Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what improvements have been made to (a) how and (b) what data is reported for heat illness cases following the inquest into the death of Corporal Joshua Hoole in 2019.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has overhauled safety policy beginning in 2020 to provide clear direction that all suspected or confirmed heat illness cases must be reported, and to improve the quality of reporting safety occurrences. The MOD is now moving to a single safety occurrence reporting system known as MySafety.
Individual Defence organisations’ safety occurrence reporting procedures instructs their personnel on ‘how’ to report safety occurrences and the Commanders Guide to Joint Service Publication (JSP) 375 Chapter 41 (Heat Illness Prevention) specifies ‘what’ minimum data is required for reporting heat illness cases, for example: the time, location, Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer reading, Met Office weather forecast, type of activity being undertaken, and a description of the illness or injury.
The MOD has also developed and implemented heat illness prevention training that must be completed by all military personnel at the earliest opportunity (for example in Phase 1 training for new entrants) to reinforce the heat illness prevention policy, including reporting, that is set out in JSP 375 Chapter 41.
While work was undertaken in 2020 to move to a more common set of reporting and investigation forms, several individual Defence organisations continue to use separate reporting systems to report incidents of suspected or confirmed heat illness including exertional heat illness. The Army and UK Strat Com have already adopted MySafety as a unified reporting system. The remaining Front Line Commands are expected to follow suit by April 2025. MySafety has already seen an increase in reporting numbers and quality, but the full benefits will not be realised until Full Operating Capability is reached in October 2025.
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list every date on which the Health and Safety Executive issued his Department a notification of contravention since 2013.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
Health and Safety Notices of Contravention (NOC) can be issued to any organisation within Defence at a local level and this information is not held centrally by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). However, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publishes details of NOC it has issued to organisations including the MOD on its website which can be found at this link - Notices found - Enforcement notices public (hse.gov.uk).
Furthermore, it may be helpful to provide a list of Crown Censures which are served on the department by the HSE for a more serious breach of health and safety law if the HSE deems that, but for Crown immunity, there would have been sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
The MOD and Reserve Forces and Cadet Associations have received the following Crown Censures since 2013:-
Date | Organisation |
25/01/2013 | Army |
02/03/2015 | Army |
31/03/2016 | Joint Forces Command |
29/09/2016 | Army |
09/02/2018 | Navy |
03/03/2017 | Defence Equipment & Support |
02/09/2020 | Navy |
28/09/2020 | Joint Forces Command |
14/12/2020 | East Midlands Reserve Forces & Cadets Association |
05/05/2022 | MOD |
11/07/2022 | Navy |
08/05/2024 | Army |
03/10/2024 | Army |
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the (a) date and (b) place of every coroner's inquest that established heat as a cause of death for service personnel since 2013.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
From 1 January 2013 to 13 October 2024, three UK Armed Forces personnel tragically died from heat related causes confirmed by a Coroner and listed on the death certificates. All three deaths occurred in July 2013. The inquest for all three deaths began on 26 June 2015 at Solihull Council, Civic Suite, Council House, Solihull, West Midlands.
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the accessibility of bus services outside of London and combined authority areas for (a) wheelchair users, (b) people who are blind or visually impaired and (c) people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government wants everyone to have access to public transport and is committed to improving services so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity.
On October 1st, the first phase of Public Service Vehicle Accessible Information Regulations came into force, meaning that local services will provide audible and visible information on stops, destination and diversions by 2026. The government has set out an action plan for improving the bus network, based on giving local leaders the tools they need to ensure bus services reflect the needs of the communities they serve.
As announced in the King’s Speech, the government will also introduce a new Buses Bill later in this parliamentary session which will help bring to an end the postcode lottery of bus services by giving local leaders the freedom to take decisions to deliver their local transport priorities and ensure networks meet the needs of the communities who rely on them. As part of this legislation we will be looking at what measures could address accessibility barriers to support disabled passengers to use bus services.
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has had recent discussions with disability organisations on the potential merits of introducing a moratorium on floating bus stops.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is fully aware of the concerns raised by some groups, particularly visually impaired people, over the use of floating bus stops and is working with Active Travel England on ways to address these concerns. It is a complex issue and we are carefully considering a wide range of options in developing next steps.
The Hierarchy of Road Users is a well-established concept which ensures that those road users who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to other road users. It is for local authorities to ensure any infrastructure they place is developed with this in mind.
The Department engages regularly with a wide range of stakeholders. The Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee provides advice on disability transport issues in their role as a statutory advisory body, including advice on buses and local transport.
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of whether floating bus stops are compatible with Rule H1 of the Highway Code.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department is fully aware of the concerns raised by some groups, particularly visually impaired people, over the use of floating bus stops and is working with Active Travel England on ways to address these concerns. It is a complex issue and we are carefully considering a wide range of options in developing next steps.
The Hierarchy of Road Users is a well-established concept which ensures that those road users who can do the greatest harm have the greatest responsibility to reduce the danger or threat they may pose to other road users. It is for local authorities to ensure any infrastructure they place is developed with this in mind.
The Department engages regularly with a wide range of stakeholders. The Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee provides advice on disability transport issues in their role as a statutory advisory body, including advice on buses and local transport.
Asked by: Julie Minns (Labour - Carlisle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were unable to achieve a successful set of mammograms because (a) they were unable to hold the required position for sufficient time and (b) the mammogram machine was not accessible to wheelchair users in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England does not hold this information centrally. However, NHS England is fully committed to modernising the breast screening programme and removing barriers to accessing screening.