Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to remove barriers to cycling for disabled people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Requirements set out in ‘Local transport note 1/20: cycle infrastructure design’ and Inclusive Mobility guidance seek to ensure cycling schemes are accessible for all. This includes advice on designing for different types of cycle, including adapted cycles. Active Travel England provides funding and support to local authorities and active travel organisations to deliver programmes that include targeted interventions to overcome barriers for disabled people.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing a counterpart to the cycle to work scheme for self-employed people.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Cycle to Work scheme is a benefit-in-kind provided by employers to their employees. A benefit-in-kind is a form of non-cash remuneration provided by employers to their employees. Income tax and National Insurance contribution relief is provided on the scheme to both employers and their employees via salary sacrifice arrangements. As a result, the scheme is not open to the self-employed, who are not eligible for salary sacrifice.
The government considers all tax changes in the round at fiscal events. The government stands by the commitment made not to increase tax on working people, including income tax, national insurance and VAT
The government is not going to speculate on tax changes ahead of the Budget on 30th October.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress has been made on establishing the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
In August, we laid regulations that give the Infected Blood Compensation Authority the powers necessary to pay compensation through the core route to the infected, both living and deceased. On 17 October, the Infected Blood Compensation Authority began to reach out to the first claimants under these Regulations and the Government expects the Authority to begin making payments by the end of the year. On 24 October, the Government opened the process under which estates can apply for interim compensation payments of £100,000 for deaths not yet recognised. Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Government is aiming for the second set of Regulations to be in place by 31 March 2025. This will support our aim of payments to people who are affected to begin in 2025.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to secure an (a) ambitious and (b) legally binding target to cut plastic production at the UN Global Plastics Treaty.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As a member of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution and a signatory to the Bridge to Busan Declaration, the UK is pushing for an ambitious treaty that addresses the full lifecycle of plastics, including reducing production and consumption of primary plastic polymers to sustainable levels. The UK has played an active role in negotiations including at high-level Ministerial consultations on this matter during the UN General Assembly in New York.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) quality and (b) adequacy of the regulation of houses in multiple occupation in the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) are subject to mandatory licensing in properties where five or more persons in two or more households share facilities. Local authorities also have the power to introduce additional licensing for smaller HMOs which are home to three or four people from two or more households who share facilities. All HMOs, even those that do not require a licence, must also comply with HMO management regulations.
The Renters’ Rights Bill will improve standards in the private rented sector. In particular, it will introduce a Decent Homes Standard to the PRS for the first time, which will set a minimum standard for all housing in the sector, including HMOs.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of 25 April 2024 by the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Official Report, column 387WH, what steps his Department is taking to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty in time for the UN Ocean Conference in June 2025.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) is in line with this Government's determination to reinvigorate the UK's wider international leadership on climate and nature, and we are fully committed to doing so. Legislation to implement the BBNJ Agreement to allow ratification will be introduced as soon as the legislative timetable allows.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to ratify the Global Ocean Treaty by June 2025.
Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ratification of the Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) is in line with this Government's determination to reinvigorate the UK's wider international leadership on climate and nature and our mission to 'create a world free from poverty on a liveable planet.' Legislation to implement the BBNJ Agreement will be introduced as soon as the legislative timetable allows. There is no deadline for ratification.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reform the NHS dentistry contract.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system, so that we deliver a system better for patients and professionals.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her Department’s polices of recent trends in levels of (a) children, (b) women and (c) people unable to access NHS dental services in Kingswood constituency.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Our Dentistry Recovery Plan, backed by £200 million, will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for National Health Service dental patients. It will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. A New Patient Premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients and since the end of January, nearly 500 more practices have said they are open to new patients.
The Dentistry Recovery plan also sets out a new emphasis on prevention and good oral health in children. This includes supporting nurseries and early years settings to incorporate good oral hygiene into daily routines, and providing advice to expectant parents on how to protect their baby’s teeth. The plan will deploy mobile dental teams into schools to provide advice and deliver preventative treatments to more than 165,000 children.
A new patient premium is supporting dentists to take on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help everyone who needs an NHS dentist in finding one. We have further supported dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable. We are committed to evaluating the impacts of the measures included in our plan, and we will publish monthly data on progress, once available. Annual dental statistics, including the number of adults and children who have seen an NHS dentist since 2015, are available at the following link:
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of (a) children, (b) women and (c) people affected by dental surgeries no longer providing NHS services in Kingswood constituency since 2022.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
Our Dentistry Recovery Plan, backed by £200 million, will make dental services faster, simpler, and fairer for National Health Service dental patients across England. It will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments, or more than 1.5 million additional courses of dental treatment. Patients unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice are advised to contact NHS 111 for assistance.
We are committed to evaluating the impacts of the measures included in our plan, and we will publish monthly data on progress once available. No estimates are currently available of the number of children, women, and people affected by dental surgeries no longer providing NHS services in the Kingswood constituency since 2022. Annual dental statistics, including the number of dentists offering NHS services since 2015, are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-dental-statistics
Annual data on the number of NHS dental contracts commissioned since 2015/16 is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/dental-data/nhs-payments-dentists