Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2024 to Question 13773 on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, how much his Department spent on legal fees defending against appeals.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Between 1 November 2021 and 1 December 2024, the total spent by the NHS Business Services Authority on behalf of the Department on legal fees to defend against appeals within the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was £50,608.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when recent estimate his Department has made of when small modular reactors will be operational.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is committed to ensuring new nuclear power stations, such as Hinkley Point C, Sizewell C, and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), will play an important role in helping the UK achieve energy security and clean power while securing thousands of good, skilled jobs.

Great British Nuclear (GBN), the government’s expert nuclear delivery body, is running an SMR technology selection process and is negotiating with four companies. Final decisions will be taken in the spring. GBN is working to a timeline that enables a robust process underpinned by fairness and transparency, to ensure any selected technology provides best value for money. The programme seeks to select those technologies best able to facilitate operational projects by the mid-2030s.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2024 to Question 13773 on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, how many claims have waited over a year for a decision; and what support his Department provides to claimants.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As of 1 December 2024, 1,107 claims have been waiting over a year for a resolution. All claims are managed on a case-by-case basis and there are several factors that may impact processing times. This includes time spent awaiting medical records from healthcare providers, or appropriate legal identification documentation, or awaiting consent from claimants for access to their medical records

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2024 to Question 13772 on Cardiovascular Diseases: Emergency Calls, if he will provide this data for the period between March 2015 and March 2021; and what assessment he has made of potential impact of the (a) ageing population and (b) number of patients with multiple comorbidities on trends in the number of category one incidents.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information on ambulance service demand is published by NHS England, including, as of April 2018, the monthly total number of cardiac arrests responded to by ambulance services. The following table shows the total number of cardiac arrests each month from April 2018 to June 2024:

Source: the data is published by NHS England, and is available at the following link: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ambulance-quality-indicators/

The increasing aging population and complexity that comes with more patients with multiple comorbidities may be reflected in the trend of rising in category 1 incidents.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, which companies have applied to operate a small modular reactor.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

I understand the Right Honourable Member is asking about small modular reactor technology vendors down-selected to negotiate with Great British Nuclear as part of its ongoing competition. The vendors are: GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy International LLC; Holtec Britain Ltd; Rolls Royce SMR Ltd; and Westinghouse Electric Company UK Ltd. Final decisions will be taken in the spring.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department issues to hospitals on visiting times for friends and family.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Contact with family and friends is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of residents in care homes and people in hospital. We have worked with NHS England and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to develop the policy options to strengthen the expectation for care providers and hospitals in England to allow visiting. This included introducing secondary legislation to amend CQC regulations. Further information on CQC regulations, specifically Regulation 9A: Visiting and accompanying in care homes, hospitals and hospices, is available at the following link:

https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations/regulation-9a-visiting-and-accompanying

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of private schools have been provided with a VAT number.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC publishes data on the VAT population by sector on an annual basis. The latest statistics can be found here: Value Added Tax (VAT) annual statistics - GOV.UK

The point at which private schools need to register for VAT depends on their individual circumstances and fee schedules. A significant number were registered for VAT before the announcement that, from 1 January 2025, all education and boarding services provided by a private school or connected person will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%.

HMRC is also supporting schools through the registration process via webinars, its helpline and a dedicated technical query mailbox which can be used by schools, their representative bodies and tax advisors.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of private schools have been provided with a VAT number.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC publishes data on the VAT population by sector on an annual basis. The latest statistics can be found here: Value Added Tax (VAT) annual statistics - GOV.UK

The point at which private schools need to register for VAT depends on their individual circumstances and fee schedules. A significant number were registered for VAT before the announcement that, from 1 January 2025, all education and boarding services provided by a private school or connected person will be subject to VAT at the standard rate of 20%.

HMRC is also supporting schools through the registration process via webinars, its helpline and a dedicated technical query mailbox which can be used by schools, their representative bodies and tax advisors.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2024 to Question 13773 on the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, how many people were (a) assessed and (b) successful in each of those financial years; and what the (i) mean, (ii) median and (iii) range of awards was.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In the financial year (FY) 2022/23, 1,298 applications were assessed, and 72 applications were successful. In the FY 2023/24, 3,806 applications were assessed, and 99 applications were successful. In the FY 2024/25, 4,664 applications have been assessed, and 27 applications have been successful.

We are unable to disclose the specific number of applications that were successful in the 2021/22 FY, as that number is fewer than or equal to five, and could lead to individuals being identified. For the FYs 2022/23 to 2024/25, the mean average number of successful applications is 66, the median average is 72, and the range is 72. The mean average, median average, and range do not include numbers for the 2021/22 FY, as including this information could lead to individuals being identified. The payment amount for successful claims is fixed at £120,000.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 November 2024 to Question 12696 on Primodos: Research, when the minutes and outcome of the November Commission on Human Medicines discussion will be published.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), together with the wider Government, have committed to reviewing any new scientific evidence which comes to light.

