Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure constituencies with a high prevalence of HIV are provided with adequate (a) healthcare provision, (b) prevention services and (c) support services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to driving progress and achieving our goal of ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Rapid access to, and retention in, HIV treatment and care can support those diagnosed with HIV in living healthy lives and maintaining an undetectable viral load, meaning they cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners.
As demonstrated by our success in meeting the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’s 95-95-95 targets, England does very well on viral suppression and retention in care, with 98% of those diagnosed being on treatment, and 98% of those on treatment having an undetectable viral load. HIV treatment and care remain world class in England, and most beneficial outcomes remain high across all population groups. HIV treatment is available free of charge from open access HIV clinics in the National Health Service, and funded by the Department though our budget allocation to NHS England.
The HIV Action Plan identifies that regional directors of public health will provide system leadership on HIV at a regional level, and local governance arrangements take various forms. It is for regional and local systems to oversee relevant care provision. The Department has not assessed the adequacy of health care provision for those diagnosed with HIV in local or regional areas, including Slough and the South East.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing services, through the public health grant, funded at £3.6 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the service lines that best suit their population. The UK Health Security Agency provides support to regions and local government, including helping areas to understand the local situation in depth and identify where to focus efforts.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of health care provision for those diagnosed with HIV in (a) Slough and (b) the South East.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to driving progress and achieving our goal of ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Rapid access to, and retention in, HIV treatment and care can support those diagnosed with HIV in living healthy lives and maintaining an undetectable viral load, meaning they cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners.
As demonstrated by our success in meeting the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’s 95-95-95 targets, England does very well on viral suppression and retention in care, with 98% of those diagnosed being on treatment, and 98% of those on treatment having an undetectable viral load. HIV treatment and care remain world class in England, and most beneficial outcomes remain high across all population groups. HIV treatment is available free of charge from open access HIV clinics in the National Health Service, and funded by the Department though our budget allocation to NHS England.
The HIV Action Plan identifies that regional directors of public health will provide system leadership on HIV at a regional level, and local governance arrangements take various forms. It is for regional and local systems to oversee relevant care provision. The Department has not assessed the adequacy of health care provision for those diagnosed with HIV in local or regional areas, including Slough and the South East.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing services, through the public health grant, funded at £3.6 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the service lines that best suit their population. The UK Health Security Agency provides support to regions and local government, including helping areas to understand the local situation in depth and identify where to focus efforts.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what discussions he has had on the provision of UK medical and surgical (a) services and (b) personnel in Gaza.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
We are doing all we can to get more aid into Gaza by land, air and sea. A UK Med field hospital, funded by the UK, is up and running in Gaza. This facility is staffed by UK and local medics and is treating over 100 patients a day.
The Prime Minister and Government Ministers have underlined the need for Israel to ensure effective deconfliction in Gaza, and to take all possible measures to ensure the safety of medical personnel and facilities.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that areas with a high prevalence of HIV receive support for delivering pre-existing HIV services.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The HIV Action Plan is the cornerstone of our approach to driving progress and achieving our goal of ending new HIV transmissions, AIDS, and HIV-related deaths within England by 2030. Rapid access to, and retention in, HIV treatment and care can support those diagnosed with HIV in living healthy lives and maintaining an undetectable viral load, meaning they cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners.
As demonstrated by our success in meeting the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’s 95-95-95 targets, England does very well on viral suppression and retention in care, with 98% of those diagnosed being on treatment, and 98% of those on treatment having an undetectable viral load. HIV treatment and care remain world class in England, and most beneficial outcomes remain high across all population groups. HIV treatment is available free of charge from open access HIV clinics in the National Health Service, and funded by the Department though our budget allocation to NHS England.
The HIV Action Plan identifies that regional directors of public health will provide system leadership on HIV at a regional level, and local governance arrangements take various forms. It is for regional and local systems to oversee relevant care provision. The Department has not assessed the adequacy of health care provision for those diagnosed with HIV in local or regional areas, including Slough and the South East.
Local authorities in England are responsible for commissioning open access sexual health services, including HIV prevention and testing services, through the public health grant, funded at £3.6 billion in 2024/25. It is for individual local authorities to decide their spending priorities based on an assessment of local need, and to commission the service lines that best suit their population. The UK Health Security Agency provides support to regions and local government, including helping areas to understand the local situation in depth and identify where to focus efforts.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that most zero-emission buses for use in the UK are built in the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
UK bus manufacturing is an area of strength for the UK, with 80% of buses operating in urban areas produced in the UK.
As part of the application process for the ZEBRA programmes, bidders were asked to highlight any community benefits from their proposals. This included local economic development in the area, the creation and/or retention of jobs and apprenticeships related to the maintenance of zero emission vehicles, including batteries and fuel cells, and supporting infrastructure.
