Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 October 2024 to Question 10592, whether he has received any further advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on the potential merits of extending eligibility for the Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccination to people who turned 80 before 1 September 2024.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not received any further advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programme for older adults since the Committee’s advice of 3 June 2023.
The latest discussion of RSV by the JCVI was during their October 2024 main committee meeting. The Committee agreed that it would need to formally review, in detail, the evidence for a potential extension to the programme for the very elderly and for those in risk groups which would be undertaken by the RSV sub-committee.
The JCVI will review the necessary scientific evidence once it is available and will continue to keep evidence under review, including data from clinical trials and real-world evidence emerging from immunisation programmes in different countries. The next JCVI committee meeting is scheduled to take place in February 2025. The minutes from this meeting will be made publicly available in spring 2025 at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation
The Department will consider any further JCVI advice on who should be offered an RSV immunisation in due course.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of (a) revising the school calendar and (b) reducing the length of the school summer holidays.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not currently have any plans to propose changes to the school calendar or to the setting of school holidays.
School holidays are not determined at national level, they are decided locally by trusts, schools and local authorities depending on school type. The department believes that they are best placed to set school term and holiday dates in the interests of the pupils at their schools and their parents.
If schools, trusts or local authorities decide to change their term dates, it is expected that they will act lawfully and reasonably, giving parents notice and considering the impact on those affected. This includes pupils, teachers, the local community, parents’ work commitments and childcare options for both parents and teachers.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the boiler upgrade scheme to social housing tenants.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme provides support to property owners in England and Wales to replace their existing fossil fuel boiler with a low carbon alternative by providing grants to reduce the total cost of the installation.
Other government schemes provide support for low-income households including social housing tenants to get a heat pump, such as the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes: Local Grant, Energy Company Obligation, Local Authority Delivery and Home Upgrade Grant.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a redress scheme for victims of the Sodium Valproate scandal in line with recommendations in the Hughes Report.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. We will be providing an update to the Patient Safety Commissioner’s report at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to respond to the call for evidence entitled Jointly owned properties which closed on 7 April 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government has no immediate plans to respond to the call for evidence launched by the previous administration entitled Jointly owned properties, and which closed on 7 April 2024. The Government is however reviewing how to better protect leaseholders from costs relating to building safety.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of developing an investment programme in cryptocurrency.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq
The UK’s foreign currency assets are held in the Exchange Equalisation Account. These assets are managed in line with the following investment principles:
More detail on how the official reserves are managed can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/management-of-the-official-reserves--2
Given this, HM Treasury has no plans to adopt an investment programme in crypto assets.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on delivering specialist mental health professionals in every school.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care is working with the Department for Education and NHS England to consider how to deliver our manifesto commitment of providing access to a specialist mental health professional in every school. We need to ensure any support meets the needs of young people, teachers, parents and carers. This includes considering the role of existing programmes of support with evidence of a positive impact, such as Mental Health Support Teams in schools and colleges.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to extend the (a) statutory and (b) regulatory standards for drilling boreholes in mineral exploration or evaluation to the drilling of boreholes for the purposes of installing ground-source heat pumps; and whether her Department plans to introduce safety legislation for borehole drilling on private land.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 (BSOR) require operators to notify the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in advance if drilling is taking place in a defined mining area. These Regulations do not apply to drilling for the purposes of installing ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs).
Drilling for the purposes of installing GSHPs is covered by the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA), which places a fundamental general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees, and of other people who may be affected by the work activity. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 also apply, which requires suitable and sufficient risk assessments to be carried out and suitable arrangements to be implemented to manage risks.
There is currently no intention to bring drilling for the installation of GSHPs within the scope of BSOR.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to reduce the backlog in the administration of family court orders.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The HMCTS Reform Programme has introduced several new digital services within the Family Courts, enhancing and automating the administration of family court orders. These services encompass Divorce, Financial Remedy, and Public Law Proceedings.
Additionally, HMCTS has transitioned much of the administration of these services to the newly established Courts and Tribunals Service Centres. Centralising work to national centres has allowed for better management of work fluctuations across the various services; improved data collection on HMCTS performance and identification of areas for enhancement; and more effective alignment of working patterns to meet demand.
Currently, HMCTS is piloting a new digital service for private law proceedings, aiming to replicate the administrative improvements seen in other family services. This service is scheduled to be implemented across England and Wales by the end of 2025.
Whilst this new service is being piloted, HMCTS continues to prioritise the orders wating to be administered according to their urgency and are using specialist order production teams to target delay at specific local court courts.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of supporting further education institutions to offer (a) apprenticeship and (b) course placements to students on a Homes for Ukraine visa that may expire before the course conclusion.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In determining student eligibility for 16 to 19 funding, including for Ukrainians aged 16 to 19 living in the UK under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (Homes for Ukraine), institutions must satisfy themselves that there is a reasonable likelihood that the student will be able to complete their study programme before seeking funding for the student. However, when a student applies for a study programme where their current legal permission to remain in the UK expires six months or more after they start, then institutions may allow them to enrol. The department considers it sufficient for institutions to rely on confirmation from the student, and/or family, that they intend to apply for the necessary extension to their permission to remain for the duration of their study programme.
The situation is similar for adult learners. Providers should only fund a learner if their visa has enough time for the learner to complete their course. However, where the learner’s visa will expire before the end of the course, the provider can use their discretion to fund the learner where they have a high degree of certainty that the learner intends to renew their visa. The department would expect that individuals who are not yet eligible to apply for the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, but intend to apply for it, would be eligible for funding under this rule.
The department’s apprenticeship funding rules state that an individual must be able to complete the apprenticeship within the time they have available. Where the learner’s residency permit does not extend to the entire length of the apprenticeship, they are not eligible for funding. The department must be mindful when spending taxpayers’ funds on training and it wants learners to be able to complete their apprenticeships within the time they have available. The department will keep this under review as it does with all of its rules.