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Written Question
Poultry: Animal Housing
Thursday 9th February 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the (a) Welsh Government, (b) Scottish Government and (c) Northern Ireland Executive on the use of cages for laying hens.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State has regular meetings with counterparts in the Devolved Administrations to discuss a range of issues including the use of cages for laying hens.


Written Question
Bus Services: Visual Impairment
Wednesday 8th February 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of bus stop bypasses on blind and partially-sighted people.

Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)

Provision of traffic management measures such as floating bus stops is a matter for local authorities. The Department provides design advice on floating bus stops in Local Transport Note 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design, which highlights the potential issues and stresses the need for early engagement on design with relevant groups, particularly those representing disabled people.

The Department is working with Transport Scotland, who are leading on research into accessible public realm, including bus stop bypasses. The outputs will inform recommendations about designs and good practice advice, and the project is scheduled to complete later this year.


Written Question
Universities: Antisemitism
Thursday 2nd February 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the report of the Independent investigation into allegations of antisemitism within NUS, published on 12 January 2023; and what steps the Government is taking to help counter antisemitism in universities.

Answered by Robert Halfon

This report that shows that the National Union of Students (NUS) has, over a number of years, systematically failed to represent the interests of Jewish students, and failed to tackle antisemitic practices within its own organisation. This is not acceptable. The NUS should be an organisation where Jewish students not only feel safe to be themselves, but where their full and equal participation is actively welcomed.

Higher education (HE), more broadly, should do all it can to root out antisemitism. The recent Community Security Trust (CST) report showing a 22% increase in antisemitic incidents on campus over the last two years is deeply concerning.

The department has encouraged HE providers to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, to have absolute clarity of what constitutes antisemitic behaviour. 245 providers in England have adopted the IHRA definition, including the vast majority of universities. We would urge those providers that have not yet adopted to the definition to do so, and for those that have, to ensure that they are fully complying with the definition.


Written Question
Mental Health Services
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether funding for all 40 NHS Wellbeing Hubs will continue beyond March 2023.

Answered by Will Quince

The staff mental health and wellbeing hubs were set up in October 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, using additional non-recurrent funding until 2022/23. A final decision is yet to be made on the funding of these hubs for 2023/24.


Written Question
Disability: Income Support
Friday 27th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has conducted an impact assessment on the impact of the Minimum Income Guarantee on disabled users of social care.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No specific assessment has been made. The level of the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) is reviewed annually, with the next review ongoing. Following the last review, from 6 April 2022 the MIG was increased in line with inflation. The impact of this uprating was taken into account in the Social Care Charging Reform Impact Assessment. Any revised rates for next year will be published in a Local Authority Circular.


Written Question
Cats: Tagging
Wednesday 25th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage local authorities to (a) collect and scan cats injured or killed in road traffic accidents for a microchip and (b) inform the owners of those animals or their injuries or deaths.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government has committed to introducing compulsory cat microchipping and this will increase the likelihood that cats injured or killed on roads can be reunited with their keeper.

It is established good practice for local authorities to scan any cat or dog found on the streets so that the owner can be informed. Cats Protection reports that 80% of councils in England routinely scan cats involved in accidents.

Additionally, Highways England has clear guidelines for contractors to follow when they find a deceased cat or dog.


Written Question
Dogs: Animal Breeding
Wednesday 25th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has commissioned research on the number of unregulated canine fertility clinics in the UK.

Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Department has not commissioned research into the number of unregulated canine fertility clinics.


Written Question
Voting Methods: Visual Impairment
Friday 20th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans his Department has to trial new accessible voting devices to ensure that all blind and partially sighted people can vote independently and in secret.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The Elections Act 2022 is improving the way support is provided to disabled voters and places a duty on Returning Officers to provide assistive equipment in polling stations, wherever reasonable, to support voters with a wide range of disabilities, taking account of people's varying needs. The Electoral Commission are producing statutory guidance to support Returning Officers to carry out this new duty, which is currently undergoing statutory consultation. This is an area the Government keeps under review and we are aware of some organisations developing devices aimed at supporting voters with sight loss. We will be interested to engage with suppliers, the elections community and representative organisations in considering the effectiveness of these, and any other products, to support disabled voters participate better in the democratic process.


Written Question
Dogs: Smuggling
Wednesday 18th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has had recent discussion with the Border Force on steps to tackle illegal puppy smuggling.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra meets regularly with Border Force to discuss various operational issues including the issues around illegal puppy smuggling. Defra's operational department, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, work collaboratively with Border Force and other operational partners at ports, airports and inland, sharing intelligence to enforce the Pet Travel rules, disrupt illegal imports, safeguard the welfare of animals and seize non-compliant animals.


Written Question
Disability and Down's Syndrome
Wednesday 18th January 2023

Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to increase support for people living with (a) Down's Syndome and (b) other disabilities throughout all stages of life.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

To increase access to support for people with Down’s Syndrome and for disabled people we are developing guidance aimed at improving support for people with Down’s Syndrome, as required by the Down Syndrome Act which received Royal Assent in April 2022. This guidance will set out practical steps that organisations should take to meet the needs of people with Down’s Syndrome. It will also help to clarify the support and services people with Down’s Syndrome can expect to receive.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is developing a new Disability Action Plan, which will be consulted on and published this year. The Plan will set out the actions the Government will take in 2023 and 2024 to improve disabled people’s lives.

There will also be mandatory training for all health and social care staff on learning disability and autism and commissioning analysis on the health needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) so these can be better met through effective workforce planning.