Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of access to Tofersen through the Early Access Programme for people with SOD1 motor neurone disease.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Companies may put in place Early Access Programmes (EAPs) to allow for early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation. Participation in EAPs is decided at an individual National Health Service trust level, and under these programmes the cost of the drug is free, both to patients taking part in it and to the NHS, although NHS trusts must still cover administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
NHS England does not undertake any initiatives to encourage participation in EAPs, which are the responsibility of individual pharmaceutical companies and subject to decision-making by individual NHS trusts.
There are no common clinical, data, or regulatory standards for company-sponsored EAPs, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust. Doing so can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources. Companies providing a sponsored EAP also reserve the right to limit or to close the registration of new patients at any time, meaning that any financial and clinical investment made by trusts to establish an EAP is done at their own risk, in advance of decisions by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge (FoC) medicine schemes, including EAPs, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks. ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any FoC scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of the classification by the Office for Budget Responsibility of the extended producer responsibility scheme as a tax on production.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Whilst pEPR was announced a few years ago, Defra has now built a modelling framework to calculate local authority costs and producer fees that was used for the first time by the OBR to include pEPR in their forecast. Pending a decision by the ONS, the OBR have recorded pEPR disposal fees as a tax in their forecast on the advice of Treasury classification experts, whose indicative views is that the ONS will likely classify the income stream as a tax when they formally classify the scheme.
This technical classification does not affect the distribution of revenue to local authorities. Revenue from pEPR will be distributed directly by PackUK, the scheme administrator, to local authorities. It will not be diverted to the Treasury or central government finances.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, when he most recently met with (a) Airbus and (b) other relevant stakeholders to discuss the future of Spirit AeroSystems; and what was discussed at each meeting.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
I discussed the future of Spirit Aerosystems in meetings with Airbus on 25 November 2024 and 23 April 2025, the trade unions on 29 January 2025, and the Minister for the Economy, Caoimhe Archibald MLA, on 3 March 2025. My officials are continuing to collaborate with the Department for Business and Trade to monitor the latest developments and provide updates.
The Government has worked with the Northern Ireland Executive to secure the future for Spirit Aerosystems’s operation in Belfast, its workforce, and the wider aerospace sector. The Department for Business and Trade has continued to be in contact with Spirit, Airbus, Boeing, and other potential buyers to ensure the best outcome whereby the new owners commit to invest and grow the businesses, thereby sustaining jobs and safeguarding the aerospace sector in Northern Ireland.
On 28 April 2025, Airbus publicly announced that it had signed a definitive agreement with Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems to acquire specific Spirit operations directly related to Airbus programmes in the UK. In Belfast, Airbus will take ownership of the A220 wing manufacturing and assembly facility. The A220 mid-fuselage work package will also transfer to Airbus if a buyer for the remainder of the Belfast site is not found prior to closing of the deal later this year.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the potential impact of extended producer responsibility levies on business (a) competitiveness and (b) operating costs.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government has listened to feedback from small businesses and introduced support measures to help compliance with EPR, including: exemptions from fee obligations for producers with annual turnover below £2 million and packaging tonnage below 50 tonnes; exemptions from reporting for businesses with turnover below £1 million and packaging tonnage below 25 tonnes; and flexibility for those with obligations to pay in quarterly instalments.
Both Secretaries of State will shortly be meeting representatives from across the impacted sectors, from Small and Medium Enterprises to larger companies alike, to discuss the economic impact of EPR in more detail.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential impact of the extended producer responsibility scheme on local economic growth.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues, including extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) and the packaging reforms more broadly.
These reforms, pEPR, Simpler Recycling and the Deposit Return Scheme, will deliver positive environmental and economic benefits, creating 21,000 new jobs in our nations and regions, and stimulating more than £ 10 billion investment in recycling capability over the next decade.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40390 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, what steps her Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Sullivan Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender, published on 19 March 2025.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has now published the independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous government.
We are considering the findings in light of ongoing policy work in this area.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40390 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, what steps his Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Sullivan Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender, published on 19 March 2025.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The government has now published the independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous government. We are considering the findings in light of ongoing policy work in this area.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office recognises that high quality disaggregated data is needed to meaningfully understand and evaluate our impact across our broad portfolio of international work. Our Inclusive Data Action Plan details our approach to ensure that data is disaggregated by age, disability, sex and geography.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40390 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, what steps her Department is taking to implement the recommendations of the Sullivan Review.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The government has now published the independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous government. We are considering the findings in light of ongoing policy work in this area.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
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 27 March 2025 to Question 40390 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, whether his Department plans to implement the recommendations of the Sullivan Review of Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender, published on 19 March 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40390 on Data, Statistics and Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, if he will have discussions with his counterparts in Northern Ireland on the potential implications for their policies of the recommendations of the Sullivan Review.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The government has now published the independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous government.
We are considering the findings in light of ongoing policy work in this area.