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Written Question
Universal Credit
Friday 1st November 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether any research has been conducted on the number of home visits being proactively offered to vulnerable claimants of universal credit.

Answered by Will Quince

The Department are continuously reviewing and improving the services for vulnerable people who need to claim Universal Credit to ensure that it is supportive and responsive to their needs. Where claimants are unable to make or manage their claim on-line, telephone and face to face support is available. Where appropriate, home visits can be arranged for claimants when it is the most appropriate method of providing relevant support.


Written Question
Out of Area Treatment: Wales
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government’s policy is for NHS England receiving patients from Wales for healthcare.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Detailed arrangements for delivering healthcare between the National Health Service in England and the NHS in Wales across the England-Wales border are set out in the new ‘Statement of Values and Principles’ which can be found at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/part-rel/x-border-health/


Written Question
Royal Liverpool Hospital: Genito-urinary Medicine
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what representations he has received on the decision of Liverpool Royal Hospital to reduce treatment for patients located in Wales for urinary tract care; and what steps the Government has taken to mitigate the effect of that decision on patients' health.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Liverpool University Hospital Trust contacted Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in March 2019 to outline its position regarding urology services for residents of North Wales. This position was twofold:

The Trust and the Health Board agreed that new referrals of bladder cancer patients for radical cystectomy would cease from 5 April 2019. This was due to reduced specialist surgical cover following a 12 month period of maternity leave from June 2019. Despite rigorous attempts, the Trust had been unable to provide short term cover in this area of national staff shortage. Whilst the Trust committed to treating all patients referred prior to 5 April, the acceptance of new referrals ended after this date. It was therefore considered that the best course of action for patients was for the Health Board to make alternative arrangements for new referrals.

The Trust informed the health board that it would be enacting Trust policy ensuring that specialist urological cancer surgery was prioritised for patients within its immediate locality.

The attached table contains the number of patients that have been treated from English and Welsh postcode at Liverpool Royal Hospital for urinary tract care in each of the last five years.

The Urinary Tract Outpatient number of patients will give the overall number of patients from Wales receiving treatment or review.


Written Question
Royal Liverpool Hospital: Genito-urinary Medicine
Tuesday 8th October 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients from (a) English and (b) Welsh postcode areas have been treated at Liverpool Royal Hospital for urinary tract care in each of the last five years.

Answered by Caroline Dinenage

Liverpool University Hospital Trust contacted Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in March 2019 to outline its position regarding urology services for residents of North Wales. This position was twofold:

The Trust and the Health Board agreed that new referrals of bladder cancer patients for radical cystectomy would cease from 5 April 2019. This was due to reduced specialist surgical cover following a 12 month period of maternity leave from June 2019. Despite rigorous attempts, the Trust had been unable to provide short term cover in this area of national staff shortage. Whilst the Trust committed to treating all patients referred prior to 5 April, the acceptance of new referrals ended after this date. It was therefore considered that the best course of action for patients was for the Health Board to make alternative arrangements for new referrals.

The Trust informed the health board that it would be enacting Trust policy ensuring that specialist urological cancer surgery was prioritised for patients within its immediate locality.

The attached table contains the number of patients that have been treated from English and Welsh postcode at Liverpool Royal Hospital for urinary tract care in each of the last five years.

The Urinary Tract Outpatient number of patients will give the overall number of patients from Wales receiving treatment or review.


Written Question
Prorogation: Legal Costs
Friday 4th October 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Attorney General, how much was spent by the UK Government in undertaking legal action in the (a) Cherry and others (Respondents) v Advocate General for Scotland (Appellant) (Scotland), (b) R (on the application of Miller) (Appellant) v The Prime Minister (Respondent) in the Supreme Court, (c) case number CO/3385/2019 in the High Court, (d) reclaiming motion by Joanna Cherry QC MP and others against the Advocate General in the Outer Court of Scotland and (e) (First) Joanna Cherry QC MP and others for judicial review in the Outer Court of Scotland cases.

Answered by Michael Ellis

No estimate has been made of the total costs of the prorogation litigation, which only recently concluded. We expect to know the final figures in November.


Written Question
Digital Technology: Urban Areas
Thursday 3rd October 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government what steps he is taking to support the digitalisation of high streets in small towns and villages.

