Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure the implementation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation training in schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools in England are required to teach first aid as part of statutory health education, which is taught as part of relationships, sex and health education (RSHE). This includes basic first aid training and how to deal with common injuries. Pupils in secondary schools are taught further first aid, including, for example, how to administer CPR and the purpose of defibrillators. Schools can teach topics beyond those covered in the statutory guidance and have flexibility to respond to local issues.
The department is currently reviewing the RSHE statutory guidance. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance for schools. As such, the government will look carefully at the consultation responses, discuss with stakeholders and consider the relevant evidence before setting out next steps.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on the provision of dental services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are currently reviewing the previous Government’s Dental Recovery Plan and what elements of that can be taken forward effectively and within National Health Service budgets. It is also clear that plan did not go far enough and so we are also working on further measures, prioritising initiatives that will see the biggest impact on access to NHS dental care.
The Government is committed to tackling the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and to recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and retaining NHS dentists. Not all improvements to the provision of NHS dental services may require legislative changes.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of mandating a 50,000 tons per annum production target for domestic lithium.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A secure supply of critical minerals is vital for the UK's economic growth and security, industrial strategy ambitions, and clean energy transition.
Domestic production of lithium will be increasingly important as demand for resilient and responsible sources of critical minerals grows. The St Austell and Newquay constituency is home to several promising lithium projects like Imerys-British Lithium and Cornish Lithium, which recently celebrated opening the UK's first lithium hydroxide demonstration plant this month.
Government is considering policy options to secure our critical mineral supply chains and will be engaging closely with industry to realise our potential for producing critical minerals domestically.