Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November to Question 1392 on Special Educational Needs: Hertfordshire, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing a Children's Services Commissioner to assist Hertfordshire County Council to deliver their statutory responsibilities to (a) SEND children and (b) their families.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
When an inspection report identifies a local area that has widespread and/or systemic failings, the department’s response follows a tiered intervention model based on a robust assessment of need in that local area. I will consider issuing an improvement notice to the local authority unless there is compelling and strong evidence not to. This is to make sure that they improve their services quickly and effectively.
The department is meeting local leaders in Hertfordshire in early December to scrutinise their plans for rapid improvement and the local area partnership is required to submit a detailed priority action plan to Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission by 19 December 2023. To ensure independent and expert oversight of delivery of this plan, the partnership has appointed Dame Christine Lenehan as the new chair of the partnership’s multi-agency improvement board. The department will monitor progress every three months against the Priority Action Plan and Ofsted will visit after 18 months for formal monitoring. If there is persistent or whole service failure, the department will consider a range of further interventions to bring about fast improvement. These include issuing a statutory direction and appointing a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities commissioner.
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, with reference to the submission by NHS England to NICE of Form ID6262: Nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir for treating COVID-19 (Partial Rapid Review of TA878), what assessment she has made of the potential merits of NHS England’s request for a 12-month delay to access to Paxlovid for some clinically vulnerable patients.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that implementation of the updated National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendations on nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir (Paxlovid) within the standard three-month timescale that applies to NICE’s recommendations would be challenging for the National Health Service. The Department supports NICE’s consultation on NHS England’s proposal to phase rollout to the expanded cohort of patients over a 12-month period. NHS England’s proposal would ensure that the NHS has sufficient time to put in place the capacity necessary to support access to treatment and consider how to ensure the availability of testing in way that provides value for money, whilst continuing to ensure access for patients at highest risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
NICE will carefully consider the comments received in response to the consultation in making its final recommendations.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people who have been made redundant to (a) access training and skills support and (b) find suitable alternative employment in (i) Enfield North constituency, (ii) the London Borough of Enfield and (iii) London.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions stands ready to support anyone affected by redundancy with our Rapid Response Service offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
This service is co-ordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Delivery partners include The National Careers Service, local training providers, Money Helper and the skills bodies in England.
The Rapid Response Service offer is flexible and can include a range of options (see below) that can be pulled together into an appropriate support package. This package will be tailored to meet the needs of the employer, the individuals affected and the local community.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people who have been made redundant to (a) access training and skills support and (b) find suitable alternative employment in (i) Coventry North East constituency, (ii) Coventry, (iii) the West Midlands and (iv) England.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Work and Pensions stands ready to support anyone affected by redundancy with our Rapid Response Service offer. This is a service designed to give support and advice to employers and their employees when faced with redundancy.
This service is co-ordinated nationally by the National Employer and Partnership Team and is managed by Jobcentre Plus. Delivery partners include The National Careers Service, local training providers, Money Helper and the skills bodies in England.
The Rapid Response Service offer is flexible and can include a range of options (see below) that can be pulled together into an appropriate support package. This package will be tailored to meet the needs of the employer, the individuals affected and the local community.
The range of support available from Jobcentre Plus and partners may include:
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's publication entitled UK Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Strategy, published 31 March 2022, whether he has had recent discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the government's response to the consultation on the design of the Rapid Charging Fund.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Rapid Charging Fund (RCF) will future-proof electrical capacity at strategic locations, where it is currently uncommercially viable for industry to do so, to prepare the network for a fully electric car and van fleet. The RCF will not fund chargepoints directly. It will enable the market to deliver by subsidising the uncommercial costs of new or additional electricity connections.
The Government is in the process of developing a pilot for the RCF. The Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) has been engaging closely with stakeholders and colleagues in other Departments for the pilot, which will open for applications in due course. The budget for the pilot will be publicly announced when it opens for applications.
The Government intends to conduct a public consultation for the main RCF. Results from the consultation and learnings from the pilot will help to inform the design of the main fund.
Ahead of the RCF, the Government continues to work with industry on the rollout of chargepoints at motorway service areas (MSAs). 96 per cent of motorway service areas (MSAs) have at least one rapid chargepoint. There are now 260 ultra-rapid (150kw+) chargepoints, and more than 480 open-access (can be used with any electric vehicle) rapid (50kW) and ultra-rapid chargepoints at MSAs altogether.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department plans to take to support people made redundant due to the closure of Wilkos stores in Portsmouth.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We recognise that this must be a worrying time for Wilkos’ employees and their families.
