Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of Police Scotland’s violence reduction unit in Glasgow, and whether she has plans to replicate the work of that unit in England.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
We have not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the Violence Reduction Unit in Scotland. We will shortly be publishing our new Serious Violence Strategy which will respond to concerns about serious violence especially recent increases in knife crime, gun crime and homicide.
The approach we will set out in the Strategy will give much more of an emphasis to prevention and steering young people away from crime in the first place, and it will put in place measures to tackle the root causes of the problem.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Prime Ministers speech of 2 March 2018 on the UK’s future economic partnership with the EU, what the definition is of self-employed professionals in relation to future labour mobility arrangements; and whether reciprocal arrangements will be part of the process.
Answered by Robin Walker
Freedom of movement is ending but there will continue to be migration and mobility between the UK and the EU after the UK leaves. The Prime Minister has made it clear that the Government is open to discussing with the EU how to facilitate the valuable links between our people.
We want to limit the number of barriers that could prevent UK firms from setting up in the EU and vice versa, and agree an appropriate labour mobility framework that enables businesses and self-employed professionals to provide services to clients.
We will discuss these arrangements with the EU in due course - at every step of the negotiations, we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, with reference to the Prime Minister's speech of 2 March 2018 on the UK’s future economic partnership with the EU, whether the list of pan-European regulatory agencies to which the UK will be seeking long-term associate membership is limited to the European Medicines Agency, the European Chemicals Agency and the European Aviation Safety Agency.
Answered by Robin Walker
As the Prime Minister said in her speech in Mansion House on 2 March 2018, we will want to explore with the EU the terms on which we could remain part of EU agencies such as those that are critical for the chemicals, medicines and aerospace industries: the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
There are other agencies, such as those related to our future security partnership, that the UK may seek to remain a part of. Where there is a demonstrable national interest in pursuing a continued relationship with an agency or other EU body the Government will carefully examine whether we should pursue this. Our future relationship with the EU's agencies will ultimately be a matter for the negotiations.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Rail Accident Investigations Branch will be involved in the independent investigation into the response of Southeastern Trains and Network Rail to the self-evacuation of passengers on trains outside Lewisham Station on the evening of 2 March 2018.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
The Rail Accident Investigations Branch (RAIB) are aware of the incident at Lewisham and the understandable public concern related to it. This has led to them to start what they refer to as a “preliminary examination” into the event. They are currently gathering evidence that will enable them to decide what further action they will take, based around the decision criteria they use. They currently anticipate a decision within the next two weeks.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the oral contribution of 5 February 2018, Official Report, column 1248 on railway station accessibility, when he plans to make a decision on the funding to be allocated to station accessibility improvement works in Control Period 6.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
As set out in the Statement of Funds Available, we expect around £47.9bn to be spent on the railway between 2019 and 2024, with up to £34.7bn to be provided directly via Government grant. This will include funding to improve accessibility across the network.
We are now working with Network Rail to provide further confidence in the volumes and costs involved in this portfolio and we will publish the details of how the funding will be allocated once Network Rail’s detailed business plans have been scrutinised by the independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road later this year.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have applied to convert Support for Mortgage Interest payments into a loan.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
All existing support for mortgage interest claimants will be contacted and offered the new support for mortgage interest loan, there is no need for them to apply. A managed transfer process is underway, with all existing recipients of support for mortgage interest receiving information about the new scheme so that they can make decisions about these loans.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there is a requirement for online sellers of testing kits for sexually transmitted infections to be registered with the Care Quality Commission.
Answered by Steve Brine
There is no requirement for online sellers of testing kits for sexually transmitted infections to be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) unless the provider is registered with the CQC as a primary care service.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what duties online sexually transmitted infection testing services have to follow best practice in respect of safeguarding and child protection issues.
Answered by Steve Brine
Online sexually transmitted infection services are not offered to under 16s who would be advised to attend their local clinic where a proper safeguarding assessment can be undertaken in person.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to commence the second phase of the review of cycle safety announced on 21 September, into wider road safety issues.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department expects to publish a Call for Evidence early in 2018. Preliminary discussions regarding Phase Two have already started.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether the UK hospitals participating in the European Reference Networks on rare diseases will continue to participate in those Networks in the event of the UK withdrawing from the EU.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Government's policy paper, Collaboration on Science and Innovation: A Future Partnership Paper, stresses the importance of continued collaboration with European partners to ensure that the United Kingdom remains one of the best places in the world for science and innovation. European Reference Networks were cited in the paper as an example of a partnership that the UK believes should continue.
The diagnosis, treatment and management of rare diseases benefit from national and international collaboration because of the limited number of patients and scarcity of clinical and research expertise within a single country. The UK is recognised internationally for its expertise and excellence in the field of rare diseases.