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Written Question
Dental Services: Rural Areas
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether dentists working in dental treatment vans will be offered one-off payments of up to £20,000.

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

We will offer Golden Hellos of £20,000 to up to 240 dentists who join existing National Health Service practices, in areas where recruitment is particularly challenging. Golden Hello payments will be phased over three years, and require a commitment to stay in that area delivering NHS work for at least three years.

We will also be deploying dental vans offering appointments to patients in need, including targeted rural and coastal communities who have the most limited access to dentistry, starting later this year. We are working with NHS England and the integrated care boards on the precise nature of the contracting and payment model for dental vans.


Written Question
Shipping: Conditions of Employment
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he has taken to help ensure greater job security for seafarers in the last two years.

Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

In July 2023 we launched the Seafarers’ Charter, which among other measures requires that operators who obtain full Charter status do not use voyage contracts except in exceptional circumstances. This means that seafarers aboard ships run by a Charter operator can be confident that in most cases after their period of time aboard a vessel has ended, they will continue to have work without needing to reapply. I am pleased that 5 of the 6 major international ferry companies operating from the UK have now committed to meeting the Charter requirements.

Examples of ‘exceptional circumstances’ might be if a seafarer has been taken ill and the operator needs to bring someone onboard at short notice to cover the position, or if a piece of machinery has broken and they brought an additional seafarer onboard to fix it while it the vessel was underway.

We continue to work to improve seafarer protections in the UK and around the world.


Written Question
Public Libraries: Finance
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to help support libraries that have had a reduction in funding from local authorities.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service which meets local needs. It is for each local authority to consider how best to deliver this.

His Majesty’s Government has provided an additional £600 million on top of the £64 billion Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 — an increase of 7.5% in cash terms. This uplift will help to reduce pressure on councils’ budgets, and protect services including public libraries.

In addition, DCMS announced on 25 March that 43 library services in England would benefit from Round 3 of the Libraries Improvement Fund which is allocating £10.5 million across this financial year and next. The Fund has allocated £20.5 million since 2021 to public library services across England to support them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure so that they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people want to use them.


Written Question
Public Libraries: Finance
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that libraries are receiving adequate funding from local authorities.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Local authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide a comprehensive and efficient library service which meets local needs. It is for each local authority to consider how best to deliver this.

His Majesty’s Government has provided an additional £600 million on top of the £64 billion Local Government Finance Settlement for 2024-25 — an increase of 7.5% in cash terms. This uplift will help to reduce pressure on councils’ budgets, and protect services including public libraries.

In addition, DCMS announced on 25 March that 43 library services in England would benefit from Round 3 of the Libraries Improvement Fund which is allocating £10.5 million across this financial year and next. The Fund has allocated £20.5 million since 2021 to public library services across England to support them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure so that they are better placed to respond to the changing ways people want to use them.


Written Question
Cultural Heritage: Fees and Charges
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure that cost is not a barrier to people accessing heritage visitor attractions in their area.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Many heritage visitor attractions are free to visit or offer schemes to support access, and DCMS-sponsored museums are free to enter for people of any age. The vast majority of the 400 sites in the National Heritage Collection, which is managed by English Heritage Trust on behalf of HM Government, are also free to enter. Where the charity does need to charge visitors an entry fee to support its work, it works to increase engagement with under-represented groups, so that everyone has the opportunity to connect with our shared heritage. English Heritage is also one of the largest providers of free school visits in the UK.

The National Lottery also runs ‘National Lottery Open Week’ which provides free admission for holders of a lottery ticket or scratch card at venues across the UK, including English Heritage Trust, Historic Royal Palaces, and National Trust properties.


Written Question
Museums and Galleries
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that important items from national collections are shared with museums and galleries around the country.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Museums with national collections have a long history of loaning objects from their collection and touring exhibitions across the country. The 15 museums and museum groups directly sponsored by DCMS report annually on their UK loans and regional engagement, encouraging strategic dialogue between national collections to lend and foster collaborations, with data from 2022/23 showing that over 1,100 UK venues received loans. Non-national museums are also supported to borrow, through public funding, via Arts Council England, to organisations like the Touring Exhibition Group.


Written Question
Dental Services: Contracts
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dental contracts have been changed following a request from dental practices since 7 February 2024.

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

Monthly data on the Units of Dental Activity (UDA) delivered is published by the NHS Business Services Authority, although this data has an approximate two-month time lag, and therefore we expect data for February 2024 to be published around Mid-May. Otherwise, UDA delivery data is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity


Written Question
Dental Services: Contracts
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dental contracts have been handed back 7 February 2024.

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

Monthly data on the Units of Dental Activity (UDA) delivered is published by the NHS Business Services Authority, although this data has an approximate two-month time lag, and therefore we expect data for February 2024 to be published around Mid-May. Otherwise, UDA delivery data is available at the following link:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/english-contractor-monthly-general-dental-activity


Written Question
Public Libraries
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase access to libraries.

Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

We will be publishing a refreshed Government strategy for public libraries later this year. This will be informed by Baroness Sanderson’s independent review of English public libraries and will help ensure that people across the country can benefit from great public library services.

The DCMS-funded £20.5 million Libraries Improvement Fund (2021-2025) is supporting public library services in England. It is enabling them to upgrade their buildings and improve digital infrastructure, increasing their potential to develop more flexible spaces and improving digital access, thereby increasing library access and use.


Written Question
Dental Services: Migrant Workers
Thursday 28th March 2024

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dentists were recruited from overseas by the NHS in the last 12 months; and if she will make an estimate of the number of dentists that will be recruited from overseas by the NHS in the next 12 months.

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

To legally practise dentistry in the United Kingdom, a dentist must be registered with the General Dental Council (GDC), the independent regulator of dentistry. Once registered with the GDC, dentists can choose whether to practise in the National Health Service or privately. To practise in the NHS, dentists must be on the dental performers list.

The Department does not hold the information requested on the number of overseas-qualified dentists that have joined the performers list in the last 12 months. No estimate has been made of the number of overseas-qualified dentists that will join the performers list in the next 12 months.