Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people have been diagnosed with a brain tumour through the non-specific symptoms pathway.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The latest data shows that fewer than 10 brain and central nervous system (CNS) cancers have been diagnosed through non-specific symptom (NSS) pathways, or 0.4% of all cancers diagnosed through NSS pathways. Brain and CNS cancers are not one of the most common types diagnosed through NSS pathways.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an estimate of the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help increase access to legal aid for immigration cases in Coventry.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The commissioning and monitoring of civil legal aid services are done by Procurement Area rather than by individual town or city, with Procurement Areas differing for different categories of law. The commissioning standard is to have at least one immigration provider per Procurement Area. Coventry falls within the Midlands and East of England Procurement Area. There are currently 45 immigration and asylum providers operating out of 55 offices within this procurement area. Information about number of legal aid offices undertaking work, broken down by region, legal aid scheme and category of law are published as part of the Legal Aid Agency (LAA)’s official statistics [see tables 9.1-9.8].
The LAA recently tendered for new contracts that will start on 1 September 2024 and is in the process of assessing the bids. There will also be a further tender opportunity commencing on 18 March. These procurement exercises provide opportunities for new providers to obtain a contract to deliver legal aid services and existing contract holders to deliver additional services in other categories of law with a view to maximising available provision.
Across England and Wales, we have taken a number of steps to help increase access to legal aid for immigration and asylum cases. For example, we are providing up to £1.4 million of funding in 2024 for accreditation and reaccreditation of senior caseworkers to conduct immigration and asylum legal aid work.
The ongoing Review of Civil Legal Aid is considering the broader economic context of the civil legal aid market as a whole, including for immigration cases, so that it can operate sustainably in the long-term; the Green Paper consultation is expected in July 2024.
The Ministry of Justice does not have data on the number and proportion of asylum seekers that have not had access to a local immigration and asylum legal aid provider in the last 12 months. At a national level, the LAA monitors capacity across its legal aid contracts on an ongoing basis and, where demand is greater than the available supply, takes action to secure additional provision to ensure the continuity of legal aid-funded services.
The LAA regularly engages with provider representative groups, including on the provision of immigration and asylum services, via forums such as the Civil Contract Consultative Group.
The Ministry of Justice has not made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of immigration and asylum legal aid provision on the success rate of asylum appeals in Coventry in the last 12 months. We do publish data on tribunal outcomes as a part of the published statistics – see tab FIA3 in the main tables (Tribunals statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions she has had with trade unions representing Agenda for Change staff.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has had a number of recent meetings with representatives of the Agenda for Change trade unions, to hear their individual and collective priorities for pay, and terms and conditions.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason is the shingles vaccine not available to people between the ages of 66 to 69 on 1 September 2023; and whether she will make an assessment of the potential impact of not providing the vaccine on those people.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The current policy offers the shingles vaccine shingrix to anyone who turned 65 or 70 years old on or after 1 September 2023, and to anyone aged 50 years old and over, who is at higher risk of serious complications as a result of having a severely weakened immune system. This approach has been used in the effective implementation of previous immunisation programmes. Whilst some individuals may have to wait until they are eligible, the population benefit of adopting this approach is greater, and means that many individuals will receive the vaccine sooner and will benefit for longer.
The approach is modelled on the first shingles programme, optimising achievements within the resources and capacity of the National Health Service, while being delivered alongside other important healthcare priorities, and avoiding undue additional pressure on NHS delivery services. An assessment of the potential impact of not providing the vaccine to people aged 66 to 69 years old is not required, as they remain eligible to receive a shingles vaccination when they turn 70 years old, as they would have done prior to 1 September 2023.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what his planned timetable is for establishing a process by which Ukrainians who did not receive a 1A stamp on arrival to the UK are able to apply for a biometric residence permit and extend their leave to remain.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are aware of occasions where Ukrainians did not have their passport endorsed by an immigration official on arrival to the UK. Measures have been taken to prevent this from occurring in the future, and steps are being taken to progress those applications affected.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the compensation scheme for people suffering from the effects of vaginal mesh operations does not cover all those impacted by the use of the same materials in rectopexy procedures.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government commissioned the Patient Safety Commissioner (PSC) to produce a report on redress for those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh. We are grateful to the PSC and her team for completing this report, and our sympathies remain with those affected by sodium valproate and pelvic mesh.
While the PSC does not include rectopexy mesh within her proposed definition of directly harmed patients for the purposes of her redress recommendations, we note that the PSC has said in her report that the Government needs to consider how to investigate issues related to harm caused by other uses of mesh going forward. The Government is now carefully considering the PSC’s recommendations, and will respond substantively in due course.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will (a) list the amount of funding allocated to each children's hospice for the 2024-25 financial year and (b) outline her Department's timescale for distributing this funding to each hospice.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Last year, NHS England confirmed that it will be renewing the funding for Children and Young People’s hospices for 2024/25, once again allocating £25 million of funding, using the same prevalence-based allocation approach as in 2022/23 and 2023/24. This prevalence-based approach ensures that the funding matches local need.
The distribution of the 2024/25 funding to children’s hospices will be via integrated care boards (ICBs), in line with the wider move to a devolved National Health Service, in which ICBs are best placed to meet the health and care needs of their local population. The Department and NHS England hope to be able to provide the greater clarity that the sector is seeking on this important funding stream shortly.
Asked by: Taiwo Owatemi (Labour - Coventry North West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Warwickshire, Solihull and Coventry Breast Screening Unit is taking as part of the breast screening improvement plan; what the timeline is for their delivery; and how much funding has been allocated for their delivery.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England Midlands is the responsible commissioner for the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme delivered across the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry locality. The Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry service is one of the largest breast screening services in England, inviting approximately 55,000 people for screening each year.
NHS England Midlands has advised that for the breast screening improvement plan, work has begun on reviewing coverage for the Warwickshire, Solihull, and Coventry breast screening services. The service continues to collaborate with primary care practices to promote uptake for patients in low uptake areas, and staff facilitate local community events to educate on the importance of breast screening, for instance at the Godiva and Pride Festivals in Coventry.
In 2024/25 the service will receive a contract value in excess of £3 million, to ensure that cancer is detected early through screening. The service has also received capital investment during the last two years, which has supported additional imaging equipment to increase overall screening capacity within the service and pathway.
Work continues to ensure the current breast screening provision is improving, and once coverage has returned to pre-pandemic levels, NHS England Midlands hope to go further on ambitions to decrease inequity across all cancer screening programmes.