Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the costs to motorists arising from potholes.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Local highway authorities including Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire County Councils have a duty under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended) to maintain the highways network in their area. Dealing with any compensation claims due to possible defects, including potholes, on the highway network is entirely the responsibility of the relevant highway authority, and the Department has made no formal assessment of this matter.
The Department is providing over £1 billion of highway maintenance capital grant funding to local authorities in the current financial year. This funding goes to eligible local highway authorities across England, outside of London and the mayoral combined authorities who are in receipt of City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. As a result of the funding increases announced at Budget 2023 and in the Prime Minister’s Network North programme, local highway authorities in England are generally receiving around 30% more highway maintenance funding from the Department for Transport in the current financial year than in the previous financial year. The Network North programme includes an unprecedented increase of £8.3 billion for local highway maintenance over the period up to 2033/34 to help fix the blight of potholes on our local highway networks up and down the country.
Funding allocations for all eligible local authorities are published on gov.uk. Gloucestershire County Council received a total of £29.1 million of highway maintenance capital grant funding, and Oxfordshire County Council a total of £27.2 million, in the 2023/24 financial year. In each case this was an increase of around 30% compared to the 2022/23 financial year. The Department for Transport has asked local highway authorities to publish on their websites by 15 March 2024 plans setting out how the additional Network North highway maintenance funding will be used, and thereafter quarterly reports on how the funding has been spent.
The Department takes the condition of local roads very seriously. Well-planned, proactive, and good quality maintenance works are vital in preventing prevent potholes and other defects from forming. Councils that do this effectively get better value for every pound spent.
To ensure transparency in the condition of our local road networks, road condition statistics are published annually by the Department and are available on gov.uk. The Government is working with the British Standards Institution and the Transport Research Laboratory to develop a new data standard for assessing road condition to help local authorities identify, assess, and deal with road defects, including potholes.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in relation to the social value elements of large procurement contracts by government departments or bodies wholly-owned by His Majesty's Government, to what extent they assess tenders by evaluating (1) the absolute number of social value programmes the successful bidder will undertake, and (2) the impact and effectiveness of the social value programme; and what assessment they have made of the relative impact of each form of evaluation.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether Civil Service processes to measure social value are having a positive impact on the lives of poor communities; and how they ensure that previous processes which were unsuccessful are not repeated.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to measure the success of the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The Social Value Act 2012 was designed to improve procurement practice and diversify suppliers to the government. Implementation is the responsibility of individual public service commissioners. The Social Value Model is the latest government intervention that is enabling the government to evaluate social value policy in the central government.
The Social Value Model launched in January 2021 (PPN 06/20), standardises the assessment of bidder’s proposals for delivering social value outcomes based on government’s priorities. The Model takes into account factors such as the number of local jobs or apprenticeships a contractor will provide, the number of SMEs involved in their wider supply chain and improving community integration.
Implementation of the Model across central government is underpinned by a detailed training programme, and central government departments are now required to report supplier social value commitments against Key Performance Indicators.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government which minister has responsibility for reducing the amount of litter discarded at the side of Britain’s motorways and major roads.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Minister for Environmental Quality and Resilience, Minister Rebecca Pow, is responsible for litter policy across Government. The Department for Transport works closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and collaborates on these issues. The Minister for Roads and Local Transport, Minister Richard Holden, is responsible for the maintenance of motorways and major A-roads in England and holds responsibility for litter along these roadsides.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to clear the litter discarded by the side of motorways and major roads in Britain; and what are the blockages preventing this from being dealt with so far.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Safety is paramount when clearing litter from the Strategic Road Network in England and should only be undertaken by professionals after stringent organisational planning. Litter picking usually requires traffic management and overnight working. Relevant organisations across Government work closely together to improve collaboration between organisations responsible for litter clearance, influence littering behaviour, and improve the operational effectiveness of litter clearance. National Highways staff undertake weekly road inspections along the Network to identify litter, detritus and safety hazards. National Highways arrange for appropriate action as soon as possible in line with the Code of practice on litter and refuse, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This is in addition to ad hoc work taken in response to road users’ reports.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the amount of litter discarded by the side of motorways and major roads in Britain has increased or decreased in the last 12 months.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
National Highways reported that over 2021/22, 60.8% of relevant parts of the Strategic Road Network had no litter, refuse or detritus, or was predominately free of litter, refuse or detritus apart from some small items, per the Code of practice on litter and refuse. This is the most recent data available. Data for 2022/23 will be reported to the Department for Transport and the Office of Rail and Road, and published in annual reports to Parliament, this summer.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to address the reported increase in community pharmacies having to dispense NHS prescriptions at a loss.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
When market prices rise and pharmacies cannot purchase products at or below the Drug Tariff NHS reimbursement price, the Pharmaceutical Service Negotiating Committee (PSNC) can request the Department to reconsider this price. If a new reimbursement price is issued this is known as a concessionary price, which is established using real time data from suppliers to generate prices that are reflective of the overall market.
Furthermore, the Department assesses the overall medicine margin, the difference between the reimbursement price and the price the pharmacy was charged by the supplier, through an annual 'medicine margin survey'. This data is used to calculate the average amount of medicines margin retained during the year. All products that receive a concessionary price are looked at in detail in the margin survey. If underpayment has occurred, it will be made good to pharmacy contractors through margin adjustment.
As part of the ‘Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework 5-year deal: year 4 (2022 to 2023) and year 5 (2023 to 2024)’, which is available in an online-only format, the PSNC and the Department are reviewing the current concessionary price arrangement.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what support they will provide to community pharmacy teams, if any, who are (1) dealing with an increasing number of medicines shortages, and (2) spending increasing hours sourcing medicines to ensure that patients do not go without.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Medicine supply problems can occur for various reasons; for example, due to manufacturing difficulties, regulatory problems, problems with the supply of raw materials, sudden demand spikes or from issues which are related to the distribution of the product.
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
One of the tools we use to support pharmacists to manage supply issues are serious shortage protocols (SSPs), a standard procedure used frequently to manage medicine supply issues. They are a safe and effective way to ensure that medicines continue to be available for everyone who needs them, while saving time for patients, pharmacists and prescribers.
Issuing a SSP allows pharmacists to legally supply a specified alternative medicine, removing the need for the patient to return to the prescriber which saves time in general practitioners practices and inconvenience for patients.
Asked by: Lord Mawson (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address community pharmacists experiencing daily shortages of medicines.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Medicine supply problems can occur for various reasons; for example, due to manufacturing difficulties, regulatory problems, problems with the supply of raw materials, sudden demand spikes or from issues which are related to the distribution of the product.
The Department has well-established procedures to deal with medicine supply issues and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others within the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.
One of the tools we use to support pharmacists to manage supply issues are serious shortage protocols (SSPs), a standard procedure used frequently to manage medicine supply issues. They are a safe and effective way to ensure that medicines continue to be available for everyone who needs them, while saving time for patients, pharmacists and prescribers.
Issuing a SSP allows pharmacists to legally supply a specified alternative medicine, removing the need for the patient to return to the prescriber which saves time in general practitioners practices and inconvenience for patients.