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, what steps she is taking to tackle the sale of illegal vapes on the black market.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children, with youth vaping tripling in the last three years, and one-in-five children having now used a vape. Underage sales and illicit vapes are undermining the work the Government is doing to protect our children's health.
To address this, in April 2023, the Government announced a £3 million investment over two years to enhance work on illicit vape enforcement. Led by National Trading Standards, this builds on existing work by local trading standards officers across the country to ensure that vapes sold in the United Kingdom comply with The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016, as well as other relevant legislation that applies to vaping products. Activities include data collection and analysis to understand the scale of illegal products and sales, and market surveillance work. Through this work, they identified that 2.1 million illicit vapes were seized across England by trading standards from 2022 to 2023.
To strengthen our enforcement activity, the Government will also provide an additional £30 million of funding per year for enforcement agencies, including trading standards. This increase in investment will help to stamp out criminal activity by boosting the enforcement of illicit tobacco and vapes.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Penrith and The Border)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to help support Ukraine's agricultural sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK remains committed to supporting Ukrainian agriculture, a key sector of Ukraine’s economy.
The UK’s support includes committing £8 million to President Zelenskyy’s ‘Grain from Ukraine’ initiative, which supports grain production in Ukraine and ensures that Ukrainian grain reaches some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world.
Ukraine’s maritime corridor in the Black Sea, established with UK and other partners’ support, will help enable Ukraine to export its entire harvest this year, if current export volumes are maintained.
Following a request from Ukraine in 2022, the UK has also committed £2.2 million to develop a grain verification scheme, designed to tackle the well-documented appropriation of Ukrainian grain by Russian forces in occupied regions of Ukraine. This will help Ukraine to deter continued Russian theft of grain.
In May 2022, the UK was the first country to liberalise all tariffs and quotas with Ukraine, supporting Ukraine’s economy. This liberalisation will be extended until at least 2029 for most products.
Last year, the UK provided £16 million to help fund the Ukrainian response to the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam, which affected agricultural land, including donating pumping equipment and temporary barriers from the Environment Agency.
The UK was also pleased to host an agricultural roundtable at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 to further facilitate investment in the Ukrainian agricultural sector.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
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 October 2023 to Question 202692 on Autism and Learning Disability: Community Care, what the allocation was to each Integrated Care Board for Community/ CYP key workers.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
NHS England made a funding allocation for learning disability and autism services, otherwise known as community and children and young people keyworker services, totalling £121.7 million in 2023/24. The following table shows the breakdown of this funding allocation by integrated care board (ICB):
ICB | Organisation Region | Funding allocation 2023/24 (£’000) |
Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB | North West | 3,964 |
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICB | North East and Yorkshire | 3,044 |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB | Midlands | 1,618 |
Mid and South Essex ICB | East of England | 2,427 |
Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes ICB | East of England | 1,963 |
Birmingham and Solihull ICB | Midlands | 3,197 |
Cumbria and North East ICB | North East and Yorkshire | 6,929 |
Joined Up Care Derbyshire ICB | Midlands | 2,276 |
Suffolk and North East Essex ICB | East of England | 2,119 |
Devon ICB | South West | 2,584 |
Lincolnshire ICB | Midlands | 1,627 |
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB | Midlands | 2,119 |
Our Healthier South East London ICB | London | 3,954 |
Kent and Medway ICB | South East | 3,862 |
Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB | East of England | 2,969 |
East London Health and Care Partnership ICB | London | 4,356 |
North London Partners In Health and Care ICB | London | 3,287 |
Norfolk and Waveney Health and Care Partnership ICB | East of England | 2,280 |
Staffordshire and Stoke On Trent ICB | Midlands | 2,394 |
Frimley Health and Care ICB | South East | 1,435 |
Sussex Health and Care Partnership ICB | South East | 3,629 |
Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin ICB | Midlands | 1,074 |
Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership ICB | North West | 6,623 |
Humber, Coast and Vale ICB | North East and Yorkshire | 3,618 |
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB | South West | 1,848 |
Northamptonshire ICB | Midlands | 1,545 |
Gloucestershire ICB | South West | 1,267 |
Hampshire and The Isle Of Wight ICB | South East | 3,744 |
North West London Health and Care Partnership ICB | London | 4,924 |
Somerset ICB | South West | 1,242 |
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Health and Care ICB | Midlands | 2,501 |
Cornwall and The Isles Of Scilly Health and Social Care Partnership ICB | South West | 1,304 |
Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB | South East | 3,425 |
The Black Country and West Birmingham ICB | Midlands | 2,691 |
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ICB | East of England | 1,769 |
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire ICB | South West | 2,067 |
Dorset ICB | South West | 1,705 |
South West London Health and Care Partnership ICB | London | 3,031 |
West Yorkshire and Harrogate (Health and Care Partnership) ICB | North East and Yorkshire | 5,232 |
Coventry and Warwickshire ICB | Midlands | 2,011 |
Surrey Heartlands Health and Care Partnership ICB | South East | 2,034 |
Cheshire and Merseyside ICB | North West | 6,003 |
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what systems the Gambling Commission has in place to (a) monitor, (b) close down and (c) take other action against illegal gambling sites.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
As set out in the response to WPQ 2835, the best available estimates suggest the black market accounts for less than 2.5% of bets in this country. The Gambling Commission takes a risk-based approach to the illegal provision of gambling facilities. The 2021 fees uplift increased investment in how the Commission monitors and tackles the black market. It operates on a system of escalating interventions where it identifies unlicensed operators interacting with British customers, from initial cease and desist letters up to more robust disruption. This includes working with internet search and service providers to delist illegal operators and restrict access, working with payment providers and financial institutions to cut illegal operators off from payments, and working with software providers to prevent access to popular products and games.
