Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 assessment of the potential merits of integrating mental health data with the mapping of predictions of extreme weather events.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has made no such assessment. It is important that the right support is in place, including for those affected by extreme weather events. 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 an Adverse Weather and Health Plan to provide information to assist health professionals and public agencies to understand and mitigate the mental health risks posed by adverse weather conditions. It is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adverse-weather-and-health-plan
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 the impact of extreme weather on suicide risk.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Department has made no such assessment on the impact of extreme weather on suicide risk.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
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
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
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 - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Liz Twist (Labour - Blaydon)
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 - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
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.