Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the dementia diagnosis rate was for people aged under 65 who had developed symptoms on 13 January 2025; and if he will publish a monthly estimate of this rate within national primary care dementia data.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The dementia diagnosis rate is not calculated for patients aged under 65 years old. This is because the numbers of patients known to have dementia in the sample population age groups comprising the zero- to 64-year-old age range is not large enough for reliable estimates to be made.
The Primary Care Dementia Data publication includes a monthly count of the number of patients aged 65 years old and under who do have a dementia diagnosis on their patient record, which is expressed as a raw count, and as a percentage of registered patients aged zero to 64 years old.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve earlier diagnosis of hepatitis B (a) nationally and (b) within Devon Integrated Care System.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Hepatitis B is usually asymptomatic in the early years, and therefore, many people remain unaware of their infection. The UK Health Security Agency estimates that 268,767 people were living with chronic hepatitis B in England in 2022, 38.1% of whom we estimate are diagnosed. As a result, raising both professional and public awareness remains critical to reducing the undiagnosed burden of hepatitis B.
In April 2022, the NHS England introduced the bloodborne virus opt out testing in emergency departments programme, which was implemented across 34 sites. In its first 24 months 1,185,678 hepatitis B tests had been conducted in the programme, which has led to 1,957 new diagnoses of hepatitis B. Following the success of this programme, it is now being expanded to a further 47 sites nationwide. Further information is available at the following link:
In addition, the list of sites and go live dates is available at the following link:
The United Kingdom has continued to see the success of well-established antenatal screening. Antenatal screening coverage has remained high at 99.8%, which ensures pregnant women living with hepatitis B are diagnosed and interventions are implemented, to prevent transmission of hepatitis B to their children.
As set out in the published Hepatitis B in England 2024 report, effective interventions have also been developed to raise awareness of hepatitis B among healthcare professionals and communities at risk of acquiring viral hepatitis, support primary care in identifying and managing cases, and offer testing and immunisations to close contacts. These interventions need to be more widely implemented to continue to improve diagnosis and access to care. The Hepatitis B in England 2024 report is available at the following link:
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of disregarding payments from the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme when calculating eligibility for Pension Credit.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given on 18 November 2024 to question UIN 14156.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve liver cancer surveillance among higher risk patients with chronic hepatitis B (a) nationally and (b) within Devon Integrated Care System.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service Cancer Programme is working to detect more hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) at an early stage when the chances of survival are higher. Six-monthly liver ultrasound surveillance for patients with cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis is key to identifying liver cancers earlier. The programme has been providing funding to Cancer Alliances in 2023/24 and 2024/25, to invest in local liver surveillance programmes. This includes Peninsula Cancer Alliance, which covers Devon.
The cancer programme is also funding two pilot initiatives, the Community Liver Health Checks and liver primary care case finding pilots, to identify people with advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis requiring HCC surveillance. Both pilot initiatives are being delivered across in the peninsula, with one primary care case finding pilot taking place within Devon Primary Care Network.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the recommendations in the report entitled Homes for All published by the Church of England and the Nationwide Foundation in April 2024.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the process of developing and implementing housing and planning policy, the government engages with a wide range experts and organisations. Our plans to tackle the housing crisis, including by building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament and delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation, will address several important points raised in the report in question. The government also intends to publish a long-term housing strategy and we will consider reports such as this one, in developing it.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle shortages of epilepsy medication.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve the intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, some issues, including with some carbamazepine and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.
There is a supply issue with all strengths of lamotrigine tablets due to manufacturing issues, and this is expected to resolve from late November 2024. Other manufacturers of lamotrigine tablets can meet the increased demand during this time.
The Department continues to work closely with industry, the National Health Service, and others to help ensure patients continue to have access to an alternative treatment until their usual product is back in stock.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to (a) agricultural property relief and (b) business property relief on the finances of farms of 215 acres in size.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief. Around 500 estates across the UK are expected to be affected each year from 2026-27.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the number of farms that will be affected by changes to agricultural property relief and business property relief.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms, and further explanatory information at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/what-are-the-changes-to-agricultural-property-relief. Around 500 estates across the UK are expected to be affected each year from 2026-27.
In accordance with standard practice, a tax information and impact note will be published alongside the draft legislation before the relevant Finance Bill.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he plans to publish a response to the consultation entitled Transitional support mechanism for large-scale biomass electricity generators, published on 18 January 2024.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Yes, the Government plans to publish a response to the consultation in due course.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that victims of rural crime in areas with poor (a) phone and (b) internet coverage are able to report those crimes promptly.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to working with the police and other partners to address the blight of rural crime, with the introduction of stronger powers for the police to tackle antisocial behaviour, and action to tackle farm theft and fly-tipping.
We are recruiting 13,000 more neighbourhood police and police community support officers, including in rural areas, to ensure communities have somewhere to turn to report crimes and to report concerns.
Improving telecoms is a Department of Science Innovation and Technology lead.