Speeches made during Parliamentary debates are recorded in Hansard. For ease of browsing we have grouped debates into individual, departmental and legislative categories.
e-Petitions are administered by Parliament and allow members of the public to express support for a particular issue.
If an e-petition reaches 10,000 signatures the Government will issue a written response.
If an e-petition reaches 100,000 signatures the petition becomes eligible for a Parliamentary debate (usually Monday 4.30pm in Westminster Hall).
Limit the Sale and Use of Fireworks to Organisers of Licensed Displays Only
Gov Responded - 13 Aug 2020 Debated on - 8 Nov 2021 View Derek Twigg's petition debate contributionsCurrent legislation allows for public use of fireworks 16 hours a day, every day, making it impossible for vulnerable groups to take precautions against the distress they can cause. Better enforcement of existing law is insufficient; limiting their sale & use to licensed displays only is necessary.
Protect the UK's dwindling hedgehog population before it's too late.
Gov Responded - 19 Oct 2020 Debated on - 5 Jul 2021 View Derek Twigg's petition debate contributionsNow the hedgehog has been listed as vulnerable to extinction in the UK, we are calling on the Government to move hedgehogs to schedule 5 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 to allow them greater protection.
These initiatives were driven by Derek Twigg, and are more likely to reflect personal policy preferences.
MPs who are act as Ministers or Shadow Ministers are generally restricted from performing Commons initiatives other than Urgent Questions.
Derek Twigg has not been granted any Urgent Questions
Derek Twigg has not introduced any legislation before Parliament
Public Advocate (No. 2) Bill 2019-21
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (Lab)
Public Advocate Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Maria Eagle (Lab)
Leasehold Reform Bill 2017-19
Sponsor - Justin Madders (Lab)
Public Authority (Accountability) Bill 2016-17
Sponsor - Andy Burnham (Lab)
The evidential threshold that is applied by the CPS when making charging decisions is the same threshold that is applied in all cases, for all offences and for all suspects. There is no separate threshold that is applied for different types of suspects, such as trained or licensed doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners.
The Code for Crown Prosecutors (the Code) is issued by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) under section 10 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. The Code gives guidance to prosecutors on the general principles to be applied when making decisions about prosecutions.
Prosecutors must only start or continue a prosecution when the case has passed both stages of the Full Code Test (FCT), which is set out at section 4 of the Code. The FCT has two stages, the evidential stage, followed by the public interest stage.
At the evidential stage, prosecutors must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. The Code provides further guidance on how the evidential stage should be assessed.
If the case passes the evidential stage, prosecutors must go on to consider whether a prosecution is required in the public interest. The Code provides a series of questions that prosecutors should consider when applying the public interest stage.
When making charging decisions, prosecutors must also comply with any guidelines issued by the Attorney General, and with the policies and guidance of the CPS. CPS guidance contains further evidential and public interest factors for specific offences and is available for the public to view on the CPS website.
The Office for National Statistics is due to publish the initial results of the Veterans’ Survey on 15th December this year. Future releases will be announced on the ONS website in due course.
The Veterans’ Survey was the first UK-wide data collection from the veterans community that was led by the Government. It was a huge success, with more than 30,000 responses received.
The results of the survey are expected to be available by autumn this year and will be published on the Office for National Statistics’ website in due course.
In the meantime, we have recently launched the Veterans’ Data Dashboard, bringing together veterans’ data from different public bodies for the first time. The Dashboard will provide a snapshot to the public, veterans and service providers so they can learn about the community, as well as the different services offered by the Government to support veterans.
The Government does not project demand by type of end use. Instead, it projects forward total electricity demand by sector, based on trends in past data and the observed past relationship with economic drivers, such as price and economic growth. We therefore do not have projections of electricity demand from data centres and AI infrastructure. This would however be picked up in the future through the statistical analysis if increases in consumption from these sources lead to significant deviation from past trends and relationships.
Investigations into competition issues are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s independent competition authority.
Investigations into competition issues are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority, the UK’s independent competition authority.
