Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
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 potential benefits of allowing paramedics to prescribe oxycodone.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to exploring the extension of medicine responsibilities for non-medical professionals. This will support the aim that patients are cared for and treated by the most appropriate healthcare professional to meet their needs, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Many regulated healthcare professionals have already received extended medicine responsibilities, and the Department is committed to assessing the impact that these changes have had on patient care.
Regarding the extension of paramedics’ medicine responsibilities, there is a process in place for making changes to ensure proposals are safe and beneficial for patients. Officials are carefully considering proposals relating to a range of healthcare professionals, including paramedics, as a part of wider work building on work delivered by the Chief Professions Officers’ medicines mechanisms programme.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of mandating internet service providers to charge existing customers the same as new ones.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government continues to work closely with Ofcom, the independent regulator of telecommunications, to ensure customers are empowered to navigate the telecoms market and find the best deals for their needs.
A range of measures have been implemented, for example since 2020 Ofcom has required providers to issue end-of–contract notifications. These alert customers when their contract/discounts are ending, encouraging them to secure better deals.
The Government has no plans to mandate providers to charge new and existing customers the same price, however we will continue to work with Ofcom to monitor the market to ensure that consumers are receiving fair deals.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take legislative steps to ban disposable barbeques.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has no plans to ban disposable barbeques at present. Local authorities already have powers to apply local bans on council or public land. It would also be a crime to litter a disposable barbecue for which councils have powers to issue fixed penalty notices (on-the-spot fines) of up to £500 or prosecute.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the minimum floor cap for self-employed individuals receiving universal credit.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Minimum Income Floor (MIF) encourages self-employed customers to progress in work and grow their earnings to a sustainable level.
The Government has committed to reviewing Universal Credit to ensure it is supporting the Government’s objectives to make work pay and tackle poverty.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to make government digital services accessible to people in rural areas.
Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The new digital centre exists to enable Departments to deliver digital public services that work for everyone. GDS guide, monitor and assure all digital public services, incentivising departments to provide support for service users with low digital skills or limited access to the web.
Through Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network, we are continuing to deliver broadband and mobile connectivity to hard-to-reach areas with limited or low coverage.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent discussions he has had with NATO allies on strengthening European security.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
We regularly engage with NATO and our Allies on strengthening Euro-Atlantic security. The Prime Minister met the NATO Secretary General on 3 February, underlining our unshakeable commitment to the Alliance. European Allies must take greater responsibility for our own security, spending more and producing more. That is the message the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary continue to deliver to our Allies.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to improve treatment for people with glioblastoma brain tumours.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
One of the Secretary of State’s first acts as Minister was to meet with clinicians to discuss what more we can do to diagnose and treat patients with brain tumours including glioblastoma.In September 2024, my Department announced new funding opportunities for brain tumour research to make sure promising treatments are made available to patients.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department plans to take to help support the defence sector in the (a) East of England and (b) UK.
Answered by Maria Eagle - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This Government recognises the vital role Defence plays not only in our national security but also to the economic prosperity and growth of the United Kingdom.
The Government is committed to delivering a new Defence Industrial Strategy, working in partnership with our domestic defence industry across the UK, to support UK innovation and resilience.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will take steps to review the (a) efficiency and (b) reliability of postal voting for UK nationals living abroad during the General Election on 4 July 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer my Hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 199 on 26 July 2024.
Asked by: Kevin Bonavia (Labour - Stevenage)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to enable local authorities to bring in rent controls for people in the private rented sector.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls. We have made clear that we intend to use the Renters’ Rights Bill to provide tenants with greater protections against unreasonable within-tenancy rent increases.