As we committed to in the white paper, we are also legislating through the Criminal Justice Bill to give stronger powers to the Gambling Commission to take down criminal gambling websites, and plan to reform the Commission's fee structure to give it greater flexibility to respond to emerging risks, such as black market gambling.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Third Special Report of Session 2022/23 of the Sconce, Innovation and Technology Committee Diversity and inclusion in STEM: Government Response to the Committee’s Fifth Report, HC 1427, published on 16 June 2023, what progress her Department has made on a cross-Government action plan to ensure a diverse range of people enter the science and technology workforce by 2030.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Demand for skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is growing across the country. We must ensure that everyone, regardless of where they live or come from, has the opportunity to receive outstanding STEM education and pursue STEM-related careers in critical technology sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI), quantum, engineering biology, future telecoms, and semiconductors.
Participation in STEM skills programmes is also increasing. Since 2010, there has been a 35% increase in the number of STEM A level entries from girls in England: girls made up 44% of all STEM entries at A level in 2022 and 51% of all science entries at A level in 2022. Since 2018, there has been a 30% increase in the number of STEM A level entries from black, Asian and minority ethnic pupils in England: this compares to a 7% increase in overall entries over the same period. The department has also seen the number of STEM apprenticeship starts by women increase year-on-year, with 14,110 starts in the 2021/22 academic year, an increase of 56% compared to 9,020 starts in the 2017/18 academic year.
The department must build on this progress by continuing to expand opportunities for participation in STEM. That is why we are working with departments across government on the Talent and Skills strand of the UK Science & Technology Framework to ensure a diverse range of people enter the science and technology workforce by 2030. Actions contributing to this ambition include:
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) ensure that ethnic minority staff are recruited to work in the youth secure estate in similar proportions to the country as a whole and (b) increase retention of ethnic minority staff in the youth secure estate.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Following the Lammy Review, His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) made a public commitment that 14% of all new recruits will come from ethnic minority backgrounds. As of 30 June 2023, 19.2% of all Youth Custody Service staff who declared their ethnicity were from an ethnic minority background, up from 11.9% in 2010.
We are continuing to work towards increasing the recruitment of ethnic minority staff, so that their representation, including in senior leadership roles, matches that in the working population. Recruitment marketing is tailored to increase diversity in applications, targeting prisons where there is disparity between the Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic workforce population and the regional working population. This enhanced recruitment approach means we are exceeding the past-Lammy Review target in the youth secure estate.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the number of online illegal gambling sites accessible from the UK.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
There are inherent difficulties in accurately estimating the scale of the unlicensed gambling market in this country. We are not aware of any robust estimates for precisely how many unlicensed sites are accessible from the UK, and this is further complicated by the high churn in black market operations.
However, the Government is aware of a number of studies including from the industry which suggests that the black market accounts for less than 2.5% of bets. Data from the Gambling Commission also suggests that the scale of the black market has remained low and stable, with little variation in the number of complaints it has received about illegal gambling websites.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to ensure that Jobcentre Plus districts align with the West Midlands Combined Authority area.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An alignment happens naturally within the working arrangements of the DWP and Local Authorities (LA). At present, the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and DWP align with 6 of the 7 LA’s within the Birmingham and Solihull and Black Country Districts.
Coventry, as part of Mercia District, is the 7th LA. Whilst Mercia takes in the rural parts of the DWP West Midlands geography (Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin), Coventry is very much an integral part of the WMCA’s area and forms an important part of the wider and inclusive partnership working arrangements.
All parts of the WMCA fall within the wider DWP West Midlands Region and the accountability of the same Leadership Team.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the spread of invasive bamboo.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The “bamboo” family is a collection of more than 1500 species, some of which are considered invasive.
The Government is aware that, if left uncontrolled, bamboo can in some cases become challenging to manage. It is advised that a physical barrier is used to prevent the uncontrolled spread of bamboo. Where the growth of bamboo poses an issue, the Government recommends that this is addressed by cooperation between owners and affected parties.
Whilst the Government recognises that many bamboo species are vigorous and fast-growing, they are not currently thought to pose a significant threat to wildlife or to socio-economic interests nationally. Defra utilises horizon scanning exercises to identify potentially invasive species. As a result, a risk assessment of Black Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) was recently undertaken, however this showed the species to be of low risk to the country and therefore no further action was taken.