The Government is committed to ensuring we make workplaces fairer by bringing forward a range of measures through the Employment Bill, and this will include considering options for new protections for those in the gig economy.
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement’s 2019-20 strategy also recommended the Government examine the threat to labour hire compliance from online and app-based recruitment businesses. The Government will respond to the 2019-20 strategy in due course.
In the Queens’ Speech, we announced we will bring forward an Employment Bill to deliver on a range of Manifesto commitments.
This legislation will make workplaces fairer by introducing new protections for those in the gig economy.
The preparation of an Employment Bill follows recent assessments of modern ways of working. Many of these aspects are complex and so it is only right that we take time to consider how best to achieve change that works for all.
We will bring forward detailed proposals in due course.
The Government recognises the impact that sport and physical activity has on physical and mental health, and the importance of welfare and wellbeing for everyone participating in sport at all levels.
The Government's role in the support of bidding for and hosting major sporting events is set out in the Gold Framework. The Gratitude Games do not meet the criteria as set out in the Gold Framework and therefore would not be within scope for support. We encourage all organisations to continue to work together to support mental health through sport and physical activity.
We appreciate that the entertainment and events sector has been significantly affected by COVID19. That’s why the Government has maintained a regular dialogue with the sectors via various working groups since the outbreak of the pandemic.
We have undertaken assessments of the financial impact of the pandemic through the DCMS Coronavirus (COVID-19) Impact Business Survey, which is available on GOV.UK.
We recognise the crucial role that technicians play in the UK’s live music and events sector. The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme has helped millions of people across the UK, with those eligible receiving a cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years. This has covered 95% of people who receive the majority of their income from self-employment.
In addition to this scheme designed to support the self-employed, the Government announced an unprecedented £1.57bn support package for organisations in the Arts and Culture sectors. This funding will help preserve and resume cultural activity, initially with socially distanced audiences and subsequently kick start employment opportunities for freelancers.
To complement the funding for organisations made available by Government, Arts Council England have announced £95m of additional support for individuals, including freelancers. This involves:
An additional £75m in project grants. These will be focused on applications that maximise employment opportunities and those from under-represented groups. Freelancers are eligible to apply directly. National Portfolio Organisations can also apply to create new work with bids that create employment opportunities prioritised.
A further round of the ACE programme ‘Discover Your Creative Practice’ will open in the autumn. This will make approximately £18m available for individuals looking to develop new creative skills that will help them to further develop their career.
ACE will also be adding £2m into relevant benevolent funds to support those less well supported by the programmes outlined above, including stage managers and technicians.
We are committed to continuing to work with the live music and events sectors to understand the difficulties they face and help them access support through these challenging times and through recovery.
The Department is committed to publishing the Children Not in School consultation response in due course. We hope to have this published in the coming months.
The Government has substantially strengthened its guidance to local authorities on exercising their powers in relation to elective home education. The revised guidance, which was published in April 2019, sets out the steps that local authorities should take to satisfy themselves that the education provided by parents at home is suitable, and the actions that they can take if they are not satisfied.
In the spring of 2019, a consultation was held on proposals for:
- a mandatory register of children not attending state or registered independent schools to help local authorities carry out their responsibilities in relation to children not in school.
- a duty on parents to register their child with the local authority if not registered at specified types of schools.
- a duty on proprietors of certain schools or colleges to respond to enquiries from local authorities.
- a duty on local authorities to provide support to parents who educate children at home.
The consultation closed on 24 June 2019, with nearly 5000 responses. The Department remains committed to a registration system for children not in school. Further details on this will be in the Government response to the consultation, which will be published in due course.
The information requested about pupils being off rolled is not held by the Department and cannot be estimated from current data sources.
However, the Government is clear that informal and unofficial expulsions are unlawful, and off rolling is unacceptable in any form. The Department will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and revisions to the framework in September 2019 strengthened the focus on this. Where inspectors find off rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register only on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8. This should be done as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.
