Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on its decision to end support for fire service co-responders attending Category 1 cardiac emergencies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held. Operational decisions on how best to improve services for patients and deliver value for money are taken at a local level by the relevant ambulance trust.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with fire and rescue services in the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust area on phasing out co-responder schemes for Category 1 cardiac incidents.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held. Operational decisions on how best to improve services for patients and deliver value for money are taken at a local level by the relevant ambulance trust.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on the potential impact of replacing fire service co-responders with volunteer Community First Responders on ambulance response times to Category 1 calls in (a) rural and (b) West Dorset consitutency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held. Operational decisions on how best to improve services for patients and deliver value for money are taken at a local level by the relevant ambulance trust.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department had discussions with the South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on the potential impact of replacing fire and rescue co-responders with volunteer community first responders on (a) response times and (b) the effectiveness of the service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held. Operational decisions on how best to improve services for patients and deliver value for money are taken at a local level by the relevant ambulance trust.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with South West Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust on the potential impact of the level of funding on its capacity to deliver fire service co-responder support for Category 1 cardiac emergencies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No discussions have been held. Operational decisions on how best to improve services for patients and deliver value for money are taken at a local level by the relevant ambulance trust.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on the use of volunteer Community First Responders to respond to Category 1 medical emergencies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No guidance has been issued. Each ambulance trust has responsibility for the arrangements and publishing of guidance on their Community First Responder schemes.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help reduce the number of fatal cycling accidents on rural roads in West Dorset constituency.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
On 12 February, the Department and Active Travel England announced local authority allocations of the Consolidated Active Travel Fund. Of this funding, Dorset Unitary Authority has been awarded £774,233 in revenue and capital funding. It will be for the local authority to allocate this funding in line with local investment priorities, such as improving safety for cyclists in West Dorset.
The Government is committed to improving the safety of all road users, especially the most vulnerable such as pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists. This is a key priority for the Department which was reflected in the updated Highway Code in January 2022, with the implementation of a Hierarchy of Road Users.
We are committed to reducing the numbers of those killed and injured on our roads. The Department is developing our Road Safety Strategy and will set out more details in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include policies on supporting mental healthcare as part of the 10 year health plan in (a) West Dorset constituency and (b) other rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver more care locally, including in rural areas like West Dorset, supporting people to stay healthier including with their mental health.
A neighbourhood mental health model, providing open access to specialist services and holistic support in community locations 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is already being piloted in six locations and we plan to go further. There will be 85 new dedicated mental health emergency departments and people will get better access to mental health support directly through the NHS App.
We will also expand mental health support teams to cover all schools in England by 2029/30 and new Young Future Hubs will provide additional support for children and young people's mental health.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of compensation provided to Equitable Life policyholders.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equitable Life Payment Scheme was designed by the Coalition Government and closed in 2016. There are no plans to reopen decisions relating to the Payment Scheme. Further guidance on the status of the Payment Scheme after closure is available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equitable-life-payment-scheme#closure-of-the-scheme
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Environment Agency on enforcement action relating to pollution affecting Lyme Regis Church Cliff Beach.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Through the PR24 process the Environment Agency (EA) has secured the following work by South West Water to improve the quality at Church Cliff Beach:
Uplyme sewage treatment works and Gun Cliff sewage pumping station will be fitted with flow monitoring equipment, Uplyme storm sewage tanks will be improved to reduce stills, the Cobb sewage pumping station will be improved, two combined sewage overflows (CSO) will be investigated and assessed in relation to the possible impact on water quality, five further CSOs will be improved to meet the bathing water standard of no more than 2 spills per bathing season.
An investigation will be undertaken to confirm the benefits of these works for Church Cliff beach.
Lyme Regis Town Council, working with the EA, has set up a Water Quality Group to oversee improvements in the bathing water quality at Church Cliff beach.