Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations to support the implementation of shared decision making set out in the report by AbbVie, Empowering Conversations: Making shared decision making a reality for patients in an evolving NHS, published in March.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the scheduled publication of a shared decision making guideline by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in June 2021, what assessment they have made of the work of (1) NHS England, (2) patient groups and (3) professional bodies, to support shared decision making in health services; and what steps they plance to take to support the implementation of shared decision making across the NHS.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that patients are explicitly consulted about decisions on service (1) changes, and (2) improvements, as part of NHS Restart.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the scheduled publication of a shared decision making guideline by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in June 2021, what assessment they have made of the opportunities for integrated care systems to support patients in having more involvement in decisions about their treatment and care; and what plans they have to publish guidance to support this.
Answered by Lord Bethell
It has not proved possible to respond to this question in the time available before prorogation. Ministers will correspond directly with the Member.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, what plans they have to ensure that there are enough vets in place to create and sign off Export Health Certificates, ahead of the implementation of a new import regime.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
It is the responsibility of the exporting country to ensure they create and sign off Export Health Certificates that confirm the consignment meets our high animal and public health requirements. GB health certificates required for imports from the EU and the rest of the world have all been made available online, simplifying the EU approach to embedding them in legislation.
Defra has provided £14 million in funding to Port Health Authorities to support the recruitment of staff, including Official Veterinarians, that are needed to carry out SPS checks when these goods arrive. This will include checks to ensure the goods have been certified appropriately.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the closure of the EnAble Fund, what support they plan to provide for people with disabilities to stand for elected office.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.
The Government has been clear that the responsibility for supporting disabled candidates sits with political parties and that the EnAble Fund was an interim measure to give parties time to put their own support in place.
Ministers wrote to the main Parties twice in 2019 to ask them how they intend to support their candidates on a long-term basis.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government why the (1) Cornwall Partnership, (2) Dorset County Hospital, (3) Great Western Hospitals, (4) Royal Devon and Exeter, and (5) Torbay and South Devon Healthcare, NHS Foundation Trusts have not been awarded any capital funding for upgrades to their accident and emergency departments to prepare for the winter.
Answered by Lord Bethell
The Government has already confirmed £300 million for 117 trusts to implement accident and emergency (A&E) upgrades ahead of this winter. Options for a small number of A&Es with more complex estate issues continue to be considered and a further announcement will be made shortly.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the willingness of employers to comply with Public Health England guidance in relation to COVID-19; and what plans they have to review the current health and safety inspection regime to ensure that (1) employers are following that guidance, and (2) workplaces are safe.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has seen high levels of compliance with the Government’s Covid-19 advice for employers (https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus) including guidance published by Public Health England and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). For example, since 1st April 2020 there have been 3,129* investigations of workplace concerns where an outcome has been recorded in HSE’s operational database and in only 114 cases (3.6%) has it been necessary to take enforcement action either by formally writing to the employer or by serving an enforcement notice.
HSE has reviewed its health and safety inspection regime and has adopted the following approach to checking employer compliance with guidance to ensure that workplaces are safe:
1) spot checks carried out by contact centre staff, with those assessed as non-compliant or who fail to engage then contacted by operational staff and, if they are still considered non-compliant, a site visit is carried out; and
2) a programme of Covid-19 specific site inspections carried out by health and safety Inspectors.
HSE is providing support to Local Authorities in their role as health and safety co-regulators by delivering a series of targeted webinars and supporting guidance in Covid-19 related topics such as social distancing.
*This information was extracted from HSE’s live operational database on 22nd July 2020 and is subject to change e.g. the administrative process of recording the information in the database can take up to 10 days.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to protect people over the age of 60 who may be made redundant as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; and what steps they are taking to assist those who have been made redundant to return to work.
Answered by Baroness Stedman-Scott
We are providing £1.2bn to enhance work search support service in Great Britain and doubling the number of frontline Work Coaches in Jobcentre Plus before the end of the financial year.
In addition, support for older workers also includes:
The online service Find a Job (www.gov.uk/find-a-job) has many of these jobs and can be used to search and apply.
Asked by: Baroness Jolly (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to strengthen the right of employees to request flexible working, and (2) to ensure that employers prioritise arrangements for staff to work from home rather than in offices, from 1 August.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is clear about the benefits of flexible working for employers and their employees. All employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer have the right to request Flexible Working.
In our manifesto we said that, subject to consultation, we would introduce measures to make flexible working the default.
From 1 August, we are giving employers more discretion to make decisions about how their staff can work safely.
This could mean continuing to work from home or it could mean working in a covid-secure workplace. We encourage employers to discuss this with their employees.
The Government has clearly set out how to make workplaces covid-secure in its Safer Workplaces guidance. As we reopen our economy, it’s right that we give employers more discretion while continuing to ensure employees are kept safe.