Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of pension inequality among armed forces veterans.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Pension schemes develop over time in response to changing circumstances, but the Armed Forces Pension Schemes are designed to be generous, fair and equitable. It is a principle of public service pensions policy, upheld by successive Governments, that improvements to public service pension schemes should not be applied retrospectively.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to the notice by UK Export Finance entitled Category A project supported: INEOS Project One, Belgium, published on 14 April 2023, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of that decision on the development of (a) energy generation and (b) energy production sites in the UK.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK Export Finance (UKEF) has not made an assessment of the potential impact on the development of (a) energy generation and (b) energy production sites in the UK.
In its role as the United Kingdom’s export credit agency, UKEF has issued a guarantee to commercial lenders who are funding the project. That support will help to secure new export opportunities for UK businesses that otherwise may not have been possible.
As with every transaction that it supports, UKEF conducted rigorous due diligence in line with the government’s policies and obligations to inform its decision-making on Project One. This included consideration of environmental and climate impacts.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 3.5 of Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Second report from Session 2023-24, HC 78, published 8 March 2024, how much and what proportion of funding to tackle RAAC concentrate in schools will come from (a) existing and (b) additional budget funding.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Government is funding the removal of RAAC present in schools and colleges either through grants, or through the School Rebuilding Programme. A list of education settings with confirmed RAAC and the funding route to remove RAAC was published on 8 February, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reinforced-autoclaved-aerated-concrete-raac-management-information.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department is taking steps to increase uptake in the use of monitoring technologies by patients with diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recently issued clinical guidelines in relation to the management of insulin dependent diabetes, covering patients living with type 1 and insulin dependent type 2 diabetes. This includes devices to support blood glucose monitoring. These recommendations are now being implemented by integrated care boards (ICBs).
On 19 December 2023, NICE published its final recommendation on the hybrid closed loop system for people with type 1 diabetes. NICE has agreed with NHS England that all children and young people, women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy, and those people who already have an insulin pump will be first to be offered a hybrid closed loop system as part of a 5-year roll-out plan. NHS England has set out priorities for access, to help reduce healthcare inequalities through their implementation plan.
Responsibility for the delivery of services and the implementation of NICE recommendations rests with the appropriate National Health Service commissioner. As diabetes care is commissioned by local ICBs, they are responsible for developing commissioning policies. ICBs must pay due regard to NICE guidance, however local decision making applies in terms of deciding whether to utilise their funding to implement the recommendation or not.