The Insolvency Service’s Redundancy Payments Service, on behalf of the Secretary of State will make statutory redundancy and related payments to all eligible employees who have been made redundant. The Redundancy Payments Service has been working with the administrators to ensure that employee claims can be paid as soon as possible.
Further information for employees and creditors can be found at www.gov.uk/government/news/wilko-in-administration-information-for-employees-and-creditors.
DWP’s Rapid Response Service can help affected employees at both national and local level.
The National Employer and Partnership Team (NEPT) are also speaking to all employers on the national portfolio to identify possible alternative employment opportunities for the Wilko workforce.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to (a) develop and (b) implement a rapid system of evaluating new protective and prophylactic Covid-19 drugs and treatments.
Answered by Will Quince
As we move out of the pandemic response, it is right that existing methods for understanding the clinical and cost-effectiveness of medicines are used to inform routine commissioning arrangements, including for new COVID-19 drugs and treatments.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.
As part of supporting this transition, NICE published final guidance on 29 March that recommends three medicines as options for treating COVID-19 in adults. Because new COVID-19 variants develop over time, NICE is also developing a new review process to update its recommendations on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments, so they can be made available more quickly to patients if they show promise against new variants and are found to be cost-effective. A four-week public consultation on proposals for the new rapid update process was launched on 6 April.
New medicines for COVID-19 that are referred to NICE by the Department will be evaluated through NICE’s technology appraisal process. NICE aims to publish guidance within 90 days of marketing authorisation (licensing) being issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. NICE works with stakeholders to align its appraisal timelines with the regulatory process.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment her Department has made of the findings in the recent report published by Big Brother Watch titled Ministry of Truth: The Secretive Government Units Spying On Your Speech.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. member to the answers given to PQs 148800, 148801, 148802 on 28 February 2023.
The Rapid Response Unit was used to understand the spread of information and potential disinformation, and help inform how the Government communicates effectively with the public.
Online disinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why we brought together expertise from across government to monitor disinformation, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives. They have since been disbanded and the learning and expertise is now being replicated across the wider Government Communications Service.
Asked by: Christopher Chope (Conservative - Christchurch)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reason the Cabinet Office Rapid Response Unit (a) collected and (b) stored personal data on the content of each of the interviews given by the hon Member for Christchurch on (a) 3 November 2020 with LBC, (b) 4 February 2021 with Newsnight, (c) 28 June 2021 with Times Radio, (d) 13 September 2021 with the BBC, (e) 1 December 2021 with The Daily Telegraph and (f) 6 December 2021 with Talk Radio.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I refer the Hon. member to the answers given to PQs 148800, 148801, 148802 on 28 February 2023.
The Rapid Response Unit was used to understand the spread of information and potential disinformation, and help inform how the Government communicates effectively with the public.
Online disinformation is a serious threat to the UK, which is why we brought together expertise from across government to monitor disinformation, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. These units used publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to assess UK disinformation trends and narratives. They have since been disbanded and the learning and expertise is now being replicated across the wider Government Communications Service.
Asked by: Matt Hancock (Independent - West Suffolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the next Pandemic Preparedness Strategy.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The United Kingdom has flexible and well-tested pandemic response capabilities. Learning the lessons from COVID-19, we are working with the Centre for Pandemic Preparedness in the UK Health Security Agency to ensure a flexible and capabilities-based approach to pandemic preparedness which will see emergency planners develop and maintain a generic suite of response capabilities across Government. This will enable an approach that can be flexibly deployed to meet the demands of any future pandemic and provide a whole-system response.
We cannot perfectly predict the characteristics of a new pandemic pathogen and therefore our strategic approach to pandemic preparedness constantly evolves in response to new scientific information, lessons learned from prior pandemics, responses to other infectious disease outbreaks and rigorous exercises to test our response mechanisms.
The Department is making sure that the National Health Service is prepared for future health emergencies. That is why, as announced in the 2022 Autumn Statement, the Government is investing an additional £3.3 billion in each of the next two years to enable rapid action to improve urgent and emergency, elective, and primary care performance to pre-pandemic levels.