vaping and strengthen our enforcement activity, through new powers to fine rogue retailers. To ensure the law is enforced, the Government is providing an additional £30 million a year for enforcement agencies to support work on underage and illicit sales of tobacco products and vapes.
Officials are speaking regularly with trading standards about the use of the additional enforcement funding and around enforcement action more generally.