Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the (a) adequacy of the UK Foundation Programme allocation process and (b) potential impact of changes to the UK Foundation Programme allocation process on levels of satisfaction among applicants in 2023.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The allocation process for the UK Foundation Programme this year was changed to a Preference Informed Allocation method. This new process saw applicants being given a computer-generated rank and the removal of the requirement to sit the Situational Judgement Test. The move to the new system aimed to address concerns about the previous system, including that was it was perceived as unfair and stressful for applicants, and that there was lack of standardisation within and across schools. This change was based on extensive stakeholder engagement by the four statutory education bodies in the United Kingdom.
When confirming the move to the new system last year, Health Education England, now part of NHS England, set out that once implemented it would be kept under constant review to make sure it is working well for applicants.
All 9,702 eligible applicants for the 2024 Foundation Programme were allocated to a Foundation School, with 75% of those applicants getting their first preference. This is an improvement on last year when 8,655 applicants were placed and 71% got their first preference.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what her policy is on (a) access to cash, (b) businesses being required to use cash and (c) helping vulnerable people reliant on cash infrastructure adapt to a cashless society.
Answered by Tulip Siddiq - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, including those who may be in vulnerable groups.
The Financial Conduct Authority has recently assumed regulatory responsibility for protecting access to cash, and its new rules went live on 18 September. The rules require the UK’s largest banks and building societies to assess the impact of a closure of a relevant cash withdrawal or deposit facility and put in place a new service if necessary.
It is for each business to decide on the forms of payment it chooses to accept, based on a variety of factors, including cost and customer preferences. Research published by the Financial Conduct Authority found that 98 per cent of small businesses surveyed would never turn customers away if they needed to pay in cash. The new rules by the Financial Conduct Authority will also support businesses to accept cash by ensuring they have reasonable access to deposit facilities.
The Government also recognises that promoting digital inclusion is essential to building the skills and confidence people need to participate in a modern digital economy and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as the lead department, is considering barriers to this.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make two weeks the maximum time between bin collections.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Simpler Recycling will mean that people across England will be able to recycle the same materials at home, work or school, ending the confusion over what can or cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.
Ministers are currently reviewing final Simpler Recycling policy decisions, including guidance on the approach to collections, and we hope to provide further certainty and clarity to stakeholders as soon as possible.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 increase the number of dental practices that accept new NHS patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will tackle the immediate crisis with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of National Health Service dentists.
NHS dentists are required to keep their NHS.UK website profiles up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. This information is available at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Macclesfield constituency, this is the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside ICB.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether any arms export licences to Israel are under review other than those already suspended.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
All extant licences to Israel are kept under careful and continual review as standard.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 provide support for people with (a) long Covid, (b) chronic fatigue syndrome and (c) ME.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Since 2020, the National Health Service in England has invested significantly in supporting people with long COVID. This includes setting up specialist post-COVID services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, as well as investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition.
As of 1 April 2024, there are more than 90 adult post-COVID services across England, along with an additional ten children and young people’s hubs. These services assess people with long COVID and direct them into care pathways which provide appropriate support and treatment. General practitioners will assess patients that have COVID-19 symptoms lasting longer than four weeks and refer them into a long COVID service where appropriate. Referral should be via a single point of access, which is managed by clinician-led triage.
Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The NIHR specifically has invested £42.7 million towards research funding for long COVID. The projects funded aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care. Further information on the research into long COVID commissioned through the NIHR is available at the following link:
https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/covid-19/long-COVID
It is a priority for the Department to publish the final myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) delivery plan, and it is our intention to publish a consultation response summary later this autumn. We cannot comment on the exact content of the final delivery plan at this time, but it will be shaped by the consultation responses, along with continued close engagement with stakeholders, with three broad themes of attitudes and education, research and living with ME. We aim to publish in the winter of 2024/25.
The Department is also currently working with NHS England to develop an e-learning course on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes.
Additionally, the Government funds research into ME/CFS through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council (MRC), through UK Research and Innovation. In 2020, the NIHR and the MRC came together to fund the world’s largest genome-wide association study of ME/CFS. This £3.2 million study, termed DecodeME, will analyse samples from 25,000 people with ME/CFS to search for genetic differences that may indicate underlying causes or an increased risk of developing the condition. Further details of the study are available at the following link:
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish guidance on withdrawing a Certificate of Exemption for XL Bully dogs.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Where an owner has applied for a certificate of exemption and no longer thinks that their dog is an XL Bully, it will be possible to ask Defra to withdraw the certificate. Defra will provide more information about this process soon.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support national parks.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Labour introduced National Parks 75 years ago, and introduced the Rights of Way Act that secured public access and preserved natural beauty.
This Labour Government is committed to empowering Protected Landscapes to become greener, wilder and more accessible to all.
We are actively considering options to ensure Protected Landscapes bodies like National Park Authorities have the tools and powers they need to deliver for people and nature, including through regulation and guidance.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of decarbonising the grid by 2030 on job creation in Macclesfield constituency.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Through our clean power mission, including through investments made by Great British Energy, and the National Wealth Fund, we will work with industry to deliver the jobs and investment required to achieve our clean power 2030 ambition.
Whilst we are still deciding where investments will be made, we expect that good jobs will be available across the country as we see a rapid expansion in the renewable workforce by 2030.
Asked by: Tim Roca (Labour - Macclesfield)
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 young people on waiting lists for gender affirming care are transitioned to adult waiting lists when they turn 18.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England published a new service specification in August 2024 for the referral pathway of Children and Young People’s Gender Services. The service specification sets out that young people are removed from the waiting list for Children and Young People’s Gender Services once they reach the age of 17 years and nine months.
NHS England has determined that it is not clinically appropriate to directly transfer a young person onto the waiting list of an adult service. This is because, as a commissioner of health services rather than a provider, it has no direct knowledge of the aims and intentions of the individual young person in regard to their gender identity and how these may have changed while they were on the national waiting list.
Those who are removed from the national waiting list are advised to seek advice from their general practitioner, who is best placed to support the young person in considering the appropriateness of a referral to an adult Gender Dysphoria Clinic. Should a referral be made to the adult service, the original referral date to the children's service will be honoured for this purpose. As NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Services expand, this approach will be regularly reviewed.
In August, NHS England published an implementation plan detailing how it intends to implement recommendations from Dr Cass’s report. This includes establishing a follow through service for people aged between 17 and 25 years old. NHS England has started to explore with potential partner organisations the feasibility of establishing this service. The planning assumption is that this follow-through service will become operational no sooner than April 2025. Further development of the design of this part of care will be informed by NHS England’s systemic review of adult gender services.