To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were eligible for Healthy Start vouchers in January (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The number of those eligible for Healthy Start in January 2022 was 553,601, and the number of those eligible in January 2023 was 578,067.


Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much her Department spent on the Healthy Start Scheme in the (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23 financial year.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The cost of operating the Healthy Start scheme was £78,148,555 in 2021/22 and £78,761,339 in 2022/23.


Written Question
Members: Correspondence
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when her Department plans to respond to the correspondence of November 2023 to the Minister for Primary Care and Public Health from public healthcare professionals on the Healthy Start scheme.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has received the correspondence and will respond in due course. The Healthy Start scheme is an important nutritional safety net for families who need support and the interest from public healthcare professionals is welcomed.


Written Question
Community Wealth Funds
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when her Department will publish a response to the Technical consultation on a Community Wealth Fund in England, which closed on 19 October 2023.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government is grateful to all those who took the time to respond to the technical consultation. Officials from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities are carefully considering all of the responses received. The government response will be published in due course.


Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the correspondence from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care to the hon. Member for South Shields of December 2023, for what purpose her Department requested personal identifiable data from the Department for Work and Pensions on people who are eligible for Healthy Start.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care does not receive personal data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on those eligible for the Healthy Start scheme. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) runs the scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care. The Department is continuing to work closely with the NHS BSA and the DWP, in order for the NHS BSA to receive the personal data held by the DWP for those potentially eligible citizens, as soon as possible. The NHS BSA will use this data to reach out to those eligible, who are not currently in receipt of Healthy Start, to encourage them to apply for the Healthy Start scheme.


Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Tuesday 26th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the correspondence from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Public Health, Start for Life and Primary Care to the hon. Member for South Shields of December 2023, whether her Department has received personal identifiable data from the Department for Work and Pensions on people who are eligible for Healthy Start.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care does not receive personal data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on those eligible for the Healthy Start scheme. The NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) runs the scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care. The Department is continuing to work closely with the NHS BSA and the DWP, in order for the NHS BSA to receive the personal data held by the DWP for those potentially eligible citizens, as soon as possible. The NHS BSA will use this data to reach out to those eligible, who are not currently in receipt of Healthy Start, to encourage them to apply for the Healthy Start scheme.


Written Question
Healthy Start Scheme
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential merits of automatically enrolling eligible people in the Healthy Start scheme.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no plans for specific discussions on this point. The NHS Business Services Authority operates the Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department. The Healthy Start scheme has recently transitioned from paper vouchers to a prepaid card. All applicants to the Healthy Start scheme, where they meet the eligibility criteria set out in the Healthy Start legislation, must accept the terms and conditions of the prepaid card at the point of application. As the prepaid card is a financial product and cannot be issued without the applicant accepting these terms, the NHS Business Services Authority is not able to automatically provide eligible families with a prepaid card.


Written Question
Veterans: Radiation Exposure
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence during the debate on Nuclear Test Veterans: Medical Records of 28 November 2023, Official Report, column 245WH, whether his Department has examined the 150 Atomic Weapons Establishment files.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

I personally examined all 150 records at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on 18 March. I will update the House on plans for their release in due course.


Written Question
Artificial Intelligence: Departmental Coordination
Friday 15th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to paragraph 21 of the report entitled A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation: Government response, CP 1019, published on 6 February 2024, whether the (a) lead AI Ministers and (b) new Inter-Ministerial Group to drive effective coordination across government on AI issues have met.

Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly.


Written Question
Defence: Artificial Intelligence
Wednesday 13th March 2024

Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of defence capabilities in his Department incorporate artificial intelligence as of 6 March 2024.

Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

The term Artificial Intelligence includes a broad family of technologies (from advanced automation to machine learning or symbolic logic-based systems), some of which have been in widespread use for decades. It is therefore not possible to provide accurate statistics on the proportion of Defence capabilities that incorporate such technologies.

While the Defence AI Centre is monitoring over 250 R&D projects across Ministry of Defence that apply different AI technologies to their respective context, we do not currently collect statistics on the proportion undertaken by SMEs. Work is underway to better understand our total AI investment across the Defence enterprise; over time this should allow more granular reporting of supplier metrics.