Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he plans to extend (a) member and (b) trade union representation to the Board of the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
There is no legal requirement for the Board of the Pension Protection Fund to include member or trade union representation, and there are no plans to extend representation to these groups.
The Pension Protection Fund does, however, have Member Panels – which Board members are invited to attend – to enable members to feed in views on the service offered and thoughts about changes that could be made in the future.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to ban party political adverts from video streaming services.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
Political advertising is a fundamental part of any democratic system and is an established way for political parties and campaigners to connect with the public and have their message heard.
The ban on paid political advertising on television and radio (introduced in the Communications Act 2003) continues to be supported across the political spectrum as it levels the playing field in political campaigning.
The Government remains committed to protecting the integrity of our democracy and continues to keep campaigning rules under close review to ensure that digital campaigning remains transparent and fair.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington 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 he plans to take to help ensure that Thames Water continues to (a) operate, (b) provide services and (c) keep bills low for customers.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Customers will not experience any change or disruption to their water supply or wastewater services as a consequence of the financial position of their water company. There are long standing processes in place whereby the regulator must approve individual companies’ investment plans to ensure they deliver on their requirements in an efficient way.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether people registered as a proxy voter for someone who resides permanently abroad are eligible for single person discount on their council tax.
Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The legislation does not provide for proxy voting status to be taken into account when determining whether a single person discount should be applied to a council tax bill. The 25% single person discount applies where there is only one liable adult living in a property. Individual councils are responsible for determining whether the discount should be applied to a bill.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of naloxone kits issued (a) within custodial settings in and (b) on release from HM Prisons in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many opioid overdoses in custodial settings have (a) been successfully reversed and (b) resulted in fatalities in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times naloxone has been administered in custodial settings in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Naloxone kits have been issued and maintained by individual healthcare providers across the prison estate and have not been supplied by the Ministry of Justice over the time specified in the question.
From January 2024, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is coordinating roll-out of Naloxone training on a voluntary basis to prison staff. We will collate data on the use of Naloxone by HMPPS staff as roll-out and usage progresses.
The information requested for opioid overdose reversals is not held centrally. In relation to fatalities, ONS data on drug-related deaths includes the number in which opiates are mentioned on the death certificate (which differs from the number of overdoses) – table 7 in this publication Drug-related deaths and suicide in prison custody - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). However, this only covers up to 2019, as it uses data from Coroner’s reports on which there is a considerable time lag. Furthermore, depending on the circumstances, an opioid overdose could be classed as a self-inflicted death or an ‘other: non-natural' death. Therefore, without checking the individual cases, it is not possible to obtain an accurate figure from the wider data, on fatalities.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an estimate of potential trends in the level of inward investment due to British companies re-shoring their manufacturing in the next 12 months.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The UK maintains its strong position on attracting greenfield FDI, leading in Europe and third only to the US and China globally. EY’s 2023 FDI survey reported 65% of respondents planning to invest in the UK in the following 12 months, a record high.
A specific assessment around re-shoring cannot be made. The available data concerning inward investment does not distinguish reshoring from other forms of domestic investment.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Passport Office has taken to make travellers aware of the need to renew their passport if they intend to travel 10 years following the issue date.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Foreign travel advice, including passport validity and other entry requirements, is delivered by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
His Majesty’s Passport Office promote this advice through social media, and by sending targeted text message (SMS) reminders where a passport is over 9 years and 8 months, and the contact details are held from the related passport application. These text messages specifically reference the passport validity rules for travel to Europe.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions her Department has had with NHS England and Barts Health NHS Trust on the ongoing dispute.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Department officials have held discussions with NHS England regarding the strike action held at Barts Health NHS Trust. However, this is a local dispute that should be managed locally by the trust, so no direct discussions have been held with Barts Health NHS Trust on this matter.