Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support (a) children and (b) other people with long covid.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
NHS England has invested significantly in supporting people with long COVID. This includes setting up specialist post-COVID services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, developing digital self-management tools, and investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition. As of 1 April 2024, there were over 90 adult post-COVID services across England along with an additional 10 children and young people’s hubs.
From April 2024, in line with the National Health Service’s operating framework and the establishment of integrated care systems, commissioning of post-COVID services has been the responsibility of integrated care boards. This is being supported by ongoing funding, and the expectation is that dedicated services should continue to be offered to support people with long COVID. The Government has also invested over £50 million in research through two specific funding calls to better understand long COVID and how to treat it.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether it is her policy to publish a statutory code of practice under the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We will set out policies on the Private Parking Code of Practice in due course.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to increase levels of home insulation; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of poor home insulation on health.
Answered by Amanda Solloway
The Government is supporting increased levels in home insulation through our ‘help to heat’ schemes. Evidence of the health benefits of Government insulation schemes is gathered as part of those schemes’ evaluations. Recent evaluations show that schemes had a positive impact on general health.
For example, the evaluation of ECO Phase 3 showed 24% of households reported that the measures had a positive impact on the health of anyone within the household. This was higher among households that had someone living there who had a long-standing illness, disability or infirmity (31%) Details of the evaluation can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/653f8705d10f3500139a6b2f/eco-evaluation-phases-2t-3.pdf.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his expected timetable is for publishing his Department's roadmap on household water efficiency.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We published our ‘Roadmap on water efficiency in new developments and retrofits’ in the Environmental Improvement Plan in 2023. This sets out 10 actions to achieve our statutory target to reduce water demand by 20% by 2038. Within this we committed to implementing a Mandatory Water Efficiency label by 2025, to enable consumers to identify water efficient products. In October 2023, the Government publicly committed to a spring consultation to fulfil the roadmap action to Review the Building Regulations 2010, and the water efficiency, water recycling and drainage standards (regulation 36 and Part G2, H1, H2, H3 of Schedule 1), considering industry competence and skills.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with water companies to help tackle leaks.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Reducing losses through leakage is an important part of maintaining secure supplies of water for customers now and in the future. Government is committed to reducing leakage and has set a statutory water demand target to reduce water demand per person by 20% by 2038. This includes reducing leakage by 37% by 2038, on a trajectory to a 50% reduction in leakage by 2050. Ofwat set out a £51 billion five-year investment package in the Price Review 2019, including requirements for water companies to cut leaks by 16% and reduce mains bursts by 12% between 2020-2025. Ofwat will hold water companies to account for delivering leakage reduction targets, with financial penalties if they fail to meet them.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many and what proportion of the population have access to (a) green space and (b) water within 15 minutes walk from home.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
The data we currently use on the number and proportion of people with access to greenspace is taken from Natural England’s Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework analysis. Natural England’s G3 Indicator report shows that as of October 2021, the proportions of the total population in England living within Accessible Greenspace Standards ‘criteria’ (straight line distances from the boundary of the greenspaces) are:
• 1 in 3 people live within 200 metres of a doorstep greenspace of at least 0.5 hectares
• 1 in 4 people live within 300 metres of a local natural greenspace of at least 2 hectares
• 1 in 2 people live within 1 km of a neighbourhood natural greenspace of at least 10 hectares.
We are currently working to establish a robust baseline of walkability to green and blue space, including working with NE and with the Rivers Trust to create data on blue space access points. In August we will publish an official statistic in development on walkability within England to the nearest green space. This will use network analysis to calculate travel time/distance rather than straight-line distances, and enhanced use of data on the rights-of-way network. For full details see https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/access-to-green-space-in-england.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 make an assessment of the sustainability of the future water supply.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Shadow Minister (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Last year, regional water resources groups and water companies, consulted on their draft water resources plans. These statutory plans set out how each company will secure water supplies sustainably for at least the next 25 years. Within the plans, water companies consider all options, including demand management and new water resources infrastructure. The draft plans show how the Government’s water demand targets will be met, including reducing leaks, and contain proposals for multiple new water resources infrastructure schemes, such as reservoirs, by 2050.
Further information on the water resources plans can be found in the Environment Agency’s Summary of England’s draft regional and water resources management plan published in March 2024.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many hectares of new wildlife habitats have been (a) created and (b) restored since 31 January 2023.
Answered by Rebecca Pow
We do not currently have an estimate for habitat created and restored in 2023, the first year of the target.
Data on habitat created and restored is not usually available by year end. We expect there to be a two-year lag before having a 'complete' count due to the time taken for data to be reported and the quality assurance process.
In April, we published information about actions that will count toward our statutory habitat target, the list of wildlife rich habitats, and definitions of restoration and creation (available here).
We are currently working with Natural England to set up a formal reporting system for monitoring progress towards our statutory habitat target.
While we establish this formal reporting system, we are looking at whether we can collect a subset of data from Defra Group delivery mechanisms for ad hoc interim reporting.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
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 (a) support research for and (b) raise awareness of Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The Department funds research into rare diseases such as ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Over the last five years, NIHR infrastructure has supported 13 research awards on ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. Raising awareness of rare diseases such as ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency among healthcare professionals is a priority of the 2021 UK Rare Diseases Framework, and the 2024 England Rare Diseases Action Plan.
Asked by: Kim Leadbeater (Labour - Spen Valley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with car insurance providers on the cost of insurance for young drivers.
Answered by Guy Opperman
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance. However, it is the responsibility of individual motor insurers to set premiums and the terms and conditions of their policies, and the Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
The Government is determined that insurers should treat customers fairly and firms are required to do so under the Financial Conduct Authority rules.
There is evidence to suggest that younger drivers and those with less experience carry a higher risk. Some insurers have introduced the use of telematics or in-car black boxes to allow better risk-based pricing of insurance, especially for new drivers. It means insurers now have a real time data feed, which allows them to see an individual’s driving behaviour; this had not been possible in the past. This can help reduce insurance premiums if drivers show good driving behaviour with a black box installed in their cars.