Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the impact of Operation Nexus on tackling offending by foreign nationals; and how many people were arrested for immigration offences as part of Operation Nexus in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson
‘Operation Nexus’, introduced in September 2012, was a business management mechanism intended to maximise intelligence, information and worldwide links in relation to Foreign National Offenders (FNOs). The mechanism was used to manage and respond to ‘high-harm’ FNOs, to reduce the threat to the public, and to identify individuals with no leave to remain and liable to removal from the UK. Operation Nexus was a partnership between Home Office Immigration Enforcement and the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).
Nexus formally ended in 2019/2020. However, the Home Office continues to work with Law Enforcement Engagement Teams, Immigration Intelligence, Regional Organised Crime Units and the International Crime and Co-ordination Centre in relation to serious harm referrals and to communicate key messages around FNOs.
Home Office publishes information on returns from the UK, including returns of FNOs.
This can be found at the following link: Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many serving police officers failed their first attempt at the Police Written Exercise.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Home Office does not hold this information.
The College of Policing, as the professional body for policing, sets recruitment standards and maintains the national application, assessment and selection framework for police recruit roles.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to reduce bureaucracy for businesses.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - Leader of HM Official Opposition
My department is leading the Smarter Regulation programme which is working cross-government to reduce burdens on business and improve outcomes for people across the UK.
As part of this programme, we have announced reforms to reduce time-consuming reporting requirements under the Working Time Regulations, which could save employers up to £1bn a year, and streamline wine labelling requirements and specifications on production methods to provide a £180m boost to our wine industry.
We are committed to removing red tape to allow UK businesses to focus on growing their business and creating jobs.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the Government’s guidance entitled Our Long-Term Plan for Towns on the Scottish economy.
Answered by John Lamont
The UK Government will invest £140m over 10 years into seven Scottish towns that have been overlooked.
This will breathe new life into these communities and empower them to take back control of their future by tackling anti-social behaviour, regenerating high streets, and improving local transport.
This will greatly enhance the long-term economic growth of these towns.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help increase international research partnerships.
Answered by George Freeman
In December I announced the launch of the first phase of the new International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), underpinned by £119 million of funding.
ISPF will support and fund UK scientists and innovators to work with peers around the world on some of the most pressing issues facing our world.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
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 ensure that the Federated Data Platform supports Integrated Care Systems to implement secure data environment policies.
Answered by Will Quince
The Federated Data Platform will be a Secure Data Environment. NHS England is ensuring the supplier of the platform, when selected, can deliver a product which complies with the published Secure Data Environment guidelines. In addition to the requirements within the procurement process, NHS England has communicated with local systems on the importance of the alignment of the Federated Data Platform with Secure Data Environment policy.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made towards implementing the Federated Data Platform by April 2023.
Answered by Will Quince
NHS England is currently undertaking the final stages of approvals to proceed with the procurement of the Federated Data Platform and the contract notice will be issued in due course. A contract award is anticipated in summer 2023.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Federated Data Platform will maintain patient confidentiality.
Answered by Will Quince
To ensure that the Federated Data Platform (FDP) complies with data protection principles and associated legislation and maintains patient confidentiality, NHS England has developed an initial Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the procurement of the FDP. An overarching DPIA will be undertaken to articulate the data security and protection principles and lawful bases for deployment. Purpose-specific DPIA’s will be drafted for each use case, which will receive formal approval within NHS England prior to deployment. A legal mechanism for sharing and processing data will be agreed in consultation with NHS England and legal counsel.
This will be concurrent and aligned with the procurement process to ensure data protection by design and default principles are embedded. This will ensure that a lawful basis for data sharing is identified and the common law duty of confidentiality is adhered to for all use cases. The FDP team is also consulting on this process with information governance leads in the sector and privacy campaigners.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the plans announced by the NHS to move to using Secure Data Environments to access NHS health and social care data, whether his Department is taking steps to help ensure public confidence in that process.
Answered by Will Quince
In ‘Data saves lives: reshaping health and social care with data’, the Department committed to increase public confidence in the use of data in the health and social care system. This includes a national programme of engagement and the development of a data ‘pact’ to outline how health and social care data will be used and address the public’s expectations.
We committed to engage with the public and professionals on high priority or complex topics, such as the delivery of Secure Data Environments. In summer 2022 we engaged patient and public panels to develop non-technical resources to explain the Secure Data Environment policy. In addition, in September 2022, we published policy guidelines on how we expect Secure Data Environments to function. Guideline 6 set out the expectation that Secure Data Environments must ensure that patients and the public are appropriately involved in ongoing decisions on how their data is used.
Asked by: Marco Longhi (Conservative - Dudley North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of electroconvulsive therapy; and what his policy is on whether that therapy should be a (a) voluntary or (b) mandatory treatment.
Answered by Gillian Keegan
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) assessment found electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) to be an effective treatment for certain subgroups of individuals with mental disorders. However, it recognised that there remained a number of uncertainties, including a lack of information on longer term outcomes and the negative experiences of some individuals who have undergone ECT.
NICE recommends that ECT is used only to achieve rapid and short-term improvement of severe symptoms, after an adequate trial of other treatment options has proven ineffective and/or when the condition is considered to be potentially life-threatening, in individuals with catatonia or a prolonged or severe manic episode. These guidelines recommend that a decision should be made on case by case basis and that a risk–benefit assessment is made of the individual to determine if ECT is appropriate. NICE’s ‘Guidance on the use of electroconvulsive therapy’ and ‘Depression in adults: treatment and management’ are available at the following links:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta59
The Mental Health Act 1983 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 allow for ECT to be administered in particular circumstances, without the person’s consent. The Independent Review of the Mental Health Act recommended further safeguards around the use of urgent ECT without the patient’s consent or where it conflicts with an advance decision, which the draft Mental Health Bill seeks to address.