To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Mental Health Services: Floods
Monday 19th February 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on supporting the mental health and wellbeing of people impacted by flooding.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

The Department has responded to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s inquiry into rural mental health. Further information on the inquiry is available at the following link:

https://committees.parliament.uk/work/1627/rural-mental-health/

It is important that the right support is in place, including for those affected by flooding. NHS England has clinical guidelines on dealing with major incidents, including on providing psychosocial support for both patients and staff.

Talking therapies are available remotely so people can access help safely from home and the National Health Service is working to ensure the option of face-to-face support is provided to people with serious mental health illnesses, across all ages where it is clinically safe to do so.

The UK Health Security Agency has published flooding and health guidance to provide information to assist health professionals and public agencies to understand and mitigate the mental health risks posed by flooding. It is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/flooding-health-guidance-and-advice

Written Question
Dental Health: Blaydon
Friday 2nd February 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the relationship between the availability of NHS dental care and (a) adult and (b) children dental health in Blaydon constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom

From June 2021 to June 2023, 1,099,769 adults saw a National Health Service dentist in the North-East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) area. This is equal to 46% of the adult population in the ICB area, and is higher than the national figure, which was 41% over the same period. Furthermore, from June 2022 to June 2023, 323,155 children saw an NHS dentist in the ICB area. This is equal to 54% of the child population in the ICB area, and is also higher than the national figure, which was 53% over the same period.

Written Question
Land Registry
Friday 26th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what proportion of applications for register updates to the HM Land Registry held on file as of 22 January 2024 were requested more than (a) six and (b) 12 months ago.

Answered by Lee Rowley

I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 2374 about HM Land Registry’s processing times on 24 November 2023.

Written Question
Tea: Production
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2024 to the Question 8096 on Tea: Production, how the mandate for the representatives the UK has selected to attend the UN FAO intergovernmental meeting on tea was developed; what their objectives will be for the meeting; and whether his Department has taken steps to incorporate the UK's commitments under (a) UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 and (b) other UN Sustainable Development Goals into these objectives.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Intergovermental Group on Tea provides advice to the FAO's Governing Bodies composed of all Member States. Advice is reviewed by the UK and other member states before decision making.

Nearly all importing and exporting countries of tea are members of the Group and send industry and research expertise in line with the Group's rules of procedure. The Group facilitates dialogue between production and consumer bodies, including on meeting policy standards, in line with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). The UK's Tea and Infusion Association representative is currently chair of the group and will hand over to a representative from India at the forthcoming session.

Written Question
Food and Agriculture Organization
Thursday 25th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 January 2024 to Question 7384 on Food and Agriculture Organisation, what steps his Department is taking to avoid conflicts of interest in the UK delegation; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of sending an official from his Department to the intergovernmental forum.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Intergovermental Group on Tea provides advice to the FAO's Governing Bodies composed of all Member States. Advice is reviewed by the UK and other member states before decision making.

Nearly all importing and exporting countries of tea are members of the Group and send industry and research expertise in line with the Group's rules of procedure. The Group facilitates dialogue between production and consumer bodies, including on meeting policy standards, in line with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). The UK's Tea and Infusion Association representative is currently chair of the group and will hand over to a representative from India at the forthcoming session.

Written Question
Tea: Production
Thursday 11th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the UK's commitment to Sustainable Development Goals 8, 8.7 and 15, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the (a) working conditions and (b) incomes of smallholder tea producers; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of prices for green leaf sales on the incomes of smallholder tea producers.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The UK improves the livelihoods of smallholder farmers across agrifood sectors through our multilateral and bilateral programmes, including regular global donor coordination.

Our work with Wood Foundation Africa increases Rwandan smallholder tea production, creating jobs and increasing incomes. Our "Work opportunities for Women" programme enables Kenyan women tea smallholders to apply more climate-adaptive techniques. In Malawi, UK's CASA programme enabled  tea out-growers and their associations to better exercise their rights with large tea estates.

The International Development White Paper restates our commitment to accelerating progress towards all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It includes UK support to tackling modern slavery by promoting raised standards overseas.

Written Question
Food and Agriculture Organization
Wednesday 10th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, who will represent the UK at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Inter Governmental Group meeting on Tea taking place between 31 January and 2 February 2024 in India; and what their remit will be.

Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan

The UK representatives at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's Intergovernmental Group meeting on Tea will be Dr Sharon Hall, Chief Executive of the UK Tea & Infusions Association and Dr Katie Donnelly of Tata Consumer Products. The representatives' remit is to engage in the Group's meeting to discuss issues related to tea, supporting the UN Food and Agriculture Organization with ongoing market appraisal and wider analysis of trends in the production, consumption, trade and prices of tea.

