Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 availability of genomic testing.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Genomic Test Directory defines which genomic tests must be delivered by the NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs in England, as well as who is eligible for genomic testing. The directory currently covers testing for over 3,200 rare diseases and over 200 cancer clinical indications. NHS England regularly updates the directory, through a robust and evidence-based test evaluation process, to keep pace with scientific and technological advances, and to ensure that genomic testing is available for all patients for whom it would be of clinical benefit. Testing is available for all eligible patients across England.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 implications for her policies of variations in access to genetic and genomic testing for cancer through the NHS Genomics Medicine Service; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce these variations.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The seven NHS Genomic Medicine Service Alliances raise awareness of genomics among healthcare professionals and support delivery of equitable access to genomic testing, clinical genetics, and genomic counselling services. NHS England has also established the NHS Genomics Ethics, Equity and Legal Advisory Group to ensure that the NHS Genomic Medicine Service (NHS GMS) provides equitable access to all patients. The group will identify and review appropriate datasets to inform health inequalities analysis of the NHS GMS, and identify actions to address inequalities.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing British National (Overseas) passport holders to undertake voluntary work as (a) sportspersons and (b) sports coaches.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The restriction on working as a professional sportsperson applies to those holding permission on certain visa routes, including the British National (Overseas) visa. If an individual meets any of the indicators listed in the definition of a professional sportsperson at Paragraph 6 of the Immigration Rules, they are classified as such, and if the restriction on work as a professional sportsperson is present in their visa conditions, they would therefore be breaching the terms of their visa.
However, it is not this Government’s intention to restrict anyone coming to the UK and taking part in sport recreationally. ‘Amateur’ is defined in the Immigration Rules as:
““Amateur” means a person who engages in a sport or creative activity solely for personal enjoyment and who is not seeking to derive a living from the activity.”
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
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 impact of trends in average waiting times for biomarker and genomic testing on waiting times for cancer treatment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has implemented capturing of Patient Level Contract Monitoring data across the National Health Service Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs) to facilitate a national approach to reporting and validating activity data and turnaround times. This will enable NHS England to understand activity volumes, detect any backlogs, and institute recovery. NHS England undertakes a quarterly assurance process with each of the NHS GLHs to monitor improvements in turnaround times to ensure these are being met in every region and for all patients.
NHS England is also undertaking a programme of work alongside clinical experts, including the Medical Royal Colleges, to establish clinically relevant cancer turnaround times across diagnosis, prognosis, treatment determining clinical use cases and optimising cancer pathways to ensure genomic test results are provided in a clinically relevant timeframe.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will take steps to ensure future NHS genomic testing publications include data on access to different cancer tests based on an individual's (a) ethnicity, (b) socioeconomic status and (c) type of cancer test.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service genomic testing activity data, collected from all seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs, is available on the NHS England website. NHS England will continue to publish this data on a quarterly basis. The published data indicates the total volume of genomic testing activity completed per month, broken down into cancer and rare and inherited disease. The cancer data is further separated into nine different categories of cancer. NHS England is looking into separating this further if there are other specific categories of cancer test type which would be of interest. The published data does not currently include data broken down by ethnicity or socioeconomic status, but NHS England’s ambition is to improve and expand future publications of the data, which may include areas relating to health inequalities.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) reducing and (b) eliminating the residency requirement for British National Overseas visa holders to qualify for (i) home fee status and (ii) student finance.
Answered by Robert Halfon
To qualify for student finance in the UK, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK.
Subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders will be able to qualify for student finance once they have acquired settled status, which is usually after five years, and have three years of ordinary residence in the UK.
The government believes that it is right that the support provided by the taxpayer should be targeted at those who have a history of a lawful and substantial residence in the UK.
There are no plans to review BN(O) status holders’ access to student finance.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the documentation provided to British National Overseas passport holders to access mandatory provident fund monies.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The UK firmly opposes the discrimination that British National (Overseas) status holders are facing in applying for early withdrawal of their pension funds held by the Mandatory Provident Fund in Hong Kong. The documentary requirements for accessing the scheme are a matter for the Hong Kong authorities. We have urged them to facilitate the early drawdown of funds as is the case for other Hong Kong residents who move overseas permanently and will continue to do so.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce incidents of Hinduphobia.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Hatred towards Hindus is completely abhorrent and has no place in our communities. The Government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat it. In 2023/24, the Home Office is providing £3.5 million for protecting places of worship, including for Hindu temples.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department provides (a) training and (b) guidance to accommodation providers on how to assess suitability for room sharing between unrelated adults in addition to that which is required by the Asylum Accommodation and Support contracts.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers in our care is of paramount importance to the Home Office. The Asylum Accommodation Support Contract (AASC) Statement of Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. This includes training requirements for provider staff, room sharing guidance and suitability requirements, and guidance on incidents of harassment. Full details of our polices: AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf (parliament.uk).
When considering room sharing facilities, we will ensure that rooms are an appropriate size for the number of occupants and the occupancy in each bedroom shall not exceed that specified in the appropriate space standard, as defined in relevant legislation and/or in local authority licensing requirements, as well as ensuring that we are adhering to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance where applicable. Room sharing with friends is encouraged and the Home Office encourage individuals to speak to their housing officer if they know someone that they would like to share a room with. Every effort will be made for room sharing with a friend or family member, if they are the same gender. All personal circumstances will be considered before deciding if room sharing is suitable.
The Home Office has published the Asylum Support Contracts Safeguarding Framework at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-support-contracts-safeguarding-framework. This framework sets out a joint, overarching approach, as well as the key controls and reporting mechanisms in place, across the AASC contracts, for safeguarding arrangements.
All asylum seekers have access to a 24/7 AIRE (Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility) service provided for the Home Office by Migrant Help where they can raise any concerns regarding accommodation or support services, and they can get information about how to obtain further support.
Asked by: Elliot Colburn (Conservative - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department provides to asylum accommodation providers on how to respond to incidents of harassment in asylum accommodation.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The safety and wellbeing of asylum seekers in our care is of paramount importance to the Home Office. The Asylum Accommodation Support Contract (AASC) Statement of Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect. This includes training requirements for provider staff, room sharing guidance and suitability requirements, and guidance on incidents of harassment. Full details of our polices: AASC_-_Schedule_2_-_Statement_of_Requirements.pdf (parliament.uk).
When considering room sharing facilities, we will ensure that rooms are an appropriate size for the number of occupants and the occupancy in each bedroom shall not exceed that specified in the appropriate space standard, as defined in relevant legislation and/or in local authority licensing requirements, as well as ensuring that we are adhering to UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) guidance where applicable. Room sharing with friends is encouraged and the Home Office encourage individuals to speak to their housing officer if they know someone that they would like to share a room with. Every effort will be made for room sharing with a friend or family member, if they are the same gender. All personal circumstances will be considered before deciding if room sharing is suitable.
The Home Office has published the Asylum Support Contracts Safeguarding Framework at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-support-contracts-safeguarding-framework. This framework sets out a joint, overarching approach, as well as the key controls and reporting mechanisms in place, across the AASC contracts, for safeguarding arrangements.
All asylum seekers have access to a 24/7 AIRE (Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility) service provided for the Home Office by Migrant Help where they can raise any concerns regarding accommodation or support services, and they can get information about how to obtain further support.