Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of freezing the level of the tax-free Personal Allowance on the economy; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing this level.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government is committed to keeping taxes low to support people to keep more of what they earn. The Personal Allowance has nearly doubled since 2010 and is over 20% higher in real terms.
As with all aspects of the tax system, the Government keeps the Personal Allowance under review and any decisions on future changes will be made by the Chancellor in the context of the wider public finances.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) blind, (b) partially sighted, (c) deaf and (d) hearing impaired patients receive (i) care and (ii) communications related to their heath in an accessible format; and if she will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of missed appointments due to (A) inaccessible and (B) missed communications.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Under the Equality Act (2010), health and social care organisations must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people, including blind, partially sighted, deaf, and hearing impaired patients, are not disadvantaged. Since 2016, all National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers in England are required to comply with the Accessible Information Standard (AIS).
NHS England is responsible for the AIS, and have completed a review of the AIS to help ensure that the communication needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss are met in health and care provision. The AIS review included input from individuals with lived experience and voluntary sector organisations for blind, partially sighted, deaf, and hearing impaired patients.
One of the aims of the review was to strengthen assurance of implementation of the AIS, and a self-assessment framework has been developed to support providers of NHS and social care services, to measure their performance against the AIS and develop improvement action plans to address gaps in implementation. The AIS self-assessment framework is designed to enable enhancements around assurance and allows organisations, commissioners, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to judge performance and compliance.
NHS England will publish a revised AIS in due course. Following publication, NHS England will continue work to support its implementation with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and updated e-learning modules on the AIS to ensure NHS staff are better aware of the standard, and their roles and responsibilities in implementing it.
NHS England collects data on the total costs of missed appointments, but that data is not broken down sufficiently to enable us to make an estimate of appointments missed due to inaccessible or missed communications.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to protect (a) hedgerow habitats and (b) associated species.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Hedgerows are important ecological and environmental building blocks across our landscapes. As set out in the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP), Defra will support farmers to create or restore at least 30,000 miles of hedgerows by 2037, increasing to 45,000 miles of hedgerows by 2050.
On the 16 April the Government laid before Parliament new regulations that will place management practices for hedgerows on agricultural land into legislation. These practices include a cutting ban between 1 March and 31 August to protect nesting birds during this period, and a 2m buffer strip around a hedge where green cover must be established and maintained to protect the health of the hedge and the wildlife that use it.
The new regulations will be supplemented by actions being undertaken by many through Environmental Land Management schemes. There are now over 55,920 miles of hedgerows with one or both sides managed under 16,000 Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farm Incentive agreements.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people (a) applied for and (b) received employment and support allowance for inflammatory bowel disease in (i) Preston, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) England in each year since 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire and (c) England have (i) applied for and (ii) received Personal Independence Payments for inflammatory bowel disease in each year since 2020.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The latest available data on personal independence payment (PIP) clearances and awards can be found here. The requested data can be found on the ‘PIP Clearances’ dataset by going to ‘Geography’, ‘National – Regional – LAs – OAs’ and following the drop downs to the relevant areas. Similarly, you can filter for those with inflammatory bowel disease through ‘Disability’, ‘Gastrointestinal disease’ and selecting ‘Inflammatory bowel disease’. To further filter just for those awarded, you can go to ‘Clearance Type Detail’ and select ‘Awarded’.
A lookup which shows which Local Authorities are in Lancashire is available here.
Data is based on primary disabling condition as recorded on the PIP computer systems. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions upon which the decision is based but only the primary condition is shown in these statistics.
Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the impact of pavement parking on individuals that are visually impaired; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a ban on pavement parking.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department carried out a public consultation on possible solutions to the complex pavement parking problem and received over 15,000 responses. The Department has listened carefully to the concerns raised by Guide Dogs and other disability organisations, including via their consultation responses, and those views will help inform our subsequent policy decisions.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people in (a) England, (b) the North West, (c) Lancashire and (d) Preston have been (i) awarded and (ii) denied compensation from the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Information on the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claims that have received a compensation payment and that have received a zero entitlement decision is published as part of the Transparency Data release. The latest published data, covering the period up to the end of February 2024, is available here: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: February 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The Windrush Compensation Scheme does not publish regional data about compensation awards and zero-entitlement decisions.
A zero entitlement claim is one where the person making the claim meets the eligibility criteria under the scheme rules, but is not entitled to any compensation as we have not been able to identify any losses or impacts suffered as a result of an inability to demonstrate lawful status.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information her Department holds on the number of reports of faulty smart meters in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Preston in the last 12 months; and what steps her Department is taking to ensure energy companies are accountable for the quality of smart meters they install.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Almost 9 in 10 smart meters are sending automatic readings, but those that don’t will still be accurately measuring consumers’ energy, like a traditional meter.
The Government is working closely with industry to drive down the number of smart meters not sending automatic readings. The numbers are improving but more progress is needed.
Energy suppliers have an obligation to take all reasonable steps to operate smart meters in smart mode and Ofgem are responsible for regulating suppliers against this obligation.
The Government does not hold geographic data on smart meters that aren’t sending automatic readings.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to reduce levels of drug offences in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Reducing drug-related crime is a key priority of the Government’s 10-year drugs strategy.
We are making good progress. Since April 2022 we have closed over 2,500 county lines and delivered over 6,000 major and moderate organised crime group disruptions.
We are also investing £532m into drug treatment which reduces crime and reoffending. There are now 24,500 more people in treatment across England, including increases in Lancashire.
We are targeting treatment referrals at offenders. The percentage of prison leavers continuing treatment after release has also risen to a record high of 52% - an increase of 10% in the last 12 months.
We are working with the National Police Chiefs Council to increase police referrals into drug treatment, as well as expanding Drug Testing on Arrest to identify those who use drugs. This builds on £2.1 million funding to deliver Project ADDER – a co-ordinated approach across policing and treatment to crack down on supply and support people tackle their addiction – in 13 hard hit areas including Lancashire.
The government has asked every area in England to form a Combating Drugs Partnership (CDP) to work together to reduce drug-related harm and crime. Preston is covered by the Lancashire CDP, and the Government has supported the establishment of the Pan Lancashire Drugs and Alcohol Alliance, to help coordinate work across Lancashire’s three CDPs.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure that anti-social behaviour is investigated in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The investigation of anti-social behaviour in Lancashire is a matter for the Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lancashire.
Last year 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 they need to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The Plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes funding an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we worked with 10 police force areas, including Lancashire Constabulary which received £1,050,000. From April this has been extended to every police force in England and Wales and Lancashire will receive £ 1,713,512 for the hotspot programme tackling areas of high incidents of both ASB and serious violence.