Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 effectiveness of diagnostic hubs in diagnosing dementia in West Yorkshire.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) offer a variety of tests, including several recommended for use in diagnosing of dementia. CDCs are an essential part of our plans to separate urgent and elective care and thereby reduce waits for diagnosis.
NHS England continues to monitor the monthly dementia diagnosis rate and analyse trends at national, regional and integrated care board (ICB) level. It has commissioned the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities to investigate the underlying variation in dementia diagnosis rates, including by rurality, ethnicity, and age. This work will provide context for variation and enable targeted investigation and provision of support at local level, and is available via the FutureNHS collaboration platform.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he has taken to encourage local authorities to spend the levelling up funding that they have been allocated.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The UK Government is investing £15 billion in a suite of complementary Levelling Up projects for local people and local businesses across the country to help grow the economy, create jobs, improve transport and provide skills training and local business support, this includes the Towns Fund, Long Term Plan for Towns and Levelling Up Fund Projects in my Hon Friend’s constituency .
We are working across government with places to support them to overcome any barriers to delivery, through increased flexibilities, as well as a comprehensive £65 million package of support.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that private car park operators (a) display clear signage, (b) impose proportionate fine costs and (c) do not impose additional hidden fees.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government is taking action to improve the regulation of the private parking industry. We are developing a new code of practice which will ensure the best possible protection for motorists and parking companies alike.
The code recognises the importance of clear signage and will outline new standards which industry must meet to be compliant.
Currently we are reviewing the levels of parking charges and debt recovery fees and have recently concluded a call for evidence regarding these elements. We intend to consult on the level of parking charges and debt recovery fees in due course.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many people in Dewsbury constituency were victims of the Horizon programme failures; and what steps are being taken to compensate them.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government does not hold the data requested.
Government wants to see postmasters compensated as quickly as possible. Over £148 million has been paid to 2,700 victims, and we encourage anyone impacted to use the three compensation schemes available.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of anti-social behaviour in (a) Dewsbury constituency, (b) West Yorkshire and (c) England in each of the last three years; and what steps his Department is taking to tackle anti-social behaviour in those areas.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 27 March 2023, the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools and powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The plan is backed by £160m of funding and includes supporting the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage. This has started in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas, including West Yorkshire. In addition, we are funding a police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we are working with 10 police force areas, but we will be rolling this enforcement approach across every police force area in England and Wales later this year.
The Office for National Statistics annually publishes anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the Police by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership. The latest available data covering year to March 2023 can be found here:
Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (Table P12 for England and West Yorkshire police force area figures).
Recorded crime data by Community Safety Partnership area - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (Tables C6 and C7 for Kirklees Community Safety Partnership (CSP) figures, which include the area of Dewsbury).
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps his Department has taken to help tackle anti-social behaviour in Dewsbury constituency.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 27 March 2023, the Government launched the Anti-social Behaviour Action Plan https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/anti-social-behaviour-action-plan ensuring the police, local authorities and other relevant agencies have the tools and powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The plan is backed by £160m of funding and includes supporting the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage. This has started in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas, including West Yorkshire. In addition, we are funding a police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we are working with 10 police force areas, but we will be rolling this enforcement approach across every police force area in England and Wales later this year.
The Office for National Statistics annually publishes anti-social behaviour incidents reported to the Police by Police Force Area and Community Safety Partnership. The latest available data covering year to March 2023 can be found here:
Crime in England and Wales: Police Force Area data tables - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (Table P12 for England and West Yorkshire police force area figures).
Recorded crime data by Community Safety Partnership area - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (Tables C6 and C7 for Kirklees Community Safety Partnership (CSP) figures, which include the area of Dewsbury).
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of GP appointments were held face-to-face in West Yorkshire in (a) 2019 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In 2019, 79.7% of all general practitioner (GP) appointments were face-to-face across England. 84.5% were face-to-face in the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) in the same period. In 2023, 72.2% of appointments were face-to-face in November 2023 in the West Yorkshire ICB and 67.9% were face-to-face nationally. GP appointment data for December 2023 has not yet been published, thus we are unable to provide a figure for all of 2023.
The National Health Service is clear that GPs must provide face-to-face appointments, alongside remote consultations, and patients’ input into consultation type should be sought and their preferences for face-to-face care respected, unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 adequacy of the availability of support for people with diabetes in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board has a dedicated diabetes programme and system wide diabetes leadership team which includes representation from National Health Service organisations, including acute trusts and primary and community care, and local authorities. The West Yorkshire diabetes programme team is working together to deliver national diabetes programmes to prevent the onset of and improve the lives of people living with diabetes across West Yorkshire, including Dewsbury.
Kirklees Health and Care Partnership completed a full review of diabetes services across Kirklees in 2023. Extensive engagement with the Kirklees communities took place via a community champions project. Kirklees Health and Care Partnership invested £155,000 to support the community champion engagement and, in voluntary organisations, to develop new services for communities to access help to both prevent the onset of diabetes and support self-management.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding his Department has provided to support (a) cycling and (b) walking activities in (i) Dewsbury constituency and (ii) West Yorkshire in the last 12 months.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In the last 12 months, Active Travel England has awarded West Yorkshire Combined Authority £2,530,967 of revenue funding through the Capability Fund, and £17,430,668 of capital funding through the fourth tranche of the Active Travel Fund. This funding has been provided to support active travel as a whole in the region and is not split between walking and cycling. West Yorkshire Combined Authority decides on how this funding is allocated locally.
Annual payments are also made to West Yorkshire Combined Authority for Levelling Up Fund and City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement Schemes. This includes a £330,000 scheme for a Dewsbury-Batley-Chidswell bus, cycling and walking corridor.
Asked by: Mark Eastwood (Conservative - Dewsbury)
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 adequacy of mental health care provision in (a) Dewsbury constituency and (b) West Yorkshire.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such assessment has been made. We are investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by March 2024 compared to 2018/19 to expand and transform mental health services in England so that two million more people can get the mental health support that they need including in Dewsbury constituency and West Yorkshire.