Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will take steps to review the transparency of the process by which credit industry fraud avoidance system issues markers onto customer bank accounts.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
The Chancellor of the Exchequer engages with a number of a key stakeholders to discuss policy matters.
Cifas is a fraud prevention service offering individuals and organisations help in combating the growing threat of fraud and financial crime. In 2022 Cifas members prevented fraudulent conduct totalling £1.3 billion, protecting people, businesses and the public finances from losses and wider harm.
To use the database, a Cifas member must operate within the terms of the National Fraud Database Handbook – a guide that sets out eight Principles of use with accompanying guidance. These Principles and guidance describe the controls in place to protect the data on the database and ensure that the highest possible standard of fairness and transparency are observed. Subjects have a right to know how data will be used and how any decisions related to them have been made, and can file a data subject access request (DSAR) to do this. More information on this can be found on the Cifas website.
If an individual believes that a Cifas marker has been incorrectly assigned they should first raise it with the organisation that recorded it to the Cifas database for them to review. If they do not remove the marker then the individual can go directly to Cifas. The individual can also apply to have a further review conducted by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department visited ministerial offices outside London in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer
I and my fellow ministers regularly visit premises, including courts, prisons, probation and other administrative (HQ) offices across the Ministry of Justice estate.
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, how many application forms for Healthy Start payments have been sent out to families with no recourse to public funds with British children.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has sent out over 1,300 application forms to those who have requested them. The Department does not hold information on the recipients of the application forms.
As of 18 August 2023, the Department has received 110 fully completed applications that have demonstrated that the applicant met the eligibility criteria. The Department does not collect and therefore hold data on all applications made, as some applicants do not meet all the eligibility criteria, and these applications are not stored.
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, how many applications for the Healthy Start payments have been made from applicants with no recourse to public funds with British children.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department has sent out over 1,300 application forms to those who have requested them. The Department does not hold information on the recipients of the application forms.
As of 18 August 2023, the Department has received 110 fully completed applications that have demonstrated that the applicant met the eligibility criteria. The Department does not collect and therefore hold data on all applications made, as some applicants do not meet all the eligibility criteria, and these applications are not stored.
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, what guidance his Department issues to social housing providers on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 197493 on 11 September 2023.
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, what estimate he has made of the proportion of social housing stock that contains reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).
Answered by Lee Rowley
I refer the Hon Member to my answer to Question UIN 197493 on 11 September 2023.
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 social enterprises which have been commissioned by the NHS to deliver work on its behalf and which employ staff on agenda for change contracts will receive Government funding to enable them to fulfil the 2022/23 NHS non-consolidated pay awards.
Answered by Will Quince
The 2022-23 non-consolidated pay uplift for Agenda for Change staff applies to staff directly employed by an National Health Service organisation as set out in Annex 1 of the NHS Employers handbook. The eligibility criteria was agreed by all parties during negotiations, including Trade Unions and NHS Employers.
Independent providers remain free to develop and adapt their own terms and conditions of employment. This includes the pay scales that they use and any non-consolidated pay awards they choose to make. Staff employed by independent providers who utilise the Agenda for Change terms and conditions may be entitled to the non-consolidated pay award that staff working for eligible NHS organisations will receive, and organisations should consider their contractual obligations.
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 guidance his Department has made available for social enterprises which deliver work on behalf of the NHS on whether they are contractually obliged to pay staff on agenda for change contracts the 2022/23 NHS non-consolidated pay awards.
Answered by Will Quince
As National Health Service social enterprises are independent providers, and contracts will vary from organisation to organisation, they remain free to develop and adopt the terms and conditions of employment that best help them attract and keep the staff they need. This includes the pay scales that they use.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the provision of a free gym pass to veterans medically discharged from the Armed Forces.
Answered by Johnny Mercer
This Government understands the significant benefits of exercise in promoting physical and mental wellbeing.
A number of local authorities offer a range of benefits to the veteran community, including access to free gym membership.
The Department currently has no plans to offer free gym access to veterans across the UK.
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 his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of value based procurement decisions for incontinence products on (a) system costs for the (i) NHS and (ii) social care sector and (b) patient outcomes.
Answered by Will Quince
We are working to improve spend data systems through implementation of the Government’s Medical Technology Strategy. There are different supply routes available in the NHS, including through NHS Supply Chain, NHS Shared Business Services, direct from supplier to Trust and via prescription on Part IX of the Drug Tariff. NHS Supply Chain are currently in the process of working on two separate value-based procurement projects for continence, both of which aim to concentrate on patient outcomes.
Regulation 68 of the Public Contract Regulations (PCR) 2015 allows contracting authorities to determine the most economically advantageous tender and the lowest cost by using a life-cycle costing approach which includes all costs over the life cycle of works, supplies or services.
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of health services, including urinary incontinence for their local health economy and taking into account guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NHS England’s Excellence in Continence Care guidance published in July 2018, indicates that personalised care including personal health budgets can be arranged locally by ICBs to help people manage and pay for their continence care needs.