Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
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 implementation of the suicide prevention strategy will take into account the needs of people with bipolar.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The new suicide prevention strategy for England is a five-year strategy which sets out the Government’s ambition for suicide prevention. It is a multi-sector and cross-government suicide strategy, with actions from a wide range of organisations that will be delivered over the next few years. The Department has established a £10 million Suicide Prevention Grant Fund to run from 2023 to March 2025 to support voluntary, community or social enterprise organisations, including those who support people with bipolar, to deliver suicide prevention activity.
The Department, alongside NHS England, intends to explore opportunities to improve the quality of care for patients with mental health diagnoses and ensure compliance with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines. This includes patients diagnosed with affective disorders, including depression and bipolar, who accounted for 42% of all patient suicides in England between 2010 and 2020.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Civil Service cost of living payments to civil servants that retired in the financial year 2022-2023.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I refer the Honourable Member for Salford and Eccles to the answer I gave on 25th October in response to PQ203635.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to ensure responsible procurement by National Highways for the Lower Thames Crossing.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
National Highways is procuring the Lower Thames Crossing, including the contract for the road tunnels and approaches, in accordance with UK procurement rules. This includes wider international obligations on government procurements.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on implementing the reforms in the Regulation of Property Agents: Working Group Report published 18 July 2019.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Government is considering the recommendations in the final report on the regulation of property agents from Lord Best's working group. We will continue to work with industry on improving best practice. Announcements will be set out in the usual way.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 22 July 2021 to Question 33338, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing alternative forms of council taxation.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Local Government Finance Settlement determines annually the amount by which local authorities can raise their council tax without a referendum. The Department undertakes a Public Sector Equalities Duty assessment to accompany each settlement. To ensure greater fairness in the system, the council tax system is mitigated by a range of reliefs and exemptions. Decisions on the level of council tax are a matter for individual local authorities.
There are no current plans to change the system, or to undertake a revaluation of domestic properties.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has undertaken an Equality Impact Assessment on the potential impact of council taxation on different households across England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Local Government Finance Settlement determines annually the amount by which local authorities can raise their council tax without a referendum. The Department undertakes a Public Sector Equalities Duty assessment to accompany each settlement. To ensure greater fairness in the system, the council tax system is mitigated by a range of reliefs and exemptions. Decisions on the level of council tax are a matter for individual local authorities.
There are no current plans to change the system, or to undertake a revaluation of domestic properties.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of updating the valuations upon which Council Tax bands are set.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Local Government Finance Settlement determines annually the amount by which local authorities can raise their council tax without a referendum. The Department undertakes a Public Sector Equalities Duty assessment to accompany each settlement. To ensure greater fairness in the system, the council tax system is mitigated by a range of reliefs and exemptions. Decisions on the level of council tax are a matter for individual local authorities.
There are no current plans to change the system, or to undertake a revaluation of domestic properties.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the impact of council tax on households with high and low (a) incomes and (b) value properties.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
The Local Government Finance Settlement determines annually the amount by which local authorities can raise their council tax without a referendum. The Department undertakes a Public Sector Equalities Duty assessment to accompany each settlement. To ensure greater fairness in the system, the council tax system is mitigated by a range of reliefs and exemptions. Decisions on the level of council tax are a matter for individual local authorities.
There are no current plans to change the system, or to undertake a revaluation of domestic properties.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to make financial support available for patients with (a) avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and (b) other eating disorders to help with the cost of living.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
We have no plans to do so. Information on the support available to help with the cost of living is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/cost-of-living
We have increased investment in children and young people's community eating disorder services every year, with this funding growing by £54 million in 2023/24. Over the five years from 2019/20, we will have also invested an extra £1 billion in community mental health care for adults with severe mental illness, including eating disorders, giving 370,000 more adults greater choice and control over their care and supporting them to live well in their communities.
Asked by: Rebecca Long Bailey (Labour - Salford and Eccles)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether people who are (a) usually eligible for (i) Universal Credit and (ii) other benefits and (b) have received a nil award for those benefits in the qualifying period because they have received non-consolidated additional backpay from the NHS for the year 2022-23 will receive all the cost of living payments they would otherwise be entitled to in 2023-24.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Employees who receive arrears of earnings and/or lump sum payments in one month, could have their Universal Credit award reduced to zero in the same month (known as a ‘nil award’). Claimants who receive a ‘nil award’ in the qualifying period will not have an entitlement to a Cost of Living Payment.
We are unable to distinguish whether an increase to a claimant’s earnings is temporary or permanent.
However, we are delivering the Cost of Living Payment in three separate payments over 2023/24 to reduce the chance of someone missing out altogether. Those who do not qualify for an instalment of the Cost of Living Payment may qualify for another Payment.