Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report from the Patient Safety Commissioner entitled The Hughes Report: Options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh, published on 7 February 2024, whether she is taking steps to implement the recommendation that women treated with mesh should be compensated.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government commissioned the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) to produce a report on redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. We are grateful to the PSC and her team for completing this report, and our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. The Government is now carefully considering the PSC’s recommendations, and will respond substantively in due course.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Modern leasehold: restricting ground rent for existing leases, closed on 17 January 2024, whether he plans to reduce ground rents.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
I would refer my Rt Hon Friend to the answer I gave to Question UIN 23795 on 3 May 2024.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make it her policy to end the funding of hospices through integrated care boards.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
I commend my Rt Hon. Friend’s tireless advocacy for high-quality end-of-life care, through his work on the APPG for Dying Well.
I understand his concerns about potential variation in provision. However, the Health and Care Act 2022 included a legal duty for integrated care boards to commission palliative and end of life care, in line with wider NHS devolution.
Integrated care boards are best positioned to understand and meet the needs of their local population, and commission appropriate end-of-life services, including from the NHS and voluntary sector organisations, such as hospices.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the School Admissions Code.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The School Admissions Code (the Code) exists to ensure that places in all state-funded schools are allocated in a fair and transparent manner. Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the requirements of the Code and related admissions law.
The latest version of the Code came into force on 1 September 2021. The department keeps the provisions of the Code under review to ensure they continue to remain fit for purpose, however there are currently no plans to change the Code.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department made of the potential risks of discontinuing routine covid-19 testing of hospital patients prior to their discharge to care homes before.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The public health advice is that now is an appropriate point to end routine asymptomatic discharge testing for COVID-19, and move to a risk-based approach. A reduction in the severity of illness associated with the omicron variant, coupled with a high uptake of the vaccine among residents during the autumn COVID-19 vaccination booster, continued provision of infection prevention and control guidance, and the upcoming increased eligibility for COVID-19 treatments, demonstrates a reduced level of risk from COVID-19 in adult social care settings. In addition, epidemiological studies, and consensus reports from the early phases of the pandemic, suggest that hospital discharge was not dominant in the ingress of COVID-19 into care home settings.
The UK Health Security Agency’s (UKHSA) guidance on safe discharge and management of individuals with symptoms of an acute respiratory infection remains in place, and this will be kept under regular review. National Health Service trusts will have local discretion to re-introduce discharge or other forms of testing where clinically appropriate, following a risk assessment involving local authority public health teams, UKHSA Health Protection Teams, and care providers, as necessary in the decision making.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her planned timetable is for informing schools of the arrangements for reimbursement of the increased contributions they are required to make for teachers pensions.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
On 11 March 2024, the department announced an additional £1.1 billion in the 2024/25 financial year to support schools with the increased Teachers’ Pension Scheme employer contribution rate.
The £1.1 billion will mean over £920 million for mainstream schools and over £135 million for high needs settings. Additional funding will also be provided to local authorities in respect of centrally employed teachers.
This additional funding will be distributed via the new teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (TPECG) 2024. Further details can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-pension-employer-contribution-grant-2024-for-schools-high-needs-settings-and-local-authorities-2024-to-2025. To help with planning, the department has published a ready reckoner for mainstream schools and academies to estimate what their TPECG 24 allocation for 2024/25 will be. The ready reckoner can be found here: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fmedia%2F65f2cf0eff117048966159fc%2FTPECG_2024-25_Calculator.ods&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK.
With the extra funding for pension contributions, overall school funding is rising by £2.9 billion in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24, which takes the total to £60.7 billion and the highest ever level in real terms per pupil.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to launch a consultation on the growth of community-run renewable energy schemes.
Answered by Graham Stuart
We have been codesigning the consultation on the community energy sector via the Community Energy Contact Group (CECG). We intend to publish the consultation as soon as possible.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he plans to respond to the call for evidence relating to potential regulations under the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Bill 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government supported the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, which gained Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act will require immobilisers and forensic marking to be fitted as standard to specified new agricultural equipment such as All-Terrain Vehicles and quad bikes. The Act also provides a power for the Secretary of State to extend requirements to other equipment designed for use in agricultural or commercial activities, via secondary legislation.
A call for evidence was published last summer, seeking views on the details needed for the secondary legislation, targeted at those who may be affected by proposals, including the agricultural and construction sectors, manufacturers, dealers, retailers, tradespeople and law enforcement.
Over 200 responses to the call for evidence were received, and we have further engaged with manufacturers and retailers to discuss responses in detail. I am carefully considering responses before publishing the Government response.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent representations has he received on section 684 notices.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
In May 2022, the Court of Appeal confirmed that HMRC could use provisions in tax legislation (section 684(7A)(b) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003). HMRC is using these provisions in line with the Court of Appeal judgment.
The Government has received representations about s684(7A)(b) from several Members on behalf of their constituents, as well as the All Party Parliamentary Group on the Loan Charge and Taxpayer Fairness.
Asked by: Desmond Swayne (Conservative - New Forest West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions she has had with BT on the duration of the pause in its rollout of the digital switchover for elderly and vulnerable customers.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
When the UK’s major Communication Providers signed the Charter of Commitments in December 2023, they committed to pausing non-voluntary migrations of all customers until they had full confidence that they are taking all possible steps to protect vulnerable people through the migration process. As a result, BT have currently paused all non-voluntary migrations.
BT has not yet indicated when they will resume the practice of non-voluntary migrations. This is a commercial decision for BT to make, and we expect them to notify us when they intend to resume non-voluntary migrations. DSIT Ministers and officials are meeting with BT regularly to discuss the progress of the migration.
Government and Ofcom are engaging with all signatories of the Charter of Commitments to monitor their approach to the PSTN migration. This includes asking them whether they conduct non-voluntary migration programmes and what protections they have in place for vulnerable customers.