Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve patient access to primary care in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise that despite the hard work of general practice teams, some patients are still struggling to access care in a timely way. That is why we have published our Delivery Plan for Recovering Access to Primary Care. The plan has two central ambitions to improve access both nationally and in Coventry and West Midlands, namely to tackle the 8am rush and reduce the number of people struggling to contact their practice, and for patients to know on the day they contact their practice how their request will be managed.
We will achieve this by modernising telephone systems which can help practices to better match their capacity to patient demand, backed by £240 million in retargeted funding. All practices have now signed up to transition to new digital systems. The plan will empower patients to do more themselves, cutting bureaucracy for general practitioners and building capacity to deliver more appointments. We have invested £1.5 billion and created an additional 50 million general practice appointments by increasing and diversifying the workforce.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to improve waiting times for cancer treatment in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Reducing cancer treatment waiting times is a priority for this Government. The Department is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care. The Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.
In the 2023/24 Operational Planning Guidance, NHS England announced it is providing over £390 million in cancer service development funding to Cancer Alliances in each of the next two years to support delivery of the strategy and the operational priorities for cancer which includes increasing and prioritising diagnostic and treatment capacity for cancer.
Additionally, the Government recently published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023 which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next 5 years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent estimate her Department has made of the proportion of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that spent more than 10% of their income on energy costs in each of the last three years.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The latest official Fuel Poverty Statistics for England were published in February 2023 on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics#2022-Statistics
In addition to reporting against the official fuel poverty metric for England, these statistics included an affordability measure of the number of households required to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on domestic energy. These can be found in Annex D: Affordability measures for England, of the annual report.
Affordability measure estimates are not held at sub-national level. Figures are available at sub-national level for fuel poverty under the Low-income Low energy efficiency (LILEE) metric, on gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-regional-fuel-poverty-data-2023-2021-data
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that do not have (i) broadband and (ii) mobile internet access.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Ofcom collects coverage data as part of its reporting requirements, most recently published in its Connected Nations summer update, with data for the period to April 2023. Ofcom provides coverage data for premises, and we are unable to break this down between households and other premises.
Ofcom estimates that around 30,000 premises in the UK (0.1%) and 13,000 premises in England (less than 0.1%) lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed) or good indoor 4G coverage.
In the constituency of Coventry North East, 381 premises lack access to either a fixed broadband network with ‘decent broadband’ (at least 10 Mbit/s download and 1 Mbit/s upload speed). For the Coventry City Council area that figure is 1,137. Ofcom does not publish aggregated data for the region of the West Midlands, however more data can be found in Ofcom’s Connected Nations reports.
In respect of mobile coverage, Ofcom reports that 132,383 premises across England do not have indoor 4G mobile coverage from any MNO. This falls to 11,222 premises for 4G outdoor coverage. With 2G and 3G coverage added in, 9,622 premises do not have indoor data coverage from any MNO, falling to 1,127 premises without outdoor data coverage. Unfortunately, Ofcom data does not enable us to make an assessment of the number of premises in the West Midlands, the Coventry North East constituency, or the Coventry local authority area that do not have coverage from any mobile network operator.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the average waiting times for GP appointments in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last three years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Information on the approximate length of time between appointments being booked and taking place is not held at constituency or city level. The following table shows the percentage of appointments taking place on the same day as booking and within two weeks of booking for England and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Midlands region in each of the last three years:
Appointments - 12 months from November to October | National - Percentage of appointments occuring on the same day of booking | ONS Midlands Region - Percentage of appointments occuring on the same day of booking | National - Appointments occuring within two weeks of booking | ONS Midlands Region - Appointments occuring within two weeks of booking |
November 2020 - October 2021 | 45.2% | 47.2% | 88.6% | 88.7% |
November 2021 - October 2022 | 43.8% | 45.8% | 85.1% | 85.3% |
November 2022 - October 2023 | 43.1% | 44.7% | 82.5% | 82.6% |
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage boys to read more books.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department allocated to projects to support grassroots sports facilities in Coventry in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Over the last five years, DCMS has provided over £1.26m of funding to support grassroots sports facilities in Coventry, to improve access and increase participation.
Over £1.26m has been invested as part of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, via the Football Foundation, to seven clubs/organisations (The Futures Trust, Firefighters Jfc, CM Sports FC, Coventry Saracens Junior FC, Coventry Copsewood Junior FC, Coventrians RFC, Firefighters Jfc). This funding went towards a range of improvements - from a new full-sized third generation artificial grass pitch to new goalposts and changing rooms.
