Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the policy paper entitled Stopping the start: our new plan to create a smokefree generation, last updated on 8 November 2023, reflects his Department's current policy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The landmark Tobacco and Vapes Bill was introduced into Parliament on 5 November, and will be the single biggest public health intervention since the banning of smoking in indoor public spaces.
This bill goes further than ever before. It will create the first smoke-free generation, gradually phasing out the sale of tobacco products across the country, enable the Government to strengthen the existing ban on smoking in public places to reduce the harms of passive smoking in certain outdoor settings, ban vapes and nicotine products from being promoted and advertised to children, and introduce tougher enforcement measures, including through providing powers to introduce a retail licensing scheme for tobacco and vapes.
This bill will help deliver our ambition for a smoke-free United Kingdom, and forms part of our Health Mission to shift the health system from treatment to prevention.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that new investment in further education contributes to (a) improving staff conditions and (b) closing pay gaps between college and school teachers.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to ensuring there is a thriving further education (FE) sector, which is vital to our missions to break down the barriers to opportunity and deliver economic growth.
At the October 2024 Budget, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer set out an additional £300 million for FE revenue funding to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs, as well as £300 million new capital funding to address condition and capacity issues in the FE estate. The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.
This investment is on top of around an additional £600 million in FE across the 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years. This includes extending retention payments of up to £6,000 after tax for eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas,
The government does not set pay or conditions within FE. This remains the responsibility of individual providers. However, the department continues to support the sector to recruit and retain expert teachers. We have continued to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas, worth up to £30,000 each, tax free. Additionally, the department is supporting industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through the Taking Teaching Further programme.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to support community pharmacies in City of Durham constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacies play a vital role in our healthcare system. Previous plans did not go far enough. We are committed to expanding the role of pharmacies and better utilising the skills of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. That includes making prescribing part of the services delivered by community pharmacists.
The consultation with Community Pharmacy England on the national funding and contractual framework arrangements for 2024/25 has not yet been concluded, and we are looking into this as a matter of urgency.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing flexible railway ticketing.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Flexible Season Tickets are available across all contracted train operators. They offer most commuters who travel two or three days per week better value compared to both day tickets and other season tickets.
All TOCs offer anytime and off-peak tickets for flexible travel through the day. While LNER have removed off-peak tickets on a small number of trial routes, passengers can still purchase flexibility on these routes with the semi-flexible ticket. This ticket allows passengers to travel 70 minutes either side of the booked journey.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish a response to the consultation in 2022 on public sector food and catering policy.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is reviewing the policy. Our ambition, set out in our election manifesto, is for half of all food supplied into the public sector to be from local British producers, or certified to higher environmental standards whilst being in line with World Trade Organisation and domestic procurement obligations.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to introduce auto-enrolment for the Healthy Start scheme.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Healthy Start scheme is kept under review. There have been no discussions with my Rt Hon. Friend, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on introducing auto-enrolment for Healthy Start.
The Healthy Start scheme was introduced in 2006 to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old, from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. Healthy Start beneficiaries have access to free Healthy Start Vitamins for pregnant women and children aged under four years old. Healthy Start now supports over 355,000 beneficiaries. This figure is higher than the previous paper voucher scheme.
The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHS Business Services Authority is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card. However, we remain open to all viable routes to improve uptake.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to expand the Soft Drinks Industry Levy to milk based drinks.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The SDIL is internationally recognised as a successful tax intervention, with measurable reformulation and consequent health impacts.
As with all taxes, the Government keeps SDIL under review as part of its Budget process.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether levels of food insecurity will be a key metric of the Child Poverty Taskforce.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Tackling child poverty is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and prosper.
Child poverty has increased by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This not only harms children’s lives but also damages their future prospects and holds back our society and economy.
With this in mind, the Child Poverty Taskforce will drive forward action across government to reduce child poverty, including considering a range of metrics which can be tracked. These will be published in the government’s Child Poverty Strategy in the spring.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 reduce inequalities in dietary health.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under our Health Mission we will move from a model of sickness to one of prevention, reducing health inequalities and closing the gap in healthy life expectancy, as well as delivering on our commitment to raise the healthiest generation ever. As part of this we are working with civil society, industry, and the public to address some of the biggest drivers of ill-health and health inequalities, including tackling obesity and poor diet, as obesity prevalence for children in deprived areas is double that of non-deprived areas.
To this end, we are rolling out free breakfast clubs in every primary school, with an early adopter scheme launching in April 2025, so children start the day ready to learn, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and confront child poverty. All children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 in England’s state-funded schools are already entitled to universal infant free school meals, and disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools, as well as 16 to 18-year-old students in further education, receive free meals on the basis of low income.
In addition, our Healthy Food Schemes already provide support for those who need it the most. The Healthy Start scheme aims to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies, and young children under four years old from very low-income households. It can be used to buy, or put towards the cost of, fruit, vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula, with beneficiaries also having access to free Healthy Start Vitamins.
We have also committed to banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years old, where we know average intakes of these drinks is highest among children from more deprived areas. Additionally, we are on track to ban junk food advertising to children from next year.
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
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 improve the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of nurses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Working with universities we are committed to training the staff we need to get patients seen on time, including more nurses, and will work closely with National Health Service trusts and their local education providers to do so and ensure nursing remains an attractive career choice.
Targeted retention work for nurses and midwives is being undertaken by NHS England and led by the Chief Nursing Officer. This includes the introduction of a nursing and midwifery retention self-assessment tool which shares evidence on retention interventions and allows employers to assess their local plans and actions; a national preceptorship framework which provides early career support for nurses and midwives as they transition from education to employment; mentoring schemes; strengthened advice and support on pensions and flexible retirement options; and the publication of menopause policies and guidance.