Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department's workforce strategy will make an assessment of trends in the rates of (a) alcohol related liver disease and (b) non-alcohol related fatty liver disease.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessments will be made in the Long Term Workforce Plan in regards to assessing the trends in rates of alcohol related liver disease and non-alcohol related fatty liver disease.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities publishes liver disease hospital admission and mortality rates for England and all local authorities, updated annually, in the Liver Disease Profiles. The profiles and further details can be accessed at the following link:
https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/liver-disease
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the efficacy of (a) transient elastography and (b) liver function blood tests in supporting the earlier detection of liver disease.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No recent assessment has been made of the efficacy of (a) transient elastography and (b) liver function blood tests in supporting the earlier detection of liver disease.
The Government recognises the importance of earlier detection of liver disease and from April 2022, NHS England introduced a Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme indicator to incentivise testing for cirrhosis or advanced liver fibrosis for alcohol-dependent in-patients in acute and mental health services.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the UK Government is taking steps to support (a) Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya and (b) the opposition movement in Belarus.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya last visited the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on 9 March 2022, where she met the Rt. Hon. James Cleverly, then Minister for Europe. Although there are currently no firm plans in place for a future visit, the UK remains in regular contact with Mrs Tsikanouskaya and other prominent Belarusian civil society figures.
The UK Government continues to urge the Belarusian authorities to end their repression of their own citizens, enter into an inclusive dialogue with the democratic opposition and civil society, and offer the Belarusian people the genuine choice of government that they both want and deserve.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he last met with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya; and when he next intends to do so.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya last visited the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on 9 March 2022, where she met the Rt. Hon. James Cleverly, then Minister for Europe. Although there are currently no firm plans in place for a future visit, the UK remains in regular contact with Mrs Tsikanouskaya and other prominent Belarusian civil society figures.
The UK Government continues to urge the Belarusian authorities to end their repression of their own citizens, enter into an inclusive dialogue with the democratic opposition and civil society, and offer the Belarusian people the genuine choice of government that they both want and deserve.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to meet the Newport Wafer Fab Staff Association.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The decisions of the Secretary of State under the National Security & Investment Act are quasi-judicial. As is required under the NSI Act, the Secretary of State considered all representations made before making the Final Order. It would not be appropriate for the Secretary of State to discuss his decision.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions the Government has had with (a) social media and (b) technology companies to help ensure that their platforms are not being used to disseminate Russian propaganda.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government takes the issue of disinformation seriously. The DCMS-led Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU) works to identify and counter Russian disinformation, working closely with cross Whitehall partners and the major social media platforms. The CDU encourages platforms to swiftly remove disinformation and coordinated inauthentic or manipulated behaviour, as per their Terms of Service and engages regularly with social media companies and technology companies to understand policy changes and other countermeasures related to Russian information activities, and the effectiveness of these actions.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the jobs at the Newport Wafer Fab are protected.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government understands the importance Nexperia Newport Ltd (formerly Newport Wafer Fab) to the local economy and the South Wales semiconductor Cluster and that this will be an uncertain time for employees. Decisions regarding the day-to-day running of the Newport site are a matter for the owners, but officials will work closely with Nexperia BV to implement the Secretary of State’s decision.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will publish the recommendation from the BEIS Investment Security Unit on the Newport Wafer Fab divestment decision.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy takes decisions under the National Security and Investment Act 2021 in a quasi-judicial capacity, based on the facts and evidence. It would not be appropriate to share details of the national security assessment, including advice provided by officials to the Secretary of State in support of his quasi-judicial role.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of reforming the system for sealing criminal records.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The Government agrees with the conclusion of the 2017 Justice Select Committee report, ‘Disclosure of youth criminal records’, which found that, whilst there may be some merits in a mechanism whereby records could become ‘sealed’, this would create “unsustainable pressures” on the body responsible for deciding if a record should be sealed. As the report recommended, we are instead focused on using and reforming the existing automatic filtering system.
In November 2020, we implemented secondary legislation that changed the rules governing criminal records disclosure for those working with children, vulnerable adults or in a position of public trust, removing (for example) the requirement to disclose youth cautions. Further changes introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act significantly reduce the length of time that someone needs to disclose their criminal record for custodial sentences of under four years and community sentences.
We believe that these reforms will continue to ensure we strike the right balance between public protection and ensuring that individuals, and in particular children, who committed minor offences can move on with their lives as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Wayne David (Labour - Caerphilly)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she has had recent discussions with the Trade Remedies Authority on the potential impact that the ending of anti-dumping duties on Chinese aluminium will have on UK manufacturers.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Department for International Trade’s Ministers and officials meet with the Trade Remedies Authority regularly to understand on-going trade remedy cases and related issues, including this one. Ministers consider all recommendations from the Trade Remedies Authority carefully before making a decision, including the assessment of whether it is in the UK’s economic interest to have a trade remedies measure in place.