Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the £250,000 threshold for purchase under the help to buy ISA scheme in response to rising costs in the property market.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Help to Buy: ISA scheme aims to help those struggling to save enough to get onto the housing ladder. The property price cap of £250,000 for those properties outside London (£450,000 within London) therefore allows the Government to target support at the people the scheme is intended to help.
The latest statistics show that since the scheme was launched in 2015, 410,075 property completions have been supported through the scheme with a mean property value of £175,010 compared to an average first-time buyer house price of £220,406. The Government keeps all aspects of savings policy under review.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish an update on the outcome of the Rented Living Accommodation Project tender.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
As the Rented Living Accommodation Project Tender is still an ongoing procurement, we are unable to provide any detail on the possible outcomes or next steps as to do so would prejudice our commercial position.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
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 23 September 2021 to Question 44360, on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, if he will provide the data requested in the context of the Answer of 7 November 2016 to Question 51291, on Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The information requested on the number of number of women diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome is not collected in the format requested. In our earlier answer of 7 November 2016, we provided the number of finished admission episodes (FAE) where the patient is female and a primary diagnosis for polycystic ovary syndrome was made in England. It should be noted that a FAE does not reflect the number of women who have had the syndrome as the same patient can be recorded on more than one occasion. In addition, diagnoses for this condition can occur in non-hospital settings, which is not recorded in this data.
The following table shows FAE activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector in each year from 2015-16 to 2019-2020.
Year | Admissions |
2015-16 | 1,392 |
2016-17 | 1,297 |
2017-18 | 1,223 |
2018-19 | 1,254 |
2019-20 | 1,226 |
Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS Digital
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 25 February 2021 to Question 154803 on Coronavirus: Ivermectin, if he will publish an update on the larger scale studies on the use of ivermectin to treat covid-19.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The Department continues to closely monitor the evidence on ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 from clinical trials taking place worldwide. On 23 June 2021, ivermectin was entered into the University of Oxford’s United Kingdom PRINCIPLE clinical trial as a potential treatment for COVID-19 in the community. We await the outcome from this trial early next year.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to progress the Government's Mental Health recovery plan announced in March 2021.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The Department has worked with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Public Health England, Health Education England and other delivery organisations to allocate £500 million of additional funding in 2021-22 to nationally-led programmes and local authority areas. The funding is enabling prevention and promotion activities in local authorities, expanding capacity across specialist mental health services, and training and developing the mental health workforce, in line with the commitments made in the recovery plan.
These programmes are being monitored through a Mental Health Recovery Board established to complement the existing governance of the NHS Long Term Plan commitments for mental health. The cross-Government actions in the recovery plan are monitored through the Mental Health Independent Advisory Oversight Group and the Ministerial Mental Health and Wellbeing Task and Finish Group on a quarterly basis.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress has been made of the award of the tender for the Queen Elizabeth Class dry dock contract.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The Ministry of Defence is currently conducting a commercial competition for Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier dry-docking periods, with work ongoing to identify a preferred bidder. This process is expected to conclude in early 2022, with the first dry-docking period planned for 2023.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to support proposals to establish a global centre for secure intelligent regulatory technologies in Northern Ireland.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The government is committed to maintaining the UK’s position a world-leading destination for fintech.
In line with this ambition, the Government is taking forward key recommendations of the independent Kalifa Review of UK Fintech as part of ensuring the UK remains at the global cutting edge of technology and innovation in financial services.
Government funding for future years will be confirmed as part of the Spending Review which will be announced on 27th October.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women have had polycystic ovary syndrome in each of the last five years.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
This data is not held centrally.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the current security situation in Daraa Al-Balad, Syria.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The UK strongly condemns the brutal violence inflicted by the regime on the city of Daraa al-Balad, particularly the assault launched after the agreement of a ceasefire on 1 September and the ongoing deaths of civilians, including children. We remain alarmed by the continued humanitarian crisis and we call on all parties to avoid further death and displacement and adhere to the ceasefire, which resumed on 6 September. We further call for the regime and its backers to urgently grant humanitarian access to the UN and humanitarian actors for civilians trapped in Daraa, and we urge that the UN work to ensure effective provision of basic life-saving items such as food, water and medical assistance which remains in short supply there.
Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of making dental care free for cancer patients.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No recent assessment has been made. People with cancer are able to apply for help with National Health Service dental charges on a range of grounds, including partial help through the NHS Low Income Scheme. Nearly half of all NHS dental patients, approximately 17.7 million people, were treated free of charge in the 2019/20 financial year.