Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the infrastructure needed for the UK’s transition to electric vehicles is accessible for people with disabilities.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Government is committed to ensuring an accessible and inclusively designed electric vehicle (EV) charging network is available for all consumers.
That is why we are partnering with national disability charity Motability to commission the British Standards Institution (BSI) to develop accessibility standards for public EV chargepoints. These standards – to be finalised by summer 2022 – are being developed in collaboration with consumer groups, chargepoint operators and other stakeholders. Guidance will consider aspects such as kerb height, cable weight, adequate space between bollards and chargepoints being of a height suitable for wheelchair users. It will also consider chargepoints in the context of their surrounding built environment to ensure pedestrians and other road users’ needs are reflected.
We consulted on introducing accessibility requirements at EV chargepoints in autumn 2021. We will publish a response in 2022.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that every local authority and health authority has a local continence pathway in place.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
NHS England has established The National Bladder and Bowel Health Project to improve continence care across the whole health and care system. The Project has a specific remit to look at clinical standards for bladder, bowel, paediatrics and stoma care pathways and is in the process of developing evidence-based service pathways to support a consistent approach to continence services.
The Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act (2007) requires Clinical Commissioning Groups and local authorities to develop a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment of the health and well-being of their local community. NHS England’s Excellence in Continence Care provides a framework that enables commissioners, including local authorities, to work in collaboration with providers and others to improve the care and experience of patients with continence issues.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of continence advisory services operating across the NHS in England in (a), 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
This information is not held centrally by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the mental health and wellbeing of NHS dentists; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England and NHS Improvement are aware that the pandemic has been challenging for the mental health and wellbeing of all health and care workers, including National Health Service dentists. NHS England and NHS Improvement have invested in additional mental health support which is available to all NHS dental teams. This includes the ‘Looking After You Too’ service. NHS Practitioner Health is also available to dentists, including confidential support 24 hours a day, seven days a week via a dedicated phoneline and a crisis text service. Further resources are also available online via NHS People.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) practising dentists and (b) practising NHS dentists there were in England (i) in total, (ii) by NHS regional area, (iii) by NHS local area and (iv) by Parliamentary constituency, in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested is available for practising National Health Service dentists. A table showing the number of dentists undertaking NHS activity in England, NHS Region and clinical commissioning group in each of the last 10 years is attached. Data is not available by Parliamentary constituency.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of vacancies there are (a) in total, (b) for qualified paramedics and (c) for trained ambulance drivers in each Ambulance Service NHS Trust in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
No such estimate has been made as the information is not held in the format requested.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many households were in fuel poverty by (a) principal local authority and (b) parliamentary constituency in England in each year since 2015; and what equivalent estimate and forecast he has made for (i) 2021 and (ii) 2022; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
BEIS publish Fuel poverty statistics by Local Authority (Table 2) and parliamentary constituency (Table 4) in England, the latest data covers 2019. These are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-sub-regional-statistics#2019-statistics.
BEIS also publish Fuel poverty long term trends, covering 2010-2019, under the Low Income Low Energy Efficiency (LILEE) and the Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicators here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-trends-2021.
The Government’s projection for the number of households in England that would be in fuel poverty for the year 2021 is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/fuel-poverty-statistics-projections-2021.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to improve the take-up of the Warm Homes Discount; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
In the 2021/22 scheme year, all low-income pensioners who are potentially eligible for a rebate under the Core Group will have received a letter from the Government by mid-December and most will receive the rebate automatically. In addition, the Warm Home Discount website is widely signposted and used by consumer groups, charities, and energy comparison websites to maximise uptake.
Energy suppliers are responsible for setting their eligibility criteria for Broader Group rebates and providing the rebates to eligible households. Suppliers make their customers aware of the scheme and are usually over-subscribed with applications.
This summer, the Government consulted on extending, expanding, and reforming the scheme such that from winter 2022/23 the vast majority of Warm Home Discount rebates would be provided automatically.
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's press release of 26 February 2021, what progress he has made in improving facilities for disabled passengers at each of the 124 stations awarded funding through the Access for All programme; and if he will estimate when the accessibility improvements will be completed for each station where the works have not been finished; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Access for All programme has delivered step free accessible routes at more than 200 stations and smaller scale access improvements at more than 1500 stations. All Access for All projects are due to be completed by 2024.
We have made progress in completing the 124 stations due to receive funding under the Mid-Tier programme, with works at 4 stations already completed and the remaining stations in various stages of development and design. Further details can be found at:
Asked by: Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat - Kingston and Surbiton)
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 improve the accessibility and affordability of dental treatment in England; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department continues to work closely with the National Health Service to maximise the number of patients that can be seen safely, with NHS dentists now offering 65% of pre-pandemic levels of care. The NHS is targeting its available capacity at urgent care, vulnerable groups and children, followed by overdue routine care. There are a range of exemptions to patient charges and just under half of patients were treated free of charge in 2020/21.