Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an (a) assessment of the effect on the health and wellbeing of vulnerable women and (b) equalities impact assessment of charging those women for maternity care.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department has recently reviewed the impact of changes introduced by the Amendment Regulations with a particular focus on the extent to which there are any unintended consequences for the most vulnerable. The outcomes of this review will be published in due course.
The Department does not collect data on the number of women who do not access maternity care because of concerns about National Health Service charging policies.
The national guidance is clear that NHS maternity treatment should always be considered as immediately necessary and provided to all patients regardless of whether or not they are entitled to receive it free of charge or there are doubts about whether they could pay if subsequently found to be chargeable under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.
Providers of NHS care need to ensure that they take necessary and appropriate steps to recover the cost of providing treatment to those not entitled to NHS-funded care. National guidance recommends that providers of NHS care should consider employing the services of a debt recovery agency that specialises in the recovery of overseas debt except in relation to persons whom it is clear to the relevant body will be unable to pay.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of women who do not access maternity care because of concerns about NHS charging policies.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
The Department has recently reviewed the impact of changes introduced by the Amendment Regulations with a particular focus on the extent to which there are any unintended consequences for the most vulnerable. The outcomes of this review will be published in due course.
The Department does not collect data on the number of women who do not access maternity care because of concerns about National Health Service charging policies.
The national guidance is clear that NHS maternity treatment should always be considered as immediately necessary and provided to all patients regardless of whether or not they are entitled to receive it free of charge or there are doubts about whether they could pay if subsequently found to be chargeable under the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.
Providers of NHS care need to ensure that they take necessary and appropriate steps to recover the cost of providing treatment to those not entitled to NHS-funded care. National guidance recommends that providers of NHS care should consider employing the services of a debt recovery agency that specialises in the recovery of overseas debt except in relation to persons whom it is clear to the relevant body will be unable to pay.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has made a comparative assessment of the level of customer service provided at post offices operated by (a) the Post Office and (b) WH Smith; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
The Government has no involvement in the day to day running of the Post Office. The Post Office is committed to ensuring all branches across its network offer excellent customer service and has a long history of working with its many franchise partners, including WHSmith to achieve this.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government has (a) sought and (b) obtained guarantees from WH Smith that post office staff will not be (i) made redundant and (ii) moved to roles with (A) poorer working conditions and (B) lower pay after their branches are franchised.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
As an independent organisation, the Government has no in the day to day running of the Post Office. However, the Post Office has been clear in its duty of care for any staff affected. Staff affected have the right to transfer their employment to the franchise partner under protected existing terms and conditions in line with Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) or voluntarily leave with a settlement.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to use money from the public purse for (a) redundancy and (b) compensation payments as a result of the upcoming franchising of post office branches to WHSmith; and what estimate has been made of those payments.
Answered by Kelly Tolhurst
While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. Decisions around franchising and staff employment are both operational matters of commercial judgement for the Post Office.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if the Government will cease supplying arms to Saudi Arabia following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The situation in Saudi Arabia is kept under careful review and licensing decisions are made on a case by case basis.
Export licence applications are carefully assessed against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence would not be granted if to do so was inconsistent with the Criteria. The policy remains as announced to parliament in a Written Ministerial Statement on 25 March 2014:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmhansrd/cm140325/wmstext/140325m0001.htm#14032566000018 and updated with an additional policy, as announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 13 September 2018:
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what proportion of (a) employment support allowance mandatory reconsiderations and (b) personal independence payment mandatory reconsiderations her Department has contacted a claimant's GP or specialist to request medical evidence in the last 12 months; and what guidance his Department provides on when it is appropriate to contact a claimant's GP or specialist.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The information requested is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
The guidance for both benefits tells claimants that when making their claim they should provide the evidence that they already hold and that they should not request additional evidence for which they may need to pay, for example from their GP. If further medical evidence is required this will be requested by the Assessment Provider at no cost to the claimant. At Mandatory Reconsideration the guidance encourages claimants to share any new medical evidence they may have received since their original claim. The instructions in relation to claims and Mandatory Reconsideration are clearly signposted for both benefits.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to accept recommendations made by the Ombudsman's investigation into complaints regarding WASPI.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The process of any Ombudsman investigation is effectively unchanged since their creation by the Labour Government in 1967.
The Ombudsman is currently considering whether to investigate, and if so, the scope of that investigation. Should he decide to investigate, the DWP will co-operate in full with that process.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, if her Department will stop providing funding to migrant detention centres in Libya where people are subject to abuse.
Answered by Alistair Burt
The UK government is not funding migrant detention centres in Libya. They are the responsibility of the Libyan authorities and we regularly raise with them the need to respect the human rights of migrants, to ensure the provision of basic services, and to explore alternatives to detention centres. UK Aid funds basic humanitarian provisions where it is possible to do so in detention centres whilst upholding humanitarian principles.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 15 November 2018 to Question 186941 on Offshore Industry: Oil, and with reference to the October 2018 IPCC report recommendations on the reduction in emissions required by 2030, what his Department's definition is of the time frame medium term.
Answered by Claire Perry
We need to ensure we have a balanced energy mix, so we have a reliable, clean and affordable energy system as we continue to move to a low carbon economy. There will be an ongoing role for some fossil fuels during this transition.
While there is a wide range of possible pathways to meet our emission reduction targets, we expect some fossil fuels to play an important ongoing role in the coming decades when combined with Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage.