Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 1 February (HL1933), what progress they have made on reducing variation in breast screening services since 2019.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Breast Screening Programmes were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and some breast screening offices took the decision to pause services temporarily to support the pandemic response. All breast cancer screening services have now recovered from the pandemic, and have no backlog of people waiting to be screened.

Increasing uptake and reducing health inequalities remains paramount as part of the ambitions set out in the NHS Long Term Plan to directly support early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Regional commissioners are working closely with cancer alliances and cancer charities to develop uptake plans which address their specific populations needs.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to promoting awareness of the grounds for reporting appearance-related abuse or harassment as a disability-related hate crime, including on public transport.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We have a robust legislative framework to respond to hate crimes which target disability. We expect the police to fully investigate these appalling offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.

The Government is pleased to see the overall reduction in police-recorded hate crime in the year ending March 2023, including a 1% reduction in disability hate crime compared with the previous year. However, any instance is one too many and we remain absolutely committed to ensuring these appalling offences are stamped out.

We do not have a specific category of “appearance-related abuse” in the current legal framework, however criminal offences can be prosecuted as hate crimes when immediately, before, during or after the offence was committed the offender demonstrated hostility towards the victim based upon the victim’s actual or perceived disability, or where the offence was motivated by such hostility.

Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. We delivered our commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023 and there are now over 149,000 officers in England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak in March 2010 before the Police Uplift Programme.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence, in its work to improve lives and the delivery of public services, will consider the needs of people with facial palsy, as they may lack the full range of facial expressions.

Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The incubator for Artificial Intelligence focuses primarily on early stage piloting of AI based productivity improvements. We do not currently have any work in the pipeline that involves facial recognition, but we recognise the need for government services to be fully inclusive.

All Government Departments are required by our Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services that are available to citizens. Our Roadmap for Digital and Data focuses on enabling the confident and responsible use of AI to improve efficiency and services including accessibility requirements.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the potential for community pharmacists to administer the MMR vaccine.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As part of the national measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) improvement plan, NHS England has worked with regional commissioners to assess the potential for community pharmacy to deliver MMR vaccines, as part of a longer-term approach to improving uptake.

In specific response to the current measles outbreak, some areas have stood up community pharmacy sites on a time-limited basis to deliver the MMR vaccine to specific cohorts, based on local population need. For example, in the North West and the Midlands, National Health Service teams have used community pharmacies to step up their efforts to get more children protected with the MMR vaccine.

Using community pharmacy in this way will help to test the concept of community pharmacy playing a greater role in the delivery of vaccinations, and will support the integrated care boards’ work to develop a more coherent approach to vaccines, including where, when, and how to deliver them to maximise uptake, particularly in underserved populations.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 16 February (HL2398), whether they have increased the maximum funding for medical degree apprentices from £50,000 to £150,000 over the term of the course.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The funding of £150,000 to be provided by NHS England per medical degree apprentice is an increase of the funding of £50,000 for medical degree apprentices announced by Health Education England in January 2023.