Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent progress he has made on securing the release of imprisoned pro-democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ministers and officials continue to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian government and have been consistently clear in our calls for his release, while continuing to press the need for urgent consular access. The Foreign Secretary and Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon raised his case with President Sisi and Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry on 21 December 2023. The Prime Minister also recently raised Mr El-Fattah's case with President Sisi on 1 December 2023.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to start a consultation on the VAT treatment of private hire vehicles.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government understands that, following the Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC High Court ruling, the private hire vehicle sector are seeking clarity on the VAT implications of this ruling.
The Government remains committed to consulting on the impacts of this ruling, and will publish a consultation in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on (a) the VAT treatment of private hire vehicles and (b) the potential impact of changes in VAT rates for those vehicles on the viability of that sector.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government remains committed to consult on the potential impacts of the Uber Britannia Ltd v Sefton MBC High Court ruling, and will publish a consultation in due course.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resources provided to the Food Standards Agency to assess food safety applications.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Food Standards Agency regularly review their resources across the teams who are responsible for delivering the regulated products service and assessing food safety applications. The teams have expanded since they took over responsibility for the delivery of the service from the European Union in January 2021. However, as highlighted in their most recent Board paper in December 2023, resource pressure remains the main risk to their delivery timetables. In the short-term they are mitigating this risk through continuous improvements that enable the current system to work more efficiently within existing resources. In the longer-term they will bring forward plans for more fundamental reform to streamline the system and reduce the burden on applicants and the regulator, without compromising food safety.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the (a) methods and (b) processes used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on access to medicines for patients with rarer diseases since January 2022; and whether this assessment will be reflected in the next Rare Diseases Action Plan for England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) can recommend most rare disease medicines that it appraises through the technology appraisal programme for some or all eligible patients. NICE has no current plans to undertake a modular update of its methods and processes related specifically to rare diseases.
NICE specifically considered treatments for rare diseases during its methods review, and many of the changes introduced in NICE’s updated health technology evaluation manual in January 2022 will benefit treatments for rare diseases. These include the severity modifier, flexibility in uncertainty considerations and the emphasis on a comprehensive evidence base including real-world, qualitative, surrogate and expert evidence. These updates seek to mitigate the barriers faced by rare disease technologies while maintaining an evidence-based, robust and proportionate evaluation approach.
The 2022 England Rare Diseases Action Plan was published following the NICE methods and processes review. The 2022 Action Plan includes actions to capitalise on the changes made to NICE’s methods and processes to ensure that NICE continues to support the rapid adoption of effective new treatments for National Health Service patients with rare diseases. The impact of these changes is being assessed and an update will be provided in the 2024 England Rare Diseases Action Plan.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the case for a rarity modifier in its standard technology appraisal programme as part of its modular updates to its methods and processes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) can recommend most rare disease medicines that it appraises through the technology appraisal programme for some or all eligible patients. NICE has no current plans to undertake a modular update of its methods and processes related specifically to rare diseases.
NICE specifically considered treatments for rare diseases during its methods review, and many of the changes introduced in NICE’s updated health technology evaluation manual in January 2022 will benefit treatments for rare diseases. These include the severity modifier, flexibility in uncertainty considerations and the emphasis on a comprehensive evidence base including real-world, qualitative, surrogate and expert evidence. These updates seek to mitigate the barriers faced by rare disease technologies while maintaining an evidence-based, robust and proportionate evaluation approach.
The 2022 England Rare Diseases Action Plan was published following the NICE methods and processes review. The 2022 Action Plan includes actions to capitalise on the changes made to NICE’s methods and processes to ensure that NICE continues to support the rapid adoption of effective new treatments for National Health Service patients with rare diseases. The impact of these changes is being assessed and an update will be provided in the 2024 England Rare Diseases Action Plan.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of adding the spiny lobster to the list of protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Consideration of the species to be protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is subject to a quinquennial review process by which Schedule 5 and Schedule 8 (listing protected animals and plants respectively) of the Act are reviewed by the British Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies; as set out under the requirements of Section 24 of that Act. This is the process by which Spiny Lobster would be assessed for addition to Schedule 5 of the Act.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has had discussions with (a) HM Treasury and (b) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence on the adoption of a discount rate of 1.5% when assessing the future (a) benefits and (b) costs of medicines to align with the guidance set out in the Green Book.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has had a number of discussions with HM Treasury and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) about the discount rate used in the evaluation of medicines, including as part of the 2022 review of NICE’s methods and processes for health technology evaluation.
Through the methods review, NICE concluded that it was appropriate to maintain the reference case discount rate of 3.5% and has retained the flexibility in its methods for its committees to apply a lower non-reference case discount rate of 1.5% per year for both cost and health effects in exceptional circumstances. The decision on whether a non-reference case discount rate should be applied is taken by NICE’s Appraisal Committees.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to support people not eligible for a Cycle to Work Scheme to take up cycling.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England provides funding to local authorities and a range of national charities to increase levels of cycling. This includes £33 million provided in 2022/23 under the Capability Fund that can be used for local cycle loan and share schemes, e-cycle initiatives and cycling outreach programmes directed towards underrepresented groups. In addition, the Government has been trialling an £8 million national e-cycle programme to provide opportunities to try e-cycles through short term loans in a small number of locations.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to encourage more women to cycle.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) provides £2 million per year to the Big Bike Revival project, which focuses cycling activities on underrepresented groups, such as women. In 2022/23, 59% of participants in Big Bike Revival were female.
ATE also provides funding to local authorities to enable women and other underrepresented groups to increase levels of cycling through the Capability Fund. Design guidance for new infrastructure, such as that funded through the Active Travel Fund, requires that new schemes are accessible to all users, including women. Bids must demonstrate that the safety and confidence of women had been factored into the design of active travel schemes.