Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will hold discussions with his counterpart in the Kenya Government on ways to support the rollout of the oral cholera vaccine programme in informal settlements.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK does not directly support cholera programmes in Kenya. The UK funds the Global Fund, Global Financing Facility (GFF), Gavi and UNITAID to help strengthen health systems. WHO and UNICEF support the Ministry of Health to counter cholera. An oral vaccination campaign commenced in February 2023 and to date has vaccinated 2.3 million Kenyans against cholera.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether manufacturers are required to declare how they plan to reach (a) Net Zero and (b) Net Zero within their supply chains.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
Climate transition plans allow companies to set out how they plan to reach climate targets, including supply chain decarbonisation.
The Government has established the Transition Plan Taskforce, which launched in April 2022. The Taskforce is developing guidance to support companies to disclose information about their transition plans, and is due to publish its finalised Disclosure Framework in October 2023. The Government has also committed to consult on our approach to transition plans, and we will do so after the Taskforce has published its finalised Framework.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has produced guidance on (a) the use of packaging by manufacturers when distributing (i) consumables and (ii) non-consumables to their supply chain and (b) declaring the amount of packaging used for operational processing.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Guidance for obligated businesses on their current packaging waste recycling responsibilities is published on GOV.UK. The requirements include registering with the regulator, reporting data on the packaging they use or supply, meeting recycling obligations and obtaining evidence of compliance with the regulations. Guidance has also been published on GOV.UK on meeting new reporting requirements under the Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging scheme. Defra has not published guidance on the use of packaging by manufacturers when distributing products.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to reduce the packaging used for distributing (a) consumables and (b) non-consumables within manufacturers' supply chains.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
Our proposals for Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging will make businesses financially responsible for the waste management costs of the packaging they use or supply that ends up in household bins and street bins. This includes packaging used to distribute products purchased online directly to consumers. This will encourage businesses to reduce the amount of packaging they use and to use packaging that can be recycled easily. The UK Government jointly with the Devolved Administrations is consulting currently on the draft Regulations that will introduce Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging. These do not include any specific requirements on businesses to reduce distribution packaging.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
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 reduce the length of time between (a) urgent GP referrals and (b) the commencement of treatment for cancer in North Antrim constituency.
Answered by Will Quince
Health in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter; therefore, the Department does not hold this information centrally.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
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 ensure that reporting mechanisms are in place to inform the (a) public and (b) parliament how the nine statutory joint radiotherapy committees are improving access to modern radiotherapy.
Answered by Will Quince
The nine statutory joint committees between NHS England and multi-integrated care board (ICB) collaborations established on 1 April 2023 are working to improve access to specialised services by bringing together regional specialised commissioning expertise and integrated care systems (ICSs). These committees have joint responsibility for commissioning decisions on 59 specialised services, including radiotherapy. A list of these services is available at the following link:
Reporting mechanisms are in place as part of ICS governance, with ICB leaders publishing an annual report to their population stating what their health and healthcare services are delivering for their population and communities.
To ensure appropriate oversight and assurance of specialised services under the nine statutory joint committees in 2023/24, NHS England produced guidance for its regional teams and ICBs. The guidance sets out four key areas that NHS England's regional specialised commissioning teams, working with and through the joint committees, should be regularly overseeing and monitoring in relation to their specialised provision (including providers of radiotherapy services): timeliness of provision; quality of provision; use of resources and value for money; and equity and health inequalities.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 24 April 2023 to Question 181199 on Development Aid: Genito-urinary Medicine, whether his Department has considered the potential merits of monitoring the (a) level of (i) complications and (ii) mortality during (A) abortion and (B) childbirth, (b) quality of aftercare for women following (1) abortion and (2) childbirth and (c) other outcomes associated with services (x) partly and (y) wholly funded from sexual and reproductive health rights funds.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
The UK is proud to defend and promote universal and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including safe abortion and maternal healthcare. The UK uses sexual and reproductive health funds to support services in a range of ways including technical assistance, funding drugs and supplies and delivering services directly, working through NGOs, governments and UN agencies. Examples include the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Supplies Partnership programme and the Global Financing Facility. The risk of complications without these services in place is extremely high. The UK monitors the work of our partners through annual reviews that assess progress against a set of indicators but also assess risk. Information on the monitoring of each of the UK's SRHR programmes can be found on DevTracker.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the funding for antimicrobial resistance research through the Global AMR Innovation Fund, whether his Department has a long-term investment strategy for stimulating non-profit innovation to help tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
Research and innovation are crucial pillars of activity under the Government’s five-year National Action Plan (NAP), covering the period 2019 to 2024, for tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and will continue to be a priority under the next NAP. The Government is currently developing this second five-year NAP, which will run from 2024 to 2029. This includes development of a series research priorities, commitments, and deliverables.
As part of this approach, the Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) is a One Health UK aid fund that supports research and development around the world to reduce the threat of AMR in humans, animals, and the environment for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries. GAMRIF collaborates with academia, non-profit global initiatives, industry, and governments to support innovation and product development, while also ensuring sustained investment from other global donors to tackle AMR.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many times the RAF has been deployed to intercept aircraft in Republic of Ireland airspace in each of the last three years.
Answered by James Heappey
There have been no instances over the last three years of RAF aircraft being deployed to intercept aircraft within the airspace of the Republic of Ireland.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance he has issued to (a) providers of (i) inpatient and (ii) outpatient care and (b) patients receiving community care on (A) the assessment and selection of the most clinically appropriate absorbent continence care products for patients with incontinence and (B) the delivery of person centred care; and whether he has made an estimate of the cost of provision of products other than the most clinically appropriate for such patients.
Answered by Will Quince
While no known central guidance has been issued to date on this topic, local areas may have developed a local formulary where they recommend the use of specific products. We have not made a central estimate of the cost of different provision. However, we are working to improve spend data systems through implementation of the medtech strategy.
National Health Service commissioners in England are responsible for urinary continence care based on the available evidence and taking into account guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of health services in their local health economy.
NHS England’s Excellence in Continence Care guidance, published in July 2018, which brings together evidence-based resources and research for guidance for commissioners, providers, health and social care staff, further indicates that personalised care including personal health budgets can be arranged locally by ICBs to help people manage and pay for their continence care needs.