Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of people who died in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023 who (i) had cardiac arrest recorded as the main cause of death and (ii) did not have a defibrillator used.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 8 November is attached.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on how many UK citizens under the age of 50 have emigrated to (a) Australia, (b) New Zealand, (c) USA and (d) Canada since 2015.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman Parliamentary Questions of 14th April are attached.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many retired people from (a) Canada, (b) New Zealand and (c) Australia live in the UK.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman Parliamentary Questions of 14th April are attached.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to work with blind and partially sighted people to produce more accessible voting options.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to ensuring that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.
To that end, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support the accessibility of elections in the recently introduced Elections Bill, such as removing restrictions on who can act as a companion to support voters with disabilities and placing a broader requirement for Returning Officers to consider the needs of all disabled voters when providing equipment for polling stations.
Specifically on issues related to sight loss, we were pleased to be able to carry out some testing of accessible voting solutions for blind and partially sighted electors with the RNIB and Broadland District Council at the recent elections in May, and we are currently considering our next steps. We will continue to work with the RNIB and other interested groups in taking this forward and have already talked with RNIB about looking at the postal vote system to see how and where that can be improved to support engagement.
We also continue to work with the members of the Accessibly of Elections Working Group, including the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators. The Association of Electoral Administrators provides training and guidance for Returning Officers and their teams to further improve the support provided to enable disabled electors to participate in future elections.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his planned timescale is for a review of the postal voting system to ensure that system is fully accessible for blind and partially sighted people.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Government is committed to ensuring that elections are accessible for all those eligible to vote.
To that end, the Government has introduced a number of measures to support the accessibility of elections in the recently introduced Elections Bill, such as removing restrictions on who can act as a companion to support voters with disabilities and placing a broader requirement for Returning Officers to consider the needs of all disabled voters when providing equipment for polling stations.
Specifically on issues related to sight loss, we were pleased to be able to carry out some testing of accessible voting solutions for blind and partially sighted electors with the RNIB and Broadland District Council at the recent elections in May, and we are currently considering our next steps. We will continue to work with the RNIB and other interested groups in taking this forward and have already talked with RNIB about looking at the postal vote system to see how and where that can be improved to support engagement.
We also continue to work with the members of the Accessibly of Elections Working Group, including the Electoral Commission, the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and the Association of Electoral Administrators. The Association of Electoral Administrators provides training and guidance for Returning Officers and their teams to further improve the support provided to enable disabled electors to participate in future elections.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress he has made on the public inquiry into the Government's response to the covid-19 pandemic, announced on 21 May 2021.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
On 12 May, the Prime Minister confirmed that a public inquiry into COVID-19 would be established on a statutory basis, with full formal powers, and that it will begin its work in spring 2022.
Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many care home residents have died of covid-19 since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the Government's policy on what constitutes British values; and what mechanisms are in place to ensure that such values are taken into account when developing Government policy.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance are a fundamental part of the work of Government. Ministers are accountable to Parliament for the policies, decisions and actions of their departments and agencies.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what representations he has received from businesses in Great Britain on delays in the distribution of goods to Northern Ireland.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt - Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons
Government departments regularly engage with individual businesses to support the development of practical solutions to issues raised, to ensure the effective movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Government receives regular feedback on issues of concern through the Northern Ireland Secretary’s Business Engagement Forum and the dedicated Protocol sub-group of the Brexit Business Taskforce. This engagement supports ongoing UK-EU discussions on addressing outstanding concerns on the Protocol. Concerns raised are addressed through action, including continuous improvements to the Trader Support Service, which processes approximately 99% of declarations within 15 minutes.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent representations he has received on the adequacy of the Ministerial Code.
Answered by Chloe Smith
The Cabinet Office receives correspondence on a broad range of subjects. Responsibility for the Ministerial Code rests with the Prime Minister.