The Department publishes annual figures from the school census on the number of pupils permanently excluded from schools in England. Local authority figures for the period from 2010/11 to 2018/19 can be found in the publications listed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions.
The information requested about pupils being off rolled is not held by the Department and cannot be estimated from current data sources.
However, the Government is clear that informal and unofficial expulsions are unlawful, and off rolling is unacceptable in any form. The Department will continue to work with Ofsted to define and tackle it. Ofsted already considers records of children taken off roll and revisions to the framework in September 2019 strengthened the focus on this. Where inspectors find off rolling, this will always be addressed in the inspection report, and where appropriate, could lead to a school’s leadership being judged inadequate.
A pupil’s name can lawfully be deleted from the admission register only on the grounds prescribed in regulation 8 of the Education (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2006 as amended. All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register under any of the grounds prescribed in regulation 8. This should be done as soon as the ground for removal is met and no later than the time at which the pupil’s name is removed from the register.
The Department publishes annual figures from the school census on the number of pupils permanently excluded from schools in England. Local authority figures for the period from 2010/11 to 2018/19 can be found in the publications listed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-exclusions.
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon Member in the time available before Prorogation.
The Department is currently collecting data on attendance of pupils and staff, and the availability of remote learning, from schools on a daily basis and publishes data from this collection as part of the official statistics series. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data is published from 9 September 2020, but prior to 12 October 2020 information on pupils isolating was not collected.
Data on the number of pupils sent home due to a pupil in their cohort testing positive is not collected. The closest estimate of this figure is the number of pupils isolating in each school due to a potential contact with a case of COVID-19 within the setting.
Data is collected as totals for each school. It is therefore not possible to calculate a cumulative total, instead figures for each individual week (which may include the same pupils in both weeks) are provided. It is also not possible to calculate the number of school days lost as a result of absence.
Data is collected from schools and aggregated to local authority level. The Department intends to publish regional and local authority level data on 15 December. This data will be included as part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (Covid 19) outbreak’.
The frequency of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (Covid 19) outbreak’ will be reviewed in the new year.
The Department is constantly reviewing the content of its publications. Announcements about future content will be made through the official statistics release page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/statistics.
The Department is currently collecting data on attendance of pupils and staff, and the availability of remote learning, from schools on a daily basis and publishes data from this collection as part of the official statistics series. The publication can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/attendance-in-education-and-early-years-settings-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak. Data is published from 9 September 2020, but prior to 12 October 2020 information on pupils isolating was not collected.
Data on the number of pupils sent home due to a pupil in their cohort testing positive is not collected. The closest estimate of this figure is the number of pupils isolating in each school due to a potential contact with a case of COVID-19 within the setting.
Data is collected as totals for each school. It is therefore not possible to calculate a cumulative total, instead figures for each individual week (which may include the same pupils in both weeks) are provided. It is also not possible to calculate the number of school days lost as a result of absence.
Data is collected from schools and aggregated to local authority level. The Department intends to publish regional and local authority level data on 15 December. This data will be included as part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (Covid 19) outbreak’.
The frequency of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings during the coronavirus (Covid 19) outbreak’ will be reviewed in the new year.
The Department is constantly reviewing the content of its publications. Announcements about future content will be made through the official statistics release page: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/about/statistics.
The Government has been clear that it is a top priority to keep schools open throughout the COVID-19 outbreak and ensure all pupils benefit from a high quality education.
On 12 October, the Department announced that assessment by examination will be part of a normalised year for Year 11 pupils because examinations are the fairest form of assessment. The Department also announced that the examinations will start on 7 June and end on 2 July for almost all GCSEs. This is three weeks later than the usual start dates from previous years to help teachers and pupils prepare for examinations. The delay and the changes already agreed to what will be assessed in some GCSE subjects, as well as changes that ease the burden of assessment in some subjects at GCSE , will give pupils extra time to study, without causing unnecessary disruption to the usual timetable of the academic year. These changes to the assessment of GCSEs were announced in August, following a public consultation. The outcome of Ofqual’s consultation on summer 2021 exams is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/proposed-changes-to-the-assessment-of-gcses-as-and-a-levels-in-2021.
