Matt Warman

Nearly 3 million low-paid people will directly benefit from the National Living Wage from April next year. A full-time worker on the current National Minimum Wage will be made £1,200 better off, per year, as a result. Our long-term economic plan is working and we will ensure that the hard work of the British people is recognised through our new National Living Wage.

DECC maintains an interest in the global potential of thorium nuclear fuels.

In 2012, DECC published an initial comparative assessment of thorium and uranium technologies in nuclear power electricity generation. This is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/thorium-and-uranium-fuel-cycles-comparison-by-the-national-nuclear-laboratory.

DECC also draws on the expertise of its national laboratories to model nuclear scenarios that include the use of thorium. These are used to inform research and development needs on thorium nuclear fuel cycles. An overview of these are included in the document “Nuclear Energy Research and Development Roadmap: Future Pathways”, published in March 2013, available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nuclear-energy-research-and-development-roadmap-future-pathways

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not hold the information on Director of Public Prosecution visits from 2011. Routine information, such as visit programmes and delegation lists, will have been disposed of in line with the published CPS Retention and Disposal policy and in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, Data Protection Act, and other relevant laws.

The CPS regularly publishes information regarding expenses incurred by the DPP, including through foreign travel. Historic data of this nature (including from 2011) is available on an archived version of the CPS website held by the National Archives

Requests under the Freedom of Information Act (United States) have also been made to US authorities previously, and they hold some further information which has been disclosed.

The number of eligible farm businesses in receipt of the Single Payment Scheme for 2014–2015 and the Basic Payment Scheme for 2015-16 and the total value of these in 2014-15 and 2016-16 are summarised in the table below:

All ministers have observed a strong interest in British goods and services overseas. This is supported by the EEF, who said:

“Britain’s manufacturers are enjoying buoyant conditions on the back of export markets going from strength to strength.”

Latest trade figures also show that in the year to August 2017, UK exports have increased 13.1% on the previous 12 months.

Claimants with Fibrous dysplasia may be entitled to a wide range of benefits depending on their circumstances, including disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if they have needs related to daily living or mobility.

Automatic enrolment will give around 11 million people the opportunity to save into a workplace pension. We expect around 10 million people to be newly saving or saving more by 2018. Figures released on 13 December by the Pensions Regulator show that over 7 million people have now been automatically enrolled by more than 341,000 employers.

The Department has previously estimated that the cost to the public purse of raising minimum pay in adult social care to the National Living Wage plus 65p is approximately £600 million per year. This includes direct care staff only and excludes ancillary staff.

This estimate does not include the additional costs of higher pay which would be borne by the group of at least 221,000 ‘self-funders’ in care homes and using community care who pay for their own care.

NHS Digital publishes workforce statistics and the following table shows the number of full time equivalent (FTE) nurses and health visitors working on National Health Service wards in May 2010 and June 2017.

Data is not available for September 2017; however the latest available data has been provided which is June 2017. Nurses working on NHS wards are defined as acute, elderly and general nurses.

NHS Hospital and Community Health Services: Nurses and health visitors on NHS wards as at 31 May 2010 and 30 June 2017.

In the last four years, 35 trusts have been put into Special Measures. Of those 20 have now come out – eight of which are now rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding by the Care Quality Commission. I particularly congratulate the staff of Barking, Havering and Redbridge, East Kent, Medway and North Cumbria, which have all come out of Special Measures recently.

Fibrous dysplasia is usually diagnosed in children or young adults, but mild cases may go undiagnosed until adulthood. In some cases, fibrous dysplasia may not require treatment; in other cases, certain medications and surgical procedures may be recommended.

The National Health Service treats patients with both moderate and severe forms of fibrous dysplasia. In patients who have the rare form with more than one bone affected (polyostotic), their care should involve a combination of care from both specialised endocrinology centres and orthopaedic services.

The General Practioner Forward View announced that investment in general practice will increase from £9.6 billion in 2015-16 to more than £12 billion by 2020-21.

Work is underway to increase the primary care workforce and reduce workload, to improve primary care estates and infrastructure, and to redesign care and spread innovation throughout the country.