Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the department is taking to reduce the incidence of diabetes-related lower-limb amputations, including by improving early detection of peripheral neuropathy and access to preventative foot-care services.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As per the link below, there is extensive information on the main National Health Service website concerning Peripheral neuropathy and other diabetes-related foot complications:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local populations, including for foot-related diabetes conditions, and must ensure patients facing those conditions can access high-quality care and treatment.
NHS England maintains a dashboard enabling all services in England and Wales that treat people with diabetes related foot disease to measure their performance against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for prevention and management of diabetic foot problems, to monitor patient outcomes, and to benchmark against peer units. The dashboard can be found at the following link:
In addition, the NICE guidance found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng19
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that all Integrated Care Boards have access to multidisciplinary specialist foot-care teams for people with diabetes.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As per the link below, there is extensive information on the main National Health Service website concerning Peripheral neuropathy and other diabetes-related foot complications:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local populations, including for foot-related diabetes conditions, and must ensure patients facing those conditions can access high-quality care and treatment.
NHS England maintains a dashboard enabling all services in England and Wales that treat people with diabetes related foot disease to measure their performance against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for prevention and management of diabetic foot problems, to monitor patient outcomes, and to benchmark against peer units. The dashboard can be found at the following link:
In addition, the NICE guidance found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng19
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the department has to improve public awareness of peripheral neuropathy and early signs of diabetes-related foot complications.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As per the link below, there is extensive information on the main National Health Service website concerning Peripheral neuropathy and other diabetes-related foot complications:
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/peripheral-neuropathy/
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local populations, including for foot-related diabetes conditions, and must ensure patients facing those conditions can access high-quality care and treatment.
NHS England maintains a dashboard enabling all services in England and Wales that treat people with diabetes related foot disease to measure their performance against the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for prevention and management of diabetic foot problems, to monitor patient outcomes, and to benchmark against peer units. The dashboard can be found at the following link:
In addition, the NICE guidance found at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng19
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
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 of whether the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's cost-effectiveness methodology adequately reflects the particular circumstances of medicines for rare diseases, including treatments that address an underlying physiological deficiency rather than its symptoms.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been able to recommend many medicines licensed for the treatment of rare diseases for use on the National Health Service where companies engage constructively in the process and price their medicines fairly. NICE keeps its methods and processes under review to ensure that they remain fit for purpose.
NICE will be undertaking a research project on valuing rare disease medicines through its Health Technology Assessment Innovation Laboratory.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the treatment of residential management companies as business energy customers; and whether she has considered extending domestic energy protections to such companies.
Answered by Polly Billington - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The classification of an energy supply as domestic or non-domestic is determined in accordance with supplier licence conditions and guidance issued by Ofgem, the independent energy regulator. Suppliers are responsible for ensuring that premises are correctly classified, and whether a particular supply is treated as domestic or non-domestic depends on the specific circumstances of the case.
The Government and Ofgem recognise that indirect domestic energy consumers may not always benefit from the same protections as consumers who contract directly with suppliers.
Ofgem has started work on adopting a more consumer outcomes-based approach to regulating both the domestic and non-domestic energy suppliers, with their first consultation having closed over the summer. Stakeholders will have further opportunities to contribute their views to this work as it progresses, and the Government will continue to work closely with Ofgem to ensure all consumers get appropriate protections in the retail market.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the administrative workload on local authorities, schools, families and the SEND Tribunal of operating parallel SEND systems during the transition to the proposed new system; and what assessment she has made of the funding required to support this transition.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department will support local authorities, schools, families and the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) tribunal to manage the move to our new SEND system. We heard clearly from parents, educators and practitioners the importance of a phased approach to a new system, starting with investment in early intervention. We will share clear guidance ahead of the commencement of new legislation and phase transition, moving children and young people to the new system over a period of seven years and only when they reach the end of their education phase, such as the end of year 6 or year 11.
Under our proposals, a triple lock of transitional protections will mean every child with a special school place in September 2029 will be able to stay in a special school until they finish education. Further proposals will mean children with an education, health and care (EHC) plan will not transition to the new system until 2030, and those who transition out of their EHC plan will have an Individual Support Plan in place ahead of their plan ceasing.
We are investing £200 million of transformation funding to build capacity, strengthen strategic planning and data capability, and implement local authorities’ Local SEND Reform Plans. Through the inclusive mainstream fund, we are also investing £500 million per financial year over the next three years to improve readiness ahead of transitioning to our improved SEND system from 2029.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what consideration has she given to the potential merits of providing parents and carers with a statutory route of redress where provision specified in an Individual Support Plan is not delivered.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As set out in the department’s consultation, ‘SEND Reform: Putting Children and Young People First’, the department proposed a duty on settings to produce an Individual Support Plan (ISP) for every child or young person receiving targeted, targeted plus or specialist support. Under this proposal, the ISP would provide a clear and consistent record of a child or young person’s needs and the help they receive, so that support is joined‑up, timely and centred on what will help them thrive. The responses to the consultation are carefully being reviewed and we will respond in due course.
The department recognises the importance of ensuring that parents and carers have effective routes to raise concerns where support is not being delivered as expected. The ISP will be developed by settings together with parents and young people, giving every child or young person with special educational needs a clear and consistent record of their needs and the help they receive.
The department proposed strengthening the school complaints system with the inclusion of an appropriate, independent SEND specialist on a complaints panel if the complaint cannot be resolved by the school’s senior management team or head teacher. We also proposed strengthening the utilisation of Disagreement Resolution Services by improving and updating guidance for schools. In addition, we set out plans to improve complaints systems more generally in the Schools White Paper, by exploring digital solutions, updating guidance and setting out clearer handling processes.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what safeguards her department will put in place to ensure specialist SEND capacity is not reduced before mainstream inclusion capacity has been established.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government wants to make sure that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) can receive the support they need to achieve and thrive in their local school, but we know that there will always be a vital role for special schools and specialist post-16 provision for children with the most complex needs.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with SEND.
The department is supporting local authorities by investing at least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding between 2025/26 and 2029/30, to support local authorities to provide places for children and young people with SEND or those requiring alternative provision. We expect that local authorities will prioritise investing this funding in specialist bases in mainstream schools to achieve a more inclusive system overall, but there will still be some areas where new special school places are needed.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance her department has issued to local authorities on applying blanket conditions to pavement licenses across multiple premises, including the extent to which such conditions should be proportionate and tailored to individual premises.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department has published statutory guidance on the pavement licensing regime. The guidance makes clear that local authorities may set local conditions on pavement licences and should consider matters including accessibility, local circumstances and the cumulative impact of multiple licences when setting conditions and determining applications. The guidance does not contain specific provisions on the use of blanket conditions across multiple premises. Decisions on applications and any local conditions attached to licences are matters for local authorities, having regard to the statutory framework and published guidance.
Asked by: Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat - Newbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions his department has had with Hong Kong authorities on the barriers faced by UK resident BN(O) status holders in accessing their Mandatory Provident Fund savings after departing Hong Kong.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are committed to supporting the valued BN(O) community here in the UK and are clear that discrimination against BN(O) passport holders is unacceptable.
Documentary requirements for withdrawing funds early are a matter for the Hong Kong authorities, and we continue to raise this issue directly with the Hong Kong Government and the MPF Schemes Authority (MPFA) to encourage a pragmatic solution. Ministers across government have raised the issue directly with the Hong Kong authorities and UK officials continue to discuss the issue with the relevant banks.