The Department, along with Ofqual and exam boards, is engaging extensively with the sector on plans for exams in summer 2021, including with head teachers, principals of further education colleges, trade unions and sector representative bodies. Engagement with head teachers and their representatives are through a number of different forums and cover a range of issues, including the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on pupils’ attendance, teaching time and GCSE examinations in 2021. These engagements will inform our planning for all foreseeable scenarios to safeguard pupils’ ability to sit exams and achieve qualifications which allow them to progress to the next stage of their education or employment. We expect to share details of these contingency plans later in the autumn.
We know that young children have missed out on early education at a crucial period of cognitive and behavioural development. This is especially significant for vulnerable and disadvantaged children, which may widen the early development gap.
The most effective intervention government can take to address this is to get children back into early education.
Since 1 June, early years settings have been able to welcome back children of all ages. We want to ensure councils and early years providers can get children back into settings as quickly as possible, where they can be fully supported during this crucial period for their development.
Fifteen hours of high quality free early education is provided for all three- and four-year olds and disadvantaged two-year olds. An additional fifteen hours (30 hours) is provided for eligible working parents for three- and four-year olds.
We will work with the sector to explore how best to continue to support children’s early development, including through the department’s Hungry Little Minds campaign which we will use to continue to provide support for parents to develop their children’s early language and literacy.
Information on the Hungry Little Minds campaign can be found at: https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk.
Children and young people have experienced unprecedented disruption to their education during lockdown. We expect the most disadvantaged children to have fallen further behind than their peers. The Education Endowment Fund’s (EEF) median estimate suggests the attainment gap between children from economically deprived households and their peers could widen by 36% as a result of school closures [1].
The Government has therefore announced a package of support to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all children and young people make up for lost teaching time, with extra support in the form of a tutoring programme for those who need it most.
This package of measures includes:
The evidence strongly shows that tutoring is an effective way to accelerate educational attainment. We therefore believe targeted tutoring is the best way to narrow the gaps that emerged during the closure of schools.
To support schools to make best use of the catch up premium, the EEF has published a COVID-19 Recovery Guide for Schools with evidence-based approaches to catch-up for all students: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/public/files/Publications/Covid-19_Resources/Covid-19_support_guide_for_schools.pdf.
The Government has announced a package of support worth £1 billion to ensure that schools have the support they need to help all children and young people make up for lost teaching time, with extra support in the form of a tutoring programme for those who need it most.
This package of measures includes:
The universal catch up premium will be paid as a grant to all state-funded primary and secondary schools in England over the 2020/21 academic year.
This premium will be in addition to schools’ core budgets for 2020-21. We will confirm the timetable for publishing institution-level allocations in due course.
As plans continue for a full return to education from September, we have announced a £1 billion Covid “catch-up” package to directly tackle the impact of lost teaching time.
£650 million will be shared across state primary and secondary schools over the 2020/21 academic year. This one-off grant to support pupils recognises that all young people have lost time in education as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, regardless of their income or background.
In addition, a National Tutoring Programme, worth £350 million, will increase access to high-quality tuition for the most disadvantaged young people. This will help accelerate their academic progress and prevent the gap between them and their more affluent peers widening.
We are working closely with our delivery partners, including the Education Endowment Foundation, Sutton Trust, Impetus and Nesta, to roll out a programme that ensures we reach the maximum number of disadvantaged students possible while ensuring that tutors all meet a high quality bar.
We will be supporting the highest quality tutoring organisations to increase their recruitment of tutors. Alongside this, we will be supporting a small number of schools in the most disadvantaged areas to directly employ tutors. We will be publishing more detail of the scheme shortly.
This £1 billion package is on top of the £14.4 billion three-year funding settlement announced last year - recognising the additional work schools will need to do to help students to catch up.
