Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help GP practices invest in new IT systems.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The General Practice Forward View, published in 2016, set out our ambition to increase digital use and investment in general practices (GPs), and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/general-practice-forward-view-gpfv/
This was followed by the NHS Long Term Plan and A Plan for Digital Health and Social Care, which both include actions to drive digital and technology transformation in GPs to deliver efficient services and improve patient care and access.
NHS England ensures that modern, integrated, secure and user-friendly digital systems are available through the GP IT Operating Model, the Digital Care Services catalogue and the GP IT Futures frameworks. This work supports ongoing improvements to procurement processes, a greater choice of nationally accredited digital suppliers and products that meet core standards, requirements and capabilities to ensure GP IT systems continually evolve and advance with minimal impact and disruption to care.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce unnecessary administrative tasks required of GPs.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
As part of the 2020/21 general practice (GP) contract, to reduce administrative tasks and to help maximise the time available for care, the Government committed to a thorough review of levels of bureaucracy in GPs. As part of this work, in August 2022, a cross-Government concordat was published agreeing to seven co-designed principles to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy in GPs. The Department is continuing to work across Government and with the National Health Service to implement the solutions that emerge.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help improve the standard of privately rented houses.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The private rented sector (PRS) has some of the worst housing of all tenures with over a fifth of the 4.6 million households that rent privately enduring poor conditions and lacking security and control over the homes they pay to live in. Many renters are forced to live in sub-standard conditions, impacting their physical and mental health.
The Levelling Up White Paper set out our ambition to reduce halve the number of non-decent homes by 50% by 2030 with the biggest improvements in the lowest performing areas, highlighting our commitment to level up the sector and ensure all renters have good quality homes.
Everyone has the right to a safe and secure home. That is why we plan to introduce a Decent Homes Standard in the PRS in our upcoming Renters Reform Bill, the first government to ever do so.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to increase the rate of homeownership among people aged 18 to 40.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government has a range of home ownership schemes that are available to 18-40 year olds, including First Homes and Shared Ownership. We have doubled the threshold at which SDLT becomes due to £250,000 and expanded First Time Buyers Relief, raising the threshold at which stamp duty becomes payable from £300,000 to £425,000. The Government's Mortgage Guarantee Scheme also helps first-time buyers by increasing the supply of 95% loan-to-value mortgages for credit-worthy households.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she plans to publish the findings of the independent review into labour shortages in the food supply chain.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has commissioned an independent review that will consider how automation, domestic labour and migrant labour can contribute to tackling labour shortages in the food supply chain. The review will focus on farming, processing, and food and drink manufacturing as sectors that are critical for food production and food security. The final report will be published by summer 2023 and the Government response will follow thereafter.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that (a) insurance write-offs and (b) other faults are clearly advertised when second-cars are marketed.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
As set out in published guidance for vehicle buyers, second-hand vehicles are subject to the Sale of Goods Act 1979 where purchased from a dealer and must be ‘as described’, ‘of satisfactory quality’ and ‘fit for purpose’. Additionally, the sale of a vehicle which is not in a roadworthy condition is an offence per s.75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. These cover vehicles that have previously been written-off.
The Department encourages buyers to take steps to investigate the safety and history of a vehicle, for example by getting a private history check, checking the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VIN) agree across the vehicle and that they match the VIN recorded in the logbook, and reviewing the vehicle’s MOT history for free on GOV.UK. Buyers may also wish to obtain an independent engineer’s check to confirm the condition of the vehicle.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.75 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what criteria small and medium enterprises will be required to meet to be considered R&D intensive.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Government is introducing additional tax relief for loss-making R&D intensive SMEs. A company is considered R&D intensive where its qualifying R&D expenditure is worth 40% or more of its total expenditure. This rate will apply to expenditure incurred from 1 April 2023.
The Government has published a technical note outlining the eligibility criteria of this new scheme in more detail, which is available at:
Technical note: Additional tax relief for Research and Development intensive small and medium enterprise - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the criteria are for plant and machinery to qualify for capital allowances full expensing.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Full expensing is available for qualifying expenditure on main rate plant or machinery incurred on or after 1 April 2023, but before 1 April 2026. To qualify for full expensing, expenditure must be incurred by a company within the charge to corporation tax, the plant and machinery must be new and must not be bought to lease to someone else. Further information on gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/full-expensing/spring-budget-2023-full-expensing. Full HMRC guidance will be published in due course.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to paragraph 3.43 of the Spring Budget 2023, HC1183, published on 15 March 2023, what new short-term business activities will be permitted to be carried out under business visitor rules for periods of up to 6 months; and whether she plans to launch a consultation on these proposals.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
As set out in the Spring Budget, the Home Office is undertaking a review of the current UK visitor rules to make it easier and more attractive to do business in the UK. As part of this review, we continue to work with other government departments and their stakeholders to look at how we can expand the range of short-term business activities that can be carried out for up to 6 months and including on the permitted paid activities visitors can undertake. Changes made to the UK visitor offer will be reflected through updates to the published Immigration Rules from Autumn 2023.
Asked by: Holly Mumby-Croft (Conservative - Scunthorpe)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the availability of affordable laboratory space.
Answered by George Freeman
The Government has announced nearly £500 million to provide world-class research and innovation infrastructure to help unlock UK researchers’ full potential, as part of our £14.9 billion investment in research & development this financial year.
As part of our work to map the UK’s innovation clusters, we are also looking to identify constraints on their future growth.
This investment and analysis demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensuring that the UK remains an attractive place for researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to live, work and innovate.