Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the level of vacancy is in histopathology departments.
Answered by Stephen Hammond
NHS Improvement publishes vacancy data for three staff groups; doctors, nurses and ‘other staff’. These vacancy statistics are published for England and at the regional level of North, Midlands and East, London and South.
They do not specifically produce vacancy data for histopathology departments or any vacancy data for each National Health Service hospital or trust.
NHS Digital published the latest NHS Improvement vacancy data which can be found in the following link:
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients have received whole genome sequencing through the NHS; and how many of those patients had a type of blood cancer.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many patients he estimates will benefit from whole genome sequencing in (a) 2019 and (b) each of the next five years.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the NHS Genomic Medicine Service will begin performing whole genome sequencing.
Answered by Caroline Dinenage
As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has committed to sequencing 500,000 whole genomes by 2023/24.
During 2019, the NHS will begin to offer whole genome sequencing (WGS) as part of clinical care for:
- Seriously ill children likely to have a rare genetic disorder;
- People with one of 21 rare conditions where current evidence supports early adoption of WGS as a diagnostic test; and
- People with specific types of cancer for which there is likely to be the greatest patient benefit from using WGS – children with cancer, sarcoma and Acute Myeloid Leukaemia.
As the price of whole genome sequencing falls and the evidence improves, we envisage that it will be extended to more conditions and therefore more patients.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing (a) proactive and (b) regular inspections to increase standards in the social housing sector.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the establishment of a new regulator for social housing.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to support rural post office branches.
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.
The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. Thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010 the overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what proportion of housing estate developments built in the last five years have outdoor children's play areas.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Department does not hold the information requested.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons children’s play is not prioritized in the five foundations for building character.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
World-class education is not only about having the highest standards in academic and technical education, it also means ensuring that education builds character and resilience.
We want all children and young people to have opportunities to develop the key character traits of believing that they can achieve, being able to stick with the task in hand, seeing a link between effort today and reward in the future, and being able to bounce back from the knocks that life inevitably brings to all of us. Character must also be grounded in positive values such as kindness, generosity, fairness, tolerance and integrity.
The 5 Foundations for Building Character announced on 7 February by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education are sport, creativity, performing, volunteering and membership, and the world of work. Each of these areas covers a very wide range of activities that children and young people can enjoy doing. In developing key character traits, research suggests that high-quality delivery of the 5 foundations should take a structured approach, occur over a sustained period of time, and be self-directed by the child or young person. Through the support of teachers, coaches or other professionals, children and young people are more likely to receive a higher level of challenge and develop the traits that can help them achieve their goals.
Play can provide benefits to children and young people through physical activity and promotion of wellbeing, but the audit of the availability of out-of-school activities across the country does not currently include playing outside as that activity does not provide the structured and high quality elements that are required in character building activities as proposed in the 5 Foundations for Building Character.
Asked by: Sarah Wollaston (Liberal Democrat - Totnes)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the audit of out of school activities will include playing outside.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
World-class education is not only about having the highest standards in academic and technical education, it also means ensuring that education builds character and resilience.
We want all children and young people to have opportunities to develop the key character traits of believing that they can achieve, being able to stick with the task in hand, seeing a link between effort today and reward in the future, and being able to bounce back from the knocks that life inevitably brings to all of us. Character must also be grounded in positive values such as kindness, generosity, fairness, tolerance and integrity.
The 5 Foundations for Building Character announced on 7 February by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education are sport, creativity, performing, volunteering and membership, and the world of work. Each of these areas covers a very wide range of activities that children and young people can enjoy doing. In developing key character traits, research suggests that high-quality delivery of the 5 foundations should take a structured approach, occur over a sustained period of time, and be self-directed by the child or young person. Through the support of teachers, coaches or other professionals, children and young people are more likely to receive a higher level of challenge and develop the traits that can help them achieve their goals.
Play can provide benefits to children and young people through physical activity and promotion of wellbeing, but the audit of the availability of out-of-school activities across the country does not currently include playing outside as that activity does not provide the structured and high quality elements that are required in character building activities as proposed in the 5 Foundations for Building Character.