We have consulted with stakeholder groups across the sector. We have also conducted more than 300 social and user research interviews with school leaders, teachers and parents from schools across England and Wales to inform our response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
We are committed to supporting all children and young people to make up for time spent out of education. We’re giving colleges the flexibility to offer a combination of face-to-face and online delivery to more of their students and apprentices and we know that remote education has been working well for many students in post-16 education.
We will continue to work with the sector to establish the best methods of supporting students to make up for disruption due to COVID-19.
We are providing additional funding to schools, on top of existing budgets, to cover certain unavoidable costs incurred due to the COVID-19 outbreak that cannot be met from their existing resources.
Schools are eligible to claim for increased premises related costs associated with keeping schools open over the Easter and summer half term holidays; support for free school meals for eligible children who are not in school, where schools are not using the national voucher scheme; and additional cleaning costs required due to confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, over and above the cost of existing cleaning arrangements.
Schools are not eligible to make a claim against this fund if they expect to add to their existing historic surpluses in their current financial year (September 2019 to August 2020 for academies and April 2020 to March 2021 for maintained schools). This means schools cannot claim if they began their current financial year with an accumulated historic surplus and expect to increase that surplus this year and thereby finish the year with a higher level of reserves than they started.
Schools are eligible for reimbursement where the additional costs associated with COVID-19 would result in a school having to use historic surpluses; increase the size of a historic deficit; or prevent the planned repayment of a historic deficit.
It is reasonable for taxpayers to expect that further public funding through this period is not adding to existing surpluses that are held by schools. Schools will continue to receive their budgets for the coming year, as usual, regardless of any periods of partial closure or reduced operations.
The Environment Agency will be publishing its updated National Framework for Water Resources in 2025. This will reflect the expectation that regional water resources plans explore opportunities to deliver cross sector mutual benefits, as set out in a joint letter from Government and water regulators to regional water resources groups in January 2023.
This will include the need to work with data centre and AI industries to establish and understand their potential water demands, seeking to identify potential mutually beneficial solutions.
In some parts of England which are designated as water stressed, water companies may not be able to supply the required volume of water. The data centre and AI industry will need to investigate and plan for alternative sources of water, including on site water storage and water recycling.
HM Government is committed to reducing and managing waste safely and carefully. Defra supports Recycle Now, the national recycling campaign for England and Northern Ireland, which advises the public on what items can be recycled and where they can be recycled. The Recycle Now website makes clear that inhalers should be returned to pharmacies to be disposed of safely.
The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with United Utilities about Japanese knotweed.
Generally, Runcorn is served by one Avanti West Coast train per hour to and from London Euston.
Period | Number of Avanti West Coast services cancelled between Runcorn and London Euston (Avanti West Coast caused, both directions) | Number of Avanti West Coast services cancelled between Runcorn and London Euston (All causes, both directions) |
14 November – 11 December 2021 | 19.5 | 23.5 |
12 December – 8 January 2022 | 46 | 49 |
9 January – 5 February 2022 | 12 | 13.5 |
6 February – 5 March 2022 | 20 | 27.5 |
6 March – 31 March 2022 | 28.5 | 29 |
1 April – 30 April 2022 | 46 | 53 |
1 May – 28 May 2022 | 31 | 41 |
29 May – 25 June 2022 | 44.5 | 56 |
26 June – 23 July 2022 | 115 | 138 |
24 July – 20 August 2022 | 80.5 | 88 |
21 August – 17 September | 42.5 | 51 |
18 September – 15 October 2022 | 42.5 | 43 |
16 October – 12 November 2022 | 36.5 | 48.5 |
Cancellation data by rail period was provided by the operator.
1 = A train ran less than half its planned mileage
0.5 = A train was cancelled but ran more than half its planned mileage
‘All causes’ includes cancellations resulting from infrastructure failure as well as any other external cause such as trespass or other train/freight operator failure. In the same period there were seven instances of services failing to call at Runcorn on route, as these services ran more than half their booked mileage they are counted as part cancellations in the table. None were Avanti West Coast caused.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) carries out quarterly scans of the vehicle register. The most recent scan shows that 92.1 per cent of vehicles on the database are traceable, equating to 46,284,393 vehicles that have been taxed or had a statutory off road notification made in the last five years. Traceable means that each of these vehicle records will have contact details (name and address) for the registered keeper of the vehicle to which the DVLA can send correspondence.
