Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients prescribed medicinal cannabis by (a) the NHS and (b) private clinics in the last 12 months.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is only able to provide information on prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines that have been prescribed and submitted to the NHSBSA. Data on National Health Service prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis-based medicines is withheld in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation, due to the number of prescriptions attributed to fewer than five patients, and the enhanced risk of the release of patient identifiable information. Patient information is not routinely collected for private prescriptions.
The following table shows the number of identifiable patients that were prescribed NHS prescriptions for licensed cannabis-based medicines, for instance epidyolex, nabilone, and sativex, in the community in England in the 12 months, from February 2024 to January 2025, the latest available data:
Total items prescribed to identified patients | Total number of unique identified patients |
5,413 | 880 |
Source: NHSBSA.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Indian counterpart on the release of Jagtar Singh Johal.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government is committed to pushing the Government of India for faster progress to resolve Jagtar Singh Johal's case. The Foreign Secretary has raised Mr Johal's case with his Indian counterpart on several occasions, most recently on 5 March. The Prime Minister also raised Mr Johal's case with the Indian External Affairs Minister on 4 March, during his visit to the UK.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of planned changes to (a) income and (b) inheritance tax on people who inherit more than £1 million.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Inheritance tax is a wealth transfer tax charged on the estate (the property, money, and possessions) of someone who has died. In the latest available tax year (2021-22), 4.39% of all UK deaths were liable to inheritance tax.
The tax liability is on the estate and not the beneficiary of any inherited assets. As such, HMRC does not collect information on the beneficiaries of estates, as it has no reason to do so.
The Government announced several reforms to inheritance tax at Autumn Budget 2024. The Government’s analysis of these reforms is based on the number of estates expected to pay more inheritance tax. More information is available in the various policy papers published alongside the Budget: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of threshold for the payment of Inheritance Tax on families with assets worth over £1 million.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Inheritance tax is a wealth transfer tax charged on the estate (the property, money, and possessions) of someone who has died. In the latest available tax year (2021-22), 4.39% of all UK deaths were liable to inheritance tax.
The tax liability is on the estate and not the beneficiary of any inherited assets. As such, HMRC does not collect information on the beneficiaries of estates, as it has no reason to do so.
The Government announced several reforms to inheritance tax at Autumn Budget 2024. The Government’s analysis of these reforms is based on the number of estates expected to pay more inheritance tax. More information is available in the various policy papers published alongside the Budget: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that British dentists are prioritized when allocating Licence in Dental Surgery examination places.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS) exam is operated by the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), and the exam is regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC). There are no restrictions to accessing the exam based on British residency status.
It is the role of the GDC to approve eligibility criteria for the exam, which is proposed by the RCSEng as its operator. The GDC is independent of the Government. The RCSEng continues to increase the capacity of the LDS exam to ensure more candidates can access a place.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
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 ensure that British dentists have access to Licence in Dental Surgery examinations.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Licence in Dental Surgery (LDS) exam is operated by the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCSEng), and the exam is regulated by the General Dental Council (GDC). There are no restrictions to accessing the exam based on British residency status.
It is the role of the GDC to approve eligibility criteria for the exam, which is proposed by the RCSEng as its operator. The GDC is independent of the Government. The RCSEng continues to increase the capacity of the LDS exam to ensure more candidates can access a place.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the Child Maintenance Service Collect and Pay service fees on families.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is dedicated to ensuring parents meet their obligations to children, taking robust enforcement action against those who do not.
Cases in Collect & Pay represent the most difficult cases, as many of these have been unwilling to pay voluntarily or have not been compliant in a Direct Pay arrangement. Cases where the paying parent has missed payments or demonstrated behaviour that suggests they are unlikely to pay, can be put on the Collect and Pay service. Fees only apply to the Collect and Pay Service. A fee of 20% is added to what the paying parent needs to pay, while 4% is deducted from maintenance paid to receiving parents. The receiving parent charge is only applied from the maintenance that the Child Maintenance Service has successfully collected.
Fees were introduced in 2014, partly with the objective to encourage greater collaboration and more family-based arrangements rather than using a statutory service.
After Collect and Pay fees were introduced an assessment was carried out by the previous government and published in The Child Maintenance Reforms; 30 Month Review of charging.
In July 2024 the government consulted on the proposal for wider reform to consolidate the CMS into a single service type where the CMS monitors and transfers payments. The consultation Improving the collection and transfer of payments, also proposed a new fee structure of just 2% for receiving parents, deducted from maintenance received; 2% for compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed; and 20% for non-compliant paying parents, on top of maintenance owed.
Following consideration of public responses concerning fees and other proposals in the consultation, and subsequent ministerial decisions, next steps will be detailed in the Government Response, which will be published in due course.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason the Child Maintenance Service charges parents to use the Collect and Pay system.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Collection fees were introduced in 2014, with the objectives of subsidising the cost of the service; encouraging greater parental collaboration and more family-based arrangements; and encouraging compliance.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the average cost difference between the (a) paying and (b) receiving parents for the Child Maintenance Service Collect and Pay service charge.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Collection fees only apply to the Collect and Pay service and are intended to provide both parents with an incentive to collaborate, and offset the cost of the scheme. Entry to the service is permitted if either both parents agree to it, or if the paying parent is deemed ‘unlikely to pay’. Paying parents therefore have the more influence in deciding which service type a case goes into.
The 20% collection fee for paying parents is a strong deterrent against non-compliance. The 4% collection fees for receiving parents acknowledges the costs associated with maintaining the case and provides a financial incentive for parents to consider using, or returning to, Direct Pay, or having a family-based arrangement, where appropriate.
Asked by: Susan Murray (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dunbartonshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the risk that the Collect and Pay service charge system can be used to place additional financial pressure on the paying parent.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
All parents are given the option to use the Direct Pay service, where no fees apply.
If a paying parent pays on time and in full on Direct Pay and there is no reason to believe they would be unlikely to pay; they cannot be forced to use the Collect and Pay service.
The 20% collection fee for paying parents is a deterrent against non-compliance and offsets the cost of action needed to recover arrears.