The UK Government has no role in the procurement of buses, this is the responsibility of the LTA and the bus operator. During the procurement process for ZEBs, LTAs and bus operators tend to consider criteria such as value for money and route suitability, rather than geographical origins. Their priority is to procure the right vehicle, for the right location, based on quality and value for money.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Leicester (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Institute for Fiscal Studies report The short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on educational outcomes, published on 9 April, which found that access to a Sure Start centre in early years increased the early identification of a special educational need or disability and reduced the need for an Education, Health and Care Plan in later years, what steps they are taking to incorporate lessons from the Sure Start programme in their (1) Family Hubs policy, and (2) Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department welcomes the latest research from the Institute of Fiscal Studies on the impact of Sure Start. The family hub model builds on what was learned from Sure Start as well as on wider external evidence of the long-term benefits of early intervention. The model includes at its core the Start for Life offer with a prominent focus on babies and young children, encouraging engagement with the very youngest and their parents and including targeted services for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It enables early identification of additional needs through integrated and connected service offers and provides funding for workforce training to better identify and respond to need in a co-ordinated way.
Family hubs bring together services for children of all ages and so respond to the needs of the whole family. The government is investing approximately £300 million across 75 local authorities to embed the family hub approach and enhance Start for Life services across the country for families with children aged 0-19 years, and or up to 25 years for those with SEND. On 10 January 2024, the government announced that every one of the 75 local authorities in the family hubs and Start for Life programme have now opened family hubs, creating a welcoming place where families can be connected to a wide range of services.
The department has developed guidance for participating local authorities. The Programme Guidance includes expectations on the support available to families who have children with SEND, in line with the recommendations in the SEND and alternative provision (AP) green paper. This includes staff in the family hub being knowledgeable about local SEND services and able to connect families to appropriate support – this could include for example SEND-appropriate parenting programmes, peer support for parents, short breaks, support for siblings or specialist health services. The Programme Guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide.
Last year, the department also published its SEND and AP Improvement Plan to outline its plans to ensure children and young people across England get high-quality, early support wherever they live in the country. This includes new national SEND and AP standards which will help families understand what support every child or young person should be receiving from early years through to further education.
The department is also funding training of up to 7,000 early years special educational needs co-ordinators who will learn how to identify and assess SEND and implement effective support so that children get the early support they deserve at the right time.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support local authorities in collecting food waste to send to to anaerobic digestion facilities.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has brought forward up to £295 million in capital funding to roll out weekly food waste collections across England. This will cover the reasonable new burdens costs of additional bins and vehicles. Initial grants have now been issued to local authorities for their transitional capital funding allocation for the 2023/24 financial year (FY). Transitional resource costs will be paid from FY 2024/25. Ongoing resource costs will be paid to all local authorities from 1 April 2026.
We have committed to work with sector specialists the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to develop guidance and good practice on communications and scope additional areas of support for local authorities and other affected stakeholders. WRAP has recently published standard specifications developed with industry to support local authorities in the procurement of vehicles and containers.
Local authority disposal of food waste is also being supported through the construction of new anaerobic digestion (AD) plants facilitated by the Government’s Green Gas Support Scheme, which provides a tariff supporting the price of biomethane injected into the gas grid at AD sites.
Asked by: Michael Fabricant (Conservative - Lichfield)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will take steps to promote independent news networks by ensuring that (a) Government and (b) other public announcements are made by buying space on news websites not owned by newspaper groups (i) in areas where no local printed newspapers are available and (ii) generally.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government runs a number of communications activities, including campaigns, across a range of media channels. For each activity, channels are selected based on whether they will reach the target audience effectively to have the most impact.
Independent news networks can form a key part of this and we consider them wherever necessary.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion and number of universal credit claimants will be subject to the benefit cap following April's benefit uprating and increase in the local housing allowance; and what proportion and number will receive less than the full uprating and increase in Local Housing Allowance because of the cap.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No estimate has been made. The latest figures show that 77,000 households were capped at November 2023. Benefit cap statistics released in September 2024 will show the number of households capped at May 2024.
There are various factors that determine whether a household is exempt or brought into scope of the benefit cap.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of St Albans (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to put in place policies that encourage breastfeeding, including supportive work environments where women are able to breastfeed or express milk.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government’s vision, set out in the policy paper, The Best Start for Life: A Vision for the 1,001 Critical Days, is that every parent and carer has access to high quality infant feeding services in their local area. A copy of the paper is attached.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, we are investing £50 million in infant feeding services, enabling participating local authorities to design and deliver a blended offer of advice and support in line with local needs. The investment is being used to increase the range of advice and specialist support available, helping to ensure all mothers and families can meet their breastfeeding goals. We are also using programme investment to increase the capacity of the National Breastfeeding Helpline so that a greater number of families are able to access this support. In March 2024, we launched a trial of extended helpline opening hours so that support and advice will be available at any time of the day or night, every day of the year.
Regulations are in place that require employers to provide a suitable area for breastfeeding mothers. This must be hygienic and private so they can express milk if they choose to and include somewhere to store their milk.