Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much revenue the Government has received from the issuing of passports in each of the last four years.
Answered by Seema Kennedy
Income from passport services are published within the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts which are laid in the House every year pre-summer recess. Please see the attached links for previous four financial years.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of health visitors in England in each year since 2010.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The data is not available in the format requested.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of trends in the level of health visitors in England on children's health.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Health visiting is an essential part of broader early years family support. The number of health visitors employed by National Health Service organisations reported through Electronic Staff Records shows reduction, but this is not a complete picture of the workforce as this goes not include social enterprises, private sector organisations or local authorities. It is the responsibility of local authorities to determine how the programme is provided to their communities based upon local needs.
Data on mandated health visitor reviews shows national coverage remains above those achieved in 2015. However, there is variation at a local level. Data is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/health-visitor-service-delivery-metrics-2018-to-2019
Progress against health and wellbeing outcomes for the zero to five years population, and inequalities in these outcomes, is published in Early Years Profiles at the following link:
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2019 to Question 359 on Electronic Government: Proof of Identity, for what reason the Answer did not publish the 46 Government services which were originally intended to be accessible through GOV.UK Verify by March 2018.
Answered by Simon Hart - Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip)
As per PQ 359 not all the services originally considering using GOV.UK Verify completed their digital transformation, or had well-evidenced need for digital identity. It is therefore not appropriate to publish these services, a number of which are no longer in existence. The current government services available through GOV.UK Verify are available on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reasons parents and children of people who have died after being infected by contaminated blood products do not receive on-going financial support.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) currently makes provision for ex gratia one-off payments to eligible spouses, civil partners and long-term partners for individuals meeting qualifying criteria.
The EIBSS also makes provision to help with the costs of bringing up children of an infected beneficiary in the form of an income top-up payment. This is a discretionary monthly payment to increase household income to help with general living costs. These are means-tested payments for dependants who are defined as children of an infected beneficiary up to the age of 18 years, or up to 21 if in full-time education.
In July 2017 the then Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Infected Blood Enquiry. This statutory inquiry chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, will examine why men, women and children in the United Kingdom were given infected blood and/or infected blood products and the impact on their families. The Inquiry will consider the nature and the adequacy of the treatment, care and support (including financial assistance) and the Government will carefully consider any recommendations made.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has allocated to the (a) creation and (b) implementation of the Government Data Strategy.
Answered by Nigel Adams
In June 2018 the Government announced the launch of a National Data Strategy. The team of 13 has been allocated £349,000 for delivery of the strategy and its associated research programme and consultation. There is no budget allocated for the implementation of the strategy. This will be reviewed once the strategy is agreed.
The figures below provide the funding to date.
FY 18/19: £38,000
FY 19/20: £312,000
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England's News release, NHS taskforce to drive improvements in young people’s hospital mental health, learning disability and autism care, published on 10 October 2019, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the proposals in that announcement on people with ADHD.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
The main focus of the Quality Task Force will be on driving improvements in in-patient care for children and young people with both mental health and the range of neuro-developmental disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This recognises that some of the children and young people who require an in-patient admission may have ADHD.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture Media and Sport, what progress the Government has made in it's proposal to reduce the duplication of citizen data across Government as stated in the Government Transformation Strategy 2017-2020.
Answered by Nigel Adams
The GDPR and Data Protection Act came into effect in 2018 and enshrines key principles of purpose limitation and data minimisation in the processing of personal data. Government is currently preparing a statutory code of practice for government departments and public sector organisations to provide guidance on compliance with GDPR.
Additionally, in May this year, the Government Digital Service updated their Digital Service Standards. These standards are publicly available and give users permission to copy, distribute and use technology freely or at a low cost avoiding the need for duplication across government. Furthermore we will publish a National Data Strategy, which will set out how government will improve its approach to the handling and use of data.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answer of 7 October 2019 to Question 292999 on Huawei: 5G, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to telecoms networks arising from the delay of a decision on Huawei's involvement in UK 5G.
Answered by Matt Warman
The Government consulted with industry as part of the Telecoms Supply Chain Review, published in July, which set out proposals for a new framework for telecoms security. The Review also considered the issue of high risk vendors. A decision on this will be made in due course.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to improve electoral accessibility for voters with blindness following the decision of the High Court on 3 May 2019.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government continues to work with the Accessibility of Elections Working Group to make an informed assessment of the most suitable options to take forward. Officials are due to hold a meeting on this topic with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) very soon
Work has been undertaken to revise guidance to electoral administrators and, with input from RNIB, to research technical solutions which will be further discussed at a dedicated sub-group.
We are also starting to bring forward measures following the Government’s response to the 2018 Call for Evidence on Access to Elections. Proposals were announced during the Queen’s Speech. This will include increasing the range of support available to voters with disabilities in polling stations and allowing a wider range of people (such as carers) to assist disabled voters in polling stations if needed.