Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will take steps to review the application of employment law to renewable energy installations within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone for seafarers working out of UK ports.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is currently reviewing the application of employment law to renewable energy installations. We will continue to review the needs of the renewable energy sector and its workforce - and take action when needed - as we progress towards reaching Net Zero by 2050.
The Seafarers Wages Bill, which is currently progressing through Parliament, will mean (when law) that those seafarers who call regularly (at least 120 times a year) at UK ports will be entitled to an equivalent of the National Minimum Wage. This would include those seafarers working on ships to and from offshore renewable platforms.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the newly announced Major Conditions Strategy will contain any new targets relating to cancer.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he will take to prioritise (a) pancreatic cancer and (b) the other less survivable cancers in the Major Conditions Strategy, due to be published later this year.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS Trusts have a formal written policy on (a) digital rectal examination, (b) digital rectal stimulation and (c) the digital removal of faeces for patients with neurogenic bowel dysfunction.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Digital rectal examination, digital rectal stimulation and the digital removal of faeces are all locally commissioned services. As such information on formal written policies owned by individual trusts is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department on the potential merits of allowing disabled people who directly employ their own care workers to sponsor care workers from abroad.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Secretary of State has not had specific discussions with the Home Secretary regarding this issue.
Personal assistants are not eligible for the Health and Care Visa, because Home Office rules require an employing organisation, not a private individual or household, to act as the visa sponsor for any care workers recruited from abroad.
The two departments have an ongoing dialogue about ways to improve the accessibility of the immigration system for the care sector.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people living with a spinal cord injury in England.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that sufficient NHS staff are trained to provide (a) transanal irrigation, (b) digital rectal stimulation and (c) the digital removal of faeces for inpatients in NHS hospitals with neurogenic bowel dysfunction.
Answered by Will Quince
Training for transanal irrigation, digital rectal stimulation and the digital removal of faeces for inpatients in National Health Service hospitals with neurogenic bowel dysfunction is the responsibility of individual NHS employers.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of applications for (a) enhanced capital allowances, (b) Stamp Duty Land Tax relief and (c) employer National Insurance contributions relief that were processed in the tax sites of the Tees Freeport in each month since November 2021 to date.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Since November 2021, under the tax reliefs available at Teesside Freeport, HMRC has not received any claims for enhanced capital allowances and Stamp Duty Land Tax relief. It is normal for there to be a delay in the receipt of enhanced capital allowance claims because claims are made in the corporation tax return within one year from the end of the accounting period for which the claim relates, and there is scope for SDLT freeport claims to be made up to 30 September 2026.
With regards to Employer National Insurance contributions relief, HMRC do not routinely analyse take-up at an individual Freeport level, and so do not have the requested data readily available.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many jobs have been created in each Freeport site in England; and what estimate his Department has made of how many jobs will have been created at each such site by 2024-25.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Information on Freeport Custom Site contractors, a list of legal entities that own each Freeport site can be found using the following link. We will publish an annual report in due course.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, which contractors operate the customs cites in each Freeport in England.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Information on Freeport Custom Site contractors, a list of legal entities that own each Freeport site can be found using the following link. We will publish an annual report in due course.