Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reason details of business expenses, travel costs and hospitality figures have not been published for HS2 personnel since September 2019; and if he will publish those figures.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
HS2 Ltd has now published all business expense, travel costs and hospitality up to March 2020 on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hs2-ltd-business-expense-travel-costs-and-hospitality-january-to-march-2020 and will be publishing its 2020/21 Quarter One data this month.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to make autism training for police officers mandatory.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The College of Policing sets the standards for training and professional development for police forces in England and Wales. It has produced Authorised Professional Practice and a range of training materials to support officers to help vulnerable people effectively, including those with mental health problems and autism.
Training on mental health and vulnerabilities issues is integrated throughout the initial police learning programme which all new recruits – police constables, special constables and PCSOs – must complete. Ongoing training is the responsibility of individual police forces, through Chief Constables, to ensure officers and police staff receive appropriate training for their roles and that they have regard to the appropriate Authorised Professional Practice when discharging their responsibilities.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to record autism in the Labour Force Survey.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to include the recording of autism in the Prison Population Statistics.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is committed to supporting all vulnerable people who come into contact with the criminal justice system, including individuals with autism. We recognise the importance of meeting the needs of this cohort, are therefore taking steps to improve the collection and recording of data on disability.
This includes ongoing work by HM Prisons and Probation Service (HMPPS) to implement a new data categorisation list which aligns with that used by the World Health Organisation and the Government Statistical Service on the new Prison National Offender Management Information System (new-NOMIS). This will provide a better structured and more intuitively organised list of conditions, allowing more accurate recording of disabilities and health conditions, including Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. Improving this data will allow us to better understand and support the prison population and its individual needs, as well as enabling the identification of any disparity in outcomes. Once the categorisation has fully bedded into our systems and we have sufficient completion rates and data quality, we will aim to publish this within our annual Official Statistics report ‘Offender Equalities’.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to have an independent review of the definition of autism as a mental disorder under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We recognise the significance and importance of this issue. We are committed to improving the treatment of people with learning disabilities and/ or autism in law. We will comment on this in our Mental Health Act White Paper, which will be published as soon as it is possible to do so.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will undertake to a review of disabled people’s health outcomes during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring disabled people receive the support they need during the COVID-19 outbreak and beyond. We know that many people with long-standing, limiting illnesses or health conditions are at higher risk of poorer outcomes from COVID-19.
We are continuing to review all the available evidence and commissioning new research to better understand the specific impact of COVID-19 on disabled people. This will inform future policy development and what additional practical measures we can take to protect disabled people.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) research his Department has commissioned on and (b) what medical advice is available for people suffering post-covid-19 illnesses.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1 billion a year in health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It is not usual practice for the NIHR to ring-fence a proportion of its budget for research into particular topics or conditions. The NIHR Recovery and Learning Call is currently open to researchers to submit research proposals on patients suffering post-COVID-19 illnesses.
The NIHR Recovery and Learning Call will fund research to better understand and manage the health and social care consequences of the global COVID-19 pandemic beyond the acute phase. The research will focus specifically on health outcomes, public health, social care and health service delivery and to mitigate the impact of subsequent phases and aftermath.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to publish its new Autism Strategy.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are fully committed to publishing an impactful autism strategy, which covers all ages. We expect to publish the refreshed strategy later this year subject to our response to COVID-19.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, who the newly appointed non-executive directors of HS2 are; and what their (a) responsibilities and (b) remuneration packages are.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State has appointed Ian King, Elaine Holt and Tom Harris. All non-executive directors are appointed to provide challenge and guidance to the Board, Chair and senior leadership at HS2, though each brings their own specialisms. Ian King has been appointed specifically to represent the government’s interests on the board.
Appointees are remunerated at £950 per day, on an assumption of a time commitment of two days per month.
Asked by: Cheryl Gillan (Conservative - Chesham and Amersham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many people applied to become non-executive directors of HS2; and what the process was by which the successful applicants were selected.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Seventy nine people applied to an open and fair competition overseen by Ministers, which was launched in June 2019. Elaine Holt was appointed via this process.
Tom Harris has been directly appointed to his role for a one year term after which an open and fair competition will commence. Ian King has been directly appointed to his role for a three year term, something which is appropriate given his role as a government representative.
All appointments have been made in accordance with the Government’s Governance Code for Public Appointments with the agreement of the Prime Minister and the Commissioner for Public Appointments.