Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential national security implications of Confucius Institutes on UK university campuses.
Answered by Luke Hall
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has (a) received representations on and (b) made an assessment of the potential relationship between (i) Confucius Institutes and (ii) the propaganda department of the Chinese Communist Party.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Ministers are briefed regularly and in detail on matters relating to China. They are clear that as with all international bodies operating in the UK, Confucius Institutes must operate transparently and within the law, and with a full commitment to our values of openness and freedom of expression.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has discussions with (a) Cabinet colleagues and (b) universities on the future of Confucius Institutes.
Answered by Luke Hall
The government takes seriously any concerns about overseas interference in the UK’s higher education (HE) sector, including through Confucius Institutes, and regularly assesses the risks facing academia. The department has taken action to remove any direct or indirect government funding from Confucius Institutes in the UK, but currently judge that it would be disproportionate to ban them.
The department works closely with Cabinet colleagues and other government departments to support the HE sector. Most recently, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education met a group of Vice Chancellors on 25 April to discuss research security in universities.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether UK consular officials (a) have been granted consular access to Jimmy Lai and (b) are able to visit him in prison.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Ministers and officials continue to raise Jimmy Lai's case at the highest levels with the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities and have been clear in our calls for his release, while continuing to press for consular access. Our repeated requests for consular access have been declined by the local authorities on the grounds the Chinese government does not recognise dual nationality and therefore considers Jimmy Lai to be exclusively Chinese. Consular access to dual nationals relies upon the agreement of the detaining state and is not covered in the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
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 potential merits of commissioning research on the potential impact on patient care of granting independent prescribing responsibilities to dietitians.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Dieticians can currently supply and administer medicines using Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing. At present, these are deemed to be the most appropriate medicines mechanisms for their use.
The University of Surrey is carrying out a study which looks at the effect of dietitians and therapeutic radiographers prescribing on patients, staff, and services. The project began in 2019 and is now in its final phase.
The Department works with NHS England to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities for all Allied Health Professionals, including dietitians, are regularly reviewed and updated. Where it is deemed clinically appropriate and necessary to extend prescribing responsibilities to Allied Health Professionals, the Department follows an established process for making changes that ensures proposals are safe and beneficial for patients.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
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 potential merits of extending independent prescribing responsibilities to dietitians.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Dieticians can currently supply and administer medicines using Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing. At present, these are deemed to be the most appropriate medicines mechanisms for their use.
The University of Surrey is carrying out a study which looks at the effect of dietitians and therapeutic radiographers prescribing on patients, staff, and services. The project began in 2019 and is now in its final phase.
The Department works with NHS England to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities for all Allied Health Professionals, including dietitians, are regularly reviewed and updated. Where it is deemed clinically appropriate and necessary to extend prescribing responsibilities to Allied Health Professionals, the Department follows an established process for making changes that ensures proposals are safe and beneficial for patients.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether officials in her Department have had discussions with (a) the British Dietetic Association and (b) other relevant stakeholders on the potential extension of independent prescribing responsibilities to dietitians.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Dieticians can currently supply and administer medicines using Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing. At present, these are deemed to be the most appropriate medicines mechanisms for their use.
The University of Surrey is carrying out a study which looks at the effect of dietitians and therapeutic radiographers prescribing on patients, staff, and services. The project began in 2019 and is now in its final phase.
The Department works with NHS England to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities for all Allied Health Professionals, including dietitians, are regularly reviewed and updated. Where it is deemed clinically appropriate and necessary to extend prescribing responsibilities to Allied Health Professionals, the Department follows an established process for making changes that ensures proposals are safe and beneficial for patients.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities of (a) dietitians and (b) other allied health professionals are regularly (i) reviewed and (ii) updated to reflect potential (A) advances in healthcare and (B) patient needs.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
Dieticians can currently supply and administer medicines using Patient Group Directions and train to use supplementary prescribing. At present, these are deemed to be the most appropriate medicines mechanisms for their use.
The University of Surrey is carrying out a study which looks at the effect of dietitians and therapeutic radiographers prescribing on patients, staff, and services. The project began in 2019 and is now in its final phase.
The Department works with NHS England to ensure that the prescribing responsibilities for all Allied Health Professionals, including dietitians, are regularly reviewed and updated. Where it is deemed clinically appropriate and necessary to extend prescribing responsibilities to Allied Health Professionals, the Department follows an established process for making changes that ensures proposals are safe and beneficial for patients.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of claimants applying for the Domestic Violence Easement extend the initial unevidenced four week easement to (a) 13 and (b) 26 weeks.
Answered by Jo Churchill
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made recent progress on introducing a lifetime deposit for renters.
Answered by Jacob Young
As set out in our 2022 White Paper ‘A Fairer Private Rented Sector’, the market has responded to the ambition of our manifesto commitment for a ‘lifetime deposit’.
We continue to monitor the development of commercial lifetime deposit solutions, alongside keeping deposit protection and the broader deposit market under review.