Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the level of NHS funding for brain tumour research compared to research into other cancers; and if she will provide the quantum of NHS research funding into brain tumours for each of the last five financial years.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1 billion per year into health research, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), whose research spending for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. Funding for the delivery of brain cancer studies in the National Health Service cannot be disaggregated from other studies, but to indicate scale, in 2022/23 the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported 61 brain cancer studies and recruited 4,317 participants to these studies.
Over the past five financial years, the NIHR has spent over £11.3 million in funding for brain cancer research. The following table shows the amount of funding awarded for brain cancer research, from 2018/19 to 2022/23:
Financial Year | Funding amount |
2018/19 | £2.9 million |
2019/20 | £150,000 |
2020/21 | £2.2 million |
2021/22 | £5.3 million |
2022/23 | £750,000 |
Total | £11.3 million |
Note: the amount of funding awarded will differ to actual spend in a given year, as total spending will include that of multi-year awards made in previous years.
The NIHR funds research in response to proposals received from scientists, rather than allocating funding to specific disease areas. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
To increase the quality, diversity, and number of brain cancer research proposals, the NIHR is working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission and the research community, to develop research capacity in the brain cancer community.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with insurers on encouraging car owners to fit car security systems to (a) deter theft and (b) reduce their insurance premiums.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
New cars and light commercial vehicles require systems to prevent unauthorised use, immobilisers and a vehicle alarm system to enable them to be registered.
Department for Transport officials regularly liaise with representatives of the motor insurance industry on a variety of issues such as the cost of insurance. However individual insurers are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of the policies that they offer. The Government does not intervene or seek to control the market.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent comparative assessment his Department has made of the safety of (a) smart and (b) other motorways; and what evidence was used to make that assessment.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government have cancelled plans for new smart motorways, recognising the lack of confidence felt by drivers and cost pressures. This will allow us to track public confidence and consider safety and economic data over a longer period. The most recent comparative assessment is contained in National Highways Smart motorways stocktake Third year progress report, published in December 2023 (www.nationalhighways.co.uk/our-work/smart-motorways-evidence-stocktake/). In terms of deaths or serious injuries, the latest safety data continues to show that overall, all smart motorway types are safer than conventional motorways.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Q338 of the evidence given to the Work and Pensions Committee by the Minister for Pensions on 10 January 2024, HC144, how he plans to use the £12 billion surplus in the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No decisions have been made with regard to the reserves held by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). Operational decisions about the PPF are a matter for the Board of the PPF, who have a key role to play in considering the use of its reserves.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 February 2024 to Question 12888 on Workplace Pensions, for what reason the findings of that work will not be published.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I would refer the Hon. Gentleman to the previous response. It is not convention to disclose policy discussions between Ministers and officials as a matter of course.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent comparative assessment his Department has made of the number and proportion of breakdowns in which there is a (a) collision and (b) death on (i) smart and (ii) other motorways.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Collisions across all motorway types that involve a stopped vehicles account for 3.9% of all collisions on the strategic road network. The causes of such a stopped vehicle can be due to breakdown or various other reasons.
The information sought is not held in the requested format. Breakdown information is not captured by the Department to this level of detail when compared with other road traffic collision data.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of newly warranted officers in the Metropolitan Police Force left within their first two years of service in each of the last five years.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information on the length of service of police officers leaving the police service.
The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of police officer leavers in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales
Information on the number of police officers leaving the Metropolitan Police Service, between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2023, by reason for leaving, can be found in the ‘Leavers Open Data Table’ here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64ba76662059dc000d5d27c0/open-data-table-police-workforce-leavers-260723.ods
Voluntary resignation rates in the Metropolitan Police Service, at around 3%, are low compared to other sectors.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data on the amount spent by local authorities on taxis used to transport children with an education, health and care plan to and from school.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The government does not collect the specific information requested. The legal responsibility for providing free home-to-school travel for eligible pupils sits with local authorities, who will hold any data available on the amount spent on taxis for children with an Education, Health and Care plan.
However, the government does publish local authority expenditure data based on Section 251 outturn returns, which includes total expenditure on home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age where the travel is agreed for reasons of the child’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Local authorities spent a total of £1.25 billion in the 2022/23 financial year on this type of home-to-school travel. The data is available via the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/la-and-school-expenditure.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Annex 2 of the guidance entitled Section 19 and 22 permits and obligations: not for profit passenger transport issued by the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency on 30 December 2020, whether the professional inspection of vehicles over 12 years old every six weeks is (a) advisory or (b) mandatory.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is the responsibility of the permit holder to ensure that any vehicle used under a permit is in a safe and roadworthy condition. The Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness (GTMR): Commercial Goods and Passenger Carrying Vehicles (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-maintaining-roadworthiness), produced by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, reflects that older vehicles will need more frequent maintenance. It provides information to help ensure that a vehicle is fully roadworthy when in use.
The GTMR helps permit holders to identify and implement systems that ensure vehicular roadworthiness requirements are met. It is a mandatory requirement that a vehicle is fully roadworthy whenever it is being used, regardless of age, as referenced in the GTMR.
Asked by: Charles Walker (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of increased culling of wild deer on the capacity of the food processing sector.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working with the British Wild Venison Working Group, and others involved in the venison supply chain, to keep the situation under review to ensure that capacity to process deer carcases and increase supply of venison aligns with an increased effort to manage deer and reduce their impact on food crops, forestry and biodiversity.