Answered by Jake Berry

High streets are changing and this government is committed to helping communities adapt. The Prime Minister recently announced a £3.6 billion Towns Fund as part of government’s vision to unite and level up cities, towns, coastal and rural areas, including small towns and villages, across our country. This Fund includes £1 billion for the Future High Streets Fund to support transformation on our high streets, and it will support local places to identify investment opportunities to support adaptation of the high street in response to changing technology.

In addition, we are providing support  for local leadership on our high streets and town centres with a High Streets Task Force. This will provide high streets and town centres with expert advice to adapt and thrive to changes in the market, providing support to local areas to develop data-driven strategies and connecting local areas to relevant experts.

Digitisation of high streets also forms a part of judging criteria of the Great British High Street Awards 2019, with one of the four aspects of the judging criteria focusing on digital transformation. High streets have been asked to showcase how they have used innovative new technologies or digital connectivity to transform their high street community.

To support deployment of 5G and further improve mobile coverage, we launched a joint consultation with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 27 August, on proposals to reform the planning regime in England. We are seeking views on the principle of amending or creating new permitted development rights for operators so that communities can benefit from extended coverage.

The Digital Skills Partnership also seeks to improve digital capability across the whole skills spectrum - from the essential skills that help reduce digital exclusion, to the skills workers need in an increasingly digital economy, and through to the advanced skills required for specialist roles. The government is working with Local Enterprise Partnerships and combined authorities to help establish Local Digital Skills Partnerships across the country to tackle local digital skills challenges and build thriving and inclusive local economies.


Written Question
Sentencing: Females
Monday 9th September 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women received an immediate custodial sentence for (a) less than six months and (b) six months or more in each of the four Police Force areas in Wales in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015, (iii) 2016, (iv) 2017 and (v) 2018 in each offence category.

Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport

The Ministry of Justice has published information on the number of adult females sentenced to immediate custody broken down by custodial sentence length, by Police Force Area and by offence group in the Court Outcomes by Police Force area data tool available here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804509/court-outcomes-by-PFA-2018.xlsx

Select ‘All’ in the Court Type filter.

Select ’02: Female’ in the Sex filter and ’03: Adults’ in the Age Group filter.

Select ’15: Immediate Custody’ in the Outcome filter.

In the pivot table, filter Police Force Area to Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales.

In the pivot table field list, drag ‘Offence Group’ from Filters to Rows, beneath ‘Police Force Area’.

Custodial sentence lengths can be selected using the Custodial Sentence Length filter.

Police Force Areas provide breakdowns of where offences were dealt with (not where they were committed).


Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many applications for visitor visas from (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens were (i) granted and (ii) declined in each of the last five years.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Applications for visit visas are considered against Appendix V of the Immigration Rules and on a case by case basis. Detailed information on how UK Visas and Immigration makes decisions on visitor cases is published at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visit-guidance.

Information on total entry clearance visas (the majority of which are visitor visas) broken down by nationality and outcome (grants, refusals, withdrawals, lapsed) is published in the quarterly Immigration Statistics Visas volume 1 table vi_02_q at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019-data-tables.

Please note that the large majority of US nationals coming to the UK as visitors do not require an entry clearance visa, as shown in the Immigration Rules at (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/immigration-rules/immigration-rules-appendix-v-visitor-rules).


Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average waiting time was for a decision on visitor visa application from (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens in each of the last five years.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Information on performance against service standards for UKVI international operations is published in the Migration transparency data, the latest publication of which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-operations-transparency-data-may-2019.

These indicate that the large majority of straightforward non-settlement visas (the large majority of which are visitor visas), 98.7%, are completed within the service standard of 15 working days.


Written Question
Visas
Thursday 18th July 2019

Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what performance targets his Department has put in place for the time taken to make a decision on a visitor visa application form (a) US, (b) Russian, (c) Indian and (d) Chinese citizens.

Answered by Caroline Nokes

Under our published customer service standards we aim to process straightforward non-settlement applications within 15 working days.

The information for the latest quarter available is published online.


Data on entry clearance visa processing times, including the percentage and number of visas that are processed within service standards, is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/migration-transparency-data (then listed by publication date under ‘UK Visas & Immigration’).