Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle cases of neglect in hospices.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
Where anyone alleges poor care, neglect or abuse, we expect those providing the service, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and other appropriate authorities to take swift action.
CQC is developing a new single assessment framework to be implemented by the end of the calendar year, which will inform its judgements about quality. As part of this, CQC will continue to place importance on safeguarding during its assessments and will assess whether people who use services are able to live in safety, free from bullying, harassment, abuse, discrimination, avoidable harm and neglect.
Where CQC identifies that a hospice is in breach of a regulation following an inspection, it will use its enforcement powers.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to protect minors from engagement with dangerous prisoners on (a) TikTok and (b) other social media platforms.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Under national policy prisoners can only access the internet in a supervised environment, and only for rehabilitative purposes. Prisoners cannot access or interact with social media whilst in custody.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to illicit mobile phones in prison which some prisoners may use to access social media. Our £100m Security Investment Programme (SIP), aimed at reducing crime in prisons including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the adult closed male estate. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive scans, preventing drugs and mobile phones from entering prisons. The SIP also funded the installation of a variety of detection and other mobile phone technologies across the estate, targeting those prisons presenting the highest risk of harm through illicit mobile phone use.
HMPPS’ Digital Media Investigations Unit (DMIU) have the capacity to forensically examine illicit mobile devices, and will investigate reported misuses of social media, working alongside social media sites to identify and stop unlawful activity. Where serious crimes are identified, including offences against children, the matter would be referred to police for consideration. The DMIU has strong working relationships with social media companies, including TikTok, and Meta, and work with them to improve how illegal prison-related content is identified and removed to avoid it impacting on victims, witnesses and members of the public of all ages.
Where possession of an illicit device is confirmed, or a direct link is found between a prisoner and social media content, cases may be referred to the police for further investigation and prisons can take further punitive action.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the rise of prisoners using mobile phones to record and upload videos to social media platforms.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Under national policy prisoners can only access the internet in a supervised environment, and only for rehabilitative purposes. Prisoners cannot access or interact with social media whilst in custody.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to illicit mobile phones in prison which some prisoners may use to access social media. Our £100m Security Investment Programme (SIP), aimed at reducing crime in prisons including reducing the conveyance of illicit items such as drugs and mobile phones, was completed in March 2022. This investment delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners resulting in full coverage across the adult closed male estate. As of October 2022, we had recorded 28,626 positive scans, preventing drugs and mobile phones from entering prisons. The SIP also funded the installation of a variety of detection and other mobile phone technologies across the estate, targeting those prisons presenting the highest risk of harm through illicit mobile phone use.
HMPPS’ Digital Media Investigations Unit (DMIU) have the capacity to forensically examine illicit mobile devices, and will investigate reported misuses of social media, working alongside social media sites to identify and stop unlawful activity. Where serious crimes are identified, including offences against children, the matter would be referred to police for consideration. The DMIU has strong working relationships with social media companies, including TikTok, and Meta, and work with them to improve how illegal prison-related content is identified and removed to avoid it impacting on victims, witnesses and members of the public of all ages.
Where possession of an illicit device is confirmed, or a direct link is found between a prisoner and social media content, cases may be referred to the police for further investigation and prisons can take further punitive action.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to help ensure the safety of the general public when prisoners serving their sentence in open prisons are outside of the facility.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Shadow Secretary of State for Education
Only those prisoners who have been assessed as presenting a low risk, including to victims, or have a suitable plan in place to manage identified risks, are allocated to an open prison. Once in open conditions prisoners may apply to be released on temporary licence (ROTL) for specified purposes, generally linked to resettlement.
Access to ROTL is not automatic but is subject to a further, rigorous risk assessment. Releases are monitored in line with the assessment and those who breach the strict conditions set may face a return to closed custody.
By providing opportunities to work, learn and build family ties, temporary release from prison reduces the chances of reoffending. Evidence shows the vast majority abide by their temporary release conditions, with a compliance rate of over 99%.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps his Department has taken to help ensure that changes to the registered details of vehicles are processed swiftly.
Answered by Richard Holden
The quickest and easiest way to notify changes to vehicle registration details is by using the DVLA’s online service. However, all DVLA vehicle services are operating within normal turnaround times and without delay.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include additional support for (a) pubs, (b) social clubs, (c) breweries and (d) cider producers in the Spring Budget.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
The Government is unable to speculate on the content of the Spring Budget, which takes place on 15 March.
As announced on 19 December, any changes to alcohol duty announced at Spring Budget 2023 will not take effect until 1 August 2023. This is to align with the date historic reforms for the alcohol duty system come in and amounts to an effective six month extension to the current duty freeze.
The alcohol duty reforms will include a new Draught Relief which will cut the level of duty on draught products sold in the on trade (i.e., pubs, social clubs), and a new Small Producer Relief will for the first time give craft cidermakers reduced rates as they grow their business. This will replace the existing Small Brewers Relief scheme, which has been reformed to remove cliff-edges and give craft brewers relief on their lower ABV beers too. The final design of the reforms will be published at Spring Budget.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will include additional support to the road haulage industry for fuel costs in the Spring Budget.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
At Spring Statement 2022, in response to high fuel prices, the Government introduced a temporary 12-month cut to duty on petrol and diesel of 5p per litre.
This represents a tax cut worth around £2.4 billion in 2022-23, benefiting anyone who consumes fuel across the UK – including the road haulage sector. Compared to uprating fuel duty in 2022-23, cutting fuel duty to this level saves the average UK haulier over £1,500, based on average fuel consumption.
All taxes remain under review and the Chancellor will confirm policy in the Budget in the Spring, as was the case in previous years.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the education of Afghan women and girls.
Answered by Leo Docherty
The Government has repeatedly condemned the Taliban's decisions to restrict women and girls' access to education, including through UN Security Council and Human Rights Council resolutions and public statements, most recently on 13 January 2023. The Government continues to support the delivery of education, including through bilateral and multilateral contributions to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), UN partners, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Education Cannot Wait, and the Global Partnership for Education.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
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 with Cabinet colleagues to increase the number of people studying nursing in higher education.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service has launched its fifth consecutive national recruitment campaign ‘We are the NHS’ to inspire people to consider a career in healthcare and increase applications for healthcare courses, including nursing.
The Student Loans Company provides the primary funding support package for students in further education. Student loans are subsidised by the taxpayer, this is a conscious investment in the skills and people of this country. Eligible nursing students also have access to a non-repayable grant of £5,000 per academic year plus additional grants and supports depending on their circumstances.
The Government continues to widen access to nursing careers through blended learning and apprenticeship routes. We now have a complete apprentice pathway for nursing, from entry level to postgraduate advanced clinical practice.
Asked by: David Warburton (Independent - Somerton and Frome)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the Major Conditions Strategy will tackle waiting times for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of diabetes.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport
The Major Conditions Strategy will cover treatment and prevention for diabetes and we will continue to work closely with stakeholders, citizens and the National Health Service in coming weeks to identify actions that will have the most impact.