Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support creative learning in schools to encourage children to seek careers in such learning.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government believes all pupils should have access to an excellent, well-rounded education. All schools must provide a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school.
The national curriculum, provides many opportunities for pupils to develop knowledge and skills in a wide range of creative subjects, including art and design, music and design, and technology.
We have announced almost £400 million of funding in 2016-20 for a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve access to the arts for all children, regardless of their background, and to develop talent across the country. This includes £300 million for music education hubs in 2016-20 and over £8 million in 2016-18 for cultural education programmes including Saturday Art and Design Clubs, the National Youth Dance Company and the BFI’s Film Academy programme. It also includes £58 million for the Music and Dance Scheme and £27m for the Dance and Drama Awards Scheme (both in 2016-18), which allow exceptionally talented children and young people to attend specialist music, dance and drama institutions.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness and early diagnosis of bowel cancer.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s (PHE) Be Clear on Cancer campaigns raise the public’s awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, and are an important step in diagnosing cancers earlier. The Be Clear on Cancer Abdominal Symptoms pilot campaign aimed to raise awareness of a range of abdominal symptoms that can indicate a number of cancers, including bowel, and encouraged people to visit their doctor promptly. The first pilot ran earlier this year in the East and West Midlands and PHE is working with NHS England on timings and location for the second pilot phase.
Earlier this year, PHE also collaborated with Cancer Research UK to deliver a pilot Be Clear on Cancer campaign in the North West of England to promote uptake of bowel screening; the campaign is currently being evaluated to assess its impact on uptake.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the identification and management of Lynch syndrome.
Answered by Steve Brine
Testing for Lynch syndrome in people with colorectal cancer is targeted using criteria based on family history and age of cancer onset to determine those at highest risk. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommends extending this offer to all people with colorectal cancer when they are first diagnosed.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to promote awareness and early diagnosis of bowel cancer.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England’s (PHE) Be Clear on Cancer campaigns raise the public’s awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, and are an important step in diagnosing cancers earlier. The Be Clear on Cancer Abdominal Symptoms pilot campaign aimed to raise awareness of a range of abdominal symptoms that can indicate a number of cancers, including bowel, and encouraged people to visit their doctor promptly. The first pilot ran earlier this year in the East and West Midlands and PHE is working with NHS England on timings and location for the second pilot phase.
Earlier this year, PHE also collaborated with Cancer Research UK to deliver a pilot Be Clear on Cancer campaign in the North West of England to promote uptake of bowel screening; the campaign is currently being evaluated to assess its impact on uptake.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to improve the identification and management of Lynch syndrome.
Answered by Steve Brine
Testing for Lynch syndrome in people with colorectal cancer is targeted using criteria based on family history and age of cancer onset to determine those at highest risk. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance recommends extending this offer to all people with colorectal cancer when they are first diagnosed.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of funding for research on cervical cancer in the last five years.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department funds research into all aspects of human health, including cancer, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) at the level of £1 billion per year. NIHR cancer research expenditure has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £137 million in 2016/17.
As with other Government funders of health research, the NIHR does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area, such as cervical cancer, is driven by factors including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications.
Nineteen major funders of cancer research in the United Kingdom work together as the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI). These funders include the Department, the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK. Through coordinating their research, NCRI partners maximise the impact of research for cancer patients and the public.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the potential merits of a UN-mandated global arms embargo against Burma.
Answered by Mark Field
We judge there is currently insufficient support across the UN Security Council for a resolution proposing a global arms embargo.
We continue to support the EU's retention of its arms embargo, which prohibits the supply of equipment or the provision of any training that might strengthen the Burmese military's combat capability.
Earlier this year the UK argued successfully for the continuation of the EU Arms Embargo for Burma and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to increase cervical cancer screening uptakes among women in the 25 to 29 age group.
Answered by Steve Brine
A range of work is being undertaken by Public Health England (PHE) to understand the reasons for the decline in uptake and to support the National Health Service and local authorities to address them. They include access to timely and useful data for benchmarking, evidence on best practices to increase uptake among women who wish to be screened, using governance levers to advice NHS and local authorities and working in partnership with commissioners, providers and charities.
NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups. Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with general practices to improve coverage by sharing best practice. Work done to increase uptake includes sharing and implementing best practice such as cervical screening guides for general practitioner (GP) practices or targeting practices with low coverage rates, where relevant this includes working to retain delivery via the genitourinary medicine clinics, further roll out of GP-endorsed text reminder services, and supporting non NHS England research project for self-testing pilot for cervical screening.
At a national level, NHS England is working with PHE to make evidence-based improvements such as improving invitation letters to patients to encourage more to attend their cervical screening appointment.
NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Michelle Donelan (Conservative - Chippenham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to address the downward trend in cervical cancer screening rates among women.
Answered by Steve Brine
A range of work is being undertaken by Public Health England (PHE) to understand the reasons for the decline in uptake and to support the National Health Service and local authorities to address them. They include access to timely and useful data for benchmarking, evidence on best practices to increase uptake among women who wish to be screened, using governance levers to advice NHS and local authorities and working in partnership with commissioners, providers and charities.
NHS England closely monitors the coverage rates for cervical screening in all age groups. Local NHS England commissioners analyse coverage rates within their area and work with general practices to improve coverage by sharing best practice. Work done to increase uptake includes sharing and implementing best practice such as cervical screening guides for general practitioner (GP) practices or targeting practices with low coverage rates, where relevant this includes working to retain delivery via the genitourinary medicine clinics, further roll out of GP-endorsed text reminder services, and supporting non NHS England research project for self-testing pilot for cervical screening.
At a national level, NHS England is working with PHE to make evidence-based improvements such as improving invitation letters to patients to encourage more to attend their cervical screening appointment.
NHS England is working in partnership with Cancer Research UK and Macmillan Cancer Support on the Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Programme aiming to generate knowledge about effective approaches to achieve earlier diagnosis. A number of ACE test sites are evaluating approaches to increase screening rates in a range of groups, including black and ethnic minority women, women with learning disabilities and women from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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 research his Department has recently conducted into the effects of neonicotinoids on the health of the UK bee population.
Answered by George Eustice
Defra has supported a range of research relevant to improving understanding of the effects of neonicotinoids (and other pesticides) on bees. Recently completed work includes studies on: quantifying the exposure of bumblebees to neonicotinoids and mixtures of pesticides (commenced 2013), interpreting pesticide residues in honeybees (published 2015), using radio-frequency identification devices to assess effects of pesticides on foraging bees (commenced 2013), and protection goals for bee colonies (commenced 2015).