Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the potential cost saving to the public purse of GP's using online appointment forms promoted in the Help Us to Help You advertising scheme (a) in total and (b) per GP.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To date, no Help Us Help You national advertising campaign activity has promoted the use of online consultation request forms in general practice.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 FTE staff hours that have been saved (a) in total and (b) per practice as a result of GPs using online forms promoted in the ‘Help Us Help You’ advertising scheme.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To date, no Help Us Help You national advertising campaign activity has promoted the use of online consultation request forms in general practice.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of GP practices use online forms promoted in the Help us Help You advertising scheme.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To date, no Help Us Help You national advertising campaign activity has promoted the use of online consultation request forms in general practice.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of GP appointments that have been booked through online forms as a result of the Help Us Help you advertising scheme since the inception of that scheme.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To date, no Help Us Help You national advertising activity has promoted the use of online consultation request forms in general practice.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to regulate cat breeding.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, anyone in the business of breeding and selling cats as pets needs to have a valid licence issued by their local authority. Licensees must meet strict statutory minimum welfare standards which are enforced by local authorities who have powers to issue, refuse, vary or revoke licences.
Defra has been working on a post-implementation review of the Regulations which considers whether the objectives further improve the protections they provide. We are also carefully considering recommendations in the EFRA select committee’s report into pet welfare and abuse and the Animal Welfare Committee’s Opinion on feline breeding, which will be published shortly.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's policy paper, Changes to the Class 1 National Insurance Contributions Secondary Threshold, the Secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions rate, and the Employment Allowance from 6 April 2025, published on 13 November 2024, if she will make an estimate of the (a) revenue that will accrue to the Exchequer from businesses in the dentistry sector as a result of the proposed increased rate of employer national insurance contributions and (b) average cost per business (i) nationally and (ii) by constituency of that increase in the next five financial years.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. The OBR do not forecast NICs receipts at a sector level. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
The government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance Contributions, i.e. central government, public corporations and local government. Dentists are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes.
The government has taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so that increased funding for the NHS in England could be announced at the Budget. Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years. This includes funding to support the NHS to deliver the first step of an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments a year in England.
Primary care providers – general practice, dentistry, pharmacy and eye care – are valued independent contractors who provide nearly £20bn worth of NHS services. Every year we consult with each sector both about what services they provide, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract.
DHSC will confirm funding for dentistry for 2025/26 as part of the usual contract processes later in the year, including through consultation with the sector.
Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's policy paper, titled Changes to the Class 1 National Insurance Contributions Secondary Threshold, the Secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions rate, and the Employment Allowance from 6 April 2025, published on 13 November 2024, if she will make an estimate of the number of businesses in the dentistry sector that will pay the proposed increase in the rate of employer national insurance contributions (a) nationally and (b) by constituency in the next financial year.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The latest forecasts for tax revenues were published alongside the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) October Economic and Fiscal Outlook. These forecasts are based on economic determinants, including wage growth and employment levels. The OBR do not forecast NICs receipts at a sector level. Detailed tax receipts forecasts can be found here: Economic and fiscal outlook – October 2024 - Office for Budget Responsibility.
The government will provide support for departments and other public sector employers for additional employer National Insurance Contributions, i.e. central government, public corporations and local government. Dentists are independent contractors and therefore will not be exempt from these changes.
The government has taken tough decisions to fix the foundations so that increased funding for the NHS in England could be announced at the Budget. Resource spending for the Department of Health and Social Care is set to increase by £22.6 billion in 2025-26 compared to 2023-24 outturn, providing a real-terms growth rate of 4% for the NHS, the largest since before 2010 excluding Covid-19 years. This includes funding to support the NHS to deliver the first step of an extra two million NHS operations, scans, and appointments a year in England.
Primary care providers – general practice, dentistry, pharmacy and eye care – are valued independent contractors who provide nearly £20bn worth of NHS services. Every year we consult with each sector both about what services they provide, and the money providers are entitled to in return under their contract.
DHSC will confirm funding for dentistry for 2025/26 as part of the usual contract processes later in the year, including through consultation with the sector.
Government keeps all taxes under review.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of restricting the use of treble barbed fishhooks in England and Wales.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The use of barbed hooks is currently restricted by several byelaws covering specific fisheries in areas throughout England and Wales. The suitability and need for these restrictions will continue to be monitored and may inform changes if appropriate, however there are currently no plans for a wider assessment to be made.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of cancellation of the Community Ownership Fund on the projects of applicants.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 11941 on 8 November 2024.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of limiting the use of limonene in commercial aerosol products.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The safety of commercial aerosols is regulated by the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR), and other sector specific regulations. GPSR provides a baseline of safety for applicable products, requiring that only safe products, can be sold. Additionally, limonene is also used in cosmetics and is included in the list of restricted ingredients under the UK Cosmetic Regulation.
The government is confident that the current restrictions on limonene are sufficient to ensure that products are safe. However, to ensure that products remain safe, the government keeps the regulatory framework under constant review, including the use of specific chemicals in particular products.