Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an NHS long term service medal.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
There has been no such assessment and there is no national system in place for recognising long service in the National Health Service. It is the responsibility of individual employing NHS organisations to recognise any long service by staff members, with most NHS organisations already having their own internal processes in place to do this.
For NHS employees with long term service and who have made an outstanding contribution, the honours system celebrates those who go above and beyond to change the world around them for the better. Nominations can be made online via the Cabinet Office website.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of mobile dental check-up vehicles on children's oral health.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
In England local authorities are responsible for assessing oral health needs, developing oral health strategies and commissioning oral health improvement programmes for children and adults in their local area.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has published an evidence-based toolkit, ‘Delivering better oral health - an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’, for dental teams to support preventive advice and treatment for their patients, including the prevention of tooth decay in children. This toolkit is available at the following link:
OHID has also published ‘Improving oral health: an evidence-informed toolkit for local authorities’, which has, as one of its recommendations, oral health training for the wider professional workforce. This is available at the following link:
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure train stations are wheelchair accessible.
Answered by Huw Merriman
As part of the Prime Minister’s Network North announcement in October, the Government confirmed £350m will be made available to improve the accessibility of Britain’s train stations. We are assessing over 300 nominations for funding from April 2024 as part of the Access for All programme. At stations awarded funding we will deliver an obstacle free, accessible route from the station entrance to platforms. Successful nominations will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to improve accessibility at Chalkwell station.
Answered by Huw Merriman
Network Rail have now completed the design for an Access for All scheme at Chalkwell station. A delivery contractor was appointed on 8 December and a date for the start of works on site will be confirmed shortly.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Levelling Up funding awarded for the Leigh Port Regeneration Scheme will be withdrawn.
Answered by Jacob Young
In Round 1 of the Levelling Up Fund we awarded £19.9 million to Southend-on-Sea City Council to support infrastructure upgrades to coastal attractions, this included the renovation of Leigh Port.
My officials will be in touch to arrange a meeting so you can discuss with me how we can further progress this project and ensure it is delivered successfully.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress her Department has made on reaching 50GW capacity of offshore wind by 2030.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The UK is a global leader in offshore wind and attracts investment from all over the globe. Our ambition of 50GW by 2030 is world leading as we have a strong pipeline of projects and the world’s five largest operational offshore windfarms.
We are stimulating investment and creating new jobs and making £960 million available for a Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support green manufacturing alongside £160m to kick start investment in port infrastructure. Industry has supported our action with Renewable UK’s CEO welcoming this Government’s strong commitment to the sector.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to reduce illegal migration.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Prime Minister and I have a clear plan to reduce illegal migration.
Alongside our landmark Illegal Migration Bill, we are working more closely with international partners, including France; dismantling Organised Immigration Crime gangs; ending spurious modern slavery claims; and reforming our asylum system.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking through the criminal justice system to tackle knife crime.
Answered by Edward Argar - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
Tackling knife crime remains a priority and this Government will continue to do all it can to break the deadly cycle of violence that devastates the lives of individuals, families and communities.
We have taken significant action to both prevent and respond to crimes involving weapons through the Serious Violence Strategy, the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and increased stop and search powers.
We have recently consulted on further measures to tackle this issue.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is taking steps to help secure free access to cash withdrawals and deposit facilities in Southend West constituency.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Shadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
As amended in the other place, the Financial Services and Markets Bill protects free access to cash by requiring the Financial Conduct Authority to seek to ensure that, in the United Kingdom, there is reasonable provision of free withdrawal and deposit facilities for personal current accounts with relevant providers.
Asked by: Anna Firth (Conservative - Southend West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to allow (a) hon. Members, (b) Police and Crime Commissioners, (c) Chief Constables, (d) charities and (e) the public to participate in the consultation on the Offensive Weapons Act 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The manufacture, importation and sale of Zombie knives was prohibited by The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) (Amendment) Order 2016, in England and Wales. The Offensive Weapons Act 2019 widened the offence to include the possession in private of zombie knives and other specified offensive weapons and extended the prohibition to Northern Ireland.
As part of the measures of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 we ran a surrender and compensation scheme, 14,965 offensive weapons were surrendered including 224 zombie type knives.
We are not planning to carry out an assessment of the effectiveness of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, however we keep all legislation under review in the interests of public safety and will update Parliament if there are specific changes the Government has in mind.
We are working closely with the police to see what more we can do to address the criminal use of large knives and machetes. Any future public consultation will be notified to parliament and published on .GOV and the scope of any items under consideration will be laid out in the consultation document. Public consultations are open to practitioners, stakeholders and members of the public.