Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the £500 million Adult Social Care Discharge Fund she announced on 22 September 2022, which organisations will receive this funding, and what proportion of the funding local authorities will receive.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Department is finalising the details of the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund. Further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the £300 million for supported housing will be made available; and how (a) local authorities and (b) housing providers will be able to access that funding.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The ‘People at the Heart of Care: adult social care reform’ white paper, published on 1 December 2021, announced a £300 million investment in housing over the next three years to connect housing with health and care and increase the stock of new supported housing. We are currently developing this work with local authorities, housing providers and others and further information will be available in due course.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 3 August 2020 to Question 72841 on Tobacco: Marketing and the US Food and Drug Administration's Modified Risk Granted Order reference MR0000192, published on 11 March 2022, if he will (a) make it his policy to commission independent research into heated tobacco products as recommended in the Khan review: making smoking obsolete, published on 9 June 2022 and (b) introduce a new regulatory framework for those products.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The next Vaping in England report, commissioned by the former Public Health England and produced by Kings College London, includes a chapter on heated tobacco products. This will be published in summer 2020.
Plans for future research will be set out in the forthcoming white paper on health disparities and the Tobacco Control Plan, which will be published later this year. There are no current plans to introduce new regulatory framework for these products.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will release Outline Business Case funding to enable Network Rail and Midlands Connect to progress the Coventry-Leicester-Nottingham rail improvement scheme.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Although unable to discuss individual projects at this time, the Government is now focusing our investment on rail infrastructure in the Midlands and the North. This will help deliver on the Government’s ambition to grow and level up the economy and provide equality of opportunity.
We remain committed to publishing the RNEP update, which has been delayed by the need to take account of the impacts of the pandemic and the Spending Review. We want to provide as much clarity and certainty as possible on rail enhancements and will set out our plans shortly.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of reinstating a rail link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham on (a) economic opportunities and (b) levelling up in those areas.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Midlands Connect produced an SOBC in May 2021 for this scheme, which examines the impacts of the proposed scheme on these areas.
We remain committed to publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Programme update, which has been delayed by the need to take account of the impacts of the pandemic and the Spending Review.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021, made on 2 December 2021, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of placement measures on businesses.
Answered by Maggie Throup
The costs to businesses were considered in the Government’s impact assessment for the placement restrictions, published in December 2020. The impact assessment show that the costs for businesses are expected to be £423 million per year, with transition costs for the first year, to implement the placement restrictions expected to be £47 million. While we recognise the costs associated with implementation, the costs of obesity to individuals, society and the National Health Service are considerable and the benefits from reducing calorie intakes across the population are substantial.
Following consultation in 2020, we made a number of exemptions to the placement restrictions to ease the impact on businesses where appropriate. Micro and small businesses are out of scope of the restrictions entirely, with only medium and large businesses with 50 or more employees subject to the restrictions. Stores that are smaller than 185.8 square metres will be exempt from the location restrictions, as well as specialist retailers which sell one type of food product category, such as chocolatiers or confectioners.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of introducing a rail link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham on (a) the ability to build housing, (b) levelling up and (c) recovery from covid-19 in those cities.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Midlands Connect produced an SOBC in May 2021 for this scheme, which examines the impacts of the proposed scheme on these areas.
We remain committed to publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Programme update, which has been delayed by the need to take account of the impacts of the pandemic and the Spending Review.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has had recent discussions with council leaders on the creation of a direct rail link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham.
Answered by Wendy Morton
I met with the CEO of Warwick District Council yesterday to discuss their priorities for rail infrastructure in the region, and welcome their continued efforts to provide informed insight into local transport needs.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential environmental merits of creating a direct rail link between Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Midlands Connect produced an SOBC in May 2021 which provides a high-level summary of the environmental implications of this scheme.
We remain committed to publishing the Rail Network Enhancements Programme update, which has been delayed by the need to take account of the impacts of the pandemic and the Spending Review.
We want to provide as much clarity and certainty as possible on rail enhancements and will set out our plans shortly.
Asked by: Ben Bradley (Conservative - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to include a Coventry, Leicester and Nottingham connectivity project in the forthcoming Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Although unable to discuss individual projects at this time the Government is focusing our investment on rail infrastructure in the Midlands and the North.