Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
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 25 April 2024 to Question 23057 on Dentistry: Mental Health Services, what her Department's expected timetable is for publishing the findings of its review into its mental health and wellbeing offer.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is in the process of reviewing its mental health and wellbeing offer for National Health Service staff, and has committed to completing this review in 2024/25.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) collecting and (b) publishing data on the number and proportion of police officers taking sick leave who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
Supporting the wellbeing and mental health of our police officers is a priority for this Government. Through the Police Covenant we are delivering meaningful changes that will support all who work in policing.
The Home Office collects data on the number of officers on long-term sickness absence, including any recognised medical condition, physical or psychological, as reported by the officer or a medical practitioner. The reason for long-term sickness is not collected. We recognise the importance of understanding what mental health or wellbeing challenges members of the police workforce may face. That is why we continue to the fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) to conduct the annual National Police Wellbeing Survey, the findings of which directly inform the ongoing development of the Police Covenant.
Asked by: Damien Moore (Conservative - Southport)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help reduce the use of animal testing in scientific research.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On Monday 19th February, I announced that the government will be publishing a plan to accelerate the development, validation, and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science. This summer, this will be led by a cross-government group that will consult stakeholders in industry, academia, and charities.
Asked by: Baroness Redfern (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what the uptake has been of the NHS Pharmacy First programme launched in January.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacy First was launched on 31 January 2024, with 98% of pharmacies having signed up. From the end of May 2024, the NHS Business Service Authority will commence publishing monthly data on the number of clinical consultations claimed for by pharmacy contractors under Pharmacy First.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse was of staff diversity networks in his Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Government has audited the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June.
On 14 May, the Minister without Portfolio made a written statement on the latest findings from the review.
In response to these findings, the Cabinet Office is publishing the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance. This includes an end to all external spending on EDI activity, unless cleared and authorised by Ministers.
Further guidance on diversity staff networks is being developed, and we will seek to publish additional data on historic spending to assist transparency in this area.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the total cost to the public purse was of staff diversity networks in her Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government has audited the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June.
On 14th May the Minister without Portfolio made a written statement on the latest findings from the review.
In response to these findings, the Cabinet Office is publishing the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance. This includes an end to all external spending on EDI activity, unless cleared and authorised by Ministers.
Further guidance on diversity staff networks is being developed, and we will seek to publish additional data on historic spending to assist transparency in this area.
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to improve the speed and efficiency of the Financial Conduct Authority's authorisation process for financial services firms.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is operationally independent from Government, and is responsible for the authorisation processes for financial services firms. It is fully accountable to Parliament and the Treasury for how it discharges its statutory functions.
Both the government and the FCA are committed to ensuring the FCA has world-leading levels of operational effectiveness. The Government wrote to the FCA in December 2022 to highlight the importance of operational effectiveness for UK competitiveness. The FCA started publishing operating service metrics relating to authorisation processing on a quarterly basis in May 2023; these can be accessed on the FCA’s website.
Following the Government’s Call for Proposals last year, the FCA will start publishing additional operating metrics this summer, to support further scrutiny. These metrics will initially be published as part of the FCA’s Annual Report, and the report it is required to make on its implementation of its new secondary objective to facilitate the growth and competitiveness of the UK economy.
Asked by: Stephanie Peacock (Labour - Barnsley East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the impact of gambling-related (a) fraud and (b) other acquisitive crimes on the finances of the victims of those crimes.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office do not make assessments specifically on the impact of gambling-related (a) fraud and (b) other acquisitive crimes on the finances of the victims of those crimes.
The Treasury and Home Office hold joint responsibility for publishing a periodic National Risk Assessment which sets out the money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the UK. This includes an assessment of the Gambling sector. The latest risk assessment was published in 2020 National risk assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing 2020 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Gambling Commission also conduct money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments on the British gambling industry. The latest risk assessment can be found here: The 2023 money laundering and terrorist financing risks within the British gambling industry - National Strategic Assessment 2020 - Executive summary (gamblingcommission.gov.uk)
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost to the public purse was of staff diversity networks in his Department in each of the last five years.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government has audited the cost-effectiveness of all equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) activities, through the review of EDI spending announced last June.
On 14th May the Minister without Portfolio made a written statement on the latest findings from the review. In response to these findings, the Cabinet Office is publishing the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance. This includes an end to all external spending on EDI activity, unless cleared and authorised by Ministers.
Further guidance on diversity staff networks is being developed, and we will seek to publish additional data on historic spending to assist transparency in this area.
Asked by: Mike Amesbury (Labour - Weaver Vale)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of publishing monthly data on the number of independent audits conducted on buildings under the developer self-remediation scheme.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
To date, the department has commissioned 83 independent audits of assessments obtained by developers. The Government is intending to say more on the status of developer remediation in the weeks ahead.
A developer whose Scheme membership has been revoked would become subject to the prohibitions set out in regulations.