Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure the needs of male victims of sexual violence will be met by the new national sexual violence helpline.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We recognise that men and boys experience abusive and violent crimes, such as stalking, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse and we are committed to ensuring that male victims and survivors get the support that they need.
The 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales and funded by the Ministry of Justice, provides free and confidential emotional and listening support to all victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse aged 16 and over. Where appropriate, the service will signpost victims to longer-term support services, including therapeutic support.
The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice also fund services specifically for male victims of domestic abuse, in addition to services for LGBT+, Deaf, and older victims, which provide essential support to male victims.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support male victims of sexual violence.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We recognise that men and boys experience abusive and violent crimes, such as stalking, domestic abuse, and sexual abuse and we are committed to ensuring that male victims and survivors get the support that they need.
The 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line, delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales and funded by the Ministry of Justice, provides free and confidential emotional and listening support to all victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse aged 16 and over. Where appropriate, the service will signpost victims to longer-term support services, including therapeutic support.
The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice also fund services specifically for male victims of domestic abuse, in addition to services for LGBT+, Deaf, and older victims, which provide essential support to male victims.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which Government department is responsible for the UK's events industry strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The UK is a world leader in the events industry. The events industry spans many sectors and has cross-cutting interests across a number of Government Departments including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for Business and Trade, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Cabinet Office and the Home Office on safety and security elements.
The Department for Business and Trade works closely with the events sector to ensure they are engaged and able to shape developing government policy and any business issues the sector is facing are captured and addressed.
There have been a number of sector specific strategies published, including the Gold Framework which set out how the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and UK Sport work jointly to support the bidding for and staging of major sporting events at a UK level. In addition, UK Sport published a major event strategic framework, Making Live Sport Matter, which sets out a target list of major events hosting for the coming decade.
DCMS will also be launching a new Visitor Economy Growth Strategy later this year, which will include the business events industry. It will set out a clear, joined-up plan for driving growth, improving the visitor offer and strengthening the UK's appeal in an increasingly competitive global market.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help enforce the Common Organisation of the Markets in Agricultural Products (Fruit and Vegetable Producer Organisations, Tariff Quotas and Wine) (Amendment etc.) Regulations 2021.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to resetting our EU relationship, including by seeking to negotiate an SPS agreement. We have been clear that an SPS agreement could boost trade and deliver significant benefits on both sides. It’s too early to discuss any specific areas in detail and we will not be providing a running commentary on discussions with the EU.
A public consultation on proposals to improve and extend current mandatory method of production labelling was undertaken last year by the previous Government. We are now carefully considering all responses before deciding on next steps and will respond to this consultation in due course
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support sugar beet farmers on the negotiations with British Sugar.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers who are vital to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with sugar beet farmers on negotiations with British Sugar.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government recognises the importance of sugar beet farmers who are vital to UK sugar production. Also, that sugar beet itself, used in crop rotations, is beneficial to soil and crop health and allows arable farms a season of “rest” from cereal production.
We are committed to promoting fairness across the food supply chain. That includes seeing a price agreed for sugar beet that benefits both growers and processors, in the context of the global market. There is a well-established process in place to agree the sugar beet price; designed to be independent between both parties. An Inter Professional Agreement is agreed each year between both parties and sets out the process for negotiating and agreeing price, terms and conditions for the upcoming crop year, as well as any dispute resolution process.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when she expects cases impacted by the McCloud remedy to be resolved.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The McCloud remedy took effect from October 2023 and will deliver a full remedy to all affected public service pension scheme members. Schemes and responsible departments are making progress to ensure the remedy is delivered as quickly as possible. All affected members will receive a remediable service statement setting out the details of their pension entitlements and there are a range of other communication resources available to members. Pensioner members can make their remedy choice on receipt of this statement and active and deferred members will make their choice at retirement. The remedy has been estimated to increase pension entitlements by around £17bn. This will be paid out over many decades and in September 2024 the OBR forecast that spending on public service pensions will fall from 1.9 per cent of GDP at present to 1.4 per cent over the long term (50 years).
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
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 to help support the families of patients with aplastic anaemia; why aplastic anaemia does not have a page detailing its symptoms on the NHS website; and if he will have discussions with NHS England on the potential merits of adding such a page to its website.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as aplastic anaemia. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community. These include: helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals; better coordination of care; and improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework and will publish an annual England action plan in 2025.
There are over 7,000 rare diseases often needing highly specialised input, and so the National Health Service’s website is not always the most appropriate platform to disseminate such information. At this stage there are no plans to add aplastic anaemia to the NHS website, but we will re-review the position in the future, should things change.
The majority of the treatment pathway for aplastic anaemia is an integrated care board commissioning responsibility. Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is an NHS England specialised commissioned service that covers aplastic anaemia, and NHS England has published two national service specifications, one for adults and one for children. The HSCT specifications set out the standards that providers of the service must meet, which includes access to a range of multidisciplinary staff, including psychological support and nurse specialists trained in communication and counselling. Specifically for children, there should be access to appropriately trained paediatric dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, psychologists, social workers, and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, within nationally defined access standards.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planned timetable is for publishing revised guidance for the Long-Term Plans for Town programme.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Chancellor confirmed at the Budget on 30 October that the Long-Term Plan for Towns will be retained and reformed as part of a new regeneration programme.
A revised prospectus for the programme will be published in due course, confirming the associated timelines and a new set of strategic objectives aligned to this government’s missions.
Asked by: Rachel Taylor (Labour - North Warwickshire and Bedworth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her planned timetable is for implementing the McCloud remedy for (a) those who have retired before 23 October 2024 and (b) all outstanding cases.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The McCloud remedy took effect from 1 October 2023 and schemes are currently in the process of sending remediable service statements (RSSs) to affected members. Under the remedy, members who have already retired can make a remedy election when they receive an RSS, while active and deferred members can make that election when they retire.