Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
What steps he is taking in response to the Dunlop Review on relations between the UK Government and the Governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Answered by Chloe Smith
This government is a government for the whole of the United Kingdom.
Yesterday, my Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster updated the House on the significant progress we’ve made in implementing Lord Dunlop's recommendations, alongside a progress update on the intergovernmental relations review and our first IGR transparency report.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether pooled sample testing for covid-19 is being used in (a) the UK and (b) areas of the UK where covid-19 infections are deemed to be recorded as low; and what assessment he has made of the contribution of experiences of pooled sample testing in (i) Uruguay, (ii) Rwanda, (iii) the US, (iv) Germany, (v) South Korea and (vi) India to (A) increasing the understanding of the covid-19 pandemic spread and (B) reducing the number of covid-19 required to help reduce that pandemic spread.
Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
A clinical validation study has commenced at a small number of testing sites, which aims to clinically validate pooling for use on the National Testing Programme. There is also a programme about to begin at Cambridge University that we plan to monitor closely. All individuals are asked in advance if they would like to take part in this clinical validation study with the context and reasoning for the study provided. The test result for the individual is unaffected by the clinical validation study being performed.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what machinery of government is responsible for identifying what constitutes the UK's critical national infrastructure; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Penny Mordaunt
The Government defines the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure as the critical elements of infrastructure (facilities, systems, sites, property, information, people, networks and processes), the loss or compromise of which would result in major detrimental impact on the availability, delivery or integrity of essential services, leading to severe economic or social consequences or loss of life.
The Government has designated 13 sectors as critical to the daily functioning of the UK. Each sector has a lead government department responsible for the resilience and security of their sectors and for designating the critical elements of infrastructure. The elements of the national infrastructure designated as critical are reviewed periodically. The Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) in the Cabinet Office has a coordination and assurance role across all sectors and oversees the Government's infrastructure security and resilience objectives.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which covid-19 Government support schemes are (a) subject to the European Commission’s Temporary Framework for State Aid; (b) subject to the De Minimis Framework for State Aid; and (b) not subject to State Aid rules.
Answered by Paul Scully
Although the UK has left the EU, under the terms of the Withdrawal Agreement, the EU State Aid rules continue to apply in the UK during the Transition Period. The European Commission has introduced some flexibilities into the rules to deal address the impacts of the Coronavirus, in the form of a Temporary Framework, which the UK has taken advantage of.
The UK has two schemes that have been approved by the European Commission under its Temporary Framework: the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), and the COVID-19 Temporary Framework for UK authorities. Information about these schemes is available on DG Competition’s Coronavirus pages. The COVID-19 Temporary Framework for UK authorities allows public authorities to introduce their own aid measures without the necessity of obtaining an individual Commission approval. This provides cover for measures such as the Retail Hospitality and Leisure Grant scheme (RHLGF) and CBILS for large business.
The UK is not required under State Aid rules to maintain a database of De Minimis aid, or of non-aid measures, but has used introduced measures on these bases to support affected business. For example, the Small Business Grant Fund (SBGF), operates on a De Minimis basis, while the Job Retention schemes and business rate reliefs, which are key elements of the Government’s support package, do not involve State Aid at all.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, what the mean salary is of the permanent staff of IPSA.
Answered by Charles Walker
In 2018-19, the mean salary of the permanent staff at IPSA was £38,930.92.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :
To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assurances have been given to the Government of Gibraltar on the (a) withdrawal agreement that the UK is negotiating with the EU and (b) framework for the UK's future relationship with the EU; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris
As the Prime Minister said on Monday 22 October, following discussions with Spain and in close cooperation with the Government of Gibraltar, we have developed a protocol and set of underlying memoranda relating to Gibraltar. As set out in our White Paper, we will be seeking a future relationship for Gibraltar which appropriately reflects the particular characteristics and needs of the area, taking account of Gibraltar’s deep existing relationship with the EU.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many personnel from each financial sector regulator for which he is responsible have been seconded and for what purpose to a financial regulator elsewhere in the EU.
Answered by John Glen
The UK’s financial services regulators operate secondment programmes to financial services firms, regulatory bodies and institutions – including those in the EU and rest of the world - and do so for various reasons.
The number of personnel seconded and the purpose for doing so is a matter for the independent regulators.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what advice his Department is providing to importers on how to make customs declarations on goods arriving from EU member states after 29 March 2018 in the event that such declarations are required.
Answered by Mel Stride - Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
On 23 August, HMRC published Technical Notices on Customs, Excise and VAT procedures that would apply under no deal arrangements and the implications for businesses. HMRC has also written to 145,000 traders over the VAT threshold who currently only trade with the EU to explain the changes and to encourage them to look at the existing rest of world guidance on GOV.UK. We have also published our letter to EU only traders on GOV.UK.
