Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he plans to review the ex-gratia redundancy scheme for Afghan interpreters.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
The National Security Council-agreed Ex-Gratia Redundancy Scheme and the Intimidation Policy for Afghan local staff were announced on 4 June 2013 by the then Secretary of State for Defence. They were developed to express the UK's debt of gratitude to those staff who had supported its effort through the operation, to provide support to any who might face intimidation as a result of their work for the UK, and to recognise the then Afghan President's concern to retain the country's best and brightest citizens in order to help build a more stable and secure Afghanistan. By the end of December 2017, all local staff had been made redundant and some 400 had been relocated to the UK with their families with up to 50 more expected to follow. Others benefited from finance and training packages and from support to deal with intimidation concerns. The arrangements are kept under review in the light of developments in Afghanistan, including independent assurance of the application of the Intimidation Policy.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps to ensure that supermarket bags for life are made from fabric rather than plastic.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Government has no specific plans to ensure that supermarket bags for life are made from fabric rather than plastic. All bags have environmental impacts during their life cycle. The charge for single use plastic bags aims to encourage the re-use of all bags and thereby reduce waste and littering. Our 25 Year Environment Plan sets out measures to eliminate avoidable plastic waste by the end of 2042.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to involve people with Parkinson's disease in the process of improving the work capability assessment.
Answered by Sarah Newton
We are committed to working with a comprehensive range of external stakeholders including disability charities, academics, people with disabilities and their advocates. As part of this, I am pleased to note that I am scheduling a meeting with representatives of Parkinson’s UK.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department’s plans are for the Ministry of Defence Guard Service.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Security remains a priority for the Department and no decisions will be taken which would compromise the security of our personnel, information and assets.
The Ministry of Defence intends to fully explore and develop options, for the future provision of an effective unarmed guarding service for Defence establishments throughout the UK that achieves maximum value for money for tax payers. It is too early to determine how this service will be provided in the future.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that retailers maintain publicly accessible and transparent records of how the proceeds of the 5p plastic bag levy have been used and distributed.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Since the charge was introduced in England retailers have donated proceeds of approximately £95 million towards a variety of good causes covering the arts, education, environment, health, heritage and sports as well as local causes chosen by customers or staff.
The legislation requires large retailers to report what they do with the money from the charge and the department in line with the regulation publishes records supplied by retailers on GOV.UK website by 31 July each year.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
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 ensure that new mothers' mental health problems are identified as early as possible.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
This Government is committed to improving perinatal mental health services for women during pregnancy and in the first postnatal year, so that women are able to access the right care at the right time and close to home.
The Department is investing £365 million from 2015/16 to 2020/21 in perinatal mental health services, and NHS England is leading a transformation programme to ensure that by 2020/21 at least 30,000 more women each year are able to access evidence-based specialist mental health care during the perinatal period. This includes access to psychological therapies and specialist community or inpatient care.
A key element of the programme is to increase awareness and skills across the workforce, supporting better identification of perinatal mental illness, early intervention and consequently improved recovery rates. In addition, there are over 570 perinatal mental health visitor champions. Their role is to support health visitors with the identification and management of anxiety, mild to moderate depression and other perinatal mental disorders, and knowing when to refer on.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to encourage large retailers to minimise the amount of the 5p levy on single use plastic bags retained for administration and to maximise the amount distributed to charity.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The regulations do not specify where the proceeds of the charge are distributed, but retailers are expected and encouraged to donate the proceeds of the charge (after deducting VAT and other reasonable costs) to good causes such as charities or community groups. Our data shows that over the 18 months since the charge was introduced at least £95 million was donated to a variety of good causes covering the arts, education, environment, health, heritage and sports as well as local causes chosen by customers or staff.
The Single Use Carrier Bags Charges (England) Order 2015 is due for review before 5 October 2020, which will require an assessment of cost and benefits. Any changes to amend the policy ahead of this timeframe will be considered as part of the Government’s forthcoming resources and waste strategy.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the quantity of plastic polymers used in the production of tea bags.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
There are no specific plans for tea bags.
In December the Secretary of State chaired an industry roundtable on plastics and outlined a four point plan for tackling plastic waste that takes action at each stage of the product lifecycle – production, consumption and end of life: cutting the total amount of plastic in circulation; reducing the number of different plastics in use; improving the rate of recycling; supporting comprehensive recycling collections to make it easier for individuals to recycle.
We set out further steps in our 25 Year Environment Plan, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673203/25-year-environment-plan.pdf
We will also be conducting a call for evidence this year, seeking views on how taxing and charging the most environmentally damaging single use plastics could help reduce waste.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
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 encourage food manufacturers to produce tea bags without the use of polymers.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
There are no specific plans for tea bags.
In December the Secretary of State chaired an industry roundtable on plastics and outlined a four point plan for tackling plastic waste that takes action at each stage of the product lifecycle – production, consumption and end of life: cutting the total amount of plastic in circulation; reducing the number of different plastics in use; improving the rate of recycling; supporting comprehensive recycling collections to make it easier for individuals to recycle.
We set out further steps in our 25 Year Environment Plan, available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/673203/25-year-environment-plan.pdf
We will also be conducting a call for evidence this year, seeking views on how taxing and charging the most environmentally damaging single use plastics could help reduce waste.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the provision of psychological support for adults with muscular dystrophy and neuromuscular conditions.
Answered by Steve Brine
No specific assessment has been made. Guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has been published for a number of neuromuscular disorders, and where appropriate, the guidance makes recommendations about access to psychological and counselling support for patients. In addition, NHS England has also set out that specialised care for patients with neuromuscular disorders, such as muscular dystrophy, should provide access to psychologists and/or counsellors.
NHS England is also working with the Neurological Alliance in support of the new national Neurology Advisory Group, which is considering ways to reduce variation and drive improvement in neurological care. This includes looking at issues such as psychological support, which were recently raised in the report Parity of esteem for people affected by neurological conditions: meeting the emotional, cognitive & mental health needs of neurology patients, published by the Neurological Alliance on 5 July 2017.
Finally, as set out in Implementing the Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in July 2016, the expansion of psychological therapies services will require building skills and capacity in the workforce. This includes: top-up training in new competencies for long-term conditions (relevant to people with neuromuscular disorders and other long term health problems) and medically unexplained symptoms for current staff; targeted training in working with older people; and training new staff to increase overall capacity – such as the 3,000 additional mental health therapists located in primary care.