Although the Government are not currently considering changing the legal status of one, or any, of the species of bamboo currently found in Great Britain, we keep matters such as these under review and continue to carry out horizon scanning and risk assessments for potential threats.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
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 trends in the level of (a) verbal abuse and (b) physical attacks experienced by NHS staff in (i) Coventry, (ii) the West Midlands and (iii) England in each of the last three years; and what steps his Department is taking to protect NHS staff in those areas from such abuse.
Answered by Will Quince
We do not currently have a national mechanism to capture and report incidents of violence and aggression in the National Health Service, as data is held at a local level.
The NHS Staff Survey does ask questions relating to incidences of violence, harassment, and abuse. The 2022 NHS Staff Survey indicated that 14.7% of NHS staff have self-reported that they had experienced at least one incident of physical violence from patients, service users, relatives, or other members of the public in the last 12 months. In addition, 27.8% of NHS staff who completed the survey experience at least one incident of harassment, bullying or abuse in the last 12 months from patients/service users, their relatives, or members of the public. This figure is broadly consistent across previous years. Data extracted from the Staff Survey is provided below for England, Coventry and the West Midlands.
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 13a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced physical violence at work from: Patients / service users, their relatives or other members of the public?):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 14.8% | 14.4% | 14.7% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
|
|
|
|
West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 21.6% | 18.6% | 20.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 9.2% | 9.7% | 11.1% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 8.4% | 6.4% | 7.8% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 16.2% | 14.1% | 14.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 15.0% | 14.3% | 14.5% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 14.8% | 14.2% | 12.7% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 0.0% | 2.7% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 15.2% | 13.6% | 15.0% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 13.4% | 11.9% | 11.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 10.5% | 9.9% | 9.5% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 17.3% | 19.0% | 20.0% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 5.8% | 4.6% | 6.0% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 3.4% | 4.8% | 7.4% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 11.6% | 12.4% | 10.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.0% | 12.9% | 13.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 13.0% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 7.8% | 6.8% | 8.4% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 10.1% | 11.3% | 12.2% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 14.3% | 13.8% | 12.9% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 13.9% | 15.3% | 15.0% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 16.9% | 14.3% | 16.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 12.2% | 14.3% | 14.6% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 36.3% | 37.4% | 35.1% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 12.6% | 13.4% | 12.3% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 13.4% | 14.4% | 11.9% |
The following table shows the extracted data from the Staff Survey for England, Coventry and the West Midlands relating to Question 14a (‘In the last 12 months how many times have you personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from patients/service users, their relatives or other members of the public?’):
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
England | 27.0% | 27.7% | 27.8% |
|
|
|
|
Coventry |
|
|
|
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
|
|
|
|
West Midlands |
|
|
|
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust | 20.0% | 15.5% | 17.3% |
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 22.7% | 23.9% | 25.7% |
Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust | 24.0% | 24.7% | 23.6% |
Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | 27.0% | 26.1% | 26.3% |
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust | 22.9% | 26.0% | 23.8% |
Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust | 26.1% | 25.6% | 24.8% |
Dudley Integrated Health and Care NHS Trust | - | 20.0% | 23.9% |
George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.7% | 28.1% |
Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust | 26.6% | 26.2% | 27.6% |
Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | 23.5% | 21.9% | 21.1% |
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust | 26.5% | 28.6% | 25.7% |
Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 14.9% | 18.0% | 16.4% |
Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | 15.0% | 18.8% | 19.5% |
Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | 26.7% | 25.9% | 25.9% |
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust | 28.7% | 29.6% | 29.8% |
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | 26.2% | 29.5% | 27.6% |
Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust | 19.1% | 19.8% | 21.1% |
South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust | 25.1% | 28.1% | 25.5% |
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust | 25.2% | 25.0% | 26.2% |
University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust | 27.4% | 29.8% | 29.4% |
University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust | 24.6% | 25.8% | 29.4% |
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust | 30.0% | 29.7% | 27.3% |
West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust | 48.2% | 50.6% | 49.0% |
Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | 25.6% | 28.0% | 25.2% |
Wye Valley NHS Trust | 29.1% | 28.3% | 31.0% |
NHS England has commissioned several data insight workstreams to better understand the current landscape of statistics, data reporting and associated challenges. This includes a national review of all available data and intelligence sources and an analysis of the costs of violence to the health care system in England and a review of the impact on the safety and wellbeing of NHS staff.
Tackling violence against NHS staff is largely an employer led issue, with NHS organisations responsible for putting in place their own policies and procedures to support staff, giving them access to appropriate training and making appropriate arrangements for security.
NHS England established a NHS Violence Reduction Programme in 2019, which aims to prevent and reduce violence and aggression from patients, their families and the public, and mitigate the effects of violence and abuse on NHS staff.
In 2022, the Government legislated through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to double the sentence for assaults on emergency workers to a maximum of two years.