Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when his Department plans to set out a timeline for the implementation of the dementia moonshot.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to supporting research into dementia and to delivering a moonshot. Later in 2021, we will bring forward a new dementia strategy to set out our plans for dementia research, care, support and awareness in England for future years.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the rate of VAT on (a) veterinary services and (b) animal medications as a means of promoting animal welfare.
Answered by Jesse Norman
Under the VAT rules, veterinary medicines supplied to certain charities may be eligible for a zero rate of VAT. Otherwise, veterinary services and animal medications are subject to the standard rate of VAT.
Changing the rate of VAT on veterinary services and animal medication would come at a considerable cost to the Exchequer. The Government has no current plans to change the VAT treatment of such services and goods, but keeps all taxes under review
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Wales Office:
What steps the Government is taking to promote the growth of green industries in North Wales.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
We are backing the North Wales Growth Deal with £120m including for innovative net zero projects such as the Morlais tidal energy test facility. We are seeing a further 2 gigawatts of offshore wind in development. And we are also providing close to £5m for the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
What steps he is taking to reduce tobacco litter.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The most effective way to tackle smoking related litter is by reducing the prevalence of smoking in the first place. The Government has committed to publish a new tobacco control plan for England later this year, to deliver its ambition of a smoke-free country by 2030. We have also recently announced our intention to explore regulatory options to ensure that the tobacco industry takes sufficient financial responsibility for the toxic litter created by its products.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support research into long covid.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), launched a £20 million joint research call which closed on 9 December 2020. This call will fund comprehensive research to understand and address the longer term physical and mental health effects of COVID-19 in individuals who contracted the virus but were not hospitalised. Results of the call will be published in due course.
The NIHR and UKRI have already invested £8.5 million in the PHOSP-COVID study led by the University of Leicester. The study is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients and will draw on expertise from a consortium of leading researchers and doctors from across the United Kingdom.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has for the involvement of (a) medical research charities and (b) the NHS in researching long-covid.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department, through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), recently launched a joint research call which closed on 9 December 2020. Through this call, £18.5 million has been committed to funding four research studies to understand and address the longer term physical and mental health effects of ‘long’ COVID-19, in individuals who contracted the virus but were not hospitalised.
The NIHR and UKRI have also invested £8.5 million in the PHOSP-COVID study which is one of the world’s largest comprehensive research studies into the long-term health impacts of COVID-19 on hospitalised patients. Researchers and clinicians as part of the study are actively working with medical charities to help define key questions for research.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to mark World Obesity Day on 4 March 2021; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department supports the aims of World Obesity Day. As part of delivering the commitments in ‘Tackling obesity: empowering adults and children to live healthier lives’, the Government has announced £100 million extra funding for healthy weight programmes.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with industry representatives on the introduction of (a) Graduated Driver Licences and (b) mandatory telematic devices to cars in the UK.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
In October 2020 the Department for Transport discussed the topic of a Graduated Driver Licence and compulsory black box usage at the Transport Select Committee on Young and Novice Drivers.
After giving our reasoning that we are not currently pursuing the topic as a future policy, the Secretary of State has accordingly not met with industry representatives on the matter.
The Department for Transport take any consideration of restrictions on any road users very seriously, particularly those in rural areas for access to education, employment and leisure.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this Government has no current plans to enforce any further restrictions which could be detrimental to the younger generation’s prospects for employment, education or livelihood.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to communicate changes to the Green Book on vaccination to clinicians to ensure that patients are offered the same standards of care across the UK.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Each revision of the Green Book is promoted in the Vaccine Update (VU), a Public Health England (PHE) immunisation newsletter for health professionals and immunisation practitioners which is sent to health care professional subscribers at least once a month. Any updates are also shared with the National Immunisation Network of Screening and Immunisation professionals at their weekly meeting.
A function is available through the Green Book page on the website to send an email alert when the Green Book collection or chapter is updated.
The PHE immunisation guidance collection is published on gov.uk to provide information regarding the national immunisation programme and ensure patients are offered the same standards of care across the United Kingdom. This is available to read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immunisation.
Asked by: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he plans to take to ensure co-operation between the UK Infrastructure Bank and the Development Bank of Wales.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The new national infrastructure bank will help to support infrastructure projects across the whole of the UK, including Wales. The new bank is primarily aimed at increasing investment in infrastructure, whereas the Development Bank of Wales focuses on business support. Where their interests are aligned on specific projects, the two institutions will be able to work collaboratively.