Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that female-only medical conditions are included in medical training and research.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The General Medical Council (GMC) sets and enforces the standards that all doctors, Anaesthesia Associates, and Physician Associates must adhere to. The standard of training for doctors is the responsibility of the GMC, who set the outcome standards expected at undergraduate level. Individual medical schools set their own curricula, which must meet the standards and expected outcomes set by the GMC. The GMC has introduced the Medical Licensing Assessment for the majority of doctors, including all medical students graduating from the 2024/25 academic year and onwards. Within this assessment are a number of topics relating to women’s health, including fibroids, endometriosis, and urinary incontinence. This will encourage a better understanding of common health problems for women among all doctors as they start their careers in the United Kingdom.
The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR expects to implement its sex and gender policy in spring 2025. Implementing such a policy will ensure that research accounts for sex and gender across every stage of the research cycle, thus facilitating both an assessment of the funding into topics that impact men and women and, crucially, a greater understanding of how women might be impacted differently.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking with the rail industry to ensure it can access a greater share of competitive research and development funding through UKRI and Horizon Europe.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) play a critical role in helping the rail industry reduce its emissions and costs, optimise operations, improve resilience and safety and enhance passenger experience. The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with Horizon Europe, through the European Rail Joint Undertaking (ERJU), to collaborate. DfT officials represent the UK on the ERJU States Representative Group (SRG) to promote the UK rail sector and, working alongside Network Rail, access available funding for projects that are aligned to UK Government priorities. The Department of Transport also supports UK rail industry RD&I though funding the Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), First of a Kind (FOAK) programme, amongst other RD&I programmes. The FOAK programme aims to accelerate and increase the adoption of innovation within rail and received approximately £7.7m between FY2022-23 and FY2024-25.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what role the Global Centre of Rail Excellence will have in supporting offline testing of new trains.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions her Department has had with the Welsh Government to ensure that the opportunity of the Global Centre of Rail Excellence is maximised as part of its Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to help the Welsh Government ensure the Global Centre of Rail Excellence facility in South Wales is being supported to project completion.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to use rail industry procurement to support the Global Centre of Rail Excellence opportunity.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department of Transport continues to engage closely with the Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) in developing its proposal for world-class research, testing and certification site in South Wales. Department for Transport officials contribute through the cross-government GCRE steering group, which also includes representatives from the Department for Business and Trade and Welsh Government, to discuss options for Government support for the proposal and to ensure alignment with Government Industrial Strategy and other priorities.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what regulatory mechanisms are in place to help consumers verify the legitimacy of communications from (a) banks, (b) energy providers and (c) telecommunications companies to help prevent scams.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Although the Department of Business and Trade does not directly regulate these sectors, Companies House and the Insolvency Service supply data on UK registered companies to assist law enforcement targeting online fraud and other economic crimes. Furthermore, through the Consumer Protection Partnership, we raise awareness about how to spot, avoid and report scams.
Across Government, the Home Office works with Ofcom to prevent phone number ‘spoofing’, which is the practice of scammers impersonating UK phone numbers to trick people into thinking they are speaking to legitimate businesses.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that National Grid is taking improved action to regularly maintain infrastructure networks.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The maintenance of our electricity network is critical to deliver clean, secure power to homes and businesses across the country. Electricity network operators are private companies which build, own, operate, and maintain electricity network infrastructure. As regional monopolies, they are regulated by the independent energy regulator, Ofgem. Transmission owners and Distribution Network Operators are required by Ofgem’s license conditions to ensure the maintenance of an efficient, economic, and coordinated system of electricity transmission and distribution respectively.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish a list of Foreign Direct Investment in Wales by country.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A holding response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 27 January is attached. A copy of the final response will be deposited in the House of Commons Library as soon as it is complete.
Asked by: David Chadwick (Liberal Democrat - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe)
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 potential economic impact of seeking unlicensed products as an alternative to Creon to mitigate ongoing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy shortages on pharmacies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There has been no assessment on the potential economic impact of seeking unlicensed products as an alternative to Creon.
The Department is continuing to engage with suppliers of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT) and special importers of unlicensed medicines to increase the availability of PERT to mitigate the supply issue. The supplier of Creon expects to receive increased quantities for 2025. In December, the Department issued further management advice to healthcare professionals. This directs clinicians to unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and includes actions for integrated care boards to ensure local mitigation plans are implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a public-facing page which includes the latest updates on PERT availability and easily accessible prescribing advice, including advice on preserving available stock of alternative PERT for certain patient cohorts.