Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of generative AI on (a) methods of learning and (b) levels of plagiarism.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Deterring, detecting and addressing academic cheating and misconduct remains a high priority for the government.
There are strict rules in place, set by exam boards, to ensure pupils’ work is their own. Sanctions for cheating are serious, including being disqualified from a qualification. Schools and teachers know their pupils best and are experienced in identifying their individual pupils’ work.
Ofqual communicates regularly with exam boards about risks, including malpractice risks, and expects regulated awarding organisations to carefully consider the potential impacts artificial intelligence (AI) may have on their qualifications and where necessary make changes to the way in which their qualifications are designed or delivered in response.
The Joint Council for Qualifications published guidance earlier this year which reminds teachers and assessors of best practice in preventing and identifying potential malpractice, applying it in the context of AI use.
The department is building the evidence base for how generative AI is best used in education from the experience and expertise of the sector. The department will publish the response to the Call for Evidence on Generative AI in Education shortly. The department is conducting ongoing wider research to gather insight on how generative AI is being used in early year’s settings, schools, colleges, and universities, and how it could be used to support the sector in the future.
The department has endowed the Education Endowment Foundation with a further £137 million to encourage innovative and effective evidence-based teaching, including using technology such as Computer Adaptive Learning or AI. Their trials will explore teaching approaches using Education Technology and which features of the technology, and how they are used, may support academic attainment.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he is taking steps to help to ensure that green space design is included in (a) local and (b) national planning policy guidelines.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The National Planning Policy Framework states that strategic policies in local plans should set out an overall strategy for the pattern, scale, and design quality of places. This includes making sufficient provision for green infrastructure.
The Framework is clear that local planning policies should be based on robust and up-to-date assessments of the need for open space and opportunities for new provision. Information gained from these assessments should be used to determine what open space is needed and local planning authorities, through their local plans, should then seek to accommodate this. Communities can designate land as Local Green Space through local and neighbourhood plans, ensuring green areas of particular importance to them are identified and protected.
Building on what the Framework sets out, the supporting National Design Guide demonstrates how well-designed new development can provide a network of high quality, green open spaces, taking into account how they are to be managed and maintained. In addition, the National Model Design Code provides guidance to local councils on preparing local design codes, which can consider the provision of new and enhanced green space as part of new development, building on existing open space strategies and standards in their local plans.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential role of regreening urban areas in achieving the UK’s environmental targets.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
The Secretary of State is committed to regreening urban areas in achieving the UK’s environmental targets. In January this year Natural England launched a Green Infrastructure (GI) Framework, which it developed in partnership with Defra and other key stakeholders.
The Environmental Improvement Plan 2023 sets out how the GI Framework will be used to track progress in our commitment for everyone to have access to green or blue space within 15 minutes from their front door. Well-designed green infrastructure has an important role to play in urban areas in improving health and wellbeing, air quality, nature recovery and resilience to and mitigation of climate change, as well as growing the natural capital of city-regions. The use of green infrastructure can help to reduce the risk and impact of extreme heat and surface water flooding through street trees and Sustainable Drainage Systems, contributing to our goal of reducing the risk of harm from environmental hazards.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of applications for probate were acknowledged as received by HM Courts and Tribunals Service following the submission of an online application and receipt of supporting paperwork within (a) 2, (b) 4, (c) 6, (d) 8 and (e) 10 weeks.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The online system automatically acknowledges receipt of all online applications at the point of submission and automatically acknowledges receipt of the documents, with 99% of users receiving an acknowledgement within 2 weeks.
Some cases need manual intervention to acknowledge the receipt of documents, the most common reasons being the user hasn’t provided the case reference or provided an incorrect reference and the documents are submitted before the application.
The attached table shows the proportion of applications for probate processed by HMCTS with 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 weeks.
Cases can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant, an application to stop a case from an interested party is in place, or where cases are complex.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of applications for probate were processed by HM Courts and Tribunals Service within (i) 16, (ii) 20, (iii) 24, (iv) 28 and (v) 32 weeks in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The online system automatically acknowledges receipt of all online applications at the point of submission and automatically acknowledges receipt of the documents, with 99% of users receiving an acknowledgement within 2 weeks.
