Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure adequate support is provided to people who live with severe chronic pain.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
The majority of routine treatment and support for people with chronic pain is provided by local primary, community and secondary care services and commissioned via clinical commissioning groups. For patients with severe and complex pain, NHS England commissions specialised care. Upon referral to specialist centres, patients can access a range of health professionals, including consultant specialists, clinical nurse specialists, psychologists and physiotherapists and receive specialised treatment.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence published its guidance on chronic pain in April 2021, which includes recommendations on how chronic pain can be managed through pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, such as exercise programmes, acupuncture and psychological therapy. NHS England has established a task and finish group to produce guidance on the provision of high-quality services for people living with long-term pain conditions by September 2022. The guidance is aimed at integrated care systems, to provide core principles which can be used to inform the development of local models of care to support people living with chronic pain.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the removal of domestic covid-19 restrictions on the health and wellbeing of clinically vulnerable and immunocompromised people.
Answered by Maggie Throup
No specific assessment has been made. However, we have made antiviral and other therapeutic treatments available for the most vulnerable patients and a targeted vaccination programme. On 1 April 2022, we issued updated guidance for those most at risk from serious illness as a result of COVID-19 infection, including those previously considered as clinically extremely vulnerable and the immunocompromised. We are also continuing to engage with patients and relevant stakeholder groups to review the impact of these measures.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the UK's food supply and security.
Answered by Victoria Prentis - Attorney General
The UK has a highly resilient food supply chain that has coped well in responding to unprecedented challenges.
Our food import dependency on the Eastern Europe region is very low. We do not expect any significant direct impact on overall UK food supply as a result of the conflict in Ukraine. Food imports from Ukraine and Russia comprise a relatively small amount of cereals and oilseeds - such as wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower oil - and vodka. We have strong domestic production on many of the same products. We speak regularly with food industry figures, who remain confident in the food supply chain.
Food prices depend on a range of factors including agri-food import prices, domestic agricultural prices, domestic labour, exchange rates and manufacturing costs. The war in Ukraine is another factor which will have an impact on food prices. We are working with major food retailers to understand the effect on individual industries and supply chains in Defra’s sectors, and any resulting impacts on price.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) accessibility and (b) quality of child and adolescent mental health services in Lancashire.
Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education
No specific assessment has been made. However, in 2020/21 42% of children and young people with a probable mental health condition in the Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria Sustainability and Transformation Partnership area received at least two contacts with National Health Service-funded mental health services. The percentage of children and young people with a probable mental health condition is based on 2004 prevalence from the Office of National Statistics. The Care Quality Commission’s inspection report published in September 2019 found that the quality of child and adolescent mental health services at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust was rated as good.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the earliest arrival date of Afghan citizens to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme commenced on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK
There are around 6,500 people in the UK who have been brought to safety during and after the evacuation and who are eligible for the ACRS. They include women’s rights activists, journalists, and prosecutors, as well as Afghan families of British Nationals. The first Afghan families have already been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain under the scheme.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has for the allocation of funding resulting from the forecast underspend for the National Tutoring Programme.
Answered by Robin Walker
The department will continue to support the progress of tutoring through the three flexible routes to high-quality tutoring (school-led tutoring, tuition partners and academic mentors) and will consider in-year adjustments to ensure schools continue offering the type of tutoring that best suits their pupils to maximise the benefits of the programme.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the names of the forests from which Drax sources its wood pellets.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold this information.
Information on country and region of sourcing of generators is publicly available at https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/biomass-sustainability-dataset-2019-20.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the effect of rising fuel prices on household finances in Blackburn constituency.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is conscious of the impact of fuel prices on household finances across the country.
That is why we have kept fuel duty frozen. This is the twelfth consecutive freeze, saving the average UK car driver a cumulative £1,900, compared to the plans set out by the previous government in 2010.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the funds paid out to dormant companies in relation to the coronavirus support schemes.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The COVID-19 support schemes have helped millions of people and businesses through the pandemic. These schemes are part of the collective national effort to protect jobs. HMRC administered the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) and the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme (EOHO)
SEISS was only payable to non-incorporated businesses. CJRS and EOHO was payable to both non-incorporated and incorporated businesses.
HMRC prioritised getting money to those who needed it with the schemes designed to minimise fraud while not unnecessarily delaying payments. The schemes were designed to prevent fraud, both in the eligibility criteria and the claim process itself. However, they could still be attractive to fraudsters.
To qualify for the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme employers needed to have a Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme and submitted a Real Time Information (RTI) return with details of the employees’ wages. For instance, for claim periods between 1 November 2020 and 30 April 2021 employees included in furlough claims must have been employed on 30 October 2020 and HMRC must have received an RTI submission between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020 notifying a payment through PAYE in respect of that employee.
To qualify for the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme, claimants needed to register confirming they met the following criteria:
The company will have to have been actively trading to make a valid claim.
To ensure quick payment, HMRC undertook pre-payment risk assessments within 72 hours of receipt, blocking those indicating criminal activity.
As businesses were required to be active to make a valid claim, HMRC believes that the risk of funds being paid to dormant companies to be low.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the merits of COPA90's recommendations on issues of fan behaviour and engagement as part of the Fan Led Review of Football Governance.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
We thank all those organisations and individuals who gave and submitted evidence to the Fan Led Review of Football Governance, including COPA90. All submissions were assessed by the Independent Fan Led Review.
The Government has welcomed the Fan Led Review and has endorsed in principle the primary recommendation of the review, that football requires a strong, independent regulator to secure the future of our national game.
The Government is working at pace to review the report in full, including detailed consideration of the recommendations made on improving fan engagement and accountability across the game.
The Government will continue to engage with stakeholders as we work towards issuing a full response to the report in the Spring.