Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
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 (a) review and (b) update the National Radiological Protection Board report published on 4 January 1988.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The National Radiological Protection Board report that was published in 1988 has been updated a further three times. The publications are available at the following link:
A summary of the fourth analysis published in 2022 is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nuclear-weapons-test-participants-study/plan-for-the-fourth-analysis-of-the-nuclear-weapons-test-participants-study
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 12 November 2024 to Question 12460 on AUKUS, whether he has received Sir Stephen Lovegrove’s report on AUKUS; and when he plans to publish that report.
Answered by Maria Eagle
An extension was provided to allow Sir Stephen Lovegrove to gather all the necessary information, and we are now awaiting his final report. An unclassified version of his report will be published in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 17 April 2024 to Question 21056 on Defence: Artificial Intelligence, whether the Capability Lead, AI Talent and Skills is now in post.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Yes, I can confirm that there is an incumbent in post as of June 2024. The individual has made some good early progress working collaboratively with Digital Skills for Defence (DS4D), the Defence Academy Shrivenham, and other relevant stakeholders.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to automatically enrol eligible families in the NHS Healthy Start programme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies and young children under four from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four.
Healthy Start now supports over 353,000 beneficiaries. This figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme.
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, NHS BSA is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card. However, the Healthy Start scheme is kept under review we are exploring all viable routes to improve uptake.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Pension Credit applications her Department received in each region in each of the last three months for which data is available.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We confirm that we do not hold the information you have requested as our systems do not breakdown Pension Credit applications by region.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of claimants for Pension Credit were (a) initially turned down and (b) successful on appeal in each region in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The information requested on the proportion of Pension Credit claims which are initially turned down but are subsequently overturned at Tribunal is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Information on appeals in the First-tier Tribunal, including Pension Credit appeals, is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics
Specifically, information on the number of appeal receipts, disposals and outcomes of Pension Credit appeals can be found in the Social Security and Child Support (SSCS) tables: SSCS_1, SSCS_2 and SSCS_3 of the Main Tables.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average Pension Credit processing time is (a) per month in the latest three-month period for which data is available and (b) in each region.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Average actual clearance times are shown in the table below from 3 June 2024. Please note, the information is not available monthly.
The table below shows the average (in working days) for each week.
Source | RS PBi App / PC Claims AACT |
03/06/24 | 45 |
10/06/24 | 44 |
17/06/24 | 43 |
24/06/24 | 44 |
01/07/24 | 44 |
08/07/24 | 45 |
15/07/24 | 48 |
22/07/24 | 44 |
29/07/24 | 45 |
05/08/24 | 40 |
12/08/24 | 39 |
19/08/24 | 36 |
26/08/24 | 31 |
02/09/24 | 29 |
09/09/24 | 30 |
16/09/24 | 28 |
23/09/24 | 26 |
30/09/24 | 34 |
07/10/24 | 39 |
Please note, the data shown is unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
The information requested is not collected at regional level and to calculate it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department's review of Universal Credit will include the income threshold used to determine eligibility for (a) free school meals and (b) the NHS Healthy Start scheme.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Eligibility criteria, including earnings thresholds for passported benefits including Free School Meals and Healthy Start payments are owned by Department of Education and the Department of Health and Social care respectively.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to launch her Department's review of Universal Credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to make sure it is doing the job we want it to. We will set out the details of this in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many referrals were made by Jobcentre Plus to employment support programmes that are (a) centrally contracted and (b) not centrally contracted by her Department to (i) voluntary and community sector providers, (ii) private sector providers, (iii) regional/local government providers and (iv) other in the last year.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The referral statistics for the centrally contacted employment support programmes are available on GOV.UK.
Restart Scheme statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Work and Health Programme statistics to May 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Statistics on Intensive Personalised Employment Support are planned for future publication and will be formally released, adhering to the Official Statistics guidance.
The information requested for employment support programmes not centrally contracted is not collated and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.