Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to make the signing of the seafarers charter by maritime operators compulsory.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to strengthening workers’ rights at sea, and has tabled an amendment to the Employment Rights Bill to give Ministers powers to create a legally-binding Seafarers’ Charter that will protect and improve seafarer working conditions.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of innovative blood cancer treatments in Romford constituency.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England, including in the Romford constituency.
The Department is committing to this by improving waiting times for cancer treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment. In addition, NHS England has implemented non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations thereof, that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. From our national evaluation, blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to NHS patients, including those with blood cancer. Most recently, in response to the findings of Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS, the Department has launched an extensive programme of engagement to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS.
In September this year, NHS England announced a new targeted treatment, quizartinib, to be prescribed to newly diagnosed patients with a specific type of leukaemia, boosting their chance of remission and long-term survival, made available through the NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund, which fast-tracks new innovative cancer treatments into standard care. This followed a previous announcement in August, announcing the new treatment, Zanubrutini, for those with marginal zone lymphoma, which could halt the progression of their cancer and provide an alternative to further rounds of chemotherapy.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to improve blood cancer (a) diagnosis, (b) treatment and (c) outcomes in Romford constituency.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including blood cancer, as early and quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes for all patients across England, including in the Romford constituency.
The Department is committing to this by improving waiting times for cancer treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment. In addition, NHS England has implemented non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with non-specific symptoms, or combinations thereof, that can indicate several different cancers. This includes leukaemia, which can present non-specific symptoms, such as unexpected weight loss and night sweats. From our national evaluation, blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
The Department is committed to implementing the recommendations of Lord O'Shaughnessy’s review into commercial clinical trials, making sure that the United Kingdom leads the world in clinical trials, and ensuring that innovative, lifesaving treatments are accessible to NHS patients, including those with blood cancer. Most recently, in response to the findings of Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into the NHS, the Department has launched an extensive programme of engagement to develop a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the NHS.
In September this year, NHS England announced a new targeted treatment, quizartinib, to be prescribed to newly diagnosed patients with a specific type of leukaemia, boosting their chance of remission and long-term survival, made available through the NHS England’s Cancer Drugs Fund, which fast-tracks new innovative cancer treatments into standard care. This followed a previous announcement in August, announcing the new treatment, Zanubrutini, for those with marginal zone lymphoma, which could halt the progression of their cancer and provide an alternative to further rounds of chemotherapy.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he has taken to help protect national infrastructure assets from climate change.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department is supporting the third National Adaptation Programme 3 (NAP3) and climate change initiatives by working with various agencies to protect infrastructure from climate hazards. NAP3 runs from 2023 to 2028 and sets out how government will respond to the risks identified in our third Climate Change Risk Assessment. NAP3 includes a dedicated chapter on managing the risks to infrastructure services. The Government is committed to further strengthening the nation’s resilience, including in our approach to managing climate risks to the UK.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, updated 24 September 2024, whether she plans to use architects to help utilise complex brownfield sites for development.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon member to the answer to Question UIN 16502 on 5 December 2024.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to her Department's consultation entitled Proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework and other changes to the planning system, updated 24 September 2024, whether she plans to take steps to ensure that design codes reflect local circumstances.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government’s recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear the importance of achieving well-designed places and how this can be achieved holistically through local design policies, design codes and guidance.
A clear framework exists through policy and guidance to support local planning authorities deliver well-designed places and to enable them to work together with the communities they serve to ensure the development of new homes responds to the positive and distinctive context and characteristics of an area. This can be through policies in the local plan, masterplans, guidance and design codes that are locally led.
Our continued commitment to well-designed homes and places is further supported through proposed updates to the National Design Guide and National Model Design Code in Spring 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the Church of England in maintaining its built heritage.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund's £15m Heritage in Need: Places of Worship initiative, funded through the National Lottery between 2023 and 2026; the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, which will be funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she has taken to support listed places of worship.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There is a range of funding available via DCMS and the Department’s Arm’s-Length Bodies that supports listed places of worship, including Church of England buildings. These include the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme; the National Lottery Heritage Fund's £15m Heritage in Need: Places of Worship initiative, funded through the National Lottery between 2023 and 2026; the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT), which funds repairs and maintenance of over 350 churches in the CCT portfolio; and Historic England's Heritage At Risk grants, which will be funding £9 million worth of repairs to buildings on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register between April 2024 and March 2025.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce barriers to accessing drug treatment faced by women.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is focused on supporting local areas to deliver high quality drug and alcohol treatment services, including better meeting the needs of women and vulnerable groups. Current work in relation to women and vulnerable groups includes: providing targeted support to local areas; enhancing data tools to better inform local needs assessments; supporting workforce development; and implementation of the Commissioning Quality Standard and the sharing of good practice. The quality standard provides guidance for local authorities to support them in commissioning effective alcohol and drug treatment and recovery services in their areas and includes a requirement that local authority commissioning partnerships include services that reflect their local populations and work with underrepresented groups, as identified in their local needs assessment, such as people from minority ethnic groups and women. Further information on the Commissioning Quality Standard is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/commissioning-quality-standard-alcohol-and-drug-services
In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use. This funding will help improve women’s access to treatment, removing barriers they face and ensuring the care they receive is tailored to their needs.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department will announce future funding for drug treatment services beyond 2025.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We understand the importance of funding certainty for informing local system’s operational decision making and future planning. We are engaging with commissioners and providers on this. Future funding for drug treatment services beyond 2025 will be announced very shortly. The Department of Health and Social Care will write directly to each local authority soon to set out indicative allocations for 2025/26, which will still be subject to Departmental and HM Treasury’s approvals, and so final allocations could vary.
My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has also made clear that the Government will conclude a multi-year Spending Review in spring 2025. In future, we anticipate that Spending Reviews will be set every two years to cover a three-year period, including a one-year overlap with the previous Spending Review, helping build in greater certainty and stability over public finances.
In addition to the Public Health Grant, the Department allocated local authorities £267 million in 2024/25 to improve the quality and capacity of drug and alcohol treatment and recovery. An additional £105 million from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is improving treatment pathways and recovery, housing, and employment outcomes for people affected by drug and alcohol use.