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.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many certificates of sponsorship were issued to (a) the NHS, (b) local authorities and (c) independent or charitable organisations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on these matters; however, we have recently deployed an IT change which introduces a new compulsory field for required mandatory information which enables defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications to move more expediently through the system.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken to process applications for certificates of sponsorships was in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps his Department has taken to reduce time take to process those applications.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office does not routinely publish data on these matters; however, we have recently deployed an IT change which introduces a new compulsory field for required mandatory information which enables defined Certificate of Sponsorship applications to move more expediently through the system.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress her Department has made on implementing the aims of the International Education Strategy to (a) increase the value of education exports to £35 billion per year by 2030 and (b) increase the total number of international students choosing to study in the UK higher education system each year to 600,000 by 2030.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department remains committed to progressing the implementation of the International Education Strategy and has published regular updates, most recently in May 2023, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-education-strategy-2023-update. The strategy sets out progress to date, including total UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity, estimated to be £25.6 billion in 2020, and meeting the international student ambition two years running (2020/21 and 2021/22). Since 2010, the estimated UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity has risen by 61.2% in current prices.
The UK’s International Education Champion, Professor Sir Steve Smith, continues to promote the UK’s education system in key markets, addressing barriers and creating opportunities for education exporters across the sector.
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, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15459 on Diabetes: Medical Equipment, what the evidential basis is for growth in the prescribing of diabetes technology for people living with type 2 diabetes.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Care and Excellence (NICE) published a recommendation in March 2023 that people with type 2 diabetes, who have multiple daily insulin injections and a condition or disability that means they cannot use capillary blood glucose monitoring, should be offered Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) technology, either real time or intermittent, to support self-monitoring.
The NICE also recommended in March 2023 that adults with insulin-treated type 2 diabetes having their blood glucose monitored by a care worker or healthcare professional, are offered CGM. The rationale is that CGM can help to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes who use insulin.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) promote and (b) protect the UK's education exports.
Answered by Robert Halfon
I refer the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk to the answer of 13 March to Question 17127.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incoming parcels from overseas that were checked by the Border Force were (a) damaged and (b) lost in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Border Force does not hold the information in an easily accessible format, therefore the information requested cannot be obtained without disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reinstating former civil servants on public finances.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Individual departments are responsible for the recruitment of their staff and are able to set their own policies accordingly, subject to the framework of instructions set out in the Civil Service Management Code and the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. This includes the reinstatement of former civil servants under exception five of the Recruitment Principles.