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 she has made on (a) podiatry vacancy rates in the NHS in Blackburn constituency and (b) the impact these vacancies will have on patient treatment for diabetic foot complications.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizens have been referred to Pathway Two of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme as on 2 September 2022; and how many and what proportion of these have been admitted to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Operation PITTING took place in August 2021 – it was the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, during which we evacuated around 15,000 individuals to the UK. In the year since the evacuation, around 5,000 more individuals have arrived in the UK via neighbouring countries.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) launched in January, and this will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle and re-build their lives in the UK over the coming years.
The ACRS is not application-based. Instead, eligible individuals will be prioritised and referred for resettlement to the UK through one of three referral pathways.
Through ACRS Pathway 1, some of those already evacuated to the UK under Op PITTING are being granted a place on the scheme. Those eligible who were called forward during the evacuation, but were not able to board flights, will also be resettled through pathway 1 if they subsequently come to the UK.
Under ACRS Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer refugees - who have already fled Afghanistan - for resettlement to the UK. Those referred will be assessed for resettlement by the UNHCR, using their established processes.
We have now begun to receive the first referrals for resettlement under pathway 2 of the ACRS – which opened in June – from the UNHCR. It is anticipated we will receive referrals for up to 2,000 refugees during the first year of this pathway, although this number will be kept under review – and we look forward to welcoming the first new arrivals under this pathway in due course.
Further information on UNHCR referrals is available at:
UNHCR UK Information and Links on Afghanistan Situation - UNHCR United Kingdom
Under ACRS Pathway 3 eligible British Council and GardaWorld contractors as well as Chevening alumni will be considered for resettlement during the first year of this pathway.
The ACRS is in addition to individuals relocated through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). We have relocated around 10,000 eligible Afghan citizens and their family members under the ARAP scheme since it opened it April 2021 – and the scheme remains open.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the ARAP and ACRS on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizen refugees have entered the UK since August 2021; and through which schemes or pathways they have been admitted.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Operation PITTING took place in August 2021 – it was the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, during which we evacuated around 15,000 individuals to the UK. In the year since the evacuation, around 5,000 more individuals have arrived in the UK via neighbouring countries.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) launched in January, and this will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle and re-build their lives in the UK over the coming years.
The ACRS is not application-based. Instead, eligible individuals will be prioritised and referred for resettlement to the UK through one of three referral pathways.
Through ACRS Pathway 1, some of those already evacuated to the UK under Op PITTING are being granted a place on the scheme. Those eligible who were called forward during the evacuation, but were not able to board flights, will also be resettled through pathway 1 if they subsequently come to the UK.
Under ACRS Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer refugees - who have already fled Afghanistan - for resettlement to the UK. Those referred will be assessed for resettlement by the UNHCR, using their established processes.
We have now begun to receive the first referrals for resettlement under pathway 2 of the ACRS – which opened in June – from the UNHCR. It is anticipated we will receive referrals for up to 2,000 refugees during the first year of this pathway, although this number will be kept under review – and we look forward to welcoming the first new arrivals under this pathway in due course.
Further information on UNHCR referrals is available at:
UNHCR UK Information and Links on Afghanistan Situation - UNHCR United Kingdom
Under ACRS Pathway 3 eligible British Council and GardaWorld contractors as well as Chevening alumni will be considered for resettlement during the first year of this pathway.
The ACRS is in addition to individuals relocated through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). We have relocated around 10,000 eligible Afghan citizens and their family members under the ARAP scheme since it opened it April 2021 – and the scheme remains open.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the ARAP and ACRS on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
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 implications for his policies on food prices of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report entitled, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, published in April 2022, which said that widespread use of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage could use up to 46 per cent of the world’s arable land; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Government’s Biomass Strategy, which will be published later this year, will establish the role which Bioenergy with Carbon Capture & Storage (BECCS) can play in reducing carbon emissions across the economy and set out how the technology could be deployed. No decision has been made on future BECCS deployment.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the percentage change to Discretionary Housing Payments funding to local authorities in England and Wales will be as a result of the most recent flat rate reduction in allocation.
Answered by David Rutley
Overall Discretionary Housing Payments funding is £100m in 2022/23, which is 29% less than the £140m that was available in 2020/21.
In addition to the central government contribution, English and Welsh Local Authorities can top up DHP funding up to a maximum of two and a half times this figure using their own funds.
Since 2011, the Government has provided almost £1.5 billion in DHPs to LAs to help support claimants who require further financial assistance with housing costs. In addition, the Government has made a further £2 billion available over the next three years to tackle and help prevent homelessness and rough sleeping.
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
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
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
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.