Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve safety within maternity services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government continues to work with the National Health Service as it delivers its three-year plan for maternity and neonatal services. The plan sets out how the NHS will make maternity and neonatal care safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families.
As part of the delivery plan, an updated version of the ‘Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle’ is being rolled out across England, which is a package of interventions aimed to reduce stillbirths, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth, as well as initiatives to reduce inequalities. Additionally, 14 Maternal Medicine Networks have been developed across England to ensure that women with chronic and acute medical problems related to pregnancy have access to specialist management and care.
Additional funding has also been provided for Maternity and Neonatal Voice Partnerships to ensure local voices are used to inform decisions and services. All local leadership teams are taking part in a Perinatal Culture and Leadership Programme, helping them to develop and maintain a positive safety culture.
The Government is also currently piloting a training programme to help avoid brain injury in childbirth to improve safety for mothers and their babies. If successful, national rollout is expected to commence this year.
While good progress has been made, the Government recognises that there are real issues within maternity services. Whilst change will not happen overnight, we are determined to go further to ensure all women and babies receive the care they deserve, and we have committed to providing support to trusts failing on maternity care, recruit thousands of new midwives, and tackle the unacceptable inequalities that exist.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of assessing money received from the settlement of an estate claim to be treated in line with money received from a (a) personal injury claim and (b) special compensation scheme settlement for cases related to (i) maternity and (ii) death of a baby for the purposes of Universal Credit entitlements.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have no plans to change the Universal Credit capital rules to disregard the settlement payments from estates for cases related to (i) maternity and (ii) death of a baby for the purposes of Universal Credit entitlements.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle illegal off road biking in Sherwood Forest constituency.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for this Government and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
On 27 November 2024, the Government announced proposals to give the police greater powers to clamp down on off-road bikes and other vehicles involved in anti-social behaviour, with officers no longer required to issue a warning before seizing vehicles.
This will allow the police to quickly remove anti-social vehicles which are bringing misery to city centres and pedestrian areas. These powers will be included in the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislation to end male primogeniture for baronetage.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government recognises that baronetcies, like other hereditary titles, can usually only be inherited by male heirs. However, the Government is prioritising on delivering its manifesto commitments, including reform of the House of Lords.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment on the potential merits of extending eligibility for the zero-rate VAT for charities to include flood defence equipment.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, the Government has committed £2.4 billion over the next two years to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.
Through this funding the Government provides direct support to communities facing flooding, and therefore we have no plans to change the VAT treatment of flood defence equipment for charities. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s second largest tax forecast to raise £171 billion in 2024/25. Taxation is a vital source of revenue that helps to fund vital public services including schools and hospitals.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of border checks on the cut flower industry.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to protecting our biosecurity and we are using a risk-based approach to maintain the appropriate level of controls.
Defra will continue to monitor for new and emerging risks and review the border control checks introduced under the Border Target Operating Model.
GB plant health services have increased the number of plant health inspection staff to service the demand for import checks in England and Wales of EU plants and plant products.
Inspector levels are being monitored to ensure these meet demand and deliver checks in line with set Service Level Agreements and ensure minimal trade disruption.
Certain EU Medium Risk cut flowers have been subject to pre-notification since 1 January 2022. EU Medium Risk cut flowers have required a Phytosanitary Certificate since 31 January 2024, but there are now inspections for EU Medium Risk goods at the border since 30 April 2024.
To reduce and prevent the introduction and establishment of invasive non-native species (INNS) we have prioritised horticulture as one of the top 5 pathways of introduction. We have developed a Horticulture Pathway Action Plan, available here: https://www.nonnativespecies.org/biosecurity/pathway-action-plans/horticulture-pap-for-great-britain/ which aims to address the most likely routes by which INNS can get into the country.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question 19765 on Large Goods Vehicles: Concrete, when her Department plans to publish the findings from the call to evidence on weight limits for Volumetric Concrete Mixers.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department will publish its findings shortly.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people have used probation services in Sherwood Forest constituency in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The table below shows the number of people under supervision on the last day of each of the last 12 months.
Caseload period | Number of offenders |
31 July 2023 | 325 |
31 August 2023 | 327 |
30 September 2023 | 331 |
31 October 2023 | 339 |
30 November 2023 | 347 |
31 December 2023 | 343 |
31 January 2024 | 353 |
29 February 2024 | 344 |
31 March 2024 | 342 |
30 April 2024 | 340 |
31 May 2024 | 339 |
30 June 2024 | 341 |
Notes:
[1] Offenders may be subject to multiple sentences. Each person is counted once only in the total even if they are subject to several types of probation supervision on the date shown. For example, if a person is subject to both a community order and a Supervision Default Order on the date shown, then the person would be counted once only within the total of all Probation Service supervision.
[2] Includes offenders subject to a court order or pre- or post-release supervision.
[3] Excludes suspended sentence orders without requirements attached.
[4] These statistics are a further breakdown of the probation caseload in the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly publication. A published breakdown by Probation Service region is included in table 6.8.
[5] The figures presented in this table are based on offenders subject to probation supervision on the date shown who have a recorded main (home) address in the parliamentary constituency of Sherwood Forest. This table does not account for those with no fixed address or recorded postcode. Over the time periods covered in the table, the number of offenders with no fixed address or recorded postcode ranged from 12% to 14% of the total number of offenders subject to probation supervision in England and Wales.
[Note 6] The constituency was formerly known as Sherwood. It was renamed as a result of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, with minor boundary changes. These changes came into effect for the 2024 general election. All periods in this table are based on the latest composition of the constituency.
Data sources and quality | ||
The figures in this table have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large-scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing. | ||
| ||
Source: National Delius case management system. | ||
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PQ 16865 (Ministry of Justice; Analysis Directorate: PPR) | ||
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many young people are (a) classified homeless and (b) in emergency accommodation in Sherwood Forest constituency.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The annual homelessness statistics includes age of applicants in temporary accommodation by local authority as of 31 March 2024. This information is available at table TA5 - Additional_temporary_accommodation_breakdowns__31_March_2024.ods.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help ensure that new housing developments are supported by adequate local infrastructure.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that the purpose of the planning system is to contribute to the achievement of sustainable development, including the provision of supporting infrastructure in a sustainable manner.
Local development plans should address needs and opportunities in relation to infrastructure and identify what infrastructure is required and how it can be funded and brought forward. This will remain the case irrespective of whether any proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework or wider national planning policy are taken forward.
When preparing a Local Plan, Planning Practice Guidance recommends that local planning authorities use available evidence of infrastructure requirements to prepare an Infrastructure Funding Statement. Such Statements can be used to demonstrate the delivery of infrastructure throughout the plan-period.
The government provides financial support for essential infrastructure in areas of greatest housing demand through the Housing Infrastructure Fund.
The changes proposed as part of our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework are intended to support the increased provision and modernisation of various types of public infrastructure.
The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.
The government is also committed to strengthening the existing system of developer contributions to ensure that new developments provide appropriate affordable homes and infrastructure. Further details will be set out in due course.