Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the access to work scheme in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Regarding the information requested, the department has not made an estimate of the number of people with neurodiverse conditions who used the Access to Work scheme in the last 12 months, as this data is not routinely collected.
Access to Work Official Statistics are published annually and include the number of people who received a payment for Access to Work by various customer characteristics, including primary medical condition. However, the publication does not include ‘neurodiverse condition’ as a primary medical condition.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of prioritising support for people with ADHD through the access to work scheme in the context of shortages in ADHD medication.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
No assessment has been made - Access to Work is not intended to act as clinical support or replacement for medication.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of removing DVLA services from the Post Office in March 2024 on (a) elderly people and (b) people without internet access.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Post Office Ltd currently provides a limited range of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) services and an extension to the current contract has been agreed, ensuring that DVLA services will be available at post offices until the end of March 2024.
The DVLA wants its customers to be able to access its services as quickly and as easily as possible and the role of front office counter services will form part of the considerations of future service offerings, utilising government agreements if necessary.
The vast majority of those licensing vehicles already do so online or via the DVLA’s automated telephone service, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The DVLA will continue to ensure that all customers are able to license their vehicles.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 17 April 2023 on Achieving Smokefree 2030: cutting smoking and stopping kids vaping, HCWS710, whether his Department has made an assessment of modelling on the potential effectiveness of each of the proposed steps in helping reduce smoking rates to 5% or less by 2030.
Answered by Neil O'Brien - Shadow Minister (Education)
Annex 1 of ‘Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation’ sets out the modelling used to forecast changes in smoking prevalence over time based on legislating for a smokefree generation. This modelling is preliminary and will continue to be further refined ahead of publication of a full impact assessment.
Annex 1 is available at the following link:
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the enforcement of regulations prohibiting the use of e-scooters on public (a) roads, (b) pavements and (c) cycle lanes.
Answered by Jesse Norman - Shadow Leader of the House of Commons
The enforcement of road traffic law is an operational matter for the police. The Department has issued guidance to all local authorities and operators taking part in the trials, and local authorities in trial areas continue to engage with local police forces. The Government will continue to support the police by ensuring they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation including those relating to e-scooters.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the trends in the price of car insurance premiums in the past 12 months.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
The setting of motor insurance premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers based on their underwriting experience. The government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with representatives from car insurance providers on the potential impact of trends in the price of insurance premiums on policyholders; and whether he is taking steps to increase the transparency of the insurance policy renewal process.
Answered by Richard Holden - Opposition Whip (Commons)
The setting of premiums is a commercial decision for individual insurers based on their underwriting experience and the Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to help ensure small businesses reduce their use of single-use plastics.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Building on the success of our existing restrictions on certain single use plastic items and the single use carrier bag charge, the government will restrict the supply of single use plastic plates, bowls, trays, cutlery, balloon sticks and expanded and extruded polystyrene food and drinks containers from October this year.
We will also, subject to public consultation this autumn, change the law to ban the sale of wet wipes containing plastic.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent violence in Kenya.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK regrets the loss of life and destruction of property during recent demonstrations in Kenya. The UK is following events closely and continues to urge all parties to engage in dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to issue a formal apology to unmarried mothers who had their babies taken for adoption from the1940s to the1970s.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
The government set out its position on the question of issuing a formal apology when it responded to the Joint Committee on Human Rights report, ‘The Violation of Family Life: Adoption of Children of Unmarried Women 1949–1976’. The government’s response was published on 3 March 2023 and is available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt5803/jtselect/jtrights/1180/report.html.