Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with his EU counterparts on ending restrictions on the import of poultry products from avian influenza disease control zones in EU countries.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Protecting both animal and human health is a top priority. Imports from EU zones restricted due to high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) cannot meet the necessary animal health requirements, and therefore Import Health Certificates cannot be issued. However, imports from non-restricted areas remain permitted.
The department remains in close contact with EU counterparts to ensure restrictions are science-based and proportionate, with the aim of resuming trade as soon as conditions allow.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 ensure that (a) emergency respite and (b) mental health support is available for unpaid carers in crisis.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that families have the support that they need. We want to ensure that people who care for family and friends are better able to look after their own physical and mental health and wellbeing.
Local authorities have duties to support people caring for their family and friends. The Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support such as respite and breaks for carers. The Better Care Fund also includes funding that can be used for unpaid carer support, including for short breaks and respite services for carers.
As part of the Carers Partnership in the Health and Wellbeing Alliance, the Carers Trust has published a Carer Contingency Campaign Pack. This will help support local carer organisations’ work with local partners to deliver carer contingency plans for carers in their area. Further information on the pack is available at the following link:
We know that people, including unpaid carers, with mental health issues are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health. This includes recruiting 8,500 more mental health workers, introducing specialist mental health professionals in every school, rolling out Young Futures hubs in every community, and modernising the Mental Health Act.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to help accelerate the rollout of (a) 4G and (b) 5G in (i) central Winchester and (ii) other urban areas with limited mobile data availability.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
This government wants all areas of the UK, including urban areas such as Winchester, to benefit from good quality mobile coverage. Our ambition is for all populated areas to have higher-quality standalone 5G by 2030, and to increase 4G coverage to 95% of the UK landmass by the end of 2025 through the Shared Rural Network programme.
This government is committed to ensuring we have the right policy and regulatory framework to support investment and competition. As part of this work, the Government intends to reform the planning system to make it easier to build and deploy digital infrastructure.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department is taking steps to support people with the cost of full fibre to premises connections in commercially viable areas where providers (a) do not connect premises and (b) require substantial fees.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government does not support individuals with the cost of obtaining a full fibre connection in commercially viable areas. However, we have deployed a range of measures to support roll-out in commercially viable areas to make it as easy and as cost-effective as possible for operators to rollout their networks. For instance, we have worked with Ofcom to create regulation that facilitates infrastructure sharing between operators. We are also working with local authorities to overcome planning barriers
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 take steps to produce a Chalk Streams Action Pack for the (a) protection and (b) enhancement of chalk streams.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government is committed to the protection and enhancement of chalk streams. We recognise that these unique water bodies are not just vital ecosystems; they are a symbol of our national heritage. That is why this Government has prioritised fixing the systemic issues in the water system, to restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.
We have introduced the Water (Special Measures) Bill in September, which will deliver on the government’s commitment to put water companies under special measures. We have also launched an independent commission into the water sector regulatory system in October to deliver transformative change to the water system.
These actions are fundamental to addressing the multiple pressures facing chalk streams.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to encourage increase his international counterparts to increase financial support for low- and middle-income countries in combating antimicrobial resistance at the Global High-Level Ministerial Meeting in Saudi Arabia.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The United Kingdom has long championed improved global finance to address anti-microbial resistance (AMR). The Department has committed £450 million of Official Development Assistance budget to tackle AMR in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through improving laboratory capacity and surveillance on resistance. The UK has also funded £106.6 million through the Global AMR Innovation Fund to develop innovative solutions to AMR which focus on the needs of LMICs.
We welcome the adoption of the political declaration on AMR at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and its call for the World Bank to work with the Quadripartite to facilitate improved access to existing funding for AMR.
I attended the 4th Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah on 15 and 16 November 2024. At the event I worked with other global leaders to secure progress that is being made to deliver the commitments agreed at the UNGA High Level meeting and build momentum on the actions needed, particularly on sustainable financing to tackle AMR.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
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 ensure that (a) GPs and (b) hospital staff receive adequate training to support those suffering from alcohol dependence.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to ensuring that those with alcohol dependence can access high quality help and specialist clinical support. General practitioners (GP) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.
All United Kingdom registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC) Good Medical Practice. In 2012 the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice, gives patients confidence that doctors are up to date with their practice, and promotes improved quality of care by driving improvements in clinical governance.
The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, they instead emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The Department will soon be publishing the first ever UK clinical guidelines on alcohol treatment. The guidelines include good practice recommendations for GPs and their teams, and for hospital clinicians. The guidelines can be used to inform training for staff working with people with alcohol dependence.
Additionally, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, and NHS England’s 10-year strategic plan for the drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce (2024–2034), outlines actions to be taken over the next decade to improve recruitment, training, skills, and career development and retention of specialist GPs working in the local authority-commissioned drug and alcohol treatment and recovery workforce. The strategic plan is available at the following link:
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children with cerebral palsy attend mainstream schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not hold statistics on how many children with cerebral palsy attend mainstream schools.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to tackle (a) mental health and (b) suicide rates among mothers in the twelve months postpartum.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Specialist community perinatal mental health services are established in all parts of England, but we recognise more is needed. Too many people with mental health issues, including mothers in the 12 months postpartum, are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
As set out in NHS England’s 2024/25 Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance, the National Health Service is working to increase the number of people accessing perinatal mental health services to 66,000. In 2023/24, 58,200 women accessed these services, compared to 30,600 in 2019/20.
The Suicide Prevention Strategy for England was published in September 2023. The strategy highlights pregnant women and new mothers as a priority group who could benefit from targeted support.
Asked by: Danny Chambers (Liberal Democrat - Winchester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to (a) sporting and (b) physical activities for (i) children and (ii) young people with cerebral palsy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have not made such an assessment. However, the Government’s new mission-led approach puts health, and children and young people at the heart of our priorities. The Government aims to provide all children, including disabled children and disabled young people, with opportunities to access high-quality sport and physical activity, especially those who are less likely to be active.
The Chief Medical Officer’s physical activity guidelines for disabled children highlights the importance of tailoring activities to meet individual needs, breaking an activity into chunks and making everyday movement enjoyable. Providing these inclusive opportunities for disabled children is a core principle of the Department of Education’s Inclusion 2024 programme, and the Government funded School Games Network, which works with organisations, including Cerebral Palsy Sport, to create inclusive environments in sport and physical activity for children with cerebral palsy.