The new publication by Danielsson et al has been reviewed by the MHRA and advice has been sought from the Government’s independent advisory body, the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), who have provided their independent expert advice on our assessment of whether the findings of the latest publication justify a further review. The MHRA will consider the recommendations given by the CHM before deciding whether any further action is warranted.

The minutes of the November CHM meeting will be made publicly available through the GOV.UK website at the earliest opportunity.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the (a) effectiveness of the processes put in place by HMRC to register private schools for VAT and (b) adequacy of the time taken for those schools to receive a VAT number.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The government is committed to supporting private schools to ensure that the VAT registration process is as smooth as possible for them, and to ensuring they have the necessary support in order to be able to correctly charge VAT and remit it to HMRC.

HMRC has put in place additional resource to process VAT registrations and, on 10 October, published bespoke guidance for schools, which can be found on GOV.UK. HMRC published initial guidance ahead of the Budget to maximise the amount of time schools had to prepare for this policy taking effect.

Currently more than 80% of VAT registration applications are being processed within 20 working days, exceeding HMRC’s published service standard of 80% within 40 working days

HMRC has also hosted online webinars to answer any queries that schools may have and can be contacted via a dedicated mailbox in the event of any technical queries about registering.

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 increase the efficiency of supplying medication at hospital discharge to ensure faster discharge.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department and NHS England recognise the need for patients who are ready to go home to be discharged as quick as possible, both for their benefit and to improve the efficiency of hospitals. Information on the average wait time for hospital patients to be provided with medication at the point of discharge is not held centrally by NHS England, and it is the responsibility of individual trusts to monitor discharge and medication efficiency. To support hospitals on improving processes, guidance has been published, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/improving-hospital-discharge/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average wait time is for hospital patients to be provided with medications at discharge.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department and NHS England recognise the need for patients who are ready to go home to be discharged as quick as possible, both for their benefit and to improve the efficiency of hospitals. Information on the average wait time for hospital patients to be provided with medication at the point of discharge is not held centrally by NHS England, and it is the responsibility of individual trusts to monitor discharge and medication efficiency. To support hospitals on improving processes, guidance has been published, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/improving-hospital-discharge/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to make the hospital discharge process more efficient.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will improve hospital discharge processes, to tackle delayed discharges, and to make sure people do not spend longer than necessary in hospital, freeing up hospital beds.

We will do so by developing local partnerships, working between the National Health Service and social care, making sure people get the right support from health and social care services to return home as soon as possible. Currently, every acute hospital has access to a care transfer hub, which brings together professionals from the NHS and local authorities to manage discharges for people with more complex needs, and collaboration between integrated care boards and local authorities will continue to be supported by the Better Care Fund framework through 2025/26.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the transition to net zero on energy security.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Switching to homegrown clean energy, including renewables and other clean technologies, offers security that fossil fuels simply cannot provide. The Government recognises the challenges in moving away from fossil fuels but the only way to ensure energy security is through homegrown clean power. The Government has empowered the independent National Energy System Operator with the responsibility to carry out resilience functions across the electricity and gas systems and it will continue to work with stakeholders to improve and maintain the resilience of energy infrastructure.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential risks that the transition to net zero poses to (a) households and (b) businesses.

Answered by Kerry McCarthy - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The transition to net zero will be an incredible opportunity for jobs and growth all across the country. As the OBR has noted in its July 2021 Fiscal Risks Report, “the costs of failing to get climate change under control would be much larger than those of bringing emissions down to net zero”. The Government is taking coordinated action to ensure a fair and inclusive transition to clean energy and net zero, addressing workforce challenges and enabling workers to benefit from the economic opportunities.

Our priority is making it easier, clearer and more affordable for people to access new technologies and benefit from the transition.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the police service in (a) England and (b) Wales of the increase in Employers' National Insurance Contributions.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 12 December, the PSC issued a circular stating that it has agreed to the deletion of the lowest pay point (£23,286) on the PSC Pay Spine with effect from 1 April 2025. This is to reflect that the increase in the National Living Wage, which will take effect on 1 April 2025, and will result in a rate of £12.21 per hour which will equate to £23,555 and which would be above the lowest pay point on the PSC pay spine. https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/police/police-staff/police-staff-council-circulars/psc-joint-8

We announced the provisional police funding settlement for 2025-26 on 17 December. This includes additional funding of £230.3 million to cover the costs to the police for additional employer’s National Insurance contributions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the police service in (a) England and (b) Wales of the increase in minimum wage.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

On 12 December, the PSC issued a circular stating that it has agreed to the deletion of the lowest pay point (£23,286) on the PSC Pay Spine with effect from 1 April 2025. This is to reflect that the increase in the National Living Wage, which will take effect on 1 April 2025, and will result in a rate of £12.21 per hour which will equate to £23,555 and which would be above the lowest pay point on the PSC pay spine. https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/workforce-and-hr-support/police/police-staff/police-staff-council-circulars/psc-joint-8

We announced the provisional police funding settlement for 2025-26 on 17 December. This includes additional funding of £230.3 million to cover the costs to the police for additional employer’s National Insurance contributions.

Found: . • The Rt Hon Esther McVey MP – Minister without Portfolio (from 13 November 2023). • The Baroness