Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) expertise and (b) public confidence are retained in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy services available on the NHS.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is currently reviewing the service provision and national service specification for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Services, used to clearly define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care, due to the current service contracts expiring during 2025. Revisions to service specification follow the published process, which supports appropriate stakeholder engagement and governance. More information on the process is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/

NHS England has considered the feedback received from the recent public consultation on the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Services revised service specification, alongside other sources of evidence, to inform its plans for the service re-procurement. The outcome of this will be made available in due course.

Further, NHS England is required to commission services, including Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Services, in line with the National Health Service’s triple aim of improving health outcomes, improving quality of care and ensuring value for the system.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress he has made on the implementation of the Genetic Technologies (Precision Breeding) Act 2023.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This is a devolved matter, and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

The Secretary of State has recently announced that the secondary legislation necessary to implement the Precision Breeding Act for plants in England will be laid by the end of March.

Defra is also considering the animal welfare framework outlined in the Precision Breeding Act.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will hold discussions with the Health and Safety Executive on the potential merits of taking steps encourage employers to (a) organise regular hearing tests, (b) distribute adequate personal hearing protectors and (c) implement other measures to help prevent occupational hearing loss.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Duties on employers are well established in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, which require employers to:

a) Carry out hearing tests regularly by a competent person (health surveillance) when there may be a risk to their employee’s hearing, and undertake protective measures based on the results, and

b) Provide adequate personal hearing protection where noise exposure cannot be eliminated or controlled at source.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides guidance and tools to help employers understand their obligations through its website, and regularly engages stakeholders to promote noise controls and ensuring hearing protection is fit for purpose in terms of its condition and specific use.

HSE enforces these regulations and is conducting a long-term programme of targeted inspections of higher risk workplaces, forming a key element of HSE’s Protecting People and Places strategy to reduce work-related ill-health in the workplace.

Found: Buckley Siân Berry Rachael Maskell Cat Eccles Chris Webb Richard Burgon Florence Eshalomi Peter Prinsley

Found: Buckley Siân Berry Rachael Maskell Cat Eccles Chris Webb Richard Burgon Florence Eshalomi Peter Prinsley

Found: Sultana Jon Trickett Julia Buckley Cat Eccles Chris Webb Richard Burgon Florence Eshalomi Peter Prinsley

Found: Sobel Josh Newbury Tony Vaughan Dr Beccy Cooper Liz Jarvis Abtisam Mohamed Andy McDonald Peter Prinsley

Found: Sobel Josh Newbury Tony Vaughan Dr Beccy Cooper Liz Jarvis Abtisam Mohamed Andy McDonald Peter Prinsley

Found: Sobel Josh Newbury Tony Vaughan Dr Beccy Cooper Liz Jarvis Abtisam Mohamed Andy McDonald Peter Prinsley

Found: Sobel Josh Newbury Tony Vaughan Dr Beccy Cooper Liz Jarvis Abtisam Mohamed Andy McDonald Peter Prinsley

Found: Sobel Josh Newbury Tony Vaughan Dr Beccy Cooper Liz Jarvis Abtisam Mohamed Andy McDonald Peter Prinsley