Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that disabled people with assistance dogs are not discriminated against when using hotels.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In common with all businesses offering services to the public, hotels are required not to discriminate against their disabled customers and must make reasonable adjustments, such as permitting guide dogs. This duty is “anticipatory”, meaning that hotels, for example, should expect a proportion of their guests to be sight impaired and make appropriate arrangements - for example setting aside a “dog friendly” room for such guests. The failure of a hotel to make a reasonable adjustment would be unlawful under the Equality Act 2010 and would open the hotel up to legal action by the guide dog owner or their representative.
Before considering any legal action, a disabled person who may have been personally discriminated against because of a disability may contact The Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the government helpline established to provide free bespoke advice and in-depth support to individuals with discrimination concerns. The EASS can be contacted via their website - http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/, by telephone on 0808 8000082 or text phone on 0808 8000084. The EASS has the ability to intervene on an individual’s behalf with a service provider to help resolve an issue. The EASS can also advise people who wish to take their complaint further on their options.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance his Department has issued on (a) equality and (b) inclusion in the workplace for people with syndactyly.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Department for Work and Pensions does not issue guidance on equality and inclusion in the workplace. However, the Government has a range of initiatives to support disabled people and people with health conditions, including syndactyly, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include increasing Work Coach support in Jobcentres; Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres; the Work and Health Programme and Intensive Personalised Employment Support; Access to Work grants; Disability Confident; the Information and Advice Service; and work to further join up employment and health systems.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much and what proportion of NHS England funding is expected to go to integrated care boards in the 2023-24 financial year; how much and what proportion of NHS England funding went to integrated care boards in the 2022-23 financial year; and how much and what proportion of NHS England funding went to clinical commissioning groups in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22 financial years.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the total final allocation to integrated care boards (ICBs) and/or clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for the financial years 2019/20 to 2022/23, plus the current annual allocation value as at month two for 2023/24. This includes all allocations to ICBs and/or CCGs, including core programme funding, services delegated to ICBs such as general practice and other primary care services, and additional allocations for specific service development and transformation programmes.
The remainder of NHS England’s allocation, not allocated to ICBs, pays mainly for other National Health Service services and costs not commissioned by ICBs. This includes specialised services, vaccinations and screening, education and training, and other centrally managed NHS costs.
| Financial year | ||||
2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | |
£ million | £ million | £ million | £ million | £ million | |
CCG and/or ICB allocation | 89,730 | 101,907 | 115,007 | 119,174 | 123,880 |
Total NHS England allocation (Non-ring-fenced RDEL) | 123,377 | 149,473 | 150,614 | 158,521 | 167,313 |
| |||||
CCG/ICB allocation as % of total allocation | 73% | 68% | 76% | 75% | 74% |
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of people with syndactyly that were awarded a personal independence payment in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to put in place additional measures to tackle cancer treatment waiting times.
Answered by Will Quince
Reducing cancer treatment waiting times is already a priority for this Government. The Department is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care. The Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.
In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.
Additionally, the Government recently published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next five years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer.
NHS England continues to actively support those trusts requiring the greatest help to cut cancer waiting lists and treatment and the Department is working with NHS England to make further improvements.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available specifically for people with cancer who experience long waits for treatment.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is working with NHS England to reduce waiting times for cancer treatments and to ensure support is available for those that are wating for treatment. The Government and the National Health Service are committed to ensuring that all cancer patients get access to a Holistic Needs Assessment and Personalised Care Interventions. These will ensure care focuses on what matters most to each person, whilst empowering them to self-manage where appropriate and providing a route back into the system if they notice any worrying changes or need to seek help.
NHS England is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support the delivery of priorities in cancer, including working to ensure that every person receives personalised care and support from cancer diagnosis onwards.
The NHS is supporting adults with the NHS Talking Therapies which provides evidence-based mental health services for people with anxiety and depression. The pathway has been identified as a priority to support the integration of mental and physical health services for people with long-term conditions such as cancer.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the backlog of people waiting for driving tests, in the context of test centre closures.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2021, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency has created over one million extra car test appointments by recruiting new examiners, conducting out-of-hours testing, such as on public holidays and weekends, asking all those qualified to conduct tests but who do not do so as part of their current day job, to return to conducting tests, and asking recently retired driving examiners to return. On average, this has created approximately 40,000 extra car test appointments each month.
As of 4 September 2023, there were 560,121 car practical driving tests booked, and 58,382 driving tests available within the 24-week booking window.
The DVSA is committed to providing its customers with the best service possible. The DVSA continually reviews its estate to ensure it represents good value for money and is efficient.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS is taking to fund Baricitinib for the treatment of severe alopecia areata.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing evidence-based guidance for the National Health Service on whether medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended in a NICE appraisal, usually within three months of final guidance.
NICE published final draft guidance on 18 May 2023 which does not recommend baricitinib for the treatment of severe alopecia areata. An appeal has been made against NICE’s final draft guidance by Alopecia UK which will be considered by NICE’s appeal panel on 12 September 2023. NICE will issue final guidance in due course.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Question 135 of his oral evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee on 20 June 2023, HC 1093, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendation in the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities report entitled Nicotine Vaping in England: 2022 evidence update summary, published on 29 September 2022, by requesting that the Committee on Toxicity update their review, entitled Statement on the toxicological evaluation of novel heat-not-burn tobacco products, published in December 2017.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
There are no current plans to request the Committee on Toxicity to update their review on heat-not-burn tobacco products. However, the Office for Health Improvements and Disparities will continue to monitor international evidence related to the health harms of these products.
Asked by: Paul Bristow (Conservative - Peterborough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to help children with (a) autism, (b) ADHD and (c) other neuro-diverse conditions in mainstream education.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) improvement plan, the department set out our vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for early and accurate identification of needs and timely access to support to meet those needs, including for autistic and neurodiverse children and young people. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings, who is responsible for securing the support and from which budgets. The SEND and AP improvement plan can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-and-alternative-provision-improvement-plan.
The department will also develop new practice guides to support frontline professionals. The first three practice guides will be published by the end of 2025, focusing on advice for mainstream settings, and will include a practice guide on autism.
To support the needs of pupils with SEND, particularly in mainstream settings where most of these learners are educated, the department has funded the Universal Services programme. This programme, backed by almost £12 million, will help the school and further education workforce to identify and meet the needs of children and young people with SEND, including those with autism, earlier and more effectively. It will also help them successfully prepare children and young people for adulthood, including employment. The programme includes autism awareness training, which over 80,000 professionals have already undertaken.
Improving joined-up support is vital. The Department for Education is working closely with the Department for Health and Social Care on the cross-government Autism Strategy, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-strategy-for-autistic-children-young-people-and-adults-2021-to-2026/the-national-strategy-for-autistic-children-young-people-and-adults-2021-to-2026#improving-autistic-children-and-young-peoples-access-to-education-and-supporting-positive-transitions-into-adulthood-1. A key theme of this is improving autistic children and young people’s access to education and supporting positive transitions into adulthood.