Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential effect of the UK’s departure from the EU on the UK's status as a global science and technology superpower.
Answered by Paul Scully
Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens
Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations
There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system
We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to conclude negotiations on association with the Horizon Europe programme on the science industry.
Answered by Paul Scully
The EU’s delays for over two years have caused serious and lasting damage to the UK R&D, fusion and Earth observation sectors. We established the Horizon guarantee to ensure there is no loss in funding for the UK sector. While the Government is engaging constructively with the EU, and hope that negotiations will be successful, the UK’s participation would have to be on fair and appropriate terms and address the lasting impact of the delays on UK participation rates across the programmes.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department intends to publish the criteria for the determination of whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower.
Answered by Paul Scully
Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens
Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations
There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system
We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what metric her Department uses to determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower.
Answered by Paul Scully
Building on the UK’s trillion dollar tech industry, this government is creating an environment to grow and scale large globally competitive science and technology companies that drive growth in the economy and high-skilled employment opportunities for citizens
Our Science and Technology Framework sets out how we will do this, including attracting and retaining the brightest talent and leveraging post-Brexit freedoms to be at the frontier of setting standards and shaping regulations
There is no one metric that will determine whether the UK is a global science and technology superpower. We will monitor a range of indicators and international comparisons across the innovation system
We are working across Government and sectors to ensure progress against this Framework. By the end of 2023, we will publish an update setting out the progress that we have made, and the further action that must be taken on our path to being a Science and Technology Superpower by 2030.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to publish the cross-Government delivery plan on ME/CFS for England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department plans to publish a draft delivery plan on ME/CFS shortly. We intend to seek views on the draft plan before publishing a final delivery plan at a later date.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support efforts to detect and treat HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK remains a world leader in efforts to end the global AIDS epidemic and funds all key partners in the global AIDS response, including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Health Organization, Unitaid and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as well as the Robert Carr Fund.
Our recent pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund will help to save over 1 million lives, including by providing antiretroviral therapy for 1.8 million people and HIV counselling and testing for 48 million people. Our funding for the Robert Carr Fund and UNAIDS supports initiatives to empower local civil society and grassroots organisations, predominantly in the Global South, to increase access to HIV prevention, testing and care services.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on concluding the application process for a family reunion visa with reference GWF062464506.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
This visa application is currently under consideration.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made additional resources available for processing visa applications impacted by the earthquakes in Turkey.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
By working with TLS, the commercial partner, we are continuing to provide access to Visa Application Centres (VAC) throughout Turkey. Adana VAC increased its opening days from 3 to 5 days a week to meet demand closest to the earthquake area. There are also VACs in Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Istanbul, and Izmir, many of which continue to provide 5 day a week capacity for those looking to apply for a UK visa under one of our current visit, family, work and study routes and enable those who have already applied to submit their biometrics.
UKVI will aim to process any compassionate cases as quickly as possible in line with current guidance.
Should individual circumstances require a quicker decision, applicants should raise this with visa application centre staff when submitting their biometrics and UKVI will consider this as part of their wider application.
If applicants have an existing visa application and have been impacted by the earthquake, then they should please contact the UKVI Contact Centre, details can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/contact-ukvi-inside-outside-uk.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of using Beyond Visual Line of Sight uncrewed aircraft to provide supplies to rural and isolated communities.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is committed to delivering the economic and social benefits of drone use to communities across the UK. This includes working across Government, industry and the regulator – the Civil Aviation Authority – to create the right conditions for BVLOS operations to proceed routinely and effectively without compromising the safety of our airspace. The newly established Future of Flight Industry Group includes representatives from commercial drone operators and local authorities to ensure that this work is taken forward alongside industry and local communities.
Asked by: Carol Monaghan (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that the UK is able to take advantage of (a) drones and remotely piloted aircraft and (b) other emerging flight technologies.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The UK’s strategic vision is to maximise benefits of future flight technologies – for the economy and for communities – whilst ensuring their emergence is both safe and secure, positioning us as a global leader. The Government will soon publish a Future of Flight Plan to set out strategic direction for this burgeoning industry, developed through the newly established Future of Flight Industry Group (FFIG). The first meeting of the FFIG was held on 8 March 2023 and chaired by the Aviation Minister.