Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to stop child friendly packaging being used to advertise unhealthy food to children.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The Government is committed to working with businesses to ensure that we create the conditions for a healthier nation, and we are implementing an ambitious programme of measures to tackle childhood obesity. On 1 October 2022, the Government introduced legislation to restrict the location of foods high in fat, salt, or sugar in shops and online. These restrictions will have the single biggest impact on reducing children’s calorie consumption, and are expected to accrue health benefits of over £57 billion, and provide the National Health Service savings of over £4 billion, over the next 25 years.
On 1 October 2025, the volume price promotion restrictions will come into force, restricting volume price promotions such as three for two offers on less healthy products. The Government will simultaneously introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for products high in fat, salt, or sugar, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online, also on 1 October 2025. We continue to work with industry on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, to co-develop voluntary reporting requirements for food business to demonstrate the healthiness of their sales.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of classifying covid-19 as an occupational disease for healthcare workers; and whether his Department has had discussions with relevant professional bodies on that matter.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister (Women)
The DWP is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) can be paid.
The Council considered the available scientific and epidemiological evidence around COVID-19 infection and published a Command Paper entitled, ‘COVID-19 and occupational impacts’ in November 2022 found here.
The Command Paper recommends that the list of prescribed occupational diseases for which IIDB can be paid should be expanded to include health and social care workers with five serious pathological complications following COVID-19 infection.
The Department is currently carrying out a detailed assessment of the report’s recommendations and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 17725 on Academic Freedom, whether she has had recent discussions with the Office for Students on whether (a) higher education institutions and (b) students’ unions will have enough time to implement the guidance on securing free speech within the law before those obligations enter into force.
Answered by David Johnston
My right hon. Friend, the Member for East Sussex, and former Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing with responsibility for freedom of speech in the department, met with Professor Arif Ahmed in 2023 following his appointment, and discussed plans for implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (the Act) over the next two years. I also met with Arif Ahmed on 16 January 2024. The intention has always been for the Office for Students (OfS) to publish any guidance within good time of the Act coming into force to allow the sector sufficient time to consider it. The expectation expressed was that any guidance pertaining to the provisions that come into force on 1 August 2024 would be published by summer 2024, giving the sector the summer period to implement it into their practices.
The department understands that the OfS continues to work towards these timelines as set out on their website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/quality-and-standards/freedom-of-speech/changes-to-regulation/, although precise timings are a matter for the OfS.
A draft version of the guidance that the OfS intend to issue following consultation has already been published for the sector to consider here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/fsvjdljh/regulatory-advice-24-guidance-related-to-freedom-of-speech.pdf.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
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 7 December 2023 to Question 4959 on Respiratory Diseases: Health Services, how many Acute Respiratory Infection hubs were operating in winter 2023/24.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson
During winter 2022/23, 363 Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) hubs were implemented by integrated care systems (ICSs). The Department does not hold recorded information on the number of ARI hubs in 2023/24, as this information is held instead by local health bodies. The ambition in the recovery plan for urgent and emergency care is that each local area that would benefit from an ARI hub, has one in place ahead of winter. Evaluations from NHS England suggest that ARI hubs may save general practitioner appointments and accident and emergency attendances.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to respond to Question 17725 on Academic Freedom tabled by the hon. Member for Sheffield Central on 8 March 2024.
Answered by David Johnston
A response was published to the hon. Member for Sheffield Central to Question 17725 on 21st March 2024.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will hold discussions with the Office for Students on ensuring that the forthcoming guidance for higher education providers on (a) securing free speech within the law and (b) publishing and maintaining a freedom of speech code of practice is published before 1 August 2024.
Answered by David Johnston
The remaining provisions of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 will come into force in two phases. The main provisions of the Act, introducing free speech duties on higher education providers, constituent institutions and students' unions, and the new complaints scheme, will come into force on 1 August 2024. The Office for Students (OfS) has already launched two consultations that will feed into new complaints scheme rules and guidance for students’ unions on the OfS’s approach to regulating them. These will be published before the 1 August 2024.
The second phase involves provisions relating to new conditions of registration on providers and monitoring of overseas funding. These will come into force on 1 September 2025.
The OfS expects to consult shortly on the proposed revisions to the regulatory framework, including on its approach to the recovery of costs, as well as on more detailed guidance on securing free speech within the law and on maintaining a free speech code of practice. The OfS consultations are not yet live, and the OfS will require time to run the consultation, analyse the results and publish a response before they can publish the guidance to which they relate. Precise timings on the publication of guidance are a matter for the OfS.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of self-regulation by the sporting industry in reducing the quantity of gambling messaging seen by viewers.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
In our approach to gambling advertising, we have struck a balanced and evidence-led approach which tackles aggressive advertising that is most likely to appeal to children, while recognising that advertising is an entirely legitimate commercial practice for responsible gambling firms.
We have welcomed the industry's whistle-to-whistle ban on TV betting adverts during live sports programmes. According to figures from the Betting and Gaming Council, the ban reduced the quantity of gambling advertisement views by children (age 4-17) by 70% over the full duration of live sporting programmes.
Further, alongside the Premier League’s announcement that it will ban gambling sponsors from the front of shirts by the end of the 2025/26 season, the gambling white paper commitment for a cross-sport Code of Conduct for gambling sponsorship has now been agreed by a number of the country’s major sports governing bodies. This will guarantee that where gambling sponsorship does appear, it is done in a responsible way to ensure fans, especially children, are better protected. This code will include provisions to ensure replica shirts for both children and adults are available without front-of-shirt gambling logos and a proportion of in-stadia advertising is dedicated to safer gambling messaging.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 19 June 2023 to Question 188964 on Ophthalmic Services, what recent progress her Department has made on developing standard service specifications for enhanced eye care services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
The new standard of clinical specification for community eye care services, both minor and urgent, was published by the Local Optical Committee Support Unit on 23 February 2024. The specification will help local commissioners in getting the best outcomes, if they choose to commission these services as part of their local eye care provision. The specification is available at the following link:
https://locsu.co.uk/what-we-do/pathways/community-minor-and-urgent-eye-care-clinical-specification/
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure that appropriately-qualified optometrists are able to access NHS prescription forms to help reduce the onward referral of patients with eye health conditions.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
When commissioning community enhanced eye care services, we would expect integrated care boards to consider the need to give appropriately qualified optometrists access to National Health Service prescription forms.
Asked by: Paul Blomfield (Labour - Sheffield Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure all general practice nursing staff will receive a pay uplift for 2023-24.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom
We hugely value and appreciate the vital work carried out by general practice (GP) nurses. The Government accepted the Doctors’ and Dentists’ Review Body’s recommendation on salaried GP staff pay, and increased the 2023/24 GP contract to provide funding for them to receive a 6% pay rise. We encourage all practices to pass this on to staff. As self-employed contractors to the National Health Service, it is for GPs to determine employee pay.