Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the £95 million investment in dementia clinical (a) trials and (b) innovative research will be allocated across the Mission’s pillars of (i) innovations in biomarkers, data and digital and imaging technologies, (ii) increasing the number and speed of UK-based clinical trials for research into dementia and neurodegeneration and (iii) end-to-end implementation.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022 with £95 million of Government funding. There is now more than £120 million of committed funding to the mission, which will be invested into three key pillars. The first pillar centres on biomarkers and experimental medicine, and will receive £50 million of the funding for the mission, with the intention of securing match funding from industry partners. As part of this pillar, Innovate UK launched a Small Business Research Initiative competition, with the aim of accelerating innovations in clinical biomarker tools and technologies for dementia, where organisations could apply for a share of £6 million of funding out of the allocated £50 million. These technologies will enable the discovery, validation, and implementation of a suite of decision-enabling biomarkers to help transform clinical trials and precision therapies. The competition closed on 4 September 2023, and the recipients awarded a portion of the £6 million will be announced soon.
The second pillar will focus on clinical trial infrastructure and innovation, with two recently announced initiatives to support its delivery. The first of these initiatives is the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network, with almost £50 million of funding over five years. This will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities for dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. The second initiative is the Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator, focused on dementia, also named the Dementia Accelerator. This was announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, in response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s independent review into commercial clinical trials in the UK, with up to £20 million of additional funding.
The third pillar will be focused on end-to-end implementation, specifically on aligning translational research, clinical practice, and regulatory frameworks to prepare health-systems for new dementia medicines. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England, the Department, the devolved administrations, and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are already working closely together to plan for the implementation of new dementia medicines, should they gain approval in the UK.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many sewage releases there were in Luton South constituency in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Over the past eight years the Environment Agency and Defra have worked with water companies to introduce Event Duration Monitors (EDMs), which provide them with much more information about where and when storm overflows are occurring. Water companies submit annual returns of their EDM data, which are publicly available here. The annual returns for 2023 are not yet available. The 2022 return shows that there were 32 storm overflows reported by Thames Water within the Luton South constituency. Only 5 of these storm overflows had EDM installed in 2022. EDM recorded 12 spills from these 5 overflows in 2022, lasting a total of 8.62 hours. Of the remaining 27 overflows without EDM, 2 were reported as being no longer operational, and their discharge permits have now been revoked. The other 25 overflows were all due to have EDM installed by December 2023. At the end of 2023, the Government target of having all storm overflows in England monitored was met, so EDM data on these sites should soon be available as well.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether sewage was released into the chalk aquifer in Caddington in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Caddington sewage treatment works has a discharge permit to discharge treated sewage effluent to ground. The permit states that the discharge must consist solely of treated sewage effluent and that the point of discharge is to ground via a soakaway. The borehole soakaways infiltrate into the unsaturated zone of the underlying Middle Chalk. The permit includes limiting values for the chemical composition of the effluent being discharged, to minimise the potential for pollution to arise from the discharge. This is what is known as an “indirect discharge” insomuch that it discharges to the unsaturated zone. Direct discharges to the saturated zone of the Chalk are forbidden.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce economic inactivity among women between the ages of 45 and 64.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP supports people up and down the country to start, stay and succeed in work.
At Autumn Statement, we announced DWP’s Back to Work Plan alongside a suite of other measures to reduce economic inactivity. These included;
· Doubling the number of places on the Universal Support employment programme, to provide support for 100,000 people per year when fully rolled out;
· Formally launching WorkWell, which will bring together the NHS, local authorities and other partners, in collaboration with jobcentres, to provide light touch work and health support in approximately 15 pilot areas;
· Building on the extension of the certification of the fit notes to a wider range of healthcare professions, exploring new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with timely access to work and health support; and
· Establishing an expert group to support the development of the voluntary national baseline for Occupational Health provision.
This is alongside pre-existing support such as the Midlife MOT which was rolled out in Jobcentres from January 2023 to encourage individuals to optimise re-skilling prospects and improve health and longer-term financial resilience. The Mid-life MOT acts as a vital prompt to engage more people in planning more actively for later life – both for work and retirement. It provides individuals in their 40s, 50s and 60s with signposting to information and guidance on wealth, work and wellbeing, providing a holistic assessment to ensure that individuals can plan for the later life that they want. We continue to work with organisations, and with employers, on how they can offer the Mid-life MOT.
The DWP 50PLUS Champions network also provides dedicated support to Work Coaches to enable them to effectively direct suitable support to claimants who are aged 50 and over.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what discussions he has had with his (a) Israeli counterpart and (b) the UK’s international allies on the provisional measures set forth by the International Court of Justice in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO has welcomed the Court's call for the immediate release of hostages and the need to get more aid into Gaza.
We are clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.
We respect the role and independence of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). However, we have also stated that we have considerable concerns about this case. Our view is that Israel's actions in Gaza cannot be described as a genocide, which is why we thought South Africa's decision to bring the case was wrong and provocative.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure implementation in full of the International Court of Justice's Order relating to the case of the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v Israel), published on 26 January 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The FCDO has welcomed the Court's call for the immediate release of hostages and the need to get more aid into Gaza.
We are clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.
We respect the role and independence of the ICJ. However, we have also stated that we have considerable concerns about this case. Our view is that Israel's actions in Gaza cannot be described as a genocide, which is why we thought South Africa's decision to bring the case was wrong and provocative.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department forecasted aid funding for agencies supporting people in Palestine for the financial year 2024-2025.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We trebled our aid commitment this financial year and we are doing everything we can to get more aid in and open more crossings. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.
We will continue to support and have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department forecasted aid funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees for the financial year 2024-25.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are appalled by allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. As we have said, we are pausing any future funding of UNRWA, whilst we review these concerning allegations. The pause will remain in place until we review the allegations, and any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. We are looking to our partners in the UN to carry out a robust and comprehensive investigation.
We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to people in Gaza who desperately need it.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will commission research into the potential work-related causes of police officer suicides and attempted suicides.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.
The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.
Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding his Department provided to help support police officers' mental health in each year since 2019.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government takes the physical and mental health of the police workforce very seriously and we are committed to making improvements in wellbeing support for officers and staff. Since 2019, the Home Office has provided over £14m to the National Police Wellbeing Service. The Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.
Through the Police Covenant, we continue to work with policing partners to ensure those who work in policing and their families get the support and protection they need. We have already delivered pre-deployment mental health support for all new starters, established a Chief Medical Officer for policing and set an initial priority work stream on suicide prevention.
The Home Office is also providing funding to establish and run the first year of a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support line for current and former members of the police workforce. This will provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most and can be accessed from any area at any time.