Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what support his Department is providing to Syria following the earthquake in that country last year.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In 2023, the UK committed up to £43 million to support the response to the earthquakes in Northwest Syria and Turkey, including £28 million for Syria. The UK also committed up to £150 million to support Syrians at the Brussels Pledging Conference in June 2023. In financial year 2022/23 UK aid in north west Syria supported the provision of over 203,000 health consultations and nutrition support to over 27,000 women and children.
Since 2012, the UK has spent over £3.8 billion to provide lifesaving and life-sustaining assistance to those in need, both inside Syria and to refugee hosting countries.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
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 support people living with motor neurone disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a clinical guideline on the assessment and management of motor neurone disease (MND), to support its diagnosis. The guideline recommends coordinated care for people with MND, using a clinic based, MND specialist, multi-disciplinary team approach. The core multi-disciplinary team should consist of healthcare and other professionals with expertise in MND, and should include specialist nurses.
The Government has committed to delivering at least £50 million to support MND research over five years, from 2022 onwards, as part of a package of £375 million for research into neurodegenerative diseases. In June 2023, the Government announced that more than £35 million of the £50 million pledged to cutting-edge MND research has now been allocated, just two years into a five-year funding commitment. Work continues at pace to support MND researchers in submitting high-quality bids for open funding calls. Further information is available at the following link:
NHS England commissions specialised services to support people living with MND, as set out in the published service specification for specialised neurology services. The support provided includes the provision of multi-disciplinary care from specialist clinicians, including neurologists, specialist nurses, speech and language therapists, dietetics and nutrition support, and physiotherapy, depending on individual clinical need. The service specification for specialised neurology services is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/d04-neurosci-spec-neuro.pdf
In addition, NHS England commissions a specialised communication aid service known as Augmentative and Alternative Communication, as set out in the published service specification. This service supports and prioritises individuals with rapidly degenerative conditions, including MND. The service specification for Augmentative and Alternative Communication, is available at the following link:
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help support people with early onset dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to delivering high quality care and support for every person with dementia at every age, and central to this is the provision of personalised care. Provision of dementia health care services is the responsibility of local integrated care boards (ICBs). NHS England would expect ICBs to commission services based on local population needs.
The Dementia Well Pathway includes diagnosing well, living well, supporting well, and dying well, and highlights that services need to be integrated, commissioned, monitored, and aligned with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) standards for each component of the pathway. It makes it clear that individual needs, wishes and preferences should be taken into account in planning and providing care.
In January 2023 the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy early 2024. By bringing dementia and other conditions strategies together, we will be able to focus on where there are similarities in approach and ensure care is better centred around the patient.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help care homes to improve the support they provide to people with (a) learning difficulties and (b) dementia.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From July 2022, under the Health and Care Act 2022, Care Quality Commission registered health and care providers are required to ensure that staff receive training on learning disability and autism appropriate to their role. This will help to ensure that staff have the right knowledge and skills to provide safe and compassionate care for people with a learning disability.
We are taking steps to help care homes improve the support they provide through the Care Workforce Pathway that sets clear expectations about training at different stages of a career. This includes learning disability and dementia as specific areas of practice. We are also introducing a new Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate available to the sector with content that has been underpinned by the Dementia Training Standards and the Core Capabilities Framework on learning disability.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to help support the development of new small businesses.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government reaffirmed its commitment to all the UK’s 5.5 million small businesses with the creation of a new Small Business Council. The Council builds on the Department’s existing support for SMEs and will provide a bespoke forum for small businesses to have their voices represented within Government.
The Help to Grow website is a one-stop shop for small businesses to clearly identify what funding they can access, webinars as well as the basics of setting up a business.
Businesses can still access government-backed financial support from the Start Up Loans Company, which provides loans and support to new entrepreneurs.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to promote freedom of religion and belief in other countries.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We continue to ensure that freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is central to our human rights and wider work. Our International Development White Paper published in November includes a commitment to prioritise FoRB in our bilateral and multilateral work.
We work with UN, G7, and other multilateral fora to promote FoRB. In June this year, the UN Security Council adopted, unanimously, a UK-United Arab Emirates (UAE) co-penned resolution on Tolerance and International Peace and Security, which contained language on FoRB. Bilaterally, Ministers and officials regularly raise specific cases of concern, and do not shy away from challenging those we believe are not meeting their obligations, whether publicly or in private.
This year, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for FoRB, Fiona Bruce MP served a second consecutive year as Chair of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance, a network of 42 countries committed to the promotion and protection of FoRB.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure that humanitarian aid reaches those in need in Sudan.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has announced £36 million in humanitarian aid this year to assist people in urgent need in Sudan. Securing improved humanitarian access into and across Sudan remains a top UK priority. Lack of security remains the biggest constraint for international agencies and NGOs delivering life-saving assistance. We continue to raise humanitarian access, including bureaucratic and administrative impediments, with the warring parties, our international partners and in international fora such as the UN. The UK is working with the UN, other donors and humanitarian agencies to coordinate the effective delivery of aid, and continues to put pressure on both parties to the conflict to abide by their commitments under International Humanitarian Law and to allow lifesaving humanitarian aid to reach the Sudanese people.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to tackle tax evasion.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Tax evasion is always illegal and HMRC’s aim is for everyone to pay the tax that is legally due, no matter who they are. HMRC’s role is to make it easy to get tax right for the compliant majority and make it hard for the dishonest minority to cheat the system.
HMRC has achieved a long-term reduction in the UK’s tax gap from 7.5% in 2005-06 to 4.8% (£35.8 billion) in 2021-22 (the latest estimate). The tax gap is composed of a range of customer behaviours: non-payment, use of avoidance schemes, legal interpretation, error, failure to take reasonable care, evasion, the hidden economy and criminal attacks on the tax system.
Evasion is when people or businesses deliberately do not declare or account for what they owe. It made up 0.6% or £4.7 billion of the £35.8 billion.
HMRC works to prevent fraud, tackle avoidance and evasion by designing policies and processes which minimise risk, by promoting good compliance with the tax system through education initiatives and responding with a range of interventions, capabilities and sanctions given to them by Parliament, including the exercising of strong civil and criminal investigation powers.
Since 2010, the Government has introduced over 200 measures to tackle tax avoidance and evasion, including 21 measures introduced since 2021 that are forecast to raise over £7 billion. Of these measures, 4 measures were announced at the Autumn Statement 2022 and are forecast to raise £5 billion in tax revenues over the next five years.
HMRC will continue to work hard, putting in place measures which mean we can go even further in reducing the tax gap, and making sure taxpayers and businesses meet their obligations and pay the tax they owe.
Published information: ‘Measuring tax gaps tables 2023’ (Table 7.1) at gov.uk.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on developing the interoperability criteria for deposit return schemes in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In May 2023, the Government published a position statement setting out that deposit return schemes across the UK should be interoperable to reduce complexity for businesses and consumers, and to avoid unnecessary barriers to trade. Defra is working closely with devolved administrations at pace on the next steps to deliver interoperable schemes across the UK. We will be providing updates on this as soon as possible.
Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish the Government’s land use framework for England; and with reference to the commitments in the Food Strategy published in June 2022, whether the framework will take account of the potential impacts of (a) the Sustainable Farming Incentive and (b) other environmental land management schemes.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government will publish a Land Use Framework for England this year. The Framework will provide a long-term perspective on the land uses required to deliver growth, Net Zero, climate change adaptation, nature recovery, food security, and economic infrastructure. Our work preparing the Framework is taking a broad range of factors into account, including the Sustainable Farming Incentive and other environmental land management schemes.