Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) Ministers and (b) officials from her Department have met Stonewall to discuss puberty blockers in the last five years.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Ministers have not met Stonewall to discuss puberty blockers. Information on how many times officials have met with Stonewall is not available, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to protect (a) children and (b) young people from gambling harm.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
His Majesty’s Government recognises that, while millions of people gamble without experiencing problems, for some it becomes an addiction with serious consequences. It is particularly important to take steps to protect those, particularly young people, who are at risk of experiencing gambling harm.
In April 2023 the Department for Culture, Media and Sport published a White Paper following our review of the Gambling Act 2005. The White Paper outlined a series of measures to tackle practices and products which can drive harm and to ensure that people who are at risk of gambling harm and addiction are protected. These include new, frictionless financial risk checks, a stake limit for online slots games, improvements to customer-led tools, and tougher restrictions on bonuses and direct marketing. These measures will be complemented by strengthened messaging about the risks associated with gambling. The White Paper also contained a commitment to introduce a new statutory levy paid by operators to fund research, prevention, and treatment. In July 2023 the Gambling Commission also published a vulnerability statement, outlining its approach to identifying, supporting, and protecting consumers who are in vulnerable situations.
We are working with the Gambling Commission and others to bring the measures from the White Paper into force as quickly as possible, and have already published consultations on a number of important proposals so that we can finalise details ahead of their implementation.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has had recent discussions with police forces on the effectiveness of the commitment that the police attend the scene of every home burglary.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Crime Survey for England and Wales data shows a 56% fall in domestic burglaries when comparing the year ending September 2023 with year ending March 2010. This is clearly good news; however, we recognise the impact domestic burglary can have on individuals and communities and we are committed to tackling and preventing this crime.
The public rightly expects that the police will visit them when a home burglary has been committed, which is why we welcome the announcement made by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) on 8 June 2023 that all 43 police forces in England and Wales have been implementing this attendance policy since March 2023: https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/police-now-attending-scene-of-every-home-burglary.
The police commitment to attend home burglaries is supported by specific College of Policing good practice guidance on conducting residential burglary investigations: https://www.college.police.uk/guidance/residential-burglary.
We are continuing to regularly engage with the NPCC and the police on tackling burglary through an array of forums, including the Residential Burglary Taskforce and the National Policing Board, as well as working with police leaders to ensure forces are making their attendance data available to the public.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help increase specialist knowledge of cerebral palsy across the (a) health and (b) social care workforce.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The standards of training for health care professionals are the responsibility of the health care independent statutory regulatory bodies, including the General Medical Council (GMC), the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and the Health and Care Professions Council. These have the general function of promoting high standards of education, and co-ordinating all stages of education, to ensure that health and care students and newly qualified health care professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential for professional practice, including knowledge of cerebral palsy.
The training curricula for postgraduate specialty training is set by the relevant royal college, and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. Whilst curricula do not necessarily highlight specific conditions for doctors to be aware of, they do emphasise the skills and approaches that a doctor must develop in order to ensure accurate and timely diagnoses and treatment plans for their patients.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has also published a range of guidance on care and support for children and young people, and adults with cerebral palsy, to support health care professionals and commissioners. The guidance outlines the kind of specialist care that children, young people, and adults with cerebral palsy may need from health and social care professionals. The guidance document for children and young people with cerebral palsy, and the guidance document for adults with cerebral palsy, are available respectively at the following links:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng62
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng119
NHS England has also produced an e-learning course on the prevention of cerebral palsy in preterm labour, which is available at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/prevention-of-cerebral-palsy-in-preterm-labour/
NHS England has established the Getting It Right First Time (GRIFT) national programme, which is designed to improve the treatment and care of patients through an in-depth clinically led review of specialties, to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved. The GRIFT National Speciality Report on Neurology makes recommendations on the diagnosis and management of a range of neurological conditions, including cerebral palsy, and will support the National Health Service in delivering care more equitably across the country, and improving services nationally.
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, backed by £2.4 billion, sets out the steps needed to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. The plan will double medical school training places by 2031, and sets out that the NHS will focus on expanding the number of clinicians who train to take up enhanced and advanced roles and work as part of multidisciplinary teams. We expect that this will increase the number of health care professionals in the speciality of neurology, and those that have specialist knowledge of cerebral palsy.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of inmates in prisons were drug tested at least once in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
All prisons have a zero-tolerance approach to drugs. Our drug testing contract also enables us to deliver key commitments in the Cross-Government Drug Strategy such as: testing of offenders who receive a Drug Rehabilitation Requirement, the pilot of Intensive Supervision Courts and increased flexibility to test for a broader range of drugs. In addition, all prisons have been provided with access to forensic testing of items seized or found within the estate.
Our £100 million Security Investment Programme completed in March 2022 and delivered 75 additional X-ray body scanners, supplying full coverage across the closed male estate. We have also installed 84 X-ray baggage scanners at 49 sites, drug detection machines and metal detection archways. Furthermore, we are taking steps to support individuals with substance misuse issues in prison. We have dramatically increased the number of incentivised substance-free living units (ISFLs), where prisoners commit to living drug-free with incentives and regular testing. 80 prisons now have an ISFL, up from 25 in summer 2022.