While the DVLA is confident it can trace 92.1 per cent of vehicles from its records it does not hold specific information on how many vehicle keepers it has been unable to trace over a set period.
All vehicle keepers are legally responsible for ensuring that the information on the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s vehicle record is accurate. This is important to ensure that vehicle keepers receive important information, for example reminders when their vehicle excise duty is due for renewal.
The DVLA regularly assesses the traceability of vehicle keepers from the information held on its records. From the latest available information, the DVLA is confident it can trace a vehicle in 92.1 per cent of its records.
The data requested is not available. The police are responsible for prosecuting this offence and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not routinely notified of convictions as the offence does not attract penalty points on a driving licence.
The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services have been available throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. There are no delays in online applications and customers should receive their driving licence within a few days.
However, many people still choose or have to make a paper application for a driving licence. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person. Fewer operational staff have been on site to allow for social distancing, in line with Welsh Government requirements. This, as well as ongoing industrial action by members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has led to delays.
Currently, driving licence applications made on paper are likely to take six to ten weeks to process. More information on turnaround times is available online. There may be additional delays in processing more complex transactions, for example, if medical investigations are needed.
The Department has received six applications for the small wild mammal traffic sign in the last three years. None of these applications have been approved.
All Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) staff who can work from home continue to do so as office space has been prioritised for operational staff who have to be on-site to process paper applications. The DVLA’s online services have worked well throughout the pandemic and this remains the quickest and easiest way of making applications.
The DVLA is employing shift patterns, staggered start times, weekend working and other measures to ensure that social distancing can be maintained. Due to this, the number of staff who can be on-site at any one time is greatly reduced but the working day has been significantly extended. This means that almost all DVLA operational staff are now working on-site but not all at the same time.
Staff are allocated to different work streams at different times depending on where the need is greatest. All driving licences and driving entitlement expiring between 1 February 2020 and 31 December 2020 have been extended for 11 months. This means that no drivers currently need to apply to renew a driving licence or driving entitlement.
The number of paper driving licence applications waiting to be processed fluctuates on a daily basis as licences are issued and new applications received. On 1 September, there were 127,870 paper driving licence applications where customers had applied directly to the DVLA, awaiting processing. As of 15 September, this had reduced to 94,920.
The average time taken to deal with driving licence applications received across online and paper channels is 5.26 days.
Electrification will play a significant role in our programme to decarbonise the railway and will deliver other benefits for railway users and neighbours.
Network Rail’s ongoing work developing a Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy will inform decisions about whether electrification or alternative technologies are the most appropriate option for each part of the network where diesel trains currently run. This work will support the Department’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which will be published at the end of this year.
The Department does not store information at a constituency level. As a result, providing the requested information would incur disproportionate costs.
If an individual approaches DWP alleging they have had their identity fraudulently used, we will investigate the matter. We endeavour to ensure that these investigations are brought to a conclusion as quickly as possible.
Where a person has had their details used to make a fraudulent claim for Universal Credit, the Department may consider the reinstatement of legacy benefits where it is clear they played no part in the making of the claim.
The Department does not hold this data by constituency and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs.
The information is not held in the format requested. Data is collected on patients waiting over 52 weeks, 65 weeks and 78 weeks, with more information available at the following link:
Data on the number of children on a waiting list for an assessment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is not held centrally, but may be held locally by individual National Health Service trusts or commissioners. The Cheshire and Merseyside integrated care board (ICB) has provided data on the number of children awaiting an ADHD assessment, and state that at the end of January 2024, there were 230 children awaiting an assessment in Halton. The longest wait time for an ADHD assessment in Halton is 53 weeks, with an average wait time for assessment and outcome or diagnosis of 46 weeks.
