Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of NHS dentistry in Hornsey and Wood Green constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2022/23, 954 dentists in the North Central London Integrated Care Board performed some National Health Service work, the equivalent to 62.5 dentists per 100,000 people. This is higher than the figure in 2021/22, when 891 dentists performed some NHS work, the equivalent to 58.4 dentists per 100,000 people.
Our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for patients, and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out a number of actions which will improve access for patients, by helping the sector to recover activity more quickly, addressing underlying issues, and setting out the action needed for longer term reform of the system.
A new patient premium will support dentists in taking on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help people locate an NHS dentist as needed. New dental vans will bring dental care to our most isolated communities, and Golden Hello incentives will encourage dentists into under-served areas. We will further support dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the conflict in Myanmar; and whether he plans to take steps to oppose the coup authorities in that country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK condemns the coup in Myanmar. In February, we announced our eighteenth round of sanctions, targeting the Myanmar Security Force's access to finance, arms and equipment. We consistently use our role as penholder at the United Nations Security Council to maintain pressure on the military, including leading the first ever Security Council Resolution on the Myanmar crisis in December 2022. Since the coup we have provided almost £150 million in life-saving humanitarian assistance, emergency healthcare, education and support to civil society and local communities.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of closing schools so they can be used as polling stations on children's educational attainment.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department has not made an assessment of the potential impact of closing schools so they can be used as polling stations.
Local returning officers have the power to require a school to act as a polling venue and may choose to do so where no suitable alternative accommodation is available. Whether or not the school then has to close is a decision for the headteacher. Before making a decision, headteachers should always consider the impact of a school closure on their pupils and parents and work to minimise this impact so that it will not detrimentally affect pupils' educational attainment.
Decisions about closure will usually depend on what arrangements can be made for voting to take place separately from the rest of the school premises. If the school decides to close on the day of the poll, it should try and make up the lost day of education.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2023 to Question 359 on Abortion: Demonstrations, what progress his Department has made on implementing safe access zones.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government recently ran a public consultation on non-statutory guidance to support the introduction of the offence of interference with access to or provision of abortion services, which closed on 22 January. We are now considering the responses received and will publish the final guidance in due course.
We anticipate commencing Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 no later than Spring 2024.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions she has had with British Youth Council on its closure.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
I was sorry to learn about the closure of the British Youth Council and want to express gratitude for its work over the years.
Government is committed to the delivery of the UK Youth Parliament and intends to use funding allocated to BYC in 2024/25 to support the programme. We are working alongside previous UKYP delivery partners from English regions and the devolved administrations, to understand the implications of BYCs closure for programme delivery. We have been working at pace to identify a suitable organisation which can hold overall grant management responsibility for the UKYP 24/25. I will update the house as soon as next steps have been formalised. In parallel, we have been engaging with young people and key stakeholders to plan for the longer-term future of the UKYP.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 March 2024 to Question 19417 on Mental Health Services: Parents, what steps her Department is taking to provide community mental health services to bereaved (a) fathers and (b) partners following pregnancy or baby loss.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Through the NHS Long Term Plan, we are committed to expanding and transforming mental health services in England so that more people, including bereaved fathers and partners following pregnancy or baby loss, can get the help and support that they need.
As part of this, we are expanding access to psychological and talking therapies within specialist perinatal mental health services. Specialist community perinatal mental health services have now been rolled out in every part of England, and should work closely with maternal mental health services, which are also being rolled out, with 39 maternal mental health services currently available across England. Fathers and other partners of women accessing specialist community care should be able to access an evidence-based assessment for their mental health and signposting to support as required. Individuals can also access psychological support by referring themselves to NHS Talking Therapies. Details of local services are available at the following link: