Lord Low of Dalston

The postgraduate Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA) has always been available as a single allowance since its introduction in academic year 2000/2001. The maximum amount of DSAs available to postgraduate students starting their course in September 2019 or after has been increased from £10,993 a year to £20,000 a year. The department has no plans to merge the 4 DSAs currently available to undergraduate students.

An invitation to tender will be released shortly by the Student Loans Company, who are responsible for the tendering process. The result of this process will be published in the autumn of this year.

The UK has played a leading role in the development of Education Cannot Wait, a new fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. The fund is designed to address many of the issues identified in the 2015 discussion paper – such as improving the co-ordination and funding of education in crises, and building evidence and data – with the aim of reaching 13.6 children and young people a year living in protracted crises and emergency affected countries by 2021.

The Secretary of State has recently announced a multi-year commitment of £30 million to the fund at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May, as a founding donor to this important initiative.

The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. This includes via UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

As part of our International Development Committee hearing commitments, DFID is in the process of developing a framework for further strengthening disability inclusion across the department. This will set out our clear commitment, approach and actions to strengthening disability in our policy, programme and international work. It will also include an explanation of how we will strengthen departmental capability on disability, how we will influence our partners to do more, and a timeframe for taking forward the activities outlined in our response to the IDC recommendations.

In its response to the IDC recommendations DFID did not commit to report results disaggregated by disability across all sectors of the Department’s work.

DFID is nevertheless committed to improving data on disability. Our priority in this area is to strengthen national governments' ability to collect, analyse and use data in the countries in which we work at a national, regional and local level, and in different sectors. This information will be used to inform national level results frameworks and reporting against future international development goals. To do this, DFID made a new commitment in September 2013 to advocate the use of the Washington Group questions on disability wherever possible in DFID-supported national censuses and household surveys, and to champion their use with other donors.

As the IDC recognises, collecting disaggregated data at the programme level is difficult. DFID will make disaggregated data on age and disability part of our requirements for funding humanitarian proposals. DFID's broader approach is to identify programmes with a specific focus on disability at the design phase, and to monitor this inclusion throughout the programme management cycle.

The Government is committed to supporting disabled people affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work has had discussions with charities, disabled people's organisations and individuals to understand the range of experiences disabled people have had during the COVID-19 pandemic and to identify the support needed as lockdown restrictions are eased.

The Government is ensuring that disabled people continue to have access to accessible communications, updated guidance, including workplace and transport related guidance, as well as access to food, medicines and essential supplies, disability benefits and other financial support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unpaid carers in financial need are able to access the full range of Social Security benefits, which include Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Carer’s Allowance.

The Government continues to support disabled employees to access assistive technology and other forms of support they need to retain, adapt and move into employment through the Access to Work scheme. All equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Cabinet Office Disability Unit continues to work with disability stakeholders and across Government Departments to ensure that the needs of disabled people are considered in the UK Government’s response to COVID-19.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently supporting clinical trials for a number of medicines relating to geographic atrophy, including intravitreal injections. It will review the quality, safety and efficacy of these products should the manufacturers apply for licenses.

All new licensed medicines are subsequently appraised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and guidance issued to the National Health Service. In the absence of NICE’s guidance, local commissioners should consider the available evidence when determining funding for new treatments and the capacity of the local NHS to deliver the service.

Regulated healthcare professionals are required to maintain their clinical knowledge through continued professional learning as part of their registration to practice.

In 2022, NHS England has developed 28 eye care related videos for patients, which include information on age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts. These videos are shared by clinicians with patients, including the elderly and some have been promoted on social media.

NHS England provides online resources for clinicians and commissioners of eye care services through the Future NHS Eye Care Hub. The National Health Service also provides online information on a range of eye care conditions for patients and their carers, including age-related macular degeneration. The Department also participates in National Eye Health Week, to promote the importance of good eye health, the need for regular sight tests and the availability of free NHS sight tests for eligible groups, including those aged 60 years old and over

No such assessment has been made.

Immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) is supported by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, who advise that ISBCS can help reduce patient visits to hospital whilst providing an optimum visual outcome, in appropriately selected and assessed patients.

Clinical commissioning groups are required to consider the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines, which state that bilateral cataract surgery should be considered for routine cases for those who are suitable, in making commissioning decisions.

No such assessment has been made.

Immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) is supported by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, who advise that ISBCS can help reduce patient visits to hospital whilst providing an optimum visual outcome, in appropriately selected and assessed patients.

Clinical commissioning groups are required to consider the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s guidelines, which state that bilateral cataract surgery should be considered for routine cases for those who are suitable, in making commissioning decisions.

Following the National Outpatient Transformation Programme for ophthalmology, NHS England and NHS Improvement conducted a survey into local pricing of bilateral cataracts in late 2020. NHS England and NHS Improvement will utilise the results of this survey to publish local pricing guidance to be used alongside the 2021-22 National Tariff Payment System.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. Military Chaplains are selected and trained primarily because of their ability to show empathy to all Service personnel. They are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith, world philosophy or status and will provide or facilitate spiritual support to personnel and their families as requested. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain for faith/belief/philosophical reasons are encouraged to seek spiritual support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.

The MOD is aware that the Armed Forces of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands employ humanist pastoral carers (or similar). We are working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have recently concluded a review of the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a diverse population, including personnel with a range of beliefs and faith, and those who have no religion. Military Chaplains are selected and trained primarily because of their ability to show empathy to all Service personnel. They are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith, world philosophy or status and will provide or facilitate spiritual support to personnel and their families as requested. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain for faith/belief/philosophical reasons are encouraged to seek spiritual support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.

The MOD is aware that the Armed Forces of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands employ humanist pastoral carers (or similar). We are working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have recently concluded a review of the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.

The Law Commission report published on 19 July 2022 did not consider the question of whether non-religious belief organisations, including Humanists, should be able to conduct legally binding weddings. The report contains 57 recommendations for legislative reform .

We must now take the time to consider the Law Commission’s recommendations fully. As has been set out in Parliament, marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, and we have a duty to consider the implications of any changes to the law in this area very carefully, including balancing the needs and interests of all groups. We will publish a response to the report in due course

Since marriage is a devolved matter, any decisions regarding humanist marriages in Northern Ireland will not impact marriage laws in England and Wales.

The Government announced in June 2019 that the Law Commission will conduct a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent.

The Commission launched its consultation on 3 September 2020 and it closed on 4 January 2021. The law on wedding ceremonies is a complex and important area of the law. The Commission considered it essential to conduct an extensive consultation with the wide range of interested groups and individuals who would be affected by reform.

The Commission expects to report to Government with its recommendations in the second half of this year. The Government will decide on provision for non-religious belief marriage in light of the Law Commission's recommendations.