Written Question
Pregnancy: Mental Health Services
Monday 8th January 2024

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people accessing perinatal mental health services by NHS inclusion groups since 2017.

Answered by Maria Caulfield

The attached tables show the number of people accessing perinatal mental health services by age, ethnicity and indices of Deprivation deciles from 2019/20 to 2021/22. Data prior to 2019/20 is not included as the analysis of perinatal services did not exist prior to this year and as such would be subject to data quality considerations. Data for 2022/23 is due to be published on 22 February 2024.

Written Question
Department for Work and Pensions: Disability
Tuesday 19th December 2023

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to help support disabled employees in his Department.

Answered by Paul Maynard

  • DWP is recognised as a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, which demonstrates the departmental commitment to attracting, recruiting, retaining, and supporting career progression of disabled people. This assessment has recently been validated by Business Disability Forum.
  • Annually we update the DWP voluntary reporting on disability, mental health and wellbeing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) voluntary report on Gov UK which provides updated information on the activity on our support for disabled employees.
  • Our DWP Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Approach has a long-term strategic intent that our products, services, and environment are ‘inclusive by design’ to ensure that as many people as possible, particularly groups who are traditionally excluded from being able to use an interface or navigate an environment, can access these. We use this to support our Disability Inclusion Action Plan that prioritises building capability, raising awareness, streamlining processes and improving policies.
  • In June 2023, 22% of DWP staff indicated that they had a disability (an increase of 3.7% compared to June 2021) and 13.6% of Senior Civil Servants in the department declared a disability (an increase of 1.6% compared to June 2021).
  • Workplace adjustments are considered as a matter of course for any colleague who experiences a barrier and/or difficulty at work including those with a health condition; enabling them to develop and fulfil their potential. We have a programme of activity in place to ensure that both line managers and employees understand the requirement to consider adjustments and the process for putting them in place.
  • DWP have a strong relationship and remains well connected to staff diversity and inclusion networks, such as Mental Health First Aiders, Ambassadors for Fair Treatment, and our disability network - THRIVE. It utilises them to raise awareness and provide education on the importance of diversity in the workplace. Additionally, they can be used as recruitment panel volunteers and the wider sharing of vacancies across communities of disabled colleagues. We also learn and utilise lived experiences throughout our decision making.
  • DWP’s internal and external communications team collaborate with our Disability Network colleagues (THRIVE) to deliver whole DWP communications throughout the year – linking to specific events such as Neurodiversity Week or International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
  • Our Disability and Mental Health Champion works closely with our disability networks and sponsors the Civil Service Deaf and Hard of Hearing Network, spearheading communication campaigns, publishing blogs and working with her Senior Civil Service colleagues to highlight challenges and promote learning.
  • DWP has established a Centre of Expertise for resourcing, within it, is a team focused on diversity and inclusion in recruitment. The team leads on ensuring our recruitment processes are inclusive and enable our drive for equitable representation across the workforce, thus supporting DWP’s equality objectives.
  • DWP have been awarded the RNIB Visibly Better Employer (VBE) status. We are proudly promoting our status; including within our adverts and candidate pack, profile on diverse jobs boards, social media, and Civil Service Careers websites; including the badge to show that we are a Visibly Better Employer.
  • We have worked with Government Recruitment Service (GRS) to develop a Recruitment Adjustment Passport, to lead the way for the Civil Service. The Passport will gather a candidate’s adjustment requests for the end-to-end recruitment process to alleviate difficulties, repetition, and inconsistencies throughout.
  • DWP has been leading activity in trialling new recruitment practices that better support a broader range of candidates. Using improving branding to encourage Disabled people to apply for our roles – as well as acting as a role model to all other employers.
  • DWP ensures digital environments, as well as physical environments, are inclusive and accessible. A new Accessibility Practice SharePoint site was launched on 24th July 2023. which provides guidance on various aspects of accessibility. We have Accessibility Standard Leads throughout our corporate functions.
  • A new DWP Digital Accessibility Policy was approved and published in June 2023. This sets out the responsibilities of product teams and individuals in creating accessible products and internal communications. It explains in detail how to comply with the Equality Act (2010), the Public Sector Equality Duty (2011) and the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations (2018/2022).
  • During 2022 DWP introduced a structured approach to improving accessibility and inclusion in the design of DWP buildings.
Written Question
Buses: Exhaust Emissions
Thursday 14th December 2023

Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon and Consett)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for zero and low emission buses.

Answered by Guy Opperman

Since February 2020, an estimated 4,200 Zero Emission Buses (ZEBs) have been funded across the UK, including 1,300 ZEBs supported by £280m through the ZEBRA 1 programme. We announced a further £129m in September 2023 under the ZEBRA 2 programme.

My department has an ongoing monitoring and evaluation project for ZEBRA. An interim evaluation report was published in June 2023.