Some cases need manual intervention to acknowledge the receipt of documents, the most common reasons being the user hasn’t provided the case reference or provided an incorrect reference and the documents are submitted before the application.
The attached table shows the proportion of applications for probate processed by HMCTS with 16, 20, 24, 28 and 32 weeks.
Cases can be delayed where more information is needed from the applicant, an application to stop a case from an interested party is in place, or where cases are complex.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) e-cigarettes, (b) heat-not-burn products and (c) other reduced-risk products to help reduce the prevalence of smoking.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Our assessment is that nicotine replacement therapy, such as gum and patches, as well as vapes, alongside behavioural support from stop smoking services, are the most effective ways to reduce smoking. This assessment is based on the ‘Nicotine vaping in England’ report published in September 2022, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline PH209, ‘Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence’ published in 2021.
The 2022 ‘Nicotine vaping in England’ report also includes a chapter on heated tobacco products. Although there is currently a limited evidence base on the health harms presented by heated tobacco products, it is clear that they do pose harm to users. The Government does not recommend use of these products and encourages users to quit.
There is limited research and evidence into the harms of nicotine pouches and their ability to support smoking quit attempts. However, in April this year the Committee on Toxicity published their ‘Statement on the bioavailability of nicotine from the use of oral nicotine pouches and assessment of the potential toxicological risk to users’, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of (a) vapes, (b) nicotine gum, (c) nicotine patches, (d) nicotine pouches and (e) other alternatives to smoking in helping to reduce the prevalence of smoking.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Our assessment is that nicotine replacement therapy, such as gum and patches, as well as vapes, alongside behavioural support from stop smoking services, are the most effective ways to reduce smoking. This assessment is based on the ‘Nicotine vaping in England’ report published in September 2022, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline PH209, ‘Tobacco: preventing uptake, promoting quitting and treating dependence’ published in 2021.
The 2022 ‘Nicotine vaping in England’ report also includes a chapter on heated tobacco products. Although there is currently a limited evidence base on the health harms presented by heated tobacco products, it is clear that they do pose harm to users. The Government does not recommend use of these products and encourages users to quit.
There is limited research and evidence into the harms of nicotine pouches and their ability to support smoking quit attempts. However, in April this year the Committee on Toxicity published their ‘Statement on the bioavailability of nicotine from the use of oral nicotine pouches and assessment of the potential toxicological risk to users’, which is available at the following link:
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much income from car parking charges for (a) patients and (b) visitors was generated in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Will Quince
Data from the NHS Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC) shows that in 2021/22, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s total income from car parking was £2,094,729. Income from patients and visitors was £1,336,317 and income from staff was £758,412.
The income criteria in ERIC includes Service Level Agreements with other National Health Service organisations, parking fines and parking permits.
The Government has committed that all trusts that charge for car parking now provide free parking to in-need groups, which include NHS staff working overnight, frequent outpatient attenders and parents of children staying overnight in hospital.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much income from car parking for staff was generated in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in the 2021-22 financial year.
Answered by Will Quince
Data from the NHS Estates Return Information Collection (ERIC) shows that in 2021/22, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s total income from car parking was £2,094,729. Income from patients and visitors was £1,336,317 and income from staff was £758,412.
The income criteria in ERIC includes Service Level Agreements with other National Health Service organisations, parking fines and parking permits.
The Government has committed that all trusts that charge for car parking now provide free parking to in-need groups, which include NHS staff working overnight, frequent outpatient attenders and parents of children staying overnight in hospital.
Asked by: Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative - Bridgwater and West Somerset)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) doctors and (b) nurses were employed by the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust in each of the last five years.
Answered by Will Quince
The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent doctors and nurses and health visitors for October 2020 to October 2022, working at the Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
| October 2020 | October 2021 | October 2022 |
Doctors | 691 | 728 | 745 |
Nurses and Health Visitors | 1,963 | 2,141 | 2,248 |
Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022
Due to the merger of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust with Somerset NHS Foundation Trust earlier in 2020 consistent data can only be given from that point onwards.