Spencer Park in Coventry has also received funding through the Park Tennis Court Renovation programme. £78,000 has been used to improve the public tennis courts there.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of treatment provision for people with endometriosis.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
No specific assessment has been made. Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis, is a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy. We are investing £25 million in women’s health hubs, so that women can get better access to care for menstrual problems, including women with suspected or diagnosed endometriosis.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is in the process of updating its recommendations on diagnosing endometriosis and surgical management of endometriosis if fertility is a priority. NICE will provide information on the expected publication date of its final guidance in due course.
Additionally, NHS England is updating the service specification for severe endometriosis, which defines the expected standards of care. This update will ensure that specialist endometriosis services have access to the most up-to-date evidence and advice and will improve standards of care for women with severe endometriosis.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what estimate she has made of the number of pubs that have closed in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The latest ONS data[1] (as of 19 October 2023) shows the overall number of public houses and bars in Coventry North East, Coventry, the West Midlands and in England for each of the last 5 years (Table 1).
Table 1: Number of Public House and Bar Local Units, 2019 – 2023
Date | Coventry - North East | Coventry | West Midlands | England |
2019 | 35 | 120 | 3,515 | 33,305 |
2020 | 35 | 115 | 3,485 | 33,125 |
2021 | 30 | 115 | 3,415 | 32,430 |
2022 | 35 | 125 | 3,485 | 32,790 |
2023 | 40 | 125 | 3,505 | 32,665 |
Business closures (VAT de-registrations) are not available at this level of industrial and geographical detail. However, the Insolvency Service[2] do publish monthly data on the total number of insolvencies in the food and beverage services sector in England and Wales from 2019 to 2022 (Table 2).
Table 2: Food and beverage service activities insolvencies, England and Wales, 2019 – 2022[3]
Date | Food and beverage service activities insolvencies |
2019 | 2,150 |
2020 | 1,542 |
2021 | 1,542 |
2022 | 2,523 |
[1] ONS Business counts via NOMIS. Data relates to SIC 56.302 – Public houses and bars.
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-insolvency-statistics-september-2023
[3] This data represents the sum of monthly insolvencies per year for SIC 56 - Food and beverage service activities.
Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) factors that contribute to long-term unemployment and (b) impact of long-term unemployment on (i) families, (ii) communities and (iii) the economy; and what steps his Department is taking to (A) reduce and (B) minimise the impacts of long-term unemployment.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The UK employment support offer has several elements: a mixture of jobcentre support, national contracted provision and local contracted or grant-funded provision. The Restart scheme is nationally contracted provision for the long-term unemployed in England and Wales and sits alongside a variety of services that support jobseekers to find and progress in work.
Restart supports those who have been out of work for nine months or more and may benefit from more intensive support than the core JCP offer. Restart seeks to address some of the acknowledged barriers that long-term unemployed people face which may include awareness of current job-seeking approaches, ongoing health conditions, perceptions around confidence or lack of relevant skills.
The Department has previously published evidence on support for the long term unemployed. The Work Programme Impact Assessment, published in November 2020 and was used to inform the business case for Restart: The Work Programme: impact assessment - GOV.UK.
As part of the Restart scheme for the long term unemployed, the department is carrying out a full evaluation to assess the impact of the programme on job outcomes, earnings, and intermediate outcomes such as improvements in confidence, well-being and job-searching skills. Evidence gathered is being fed back into service delivery and future policy development.
From Restart’s launch to the end of April 2023, 450,000 people had started on the programme so far, with 150,000 of those achieving first earnings from employment, and 84,000 achieving a job outcome representing sustained employment.
Additional support for 50+ long term unemployed (LTU) customers was announced in September 2022 as part of the Growth Plan. This will provide access to additional intensive support for long-term unemployed jobseekers in jobcentres across Great Britain.
Finally, the Government recognises the important role that childcare plays for parents seeking or trying to stay in work which is why this year’s Spring Budget saw generous additional financial support for parents on Universal Credit. These changes include a 47% rise in the monthly maximum amounts that parents can be reimbursed for their childcare costs - now £951 a month for families with one child and £1630 for families with two or more children. Importantly, additional financial help with upfront childcare costs is now also being made available for parents moving into work or increasing their hours, removing a crucial barrier for many.