To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Elections
Wednesday 22nd November 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to improve levels of confidence in the electoral process.

Answered by Chris Skidmore

The Government treat the integrity of our democratic processes extremely seriously. The Government continue work to deliver voter identification pilots in May 2018 local elections, look for opportunities to end postal vote harvesting and to tackle the threat of disinformation and propaganda.


Written Question
Nationality: Republic of Ireland
Tuesday 24th October 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has secured reciprocity in the criteria for entitlement to Irish nationality for spouses of Irish citizens resident in the UK.

Answered by Brandon Lewis

The criteria for determining who is entitled to Irish nationality is a matter for the Government of Ireland.

The close historic, social and cultural ties between the UK and Ireland have led to the creation of reciprocal rights for respective nationals when in the other state. Leaders in the UK and Ireland have confirmed their commitment to protecting these rights for British and Irish nationals which include the right to enter and remain, the right to work and to study and access to social welfare entitlements and benefits.


Written Question
Gender Recognition Act 2004
Tuesday 24th October 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when the consultation on changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004 will begin.

Answered by Nick Gibb

We announced on 23 July that we will be consulting on changes to the Gender Recognition Act. We are currently considering what the content of the consultation will be and we will make an announcement shortly.


Written Question
Ivory: Sales
Tuesday 12th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to stop the domestic ivory market.

Answered by Thérèse Coffey

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, on 26 July 2017, PQ UIN 5521.


Written Question
Domestic Abuse: Children
Tuesday 12th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have lost a parent to domestic violence in each of the last five years; and what steps have been taken to mitigate the effect of domestic violence on children.

Answered by Sarah Newton

The Home Office holds information on the number of domestic abuse-related incidents and offences recorded by the police in England and Wales. From this information it is not possible to tell how many children have lost a parent to domestic violence in the last five years however we recognise the devastating and lifelong impact that domestic abuse has on children who can carry the effect into adulthood. Since the last inspection, HMIC found that the police have improved their understanding of the impact of domestic abuse on children, and have increased their focus on the risk to children following a domestic abuse incident, resulting in a significant increase in referrals to social services.

In addition, this Government will bring forward a Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill which will protect and support victims including children. This will include the Conservative manifesto commitment to allow courts to hand down tougher sentences on abusers where their behaviour involves a child, reflecting the grievous and life-long impact that abuse can have on children.


Written Question
Public Transport
Tuesday 12th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage people to use public transport in order to reduce congestion and its associated effect on air quality.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Government is committed to tackling congestion and improving air quality across the UK. High quality and accessible public transport will play a key role in this, alongside other forms of sustainable transport such as cycling and walking. Our rail plans are seeing the largest investment in the railway since Victorian times, which will help make rail travel more attractive through state-of-the-art new trains and stations, together with more and faster services. The Bus Services Act, which received Royal Assent in April 2017, gives local authorities a further range of tools, such as partnership working and franchising, to deliver service improvements for bus passengers, aiming to drive up bus use and help cut congestion. Our Cycling and Walking Strategy, published in April 2017 identified £1.2bn of investment in cycling and walking from 2016-21.


Written Question
Internet: Safety
Tuesday 12th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress has been made on implementing the internet safety strategy; and how that strategy plans to tackle the effects of social media-related mental health issues in young adults.

Answered by Matt Hancock

Since the announcement of the Internet Safety Strategy in February, DCMS has been working with a wide range of stakeholders to look at how we can make Britain the safest place in the world for users, including children and young adults, to be online. The Strategy will consider online harms which users can experience on social media. We will be publishing the Strategy with an accompanying consultation shortly.


Written Question
Pregnancy
Monday 11th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that mothers are properly supported following childbirth with their (a) general and (b) mental health.

Answered by Philip Dunne

The Government is committed to ensuring that mothers are properly supported following childbirth with their general and mental health.

We are committed to improving maternity outcomes and experience of care for women and babies, as set out in Safer Maternity Care: next steps towards the national maternity ambition, published in October 2016. This should start before childbirth and the Government is supporting the Our Chance campaign to support women to understand advice about healthy pregnancies and how to act on it.

The National Institute for Care and Excellence has published quality standards on postnatal care, which includes the core care and support that every woman, their baby and if appropriate, their partner and family should receive during the postnatal period. This includes recognising women and babies with additional care needs and referring them to specialist services as required.

Evidence shows that the six-eight week appointment is a particularly crucial element of postnatal care. Better Births, the report of the National Maternity Review, states that the check should include assessing:

- how a woman has made the transition to motherhood, including her mental health;

- her recovery from the birth, using direct questions about common morbidities;

- longer term health risks for any morbidity identified; and

- any further help she might need whether connected with the birth or not; and what advice she might need about future family planning.

The Department has invested £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 work to increase awareness and skills across the workforce, supporting better identification of perinatal mental illness, early intervention and consequently improved recovery rates.


Written Question
Maternity Services
Monday 11th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans the Government has to act upon the recommendations made by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' report, Each Baby Counts, published in June 2017, to improve maternity care.

Answered by Philip Dunne

The Government and NHS England are supporting National Health Service maternity services to implement important changes that address the key recommendations in the Each Baby Counts report.

We published Safer Maternity Care: next steps towards the national maternity ambition in October last year to achieve the National Maternity Ambition to halve the rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths and brain injuries by 2030. This action plan, which feeds into the NHS England-led Maternity Transformation Programme, includes:

- an £8 million Maternity Safety Training Fund, which has been shared out to every NHS maternity unit to enable multidisciplinary teams to undertake training on CGT fetal monitoring, obstetric emergency skills and drills, leadership, human factors and team working;

- the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle which supports maternity teams by bringing together four key elements of care based on best available evidence and practice in order to help reduce stillbirth rates – these are reducing smoking in pregnancy, risk assessment and surveillance for fetal growth restriction, raising awareness of reduced fetal movement and effective fetal monitoring during labour;

- the development of a National Standardised Perinatal Mortality Review Tool that will be available later this year to support maternity and neonatal units to undertake and share learning from standardised, high quality case reviews of every stillbirth and neonatal death; and

- consultation on a Rapid Resolution and Redress scheme, which would contribute to reducing severe avoidable birth injuries through improved investigations and learning.

In addition, NHS Improvement launched a new Maternal and Neonatal Health Safety Collaborative – a three-year programme to improve clinical practices and reduce variations in outcomes involving every trust, making it one of the largest maternity quality improvement programmes.


Written Question
Speed Limits
Monday 11th September 2017

Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - Mid Sussex)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to monitor speed limits and ensure that they are appropriate.

Answered by Jesse Norman

The Government does not monitor speed limits, as traffic authorities set local speed limits in situations where local needs and conditions suggest a speed limit which is lower than the national speed limit. The Department has issued guidance to local highway authorities on setting local speed limits, which can be viewed online at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/setting-local-speed-limits