Asked by: Adam Afriyie (Conservative - Windsor)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her legislative proposals on vaping on trends in the level of (a) smokers who will quit and (b) ex-smokers who will relapse.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The health advice on vaping is clear, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. However, youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and one in five children have now used a vape.
The Tobacco and Vapes Bill will crack down on youth vaping by providing powers to regulate flavours, displays, and packaging for vapes and nicotine pouches. It will ban free vape samples being given to children, and introduce an age of sale for non-nicotine vapes.
In doing this, we must strike the right balance between reducing the appeal of vapes to children while ensuring vapes remain attractive and available to adult smokers as a quit aid. This will be carefully considered in the development of any specific restrictions, and further consultation will take place before introducing any regulations. As stated in Parliament during the second reading of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we intend to hold the consultation on the regulations before the end of this Parliament, if practicable. We will also undertake an impact assessment to consider the potential impact of these regulations on smokers as well as other groups.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance he provides to local authorities on the provision of suitable accommodation when private landlords fail to tackle damp and mould in residential properties.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Secretary of State wrote to all providers of social housing setting out his expectations that they tackle dangerous damp and mould in their properties. We have now introduced ‘Awaab’s Law’, which will set new requirements for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould.
We have given local authorities strong enforcement powers that they must use if they identify dangerous damp and mould in privately rented homes and, through the Renters (Reform) Bill, are legislating to apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. Guidance for local authorities on how to ensure accommodation for homeless applicants is suitable can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-17-suitability-of-accommodation.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to help ensure people who have to leave a property due to mould and damp are rehoused.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Secretary of State wrote to all providers of social housing setting out his expectations that they tackle dangerous damp and mould in their properties. We have now introduced ‘Awaab’s Law’, which will set new requirements for social landlords to address hazards such as damp and mould.
We have given local authorities strong enforcement powers that they must use if they identify dangerous damp and mould in privately rented homes and, through the Renters (Reform) Bill, are legislating to apply the Decent Homes Standard to the private rented sector for the first time. Guidance for local authorities on how to ensure accommodation for homeless applicants is suitable can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/homelessness-code-of-guidance-for-local-authorities/chapter-17-suitability-of-accommodation.
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 he has made an estimate of the number of timber-frame homes in England that have similar UPVC cladding installed as the properties involved in the Moss Hall Grove fire in Barnet in June 2023.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
We are aware of the action being taken by Barnet Council and continue to engage closely with them on the steps they are taking following the Moss Hall Grove fire in June 2023. Department officials met with Barnet Council representatives on 10 April and will continue to discuss with them.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultations have been carried out each week as part of Pharmacy First since its launch.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
98 percent of pharmacies have signed up to Deliver Pharmacy First and claimed more than 125,000 clinical pathways consultations for February, the first full month following launch. From May, the NHS Business Services Authority will publish monthly data on the number of consultations claimed.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
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 9 April 2024 to Question 19659 on NHS 111: Dental Health, if she will provide breakdown of calls by symptom group by region.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (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: Laurence Robertson (Conservative - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment he has made of the food security situation in East Africa; and what steps his Department is taking to alleviate the problems.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 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: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to increase the scope of the Pharmacy First programme.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Pharmacy First was launched on 31 January 2024, and as the service embeds, we will monitor and evaluate the service, and keep the conditions covered by Pharmacy First under review.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Service Family Accommodation properties were rented out to non-service personnel by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation in each year since 2010.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The number of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) properties rented out to non-service personnel by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation as of the 1 April in each year since 2016 is shown in the table below:
Year | April 2016 | April 2017 | April 2018 | April 2019 | April 2020 | April 2021 | April 2022 | April 2023 | April 2024 |
Total of SFA Sublets | 157 | 282 | 660 | 1272 | 1724 | 1998 | 1931 | 1930 | 2402 |
No information is held prior to Financial Year 2016/17 as the Department only began to sub-let surplus SFA in 2016.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the eligibility criteria for plug-in vehicle grants to private cars.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There are now over a million battery electric cars registered in the UK, and their sales continue to grow. The Government is targeting its incentives where they have the most impact and deliver the greatest value for money. Plug-in Grants will continue until at least financial year 2024/25 for motorcycles, vans, taxis, trucks and wheelchair accessible vehicles.