Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to (i) integrated care boards and (ii) NHS Trusts on including opt-out smoking cessation interventions in routine hospital care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has prioritised and put new funding out to integrated care boards (ICBs) for the rollout of tobacco dependence services in hospital settings. Future funding decisions are subject to the Spending Review process.
Local authorities work with ICBs to provide a range of interventions recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, based on the needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his Department's planned timetable is for all hospitals to integrate opt-out smoking cessation interventions in routine care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are committed to ensuring that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care. As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England has prioritised and put new funding out to integrated care boards (ICBs) for the rollout of tobacco dependence services in hospital settings. Future funding decisions are subject to the Spending Review process.
Local authorities work with ICBs to provide a range of interventions recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, based on the needs of their local populations.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) volunteer and (b) paid peer support worker positions were created in the NHS England (i) liaison and diversion and (ii) RECONNECT service since peer support was first included in the liaison and diversion national service specification.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not collected centrally by NHS England. The national service specifications set an expectation that the workforce composition will include volunteer and paid peer-support roles within each liaison and diversion and RECONNECT service. However, the service specification does not stipulate the number or ratio of volunteer or peer support roles per service. It is a matter for the provider to satisfy the regional commissioner that the overall workforce plan is appropriate to meet the needs of the patient population.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Integrated National Transport Strategy will include measures to support the(a) efficiency and (b) decarbonisation of the logistics sector.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Strategy will set the high-level direction for how transport should change to better serve people and is currently in early development. Government recognises the importance of the logistics sector in delivering its missions and transport priorities, including driving economic growth and achieving net zero. We are committed to working with the sector to achieve this and will set out next steps in due course.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether the industrial strategy will include measures to support growth in the logistics sector.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
I refer the member for Dartford to the answer I provided to UIN 9312 on 18 October 2024.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what technical assistance her Department plans to provide to Kent County Council for restoring the collapsed section of the A226 Galley Hill Road at Greenhithe.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has had a number of meetings with Kent County Council (KCC) on this matter and I visited the road in question in September. The Department is waiting for KCC to submit an analysis of the costs and benefits of different options to inform a decision on any Government support.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Statutory levy and online slot stake limits to be introduced to tackle gambling harm, published on 27 November 2024, what steps she plans to take to monitor the spending of the 30% of levy funding allocated for prevention.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the Government’s response to the consultation on the statutory levy, the levy will for the first time provide dedicated, statutory investment for prevention activity in the gambling space. This could include a range of projects and services to increase awareness of risks and prioritising early intervention measures. To guarantee sufficient accountability and transparency within the new system, including the use of funding allocated for prevention alongside research and treatment, we will establish appropriate governance arrangements consisting of a Levy Board for the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments to monitor the health and impact of the levy system, and an Advisory Group to provide informal advice to lead commissioning bodies regarding strategic and funding priorities. The UK government will also formally review the statutory levy system within five years with the first formal review expected by 2030.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take steps to alter the messaging provided on cervical screening leaflets to make clear it does not screen for (a) ovarian cancer and (b) other gynaecological cancers.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
NHS England is responsible for delivering the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, and works to ensure that core public information on screening is easily accessible and understandable to the public. NHS England regularly reviews key public information across National Health Service screening programmes.
NHS England has advised that they are currently updating the Cervical screening: helping you decide leaflet, and that the draft update already addresses the concerns raised, making it clear that cervical screening does not screen for other cancers of the reproductive system. The final updated version is expected to be published in early 2025, and the current leaflet is available at the following link:
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Office for National Statistics web page entitled How the population changed in Dartford: Census 2021, published on 28 June 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for school funding of the recent growth in the population of Dartford constituency; and if she will take steps to reflect the growth in Dartford's population in future school funding allocations.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The schools national funding formula (NFF) distributes core funding for 5 to 16-year-old pupils in mainstream state-funded schools in England.
The vast majority of funding is allocated based on pupil numbers and characteristics. This means that, where pupil numbers are increasing, local authorities and schools will see a commensurate increase in school funding the following year.
In addition to funding through the pupil-led factors in the NFF, the department also allocates growth funding to local authorities. Local authorities can use this funding to support schools experiencing significant growth in pupil numbers, until the lagged funding system catches up.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Office for National Statistics web page entitled How the population changed in Dartford: Census 2021, published on 28 June 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for police funding of the recent growth in the population of Dartford constituency; and if she will take steps to reflect the growth in Dartford's population in future police funding allocations.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary has already announced that central government funding for policing will increase by over half a billion pounds in 2025-26; this includes an increase of over £260m in the core grant for police forces, additional funding for neighbourhood policing, and for the NCA and counter terrorism.
Force level funding allocations for the financial year 2025-26 will be confirmed at the forthcoming police funding settlement. Funding for future years beyond 2025-26 will be set out in phase 2 of the Spending Review.