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Written Question
Horizon IT System
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what weighting the Post Office Horizon compensation scheme gives to individual sub-postmaster’s (a) mental health, (b) physical health and (c) family circumstances when calculating compensation offers.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Across the compensation schemes, cases are assessed individually on their facts in accordance with established legal principles. On the Horizon Shortfall Scheme (HSS) and GLO scheme, postmasters can claim for any losses they have experienced as a result of Horizon shortfalls. Similarly, postmasters with overturned convictions can claim for any loss they have suffered as a result of their conviction. These losses can include the impact on their mental or physical health.

Where family members have also been affected, the joint losses are also recoverable under the various Horizon-related compensation schemes.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Essex
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the number of GPs in Essex.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are working with NHS England to increase the general practice (GP) workforce in England as a whole, which includes Essex. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice.

We have increased the number of GP training places and in 2022 saw the highest ever number of doctors accepting a place in GP training, a record 4,032 trainees, up from 2,671 in 2014. Under the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the number of training places will rise to 6,000 by 2031/32, with the first 500 new places becoming available from September 2025.


Written Question
Offshore Industry: East of England
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she is taking steps to secure private investment to develop an offshore energy grid in the East of England.

Answered by Graham Stuart - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Reinforcement of the electricity network is being delivered through a range of approaches, including upgrades to existing infrastructure, building innovative offshore transmission routes, undergrounded new cabling in protected areas and, where necessary building new overhead lines. Ofgem’s regulatory frameworks are designed to encourage anticipatory investment into the grid whether on or offshore and, through the Energy Act 2023, we enabled competitions in electricity networks, opening this market to new parties for the first time.


Written Question
Royal Mail: Essex
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of Royal Mail's compliance with the universal service obligation in each postal code area in Witham constituency in each week of (a) 2023 and (b) 2024; on how many occasions each post code area in (i) Essex and (ii) Witham constituency did not receive (A) letters and (B) parcels in accordance with the universal service obligation since 1 January 2023; and what steps she is taking to ensure that Royal Mail complies with the universal service obligation in (1) Essex and (2) Witham constituency.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

As the independent regulator for the postal sector, it is for Ofcom to monitor Royal Mail’s delivery of the universal service obligation and decide how to respond should Royal Mail fail to meet its obligations.

Ofcom fined the business £5.6m for failing to meet its service delivery targets in 2022-23 and is closely monitoring Royal Mail’s performance to ensure service issues are addressed as a priority.

I met Mr Seidenberg, the CEO of Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services, to directly raise concerns about performance and will continue to do so if service levels do not improve.


Written Question
Horizon IT System: Shareholder Executive and UK Government Investments
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will publish (a) reports and (b) briefings provided to (i) Ministers and (ii) officials in her Department and its predecessor Departments by the (A) former UK Shareholder Executive and (B) UK Government Investments on the Horizon IT system.

Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is looking into the nature of information provided to Ministers and officials on the Horizon system. It would be wrong for the Government to prejudice its work. Government continues to cooperate fully with the Inquiry.


Written Question
Wind Power: North Sea
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she plans to approve future sites for offshore wind farms in the North Sea.

Answered by Andrew Bowie - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Applications for development consent for offshore wind projects under the Planning Act 2008 progress through an Examination process by the Planning Inspectorate and will result in the final decision taken by my Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Due to the Secretary of State’s quasi-judicial role in taking such decisions it would not be appropriate to comment further. The Scottish Ministers also have executively devolved powers in relation to applications for consent under s.36 of the Electricity Act 1989 throughout Scotland’s entire marine region (inshore and offshore).


Written Question
NHS Learning Support Fund: Pharmacy
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of enabling pharmacy students to utilise the NHS learning support fund.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no immediate plans to make changes to the Learning Support Fund scheme design. The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review. At all times the Government must strike a balance between the level of support students receive, and the need to make best use of public funds to deliver value for money.


Written Question
Planning Permission: Appeals
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what information his Department holds on the (a) total and (b) average cost of processing planning appeals per appeal type in each of the last three financial years.

Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)

The information requested is published as part of the Planning Inspectorate’s Annual Report and Accounts and can be found at the following links:

20/21 Planning_Inspectorate_ARA_2020-21_FINAL.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

21/22 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2021-22.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

22/23 Planning_Inspectorate_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2022-23.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)


Written Question
Health Services: Essex
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she (a) has reviewed and (b) plans to review the (i) provision and (ii) location of (A) inpatient and (B) outpatient health services in Essex.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No formal reviews have been undertaken by the Department. Inpatient and outpatient health services in Essex are provided by the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB), Suffolk and North East Essex ICB, and the Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB. Further information of specific service provision is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/system-and-organisational-oversight/system-directory/east-of-england-region/

Local provision of services is determined by the ICBs, rather than directly by the Government, and decisions are made based on population need in the area. The Department is expanding diagnostic capacity across the National Health Service by rolling out more community diagnostic centres (CDCs), delivering vital tests, scans, and checks. With 154 CDCs open already, and up to 160 set to open by March 2025, these offer millions of patients the chance to access quicker, more convenient checks outside of hospitals, with capacity prioritised for cancer. Across all three ICBs in Essex, we have opened five CDCs in the past year, with another location approved by the Department.

We are also increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs, focusing on providing high volume, low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England. There are currently 100 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England, including the Braintree Community Hospital in Essex, as of February 2024. These surgical hubs will help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care.


Written Question
Essex Mental Health Independent Inquiry
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress has been made on the Lampard Inquiry into mental health services in Essex.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Baroness Lampard, the Chair of the Inquiry, undertook a consultation on proposed amendments to the terms of reference for the inquiry in November 2023. Through this consultation, families and other stakeholders had the opportunity to outline their views on the proposed terms of reference. The Chair has submitted her proposed terms of reference for the statutory inquiry, and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care will make a decision in due course.

On 5 December 2023, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care agreed to meet with families and local MPs in Essex, to discuss the terms of reference. A meeting will be arranged in due course.