Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 February 2023 to Question 147126 on Bupropion, whether he has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the availability of bupropion; if he will publish guidance for people using bupropion for ADHD or depression; and if he will take steps to ensure that there is a continued supply.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department is aware of a shortage with Bupropion.
We issued comprehensive management guidance to healthcare professionals on this shortage in December 2022. The guidance advises on the management of patients who require this medication for both licensed and off-label indications. Clinicians can advise patients on suitable alternative products, and other management options that can be considered. This includes unlicensed Bupropion 150 milligram modified release tablets which have been sourced.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to hold discussions with her European Union counterparts on cooperation between the EU and the UK for critical raw mineral supply chains under the European Critical Raw Materials Act.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani
The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act is seeking to increase the diversity, resilience and sustainability of critical minerals supply chains, in line with the aims of the UK’s own Critical Minerals Strategy published last year. We are assessing the implications of the Critical Raw Materials Act to ensure UK businesses are not disadvantaged. The UK has strong industrial capabilities and deep expertise in critical minerals and mining, and is a global centre of mining finance. We are working with the EU and likeminded partners on our common goals, for example through the Minerals Security Partnership, International Energy Agency and G7.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in poverty levels for women under 25.
Answered by Mims Davies - Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
This government believes work is the best way to help people, including young women, to improve their financial circumstances.
With over a million vacancies across the United Kingdom, our focus is firmly on supporting people to move into and to progress in work.
Specialist employment support for young people under 25 is available through our national network of JCPs.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department uses automated decision making.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
The Department uses a range of tools to aid decision making to generate insight from large and complex data. All decisions are made by officials and Ministers.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to appoint a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Lord Offord of Garvel was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department of Business and Trade on 24 April 2023.
Ministerial responsibilities can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-business-and-trade.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will make an assessment of the potential contribution of a think small first policy to achieving the target of exporting over a trillion pounds of goods and services annually by 2030.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
As set out in the Export Strategy the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is working in partnership with UK exporters to reach a trillion pounds of UK exports annually by 2030, with UK exports reaching £843bn in March this year. As part of this, DBT utilises company-level data to segment and tailor its support based on where a business is at on their export journey. This includes our self-serve digital offer and the Export Academy, which provides training and guidance to ensure businesses across the UK, especially SMEs, have the capability and knowledge to prosper in international markets.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what plans she has to ban sexual orientation and gender identity conversion practices.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Opposition Chief Whip (Commons)
Whilst some forms of conversion practice already constitute a criminal offence, the Government will publish a draft Bill setting out our approach to banning those conversion practices which are still legal. This will include those acts targeted on the basis of being transgender. This will go for pre-legislative scrutiny by a joint committee. It is the Government's intention to complete pre-legislative scrutiny in the current parliamentary session.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions she has had with the Federation of Small Business about the role of small firms in increasing exports.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
Small and medium sized business are the backbone of our economy and central to achieving our ambition to reach £1 trillion in exports annually by 2030, which is why they are the focus of the Department for Business and Trade and UK government support. The Federation of Small Business is an important champion of small businesses and the Secretary of State values DBT’s regular engagement with this key stakeholder at ministerial and official level. The Secretary of State met the FSB along with other leading business representative organisations on 13 March with another meeting planned for April.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to ensure that her Department's export support team has the resources it requires to assist small businesses.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Shadow Financial Secretary (Treasury)
As set out in the Export Strategy, the Export Support Service (ESS) is integral to how we support Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Ensuring that it is adequately funded and resourced is our priority. The Department for Business and Trade is planning to spend over £200 million, over the Spending Review period, to support SMEs.
The ESS provides a range of support and guidance to help SMEs with on-the-ground experts across the globe and, together with our innovative Export Academy, we are ensuring businesses have the knowledge to thrive in international markets.
Asked by: Richard Thomson (Scottish National Party - Gordon)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to support the development of green hydrogen in Scotland.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The British Energy Security Strategy set out the Government's ambition to support up to 1GW of electrolytic hydrogen to be in construction or operational by 2025 across the UK. The first hydrogen allocation round is underway and the Government announced a shortlist of 20 electrolytic hydrogen projects in March 2023, including five projects based in Scotland, to enter the next phase of due diligence and negotiations. A second hydrogen allocation round is due to be launched before the end of 2023. In addition, four Scottish projects were also awarded funding through Strands 1 & 2 of the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund.