Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of Houthi militant attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea on the cost of living in the UK.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan
Since November, due to Houthi attacks, 12 international shipping companies have been forced to suspend passage through the Red Sea, causing lengthy delays and disruption to global supply chains. This has included causing insurance premiums for shipping to increase ten-fold; although, this only contributes a small fraction of total costs passed onto the end-consumer. These attacks therefore present a risk of increased prices for consumer goods and energy.
Be assured that the Government is working closely with shipping operators to mitigate any potential impact on consumers, and the shipping and supply chain sectors are well practiced at putting contingencies in place to continue to meet their customer needs.
The Government continues to monitor the situation closely.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 December 2023 to Question 4738 on Health Services: Disability, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the updated Accessible Information Standard is published as soon as possible.
Answered by Maria Caulfield
NHS England is responsible for the review of the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) and its publication and remains committed to publishing the updated AIS as soon as possible. NHS England is working to both progress the documentation through the publication approval process as well as ensuring that, when published, the AIS and supporting documentation are available in accessible formats.
The Department is working closely with NHS England to ensure joint implementation of the updated AIS and receives periodic updates on progress. Following extensive engagement, with a specific focus on those with lived experience and the voluntary sector organisations that support them, NHS England has completed the review of the AIS and its associated documents. The review considered the effectiveness of the current AIS, how the standard is implemented and enforced in practice, and identified recommendations for improvement.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the closure of post offices on local communities.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade
While the Post Office has the commercial freedom to deliver the branch network within the parameters Government sets, the Government fully appreciates the impact a Post Office branch closure can have on a community.
With the largest retail network in the country, there will inevitably be variations in the number of branches open at any one time and any closures are usually outside the control of Post Office. However, the network is not in decline and in fact, more post offices opened last year than closed, and the network is as large today as it has been for five years, with around 11,700 branches open – above the 11,500 target that we set the Post Office.
The Government protects the branch network by setting minimum access criteria to ensure that 99% of the UK population lives within three miles of a post office. The Government-set access criteria ensures that however the network changes, vital services remain within local reach for all citizens.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was between an immigration decision being made and a biometric residence permit being delivered in the last six months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision.
BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (Royal Mail Group) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of production request being made to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
In November, DVLA produced all BRPs within 24 hours of the production request. In November RMG attempted to deliver 99.1% of BRPs within 48 hours.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
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 help maintain the availability of (a) pharmacies and (b) medication.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Department is closely monitoring changes to the pharmacy network to ensure access to the services they provide on behalf of the National Health Service. Access to services remains good with 80% of people in England living within 20 minutes walking distance of a pharmacy and twice as many pharmacies in the most deprived areas of the country. Patients can also choose to access NHS pharmaceutical services remotely through any of the approximately 400 internet pharmacies, who are contractually required to deliver medicines to patient home free of charge. Every three years, local authorities in England undertake pharmaceutical needs assessments for their areas to ensure provision continues to meet their population’s needs.
We have well-established processes for managing and mitigating medicine supply issues, which involve working with the pharmaceutical industry, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, NHS England, the devolved governments and others operating in the supply chain to help ensure patients have access to the treatments they need.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the average processing time to print a Biometric Residence Permit after a decision to grant leave to remain has been issued.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We aim to deliver a BRP within 7 working days of the immigration decision.
BRPs are produced at the secure delivery facility (Driver and Vehicle Licencing Agency (DVLA)) within 48 hours of the production request being made and are collected by our secure delivery partner the same day. Our secure delivery partner (Royal Mail Group) aims to attempt to deliver the BRPs within 48 hours of receipt of the BRPs. This equates to a minimum of 5 working days from date of production request being made to delivery of the BRP. We have added an additional 2 working days to the timeline advised to applicants to allow us to resolve any production issues.
In November, DVLA produced all BRPs within 24 hours of the production request. In November RMG attempted to deliver 99.1% of BRPs within 48 hours.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make it his policy to (a) extend the leave to remain and (b) offer a route to indefinite leave to remain status for individuals on the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
We are mindful that permission will start to expire, for the first arrivals under our Ukrainian schemes, from March 2025, and their need for certainty beyond that point to help them to plan ahead, for example if remaining in the UK, entering into rental agreements and living here independently.
In line with the situation in Ukraine, working closely with the Ukrainian Government, as well as our international counterparts, we keep the need for a possible extension of sanctuary in the UK, beyond March 2025, under consistent review.
The UK Government stands with Ukraine and firmly believes that Ukraine will be safe again. When it’s safe to do so, Ukraine will need the repatriation of its citizens to help recover and rebuild their economy and infrastructure. Our approach therefore has been to provide 36 months sanctuary under our Ukraine visas which are temporary and do not lead to settlement or indefinite leave to remain.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to offer a right of appeal to an independent judge for Afghan citizens refused protection under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
As set out in HMG policy on gov.uk, if an individual application under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme is found ineligible, the individual has the right to seek a review of that decision within 90 days if they believe the decision was not in accordance with the policy, and/or if they can supply new evidence to support their case that was not available when the decision was made. There are no plans to offer a further right of appeal to an independent judge.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of midwives leaving NHS employment in (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The information requested is shown in the attached tables.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what is the age profile of the NHS midwifery workforce for (a) November 2023 and (b) each November since 2013.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
The information requested is shown in the attached tables.