Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Bloomberg subscriptions her Department has.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HM Treasury has 3 subscriptions to Bloomberg News.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to her Department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The Treasury Approvals Process requires departments and their arm's length bodies to submit business cases to HM Treasury for scrutiny when spending meets specific criteria. These criteria are detailed in Treasury Approvals Process guidance. The Treasury typically receives hundreds of different business cases for approval each year.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) strategic (b) outline and (c) final business cases were submitted to his department in each of the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, a period of three years, the Department had 13 strategic outline cases, 100 outline business cases, and 116 full business cases submitted for review. For 2022, this was five strategic outline cases, 46 outline business cases, and 37 full business cases submitted for review. For 2023, this was four strategic outline cases, 31 outline business cases, and 40 full business cases submitted for review. Finally, for 2024, this was four strategic outline cases, 23 outline business cases, and 39 full business cases submitted for review.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to National Audit Office's report entitled, public service pensions, published on 19 March 2021, whether her Department plans to publish updated statistics on the balancing payments made to pensions schemes.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Figures showing the net Exchequer balancing payments for unfunded Public Service Pension Schemes (PSPS), along with details on contribution income and scheme expenditure, are regularly published as part of the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook (EFO). The latest publication is part of the October 2024 EFO, in the table labelled “October 2024 Economic and fiscal outlook – detailed forecast tables: expenditure”: https://obr.uk/efo/economic-and-fiscal-outlook-october-2024/
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made in reducing waiting times for (a) speech and language therapy services and (b) neurodevelopmental services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are committed to reducing long waits and improving timely access to community health services. This includes improving access to Speech and Language Therapy through the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) pathfinder project within the Department for Education’s existing £70 million Change Programme in partnership with NHS England. The ELSEC programme provides training and support to education settings to increase their ability to support speech, language, and communication development.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) services, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.
On 5 April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance to help ICBs and the National Health Service to deliver improved outcomes for children, young people, and adults referred to an autism assessment service. The guidance also sets out what support should be available before an assessment and what support should follow a recent diagnosis of autism. In 2024/25, £4.3 million is available nationally to improve services for autistic children and young people, including autism assessment services.
In respect of ADHD, we are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has launched into challenges in ADHD service provision and its impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education, and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD, including timely access to services and support.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of patients waiting over 52 weeks for elective care in (a) England, (b) Norfolk and Waveney ICB area and (c) Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn Hospital Trust; and what his target is for eliminating waits of over a year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across England, at the end of November 2024, over 221,000 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, which is down by over 80,000 since June 2024.
At the Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, at the end of November 2024, over 6,800 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, down by over 3,600 since June 2024. At the Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn Hospital Trust, at the end of November 2024, 585 patient pathways involved waits of more than 52 weeks for elective treatment, down from 609 in June 2024.
We have committed to achieving the NHS Constitutional standard that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029. The Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, sets out how we will achieve this and the interim targets we will meet in doing so.
Whilst our focus is on achieving the RTT constitutional standard, it is unacceptable that patients are waiting over a year for care. Tackling the longest waits will be a key part of achieving our commitment and we will continue to review and treat the patients who have waited the longest, as well as monitoring progress on the 18-week standard.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether members of the National Wealth Fund Taskforce are remunerated.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The NWF Taskforce was established by the Chancellor before the 2024 general election to fulfil an independent advisory role on the design of the National Wealth Fund. Members have not been remunerated for their roles on the NWF Taskforce.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to increase private investment as a proportion of GDP.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Investment is at the heart of the government’s growth mission, increasing the number of good, well-skilled jobs and improving productivity across the country. The Department for Business and Trade works with all investor-facing business units to deliver support for the highest-value, highest-impact FDI projects into the UK. DBT officials work on a daily basis with businesses of all sizes to ensure a close partnership between government and business, and to showcase the multitude of investment opportunities the UK has to offer.
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper (published 14 October) sets out a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in UK.
The government also hosted an international investment summit in October 2024 where nearly 38,000 jobs across the country were announced alongside a record-breaking £63 billion of investment.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to encourage foreign direct investment.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Investment is at the heart of the government’s growth mission, increasing the number of good, well-skilled jobs and improving productivity across the country. The Department for Business and Trade works with all investor-facing business units to deliver support for the highest-value, highest-impact FDI projects into the UK. DBT officials work on a daily basis with businesses of all sizes to ensure a close partnership between government and business, and to showcase the multitude of investment opportunities the UK has to offer.
The Industrial Strategy Green Paper (published 14 October) sets out a credible, 10-year plan to deliver the certainty and stability businesses need to invest in UK.
The government also hosted an international investment summit in October 2024 where nearly 38,000 jobs across the country were announced alongside a record-breaking £63 billion of investment.
Asked by: James Wild (Conservative - North West Norfolk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many businesses have been supported by the British Business Bank since 2014.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The British Business Bank’s recently published Impact Report shows that in 2023 alone the Bank funded 23,100 businesses. Data on the number of businesses supported by the Bank since its inception in 2014 is intended to be published in 2025.