Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of GP surgeries in England that have sent patients directly for brain imaging through head (a) MRI and (b) CT scans in each of the last five years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England holds data for four years 2018/19 to 2021/22 but only partial data for 2022/23. The following tables shows the number of general practices in England for which patients received Magnetic Resonance Imaging of head or Computed Tomography of head via a general practitioner (GP) direct access.
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
MRI of head | 5,458 | 5,379 | 5,173 | 5,218 |
CT of head | 5,348 | 5,424 | 4,872 | 5,005 |
Source: Diagnostic Imaging Dataset, https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostic-imaging-dataset/.
The Government is not aware of whether local health bodies have data on the number of GP surgeries across England who refer patients directly for brain imaging.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether local health bodies hold data on how many GP surgeries across England have sent patients directly for brain imaging through head (a) MRI and (b) CT scans in each of the last five years.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
NHS England holds data for four years 2018/19 to 2021/22 but only partial data for 2022/23. The following tables shows the number of general practices in England for which patients received Magnetic Resonance Imaging of head or Computed Tomography of head via a general practitioner (GP) direct access.
2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | |
MRI of head | 5,458 | 5,379 | 5,173 | 5,218 |
CT of head | 5,348 | 5,424 | 4,872 | 5,005 |
Source: Diagnostic Imaging Dataset, https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostic-imaging-dataset/.
The Government is not aware of whether local health bodies have data on the number of GP surgeries across England who refer patients directly for brain imaging.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to (a) promote the Great British Insulation Scheme to consumers and (b) ensure that 300,000 homes are insulated each year for the next three years.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is working with obligated energy suppliers to allow consumers to check their eligibility for the Great British Insulation Scheme, and refer themselves to it where appropriate. The Government aims to launch a new GOV.UK service this summer.
The Government estimates that around 300,000 homes will be insulated over the three-year course of the Great British Insulation Scheme. Scheme targets will be set in legislation by summer 2023.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023, what plans she has to bring forward secondary legislation to help ensure the potential benefits to the UK’s plant breeding and seed supply sector.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have already taken action to make field trials of precision bred plants easier in England. Several precision bred trials have already taken place and we have received notifications for more trials commencing this year.
Following the introduction of the Act, our next step is to develop the secondary legislation that will establish a new proportionate regulatory regime for the marketing of precision bred plants and animals, food and feed. This secondary legislation is expected in the next one to two years. Through this legislation we will support our leading scientists and breeders to capture the potential benefits of this technology for a more sustainable and resilient food system.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure the independence of the PAS9980 framework for fire risk assessment in cases where a developer owns or holds a stake in a company that assesses and signs off on remediation work completed by that developer.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
Following a pledge made by major developers last year, 46 developers (as of 18 April 2023) have now signed a contract committing to take responsibility for all necessary work to address life-critical fire-safety defects arising from design and construction of buildings 11 metres and over in height that they developed or refurbished over the last 30 years in England
The developer remediation contract requires that assessments (prior to works being undertaken) and qualifying assessments (to be submitted after works are completed) are carried out by a 'suitably experienced, qualified, independent and competent' fire risk assessor or external wall assessor. The department will have the right to audit those assessments, including (among other things) the right to check whether the assessor meets those criteria. If those assessments or the works themselves fail to meet the requirements set out in the contract, then the developer will be contractually obliged to go back and put things right.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Law Commission’s advice to government on remote driving, when he plans to introduce a regulatory framework for self-driving on roads and other public spaces.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is committed to bringing forward Future of Transport legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions Border Force has had with Trading Standards on tackling the importation of illegal e-cigarette devices.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Building on an already close relationship, Border Force is working with Trading Standards at a number of locations around the UK, agreeing processes and ways of working that help ensure illegal e-cigarettes are prevented from entering the UK.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the charges to be introduced by the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging will apply only to packaging that enters the consumer waste system.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Under Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR), producers will pay for the waste management costs associated with the packaging that they place on the market that ends up in households or street bins managed by local authorities. Charges for the management of this waste will apply to all primary and shipment packaging except where producers can evidence that their packaging has been emptied and discarded by a business. This will ensure producers are thinking about the necessity of any packaging they use and the impact of that packaging once it ends up with the end consumer.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support the manufacture of new zero emissions whole aircraft in the UK.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Government published the Jet Zero Strategy in 2022 setting out an approach to achieving net zero aviation by 2050.
As part of the Jet Zero Strategy Government co-invests in ultra-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technologies through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) Programme. The ATI programme is investing £58m in the development of whole new zero emission aircraft led by Vertical Aerospace, ZeroAvia Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls-Royce and Hybrid Air Vehicles. Industry has co-invested £57m alongside these grants. As all the aircraft are still in the development phase none have yet entered full scale production.
To support further work on zero emission flight the ATI led the £15m FlyZero project. This in-depth research study, which was completed in March 2022, found green liquid hydrogen offers the greatest potential to power future zero-carbon emission aircraft.
Asked by: Ben Everitt (Conservative - Milton Keynes North)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of strengthening copyright provisions to help prevent the work of artists, performers and writers being copied and used on electronic devices without the permission of or remuneration to its creator.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
With a few limited exceptions, it is a copyright infringement to copy and use creative works on electronic devices without the copyright owner’s permission. A range of civil, and in some cases criminal, remedies are available where an infringement has taken place. Many rightsholders take additional measures against infringement by applying technological protection measures to their works.
The Government takes copyright infringement seriously and the Intellectual Property Office supports activities to help copyright owners enforce their rights. These include awareness raising, coordinating industry action, and direct enforcement in conjunction with the police.
We have no current plans to review copyright protection in this area.