The Department is exploring options for improving national data collection and reporting on waiting times for ADHD assessments, to help improve access to ADHD assessments in a timely way, and in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guideline on ADHD. The National Institute for Health and Care Research has commissioned a research project to provide initial insights into local ADHD assessment waiting time data collection.
With respect to autism, NHS England publishes data on how many people are waiting for an autism diagnosis and for how long, which provides useful information nationally and locally to support local areas in improving their performance and reducing assessment and diagnosis waiting times. Data is not available publicly for the Borough of Halton, but is available publicly for the Cheshire and Merseyside ICB, and therefore the ICB has provided data on numbers of children waiting for autism assessments in Halton. As of the end of January 2024, they state there were 848 children awaiting autism assessment in Halton. The longest wait time for an autism assessment panel and outcome or diagnosis in Halton is 107 weeks.
The NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB advises that it is working with providers to increase capacity, and has put waiting list initiatives in place to help reduce waiting times for autism assessments. The ICB also commissions pre and post diagnosis support for children and young people on autism and ADHD waiting lists, and is planning on commissioning a coordinator role to support families whilst they are waiting for neurodevelopmental assessments.
The Government welcomes Cancer Research UK’s report, which rightly highlights progress made in cancer diagnosis and care.
Cancer is a Government priority, demonstrated by the commitment to the ambition of diagnosing 75% of cancers at stages 1 and 2 by 2028. NHS England has implemented interventions to help achieve this ambition, such as Non-specific Symptom Pathways, and will continue to seek new ways to diagnose cancer earlier and save more lives, for example through the NHS-Galleri blood test trial.
Furthermore, the Department has invested over £100 million into cancer research in 2021/22 through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In January 2023, Cancer Research UK, NIHR and the devolved administrations jointly provided funding of £47.5 million to the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre network over the next five years. The Department is working closely with research partners in all sectors, and the Government's continued commitment to cancer research will help to build on that progress, leading to continued improvements for all cancer patients.
NHS England is monitoring the pipeline of prospective disease modifying treatments for early Alzheimer’s disease. NHS England is currently anticipating decisions on whether the first of these medicines will be licensed for use in the United Kingdom next year.
A dedicated programme team has been established within NHS England for early Alzheimer’s treatments. The team is working closely with the medicines manufacturers, patient groups and other key stakeholders to prepare in advance for the roll out of any new medicines in the National Health Service as and when they secure the necessary regulatory approvals. This includes securing additional diagnostic capacity including magnetic resonance imaging, lumbar puncture and positron emission tomography/computed topography.
On 17 August 2023, NHS England announced that cancer waiting times standards would be rationalised from 1 October 2023. This followed the clinically led review of standards across the National Health Service which recommended consolidating cancer waiting times from ten standards into three.
From October 2023, there will be a Faster Diagnosis Standard of a maximum 28-day wait for communication of a definitive cancer/not cancer diagnosis for patients referred urgently or those identified by NHS cancer screening. There will be a maximum 62-day wait to first treatment from urgent general practitioner referral, NHS cancer screening or consultant upgrade. There will be a maximum 31-day wait from decision to treat to any cancer treatment starting for all cancer patients.
These changes will allow a clearer focus on priorities and give clinicians greater flexibility to adopt new technologies such as remote image review and artificial intelligence, and avoid disincentivising modern working practices such as one-stop shops and straight-to-test.
Alongside the updated standards, the NHS has also committed to publishing a more detailed breakdown of the cancer statistics each month, increasing the number of cancer types for which separate data are published. Statistics on performance against the old standards will continue to be collected.
Improving early diagnosis of cancer, including breast cancer, remains a priority. We are working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028. The latest published data shows this was 52% from January to December 2020. Achieving this will mean that, from 2028, 55,000 more people each year will survive their cancer for at least five years after diagnosis.
The Government has also expanded the Breast Screening programme, with an additional £10 million funding for 28 new breast screening units and nearly 60 life-saving upgrades to services in the areas where they are most needed.