We know that there would be some additional smaller businesses impacted who are not currently registered for VAT. We have engaged with trade and business representative bodies who have greater knowledge and access to these businesses. We plan to communicate through these groups, so that these smaller businesses are told about any implications. We will shortly publish a partnership pack that these representative bodies can use in their own communications.
To support the customs intermediaries sector to expand ahead of March 2019 HM Treasury and HMRC have also designed a package of measures which includes a one-off investment of £8 million to support broker training and increased automation.
HMRC’s communications plans have a phased approach and later in the year they will provide more information on what people can do should they wish to make preparations.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the announcement made by the Chief Executive of NHS England at the International Practitioner Health Summit 2018, if he has plans to extend the Practitioner Health Programme to (a) nurses, (b) midwives, (c) other NHS practitioners and (d) professionals treating NHS patients.
Answered by Steve Barclay
There are no plans to include nurses, midwives, other NHS practitioners or professionals treating National Health Service patients in the roll out of the Practitioner Health Programme, which is a free, confidential service for doctors and dentists who have mental health and/or addiction concerns, or physical health issues that may be affecting their mental health or ability to work. More information on the announcement can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2018/10/nhs-to-prioritise-doctors-mental-health/
NHS Improvement’s health and wellbeing collaborative involves 73 trusts which will identify and roll out 10 high impact actions as part of the NHS commitment to reducing NHS staff sickness absence by 1% by 2020 and to the public services average by 2022.
Both the Framework and NHS Improvement health and wellbeing collaborative embed ‘Thriving at Work’ principles which are aimed at improving workplace mental health.
NHS England has an incentive programme running to 2019 which encourages trusts to invest in innovative new services to support their staff health and wellbeing. To trigger the incentive payments, trusts have to demonstrate a 5% improvement or 75% positive response to two of three NHS Staff Survey questions on health and wellbeing.
Asked by: Bernard Jenkin (Conservative - Harwich and North Essex)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) dentists have died by suicide in each of the last five years; what the average age of such doctors and dentists was when they died; and whether he has plans to create a national service to help health professionals suffering from mental illnesses.
Answered by Steve Barclay
This information is not collected centrally.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does collect some data relating to the number of suicides registered in England and Wales between 2013 – 2017 where the occupation was recorded as medical practitioner or dental practitioner on the death certificate.
This information is contained in the following tables.
Number of deaths1 | ||
Registration year | England | Wales |
2013 | 20 | : |
2014 | 18 | 3 |
2015 | 14 | : |
2016 | 13 | : |
2017 | 18 | : |
Total | 83 | 6 |
Number of suicides in England and Wales for dental practitioners, deaths registered between 2013 and 2017.
Number of deaths2 | ||
Registration year | England | Wales |
2013 | 3 | : |
2014 | 3 | : |
2015 | 3 | : |
2016 | 7 | : |
2017 | 3 | : |
Total | 19 | 3 |
Notes:
1For disclosure control, any cells where the count of deaths is lower than three have been supressed and marked “:” to show this.
2Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each calendar year. Due to the length of time it takes to complete a coroner’s inquest, it can take months or even years for a suicide to be registered. More details can be found in the ‘suicide registrations in the UK’ statistical bulletin at the following link:
Data on the average age of death by each occupation is not recorded by the ONS. Deaths registered in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017, indicate the average age of death by suicide was 45 years for medical practitioners and 49 years for dental practitioners.
Number of suicides in England and Wales for medical practitioners, deaths registered between 2013 and 2017.
Due to small numbers of deaths, ONS are unable to provide the average age of death by year for each occupation. When looking at deaths registered in England and Wales between 2013 and 2017, the average age of death was 45 years for medical practitioners and 49 years for dental practitioners. Data on occupation is restricted to those aged 20 to 64 years, those of working age; this impacts the average age of death, something that should be interpreted with caution. The average age of death does not necessarily reflect the age at which people in these professions are at highest risk of suicide, and is not comparable with statistics produced by the ONS on life expectancy in the general population.
The health and wellbeing of all our National Health Service staff is a top priority and, in July, NHS England published its NHS staff health and wellbeing framework which complements our recent announcement of quicker access to mental health services such as counselling and talking therapies for staff who need them. This will help deliver our manifesto promise to “introduce new services for employees to give them the support they need including quicker access to mental health services”.
This builds on NHS England’s “Commissioning for Quality and Innovation” incentive scheme encouraging employers to invest in services to help staff stay physically and mentally fit and well and NHS Improvement’s ongoing work in collaboration with the NHS to improve staff health and wellbeing and reduce sickness absence.
In 2017, NHS England launched the NHS GP Health service, a nationally-funded confidential service which specialises in supporting general practitioners (GPs) and trainee GPs experiencing mental ill health and which has already helped more than 1,500 GPs.