Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the major conditions strategy will reduce waiting times for cancer diagnoses and treatment.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Major Conditions Strategy will look at all cancer types, covering the patient pathway from prevention, through treatment, to follow-up care. The strategy will look at a wide range of interventions and enablers to improve outcomes and experience for cancer patients.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Mental Health Bill, whether he plans to include a statutory duty to provide early intervention strategies to detect and address mental health issues for children and young people within primary and secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The draft Mental Health Bill, published in June 2022, is intended to modernise the Mental Health Act and work better for people with serious mental illness. The draft Bill has completed its pre-legislative scrutiny and the Joint Committee published its report on 19 January 2023 on the Draft Mental Health Bill. The Department will consider the Committee’s recommendations carefully and we will introduce the Bill when parliamentary time allows.
Separate to the provisions in the draft Bill, there are currently 287 mental health support teams in place in around 4,700 schools and colleges across the country, offering support to children experiencing anxiety, depression and other common mental health issue. These
teams now cover 26% of pupils, a year earlier than originally planned and this will increase to 399 teams, covering around 35% of pupils by April 2023 with over 500 planned to be deployed by 2024.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the current status is of the outstanding (a) development proposals affecting integrated schools and (b) other Northern Ireland Department of Education development proposals.
Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)
Development proposals affecting schools in Northern Ireland is a devolved matter, under the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Department of Education (NIDoE).
A full list of development proposals and their live status is available on the NIDoE website at: https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/articles/current-development-proposals.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
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 an estimate of the amount raised by local councils in parking fines in each year from 2019.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Local authorities regular annual Revenue Outturn data returns for England include reporting their income from Penalty Charge Notices relating to on-street parking. These data are published for England here.
For councils in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the respective devolved administrations may hold this information.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many to UK-based randomised clinical trials for cannabis-based medicinal products (a) have been completed since 2018 and (b) are currently ongoing.
Answered by Will Quince
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency advised there have been 20 United Kingdom-based randomised clinical trials for cannabis-based medicinal products completed since 2018 and 13 are currently ongoing.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the medicines regulatory system at supporting novel clinical trials for rare disease treatments.
Answered by Will Quince
No specific assessment has been made. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) offers a 10-year period of market exclusivity for orphan designated products, which can encourage the pharmaceutical industry to develop medicines for rare diseases. There are flexibilities in the licensing system which consider novel clinical trials and data generation aspects for small population research, such as a Conditional Marketing Authorisation.
The Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP) supports bespoke product development programmes and aims to accelerate the time to market, facilitating more rapid and efficient patient access to medicines. The entry criteria for the ILAP include a rare disease aspect and a toolkit encourages the use of novel approaches to the clinical trial design and development programme. The MHRA supports the design of novel clinical trials through formal scientific advice, where the methodology, challenges and opportunities of the approach can be considered by a team of experts and the study sponsor.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that traders in Northern Ireland do not pay double VAT on goods purchased in the UK.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
For the majority of businesses trading with and in Northern Ireland, VAT continues to be accounted for in much the same way as when trading with the rest of the UK.
The government is confident that its implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol for VAT mitigates the risk of double taxation in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland is, and will remain, part of the UK’s VAT system.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to encourage manufacturers of cannabis-based medicinal products to (a) conduct clinical trials and (b) pursue regulatory approval for their products.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has issued two calls for research proposals and a highlight notice on medicinal cannabis. Manufacturers are responsible for generating evidence to support the use of these products and to seek regulatory approval. The Government has encouraged manufacturers to do so and offered scientific and research advice from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the NIHR.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to encourage hydrogen use in private sector fleets.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Passenger cars were in scope for the Department’s £20 million Tees Valley Hydrogen Transport Hub competition, which closed on 2 December. The Government has previously supported private sector car fleets through its £23 million Hydrogen for Transport Programme and £2 million Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Fleet Support Scheme. In addition, the Government expects there to be cascade benefits for light duty vehicles from its R&D support programmes for heavier modes, for example through the expansion of publicly accessible refuelling infrastructure, available to all road transport.
Asked by: Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party - North Antrim)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the preparedness of the planning system for the development of green hydrogen facilities.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Officials are collaborating closely to ensure the planning system is optimised to support the development of a rapidly expanding UK hydrogen economy. This includes through the BEIS Hydrogen Regulators Forum and bilateral engagement.
The Government will continue to work with industry and regulators to identify, prioritise and implement any changes to the existing framework, including addressing any gaps, to support the growth of the hydrogen economy.