Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of masking on adult (a) autism and (b) ADHD assessments.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No such assessment has been made. We expect integrated care boards (ICBs) and National Health Service trusts to have due regard to relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism when commissioning and providing services for people, including assessments. It is the responsibility of ICBs to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, in line with these NICE guidelines.
In April 2023, NHS England published a national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services. This framework aims to help the NHS improve the quality of their autism assessment services and improve the experience for people who are referred to an autism assessment service. It also includes operational guidance, intended to guide strategic decision making about the range of autism assessment services that should be provided in each area. It makes clear that clinicians should offer a comprehensive assessment that includes considerations of different factors that may be relevant for confirming a diagnosis of autism.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether her Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of providing additional support for community energy projects.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government recognises the role community groups play in efforts to minimise climate change and already offers a range of support to community energy projects. This support is outlined in the Net Zero Strategy and Net Zero Growth plan and is in addition to the new £10m Community Energy Fund, which enables both rural and urban communities across England to access grant funding to develop local renewable energy projects for investment. The Government has also recently committed to publishing an annual report on community energy and to consult on the barriers the sector faces when developing projects.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the types of (a) knives and (b) other sharp instruments that have been used in (i) homicides and (ii) other offences involving those instruments in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office Homicide Index holds detailed data on homicides recorded by the police in England and Wales. Information on the type of sharp instrument used in a homicide was added to the collection in April 2022. These data, for the year ending March 2023, are due to be published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February 2024.
The Home Office does not routinely collect information on the types of knives or sharp instruments used in other offences.
The year ending June 2023 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) published by the ONS shows that violent incidents have fallen by 52% since the year ending March 2010.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) homicides and (b) other offences involved the use of a ninja sword in the last three years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office Homicide Index holds detailed data on homicides recorded by the police in England and Wales. Information on the type of sharp instrument used in a homicide was added to the collection in April 2022. These data, for the year ending March 2023, are due to be published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in February 2024.
The Home Office does not routinely collect information on the types of knives or sharp instruments used in other offences.
The year ending June 2023 Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) published by the ONS shows that violent incidents have fallen by 52% since the year ending March 2010.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of when the targeted stakeholder engagement exercise on the proposed offence of cuckooing will conclude.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The exploitation and degradation that is associated with the pernicious practice of cuckooing is wholly unacceptable and this Government is determined to tackle it.
Cuckooing is most commonly associated with the county lines drug distribution model. That’s why, as part of our ambitious 10-year Drugs Strategy, we are investing up to £145m over three years to tackle drugs supply and county lines activity, building on our successful County Lines Programme, launched in November 2019.
In March 2023, as part of the Government’s Anti-Social Behaviour action plan, we announced that we would be engaging with stakeholders on the scope of a potential new criminal offence.
The targeted stakeholder engagement exercise has revealed there are a range of powers and tools available to disrupt cuckooing activity and Home Office officials continue to work closely with police and wider partners to both raise awareness of cuckooing and share effective practice to tackle this abhorrent practice.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department have taken to promote awareness of the survey of (a) Fire Risk Assessors and (b) Responsible Persons to potential participants.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
On 3 July 2023, the Home Office launched two surveys, one for Fire Risk Assessors (FRAs) and one for Responsible Persons (RPs) surveys were launched by Home Office on 3 July 2023. The aim of the FRA survey is to increase our understanding of the FRA sector and inform our work to improve FRA capacity and capability, while the aim of the RP survey was to increase our understanding of RP behaviour when appointing FRAs and to aid our understanding of their awareness of, and experiences in relation to, recent changes in fire safety legislation.
To help promote the surveys and ensure we reach as many FRAs and RPs as possible we have taken the following steps:
Other government Departments (or regulators) were asked to share the surveys with their own relevant contacts.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to promote the interests of older people at the UN high-level meeting on universal health coverage in September.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK is committed to championing universal health coverage (UHC). In the 2019 Political Declaration on UHC, United Nations Member States committed to promote healthy and active ageing and to respond to the needs of ageing populations. We are working with other Member States to retain and build on that commitment at the 2023 UN High-Level Meeting. We continue to work with country partners and global organisations such as the World Health Organization on integrated and equitable approaches to strengthening health systems and achieving universal health coverage that meets the needs of people of all ages.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of impact of plastic waste in the environment on the food chain.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No specific assessment has been made on the impact of plastic waste on the food chain. However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) is monitoring and assessing emerging information concerning microplastics in food and beverages. The Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products, and the Environment concluded in 2021 that, based on current data, "it is not yet possible to perform a complete assessment for the potential risks from exposure to micro and nanoplastics via the oral and inhalation routes”. The FSA considers it is unlikely that the presence of these particles in food or drink would cause harm to consumers, based on current information; however, this will be kept under review as new evidence becomes available.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made a recent estimate of the amount of plastic waste in the UK environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
No recent assessment has been made of the amount of plastic waste in the UK environment.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to reduce the amount of existing plastic waste in the environment.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
One way plastic enters the environment is through littering. Local authorities have a statutory duty to keep their public land clear of litter and refuse.
We have been proud to support and endorse national clean-up initiatives such as the Great British Spring Clean, and the Great British Beach Clean, and we will continue to use our influence to encourage as many people and businesses as possible to participate in these types of events again.
Community Payback also plays a key role in clearing up communities, working in partnership with Local Authorities and the voluntary sector. The Government has pledged to inject up to a further £93 million of additional investment into Community Payback, to ensure criminals sentenced to probation-supervised community sentences across England and Wales complete up to eight million hours of unpaid Community Payback per year. This will involve picking litter, clearing wastelands, and extending offenders’ involvement in Keep Britain Tidy’s projects.
The UK Government is also proud to have supported the proposal by Rwanda and Peru that led to the ambitious resolution to start negotiating an international legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, being agreed at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022. The process to negotiate a new agreement is now underway, and the UK has taken an ambitious stance, including calling for provisions in the instrument to remediate and remove existing plastic pollution from the environment.