Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the use of drones to record footage over police cordons at emergency scenes on privacy; and whether she plans to introduce additional (a) legal protections and (b) enforcement powers to prevent drone use impacting the (i) privacy and (ii) dignity of people involved in such incidents.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The use and deployment of drones by policing is an operational matter made independently by police forces, who are best placed to assess their own operational needs while ensuring they have the tools necessary to protect the public.
However, in the use and deployment of drones, police forces must have due regard to Data Protection legislation and the Air Navigation Order (ANO) 2016, which specifies the requirements and conduct drone operators must abide by to use drones in a manner which is both safe and does not unduly endanger or negatively impact members of the public.
To support development of a national drone capability for policing which is effective and safe, in FY24/25, the Home Office allocated over £4m to national police-led programmes of work to drive standardisation and improve coordination in police drone operations to support public safety outcomes.
Furthermore, to support development of these programmes and improve the safe and legal use of drones by policing, police forces work closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Drone activities conducted by members of the public is a matter for the CAA, who are responsible for regulating the activities of civilian drone operators.
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
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 to promote water reuse.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises that recycled water e.g. from rainwater or domestic greywater showers play a key role in helping non-household users and businesses meet the statutory water demand reduction target of 20% by March 2038. We encourage water companies and developers to move from potable water to recycled sources where possible.
To enable reuse in households, we are working to support the water sector to supply treated, non-potable water, including rainwater, for certain water demands such as toilet flushing. To support this, Ofwat consulted on environmental incentives for developers which considered where recycled water could be integrated into buildings and developments, and acknowledged the importance of recycled water to reducing pressure on the water system
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many units of service family accommodation are located in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme constituency.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
There are no Service Family Accommodation properties in Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme constituency.
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to extend eligibility for NHS lung screening programmes to include people with a history of occupational exposure to (a) asbestos, (b) coal dust and (c) other hazardous substances.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme is offered to people between the ages of 55 and 74 years old who are current smokers or have previously been smokers. This is in line with the recommendation made by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) in 2022.
The UK NSC recognised that there are other causes of lung cancer such as air pollution and occupational exposure to inhaled carcinogens but as 72% of lung cancer is largely attributable to age and smoking status, the benefits of screening would have the most impact in this cohort of people.
When appraising the viability of a targeted screening the UK NSC takes into consideration the feasibility of identifying the cohort of people eligible for targeted screening. This would be necessary if the NHS Lung Cancer Screening Programme were to be extended to these groups.
The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), welcomes any new published peer reviewed evidence which suggests the case for a new or modified screening programme via its annual call, of which details are available at the following link:
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle (a) grooming gangs and (b) child sexual exploitation.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 6 and 16 January, the Home Secretary announced to Parliament a raft of measures to go further in tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation, including 'grooming gangs' offending.
The Home Secretary has written to the National Police Chiefs' Council requesting officers look again at these unsolved and closed grooming gangs cases, backed by £2.5m in funding for stronger investigations The remit of the Independent Child Sexual Abuse Review Panel has also been extended so that it covers not just historic cases before 2013 but all cases since to ensure victims of abuse have the right to an independent review
This includes appointing Baroness Louise Casey to oversee an audit to improve our understanding of the scale, nature and drivers of group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse at a national and local level, and to make recommendations on what additional action is needed to improve our response.
We will provide stronger support for local areas which are interested in undertaking work to better understand and tackle local grooming gang issues and improve their own local responses going forward.
We will also be working across Government to set out a clear timeline for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse by Easter.
Asked by: Lee Pitcher (Labour - Doncaster East and the Isle of Axholme)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the supply of Creon; and what support his Department is providing to patients who are not able to use alternative medicines.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to engage with suppliers of Creon and other pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies (PERT) to boost production to mitigate the supply issue. The supplier of Creon expects to receive increased quantities for 2025. Suppliers of alternative PERT and specialist importers of unlicensed medicines continue to supply increased volumes to assist in covering the gap in the market. The Department has issued management advice to healthcare professionals which directs clinicians to unlicensed imports when licensed stock is unavailable, and which includes actions for integrated care boards to ensure local mitigation plans are implemented. The Department, in collaboration with NHS England, has created a webpage to include the latest update on PERT availability and easily accessible prescribing advice for clinicians.