Asked by: Darren Jones (Labour - Bristol North West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) ending the penalty charge for early withdrawal from a lifetime ISA.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Lifetime ISA is intended to support younger people saving for their first home or for later life by offering a generous government bonus on up to £4,000 of savings each year. These funds, including the government bonus, can be used to purchase a first home up to the value of £450,000, or can be withdrawn in the case of terminal illness or from age 60.
Any unauthorised withdrawals are subject to a 25% withdrawal charge. This recoups the government bonus, any interest or growth arising from it, and a proportion of the individual’s initial savings to discourage such withdrawals and protect the long-term nature of the account, which is intended to be used for the purposes set out above.
The Government has no current plans to remove or reduce the LISA withdrawal charge. Doing so would not be consistent with the LISA’s purpose as a long-term savings product.
However, the Government keeps all aspects of the savings tax regime under review.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
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 impact of access to 24/7 palliative care telephone advice lines for people with a terminal illness and their carers in terms of wellbeing and reducing distress.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022 and to define how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to 24/7 palliative care telephone advice lines for people with a terminal illness and their carers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022 and to define how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Marie Curie’s report entitled Better End of Life published on of 17 November 2022, which noted more than 780,000 out-of-hours visits to emergency departments by people at the end of life in a single year, what steps his Department is taking to improve access to out-of-hours end of life care for people with a terminal illness.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care for people with a terminal illness, including out of hours. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022 and to define how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will respond to the findings of Marie Curie’s Better End of Life report published in November 2022 entitled Mind the gaps: understanding and improving out-of-hours care for people with advanced illness and their informal carers; and what assessment his Department has made of the impact of access to 24/7 palliative care telephone advice lines for people with a terminal illness and their carers.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022, including how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
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 implications for its policies of the findings of Marie Curie’s Better End of Life report, published in November 2022; and what plans he has to improve access to out-of-hours care for people with a terminal illness and their carers who are struggling to access essential care at home.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022, including how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Marie Curie’s Better End of Life Report of November 2022’s findings, what assessment his Department has made on the availability of (a) pharmacies able to dispense palliative and end of life care medicines throughout the out-of-hours period for people with a terminal illness and (b) district and community nurses able to prescribe palliative medicines during the out-of-hours period.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care medicines. NHS England has included a new criteria in this year’s Pharmacy Quality Scheme which incentivises pharmacies to maintain stock levels of 16 critical palliative and end of life care medicines.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
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 impact of access to 24/7 palliative care telephone advice lines for people with a terminal illness and their carers on reducing (a) distress, (b) emergency department attendances, (c) ambulance use, (d) unplanned hospital admissions and (e) other pressures on the NHS.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. Local commissioners are responsible for ensuring access to palliative and end of life care. NHS England has published statutory guidance to support commissioners with implementation of the Health and Care Act 2022 and to define how services should meet population needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Asked by: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to allow people diagnosed with a terminal illness to access their state pension prior to their pension age if they have accrued sufficient contributions.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
We have no plans to allow early access to State Pension.
For those at the end of their life, the Government’s priority is providing financial support quickly and compassionately. The main way that the Department does this is through special benefit rules, sometimes referred to as “the Special Rules”. These enable people who are nearing the end of their lives to get faster, easier access to certain benefits, without needing to attend a medical assessment, serve waiting periods and in most cases, receive the highest rate of benefit. For many years, the Special Rules have applied to people who have 6 months or less to live and now they are being changed so they apply to people who have 12 months or less to live.
Scotland has the powers under the Scotland Act 2016 to make additional discretionary payments should it wish to do so. Whilst pensions remain a reserved matter, the Scotland Act 2016 has given the Scottish Government the ability to use a wide range of new welfare provisions.
Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether information submitted by a medical professional to his Department regarding claimants with terminal illness can be shared with a third party without the claimant's consent.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Claims made under the Special Rules for End of Life are in most cases supported by a short medical evidence form called the DS1500 or SR1, provided by a relevant clinician.
This information can be provided directly to DWP by the claimant’s clinician. DWP may share medical evidence with its commissioned assessment providers so they can advise whether the claimant meets the ‘Special Rules’ eligibility criteria. The DWP would not share medical evidence outside of these secure channels. A third party acting on behalf of the ‘Special Rules’ claimant may ask the claimant’s clinician if they can receive a copy. For PIP, DLA and AA, any person representing the patient can make a third party claim on their behalf. For UC and ESA, only an appointee or a person who has power of attorney can make a third-party claim on the patient’s behalf.