Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with (a) UK Biobank and (b) UK Biobank funders on the adequacy of the proportion of UK Biobank participants from BAME backgrounds.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The scientific and ethical impacts of cohort diversity on the generalisability of research findings is part of ongoing conversations on health data, including with UK Biobank. As a funder, the Government routinely engages in discussions about diversity with UK Biobank through the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health and Care Research. The Department is committed to increasing participation of ethnic minority groups in health and social care research, and is working in partnership with diverse communities to ensure they have a stronger voice in shaping priorities for research, the design and delivery of research, inclusive recruitment into studies, and the mobilisation of evidence into practice.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with (a) the National Institute for Health Research and (b) other NHS funding streams on the potential merits of increasing the level of funding made available to the South Asian Biobank to help monitor (i) disease diagnoses and (ii) health outcomes from that project among people from South Asian backgrounds.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The South Asian Biobank, originally funded by the Wellcome Trust, is an international research study designed to prevent the high risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer among South Asian people. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research via a range of programmes, with eligibility criteria to support applicants to decide where to apply. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. The NIHR has provided funding for research projects associated with the South Asian Biobank through open competition, and welcomes any future applications. In addition, the NIHR provides funding to NIHR research infrastructure through open competition. The NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the Clinical Research Network have provided support for the South Asian Biobank.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
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 merits of increasing the level of funding allocated to the South Asian Biobank.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The South Asian Biobank, originally funded by the Wellcome Trust, is an international research study designed to prevent the high risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer among South Asian people. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research via a range of programmes, with eligibility criteria to support applicants to decide where to apply. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality. The NIHR has provided funding for research projects associated with the South Asian Biobank through open competition, and welcomes any future applications. In addition, the NIHR provides funding to NIHR research infrastructure through open competition. The NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre and the Clinical Research Network have provided support for the South Asian Biobank.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to fulfil the requirements of the National Resilience Framework, last updated on 4 December 2023.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Strengthening national resilience is a key priority for the Government.
The Deputy Prime Minister delivered the first Annual Statement to Parliament on risk and resilience in December 2023. Since then, in February he has convened the UK Resilience Forum to garner insight from key stakeholders from across the resilience system and drive a whole of society approach. He will do so again in July.
The Government has already taken significant steps to implement the Resilience Framework, including publishing the most transparent ever National Risk Register, an updated list of Lead Government Departments for the risks it sets out and testing Emergency Alerts.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what funding is available for resilience support in case of emergencies for (a) local authorities, (b) Walsall Council and (c) the Black Country Integrated Care Board.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As part of broad civil contingencies duties, all local authorities are expected to assess the risks of emergencies and have plans in place to respond to a range of scenarios.
In extreme emergency circumstances, discretionary funding may be made available where the expenditure of local authorities is more than could be reasonably expected to cover, such as severe weather events.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much revenue the health surcharge for migrants generated in each year from 2018 to 2022 inclusive.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Immigration Health Surcharge (IHS) income data is published annually in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts.
Please note that the IHS figure is made up of both Retained Income and Consolidated Funds. The IHS amounts for financial years from 2018 to 2022 inclusive are as follows:
- 2017/18: £240,483,000
- 2018/19: £297,927,000
- 2019/20: £597,677,000
- 2020/21: £480,822,000
- 2021/22: £1,423,284,000
- 2022/23: £1,706,112,000
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum applications and (b) other applications for leave to remain were awaiting a decision as of 1 January 2024.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office publishes data on immigration applications in the following releases:
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4137 on Child Trust Fund: Walsall South, what assessment he has made of the reasons for which Child Trust Funds have not been claimed.
Answered by Bim Afolami - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
There could be several reasons why matured Child Trust Fund (CTF) accounts have not been accessed by those who are entitled to the funds. The National Audit Office in its report titled Investigation into Child Trust Funds published in March 2023 (www.nao.org.uk/reports/investigation-into-child-trust-funds/) considers some of these.
Primary responsibility for communicating with account holders and their registered contact (usually a parent) lies with the CTF account providers. The government is committed to helping people identify and access the savings they are entitled to and continues to explore new routes to reunite young people with their matured CTFs.
HMRC actively engages with the industry, other government departments, organisations such as the Money and Pensions Service, and youth focused charities to raise awareness of CTFs amongst young people. HMRC also issues a range of communications and provides resources for key intermediaries such as the University and Colleges Admissions Service, who have greater influence and visibility amongst the CTF audience.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when he last met his French counterpart to discuss the matter of illegal migration to the UK by boats crossing the English Channel.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Secretary spoke to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin on 21 December and during this conversation they discussed the ongoing joint efforts by the UK and French governments to stop small boat crossings of the English Channel.
The Home Secretary and Minister Darmanin have agreed to meet in the coming weeks to continue this discussion. Officials from across the Home Office engage regularly with French counterparts to continue to monitor our progress in stopping small boats, and our close cooperation with France led to a 36% reduction in small boat arrivals last year.
Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many cases were waiting for a hearing date in the first tier immigration tribunal as of 1 December 2023.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The number of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) that are waiting for a hearing date, as at 30 September 2023, is 24,085.
The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on a quarterly basis. The latest set of data available covers the period up to 30 September 2023. Data provided in answer to this question is a sub-set of the published caseload data.
Published statistics can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tribunals-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023.