Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the level of discrimination faced by disabled people when travelling by taxi.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Disabled Persons’ Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) have a statutory duty to advise Ministers on the transport needs of disabled passengers, and we have discussed with them the challenges that disabled people face when using taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs).
Ministers are considering the recommendations made in the report of the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, including those intended to improve accessibility. A Government response will be issued in due course.
We also intend to commission research to understand more clearly the experience of passengers who have been refused service by taxi and PHV drivers on account of using a wheelchair or assistance dog, and the levers available to Government to help eliminate such unacceptable behaviour.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with bus companies to ensure that the required level of disability awareness training is undertaken by all bus drivers.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
Bus and coach operators must ensure that drivers subject to the EU Regulation 181/2011 requirement to complete disability awareness training receive appropriate instruction. As part of the 2018 annual bus statistics survey, we sought data on whether operators were compliant with these new duties, and results will be published on January 30th. We also intend to publish best practice guidance on disability awareness training in the spring.
We are committed to developing a framework for the monitoring and enforcement of relevant training requirements, and continue to liaise with Regulators and the bus industry to ensure that operators understand fully their responsibilities.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken to ensure that baggage handlers at UK airports have the required training to handle wheelchairs.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government seeks to ensure equal access to air travel for all. Through the recently launched Aviation 2050 consultation the Department is considering a new Passenger Charter that will raise standards and enhance services for passengers, including disabled people and those with reduced mobility. This includes increased uptake of disability awareness training programmes for ground handlers, and addressing the difficulties faced when stowing wheelchairs in the hold of a plane.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he is taking steps to ensure that the level of regulation applied to fracking sites on the permanent monitoring of noise emissions applies also to (a) the wind industry, (b) wind turbines and (c) all wind farm sites; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Claire Perry
Planning authorities are responsible for applying and enforcing any conditions attached to the planning permission for a fracking or wind turbine development, and this must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This may include monitoring of noise levels.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with NICE on the (a) timeframe for the publication of decision of the NICE evaluation committee meeting held on 23 October 2018 in relation to Spinraza and (b) potential availability of Spinraza on the NHS.
Answered by Steve Brine
Departmental Ministers and officials have spoken to colleagues at the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on a number of occasions to enquire about the progress of the technology appraisal of nusinersen for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy.
On 12 November, following NICE’s second appraisal committee meeting for nusinersen on Tuesday 23 October, NICE informed registered stakeholders that it and the manufacturer Biogen were continuing to progress discussions and as a result NICE was not in a position to provide the outcome of the committee’s deliberations.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if the Royal Navy will assist in the recovery and repatriation of Argentinian sailors from the submarine San Juan.
Answered by Lord Lancaster of Kimbolton
Since the San Juan was located, the Ministry of Defence has not been appraoched by Argentina to assist in the recovery or repatriarion of the submarine's crew. If our assistance were to be requested, the UK does not currently have the capability to recover a vessel at the reported depth of the San Juan without contractor support.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of Govia Thamelink Railway's preparations for the winter timetable update starting on 10 December 2018.
Answered by Andrew Jones
To supplement the separate internal assurance processes within Train Operators and Network Rail, since May, industry has established new assurance processes to look at timetable implementation on a network wide basis. This has included setting up a cross industry Programme Management Office (PMO) within Network Rail to carry out this role. They have worked with industry as a whole to develop an informed view of risks, including those related to infrastructure, operator readiness and staffing.
As well as the industry PMO processes set out above, GTR has also remained subject to Industry Readiness Board assessment. The Department has had ongoing discussions with GTR about their readiness to deliver in December, including senior weekly calls with the operator to discuss progress.
While no option is risk-free, the industry’s approach to the December 2018 timetable offers the greatest possible level of operational confidence. The Department is taking the implementation of the timetable extremely seriously and will be monitoring performance closely.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of teachers that are on the (i) main, (ii) upper, and (iii) leadership pay scales in South Cambridgeshire constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Please see the attached table which provides the number and proportion[1],[2] of full and part-time regular teachers in service in state funded schools who are paid on the main, upper, leadership, other and unknown pay ranges in South Cambridgeshire constituency and in England in November 2017. Within the table, the ‘Other’ column includes the leading practitioners[3] and unqualified teachers[4] pay ranges and the ‘Unknown’ column relates to invalid codes entered by schools during the collection process that were not amended by the schools after being identified as invalid.
[1] Excludes centrally employed staff.
[2] Figures 3 or less have been suppressed.
[3] Leading practitioners are qualified teachers who are employed in posts that the relevant body has determined have the primary purpose of modelling and leading improvement of teaching skills.
[4] Unqualified teachers are teachers who are not a qualified teacher and who is prescribed by Order under section 122(5) of the Act as a school teacher for the purposes of that section.
[5] Includes leading practitioner and unqualified pay ranges.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the effect of the introduction of the 20-metre rule on the level of people's eligibility for personal independence payment compared with previous levels of eligibility for disability living allowance.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The development of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment has been carried out in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.
The consultation process confirmed there is no consensus across the health and social care community of the perfect measure of mobility and there is no evidence for one particular distance.
The 20 metre distance was introduced in PIP to distinguish those whose mobility is significantly more limited than others and who face even greater barriers on a day to day basis – those who have the highest need.
There are 104,000 PIP claimants receiving the enhanced rate of mobility who previously were not awarded the higher rate mobility in Disability Living Allowance in the period April 2013 to October 2017.
Asked by: Heidi Allen (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the evidential basis was for the introduction of the 20-metre rule as a criterion for mobility in the personal independence payment assessment procedure.
Answered by Sarah Newton
The development of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment has been carried out in an iterative, transparent and consultative manner. It was developed in collaboration with a wide range of experts and through comprehensive public consultation.
The consultation process confirmed there is no consensus across the health and social care community of the perfect measure of mobility and there is no evidence for one particular distance.
The 20 metre distance was introduced in PIP to distinguish those whose mobility is significantly more limited than others and who face even greater barriers on a day to day basis – those who have the highest need.
There are 104,000 PIP claimants receiving the enhanced rate of mobility who previously were not awarded the higher rate mobility in Disability Living Allowance in the period April 2013 to October 2017.