Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has had discussions with car manufacturers on levels of disruption to supply chains for (a) temperature sensors and (b) other spare parts for electric vehicles since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
HMG understands the concerns of the Automotive industry regarding the potential impact of the invasion on its business operations and supply chains worldwide. The Department for Business and Trade ministers regularly meet with sector bodies and auto manufacturers to discuss a variety of automotive related trade issues, including an understanding of any direct and indirect impacts on UK operations.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's web page entitled Diabetes treatment and care programme, whether all eight Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating pilots have been commissioned by their Integrated Care Systems to secure services independently of NHS England pilot scheme funding.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national approach to funding the establishment of Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating services was delivered in two phases. Initial sites in London, Hampshire, and Dorset received national funding between 2018/19 and 2021/22, before the transition of commissioning responsibility to local systems commenced from April 2023. All three of these services did initially secure local funding, independent of the national pilot scheme. More recently, we understand that the status of these sites to be as follows: London services are partially active across London, with local consideration of ongoing funding and delivery arrangements underway; Hampshire services are active and embedded in wider eating disorder specialist services; and Dorset services have been discontinued. The remaining five newer services have been funded from September 2022, and are nationally funded up to March 2025.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has received representations from (a) healthcare professionals, (b) patient advocacy groups and (c) local authorities on discontinuing Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating services.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care engages with a range of external stakeholders, including discussions on Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating (T1DE) services. NHS England is working closely with regional and integrated care board (ICB) level teams to ensure that informed decisions are made about the future provision of T1DE services.
Responsibility for the commissioning of T1DE services sits with the ICBs. It is the role of local ICB decision makers to consider the implications of continuing or discontinuing T1DE services, specific to each location, and including the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and local authorities.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help community pharmacies with increases in the cost of medications.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Drug Tariff, published monthly, sets out the amount that will be paid to contractors for National Health Services in England, including both product reimbursement and service remuneration.
Where pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff NHS reimbursement price, Community Pharmacy England can request that the Department reassesses the reimbursement price. If a new reimbursement price is issued within the month, this is known as a concessionary price.
In addition, from 1 April 2024, we introduced a new retrospective top-up payment for concessionary prices, providing an additional payment to contractors when the margin survey indicates that despite a concessionary price, there was an under payment.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants have received tax credit overpayments since their migration to Universal Credit in St Albans district.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A claim for Universal Credit (UC) closes any tax credit claim with any associated overpayment arising from tax credits passed to DWP for recovery.
The number of individuals in St Alban’s that had received a migration notice by Dec-23 was nil/negligible. We are therefore unable to provide the requested data to prevent releasing potentially disclosive information about individuals.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people lost their entitlement to benefits during their transition from legacy benefits to Universal Credit in areas where that process had been completed.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Latest official statistics on the Universal Credit Managed Migration process can be found at: Move to Universal Credit statistics, July 2022 to December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people received a Universal Credit migration notice in St Albans district; and how many and what proportion of these people submitted a new claim.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The first migration notices for St Albans were issued from 1 Feb 2024.
The number of individuals in St Alban’s that had received a migration notice by Dec-23 was nil/negligible. We are therefore unable to provide the requested data to prevent releasing potentially disclosive information about individuals.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Answer of 15 July 2022 to Question 33838 on Digital Technology and Internet: Disadvantaged, what steps she is taking to help tackle digital exclusion; and whether her Department plans to take steps to help individuals with the cost of personal internet.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has been clear that ensuring that no one is left behind in the digital age is a key priority and continues to take steps to offer the support needed.
Digital inclusion is a cross-cutting issue that spans social engagement, education, employment, access to services and many more elements of everyday life. Responsibility for relevant policies and activities, including monitoring and evaluation, sit across government.
The Government has worked closely with the telecoms industry to ensure households across the country can access fast, reliable digital infrastructure. Superfast broadband is now available in over 97% of the UK, over 80% of households can access gigabit broadband, and 4G mobile is available to 99% of the population from at least one network provider. The Government is also investing £5 billion through our flagship Project Gigabit programme to bring gigabit broadband to reach hard-to-reach communities.
The Government established a cross-Whitehall ministerial group in response to a recommendation from the House of Lords Communication and Digital Committee’s report on ‘Digital Exclusion’, published in June 2023. The ministerial group aims to drive progress and accountability on digital inclusion priorities across Government.
The group has met twice, in September 2023 and March 2024, with attendance from the Cabinet Office, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Department for Culture, Media & Sport, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, and His Majesty's Treasury.
To support those for whom cost may be a barrier, the Government has worked closely with the telecoms industry to ensure market provision of broadband and mobile social tariffs. These low-cost, commercial products are available from 28 different providers, across 99% of the UK and start at just £10 per month.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices offered NHS services in each constituency in each year since 2015.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Annual dental statistics, including the number of dental practices offering National Health Services since 2015, are available at the following link:
This information is held by the integrated care boards.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring manufacturers to provide information to consumers of (a) cars and (b) other high value products on the extent to which repairs for those products are reliant on critical metals that are affected by supply-side disruption as a result of the war in Ukraine.
Answered by Alan Mak - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade) (jointly with the Cabinet Office)
Currently manufacturers are only legally required to provide consumers with information on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, for new cars and vans at the point of sale. There are no obligations on manufacturers to provide information on where the materials are sourced and no assessment has been made of the potential merits of doing so. The UK Critical Minerals Strategy, published in July 2022, sets out steps for ensuring the long-term security of critical minerals like those needed for electric vehicle batteries.
The Government understands the concerns of the automotive industry regarding the potential impact of the invasion on its business operations and supply chains worldwide. We are in regular dialogue with UK auto manufacturers and business representative bodies to understand any direct and indirect impacts on UK operations, including trade related issues.