Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to promote volunteering in IBM's World Community Grid to support research into childhood cancers.
Answered by Jackie Doyle-Price
The Department promotes active public involvement in research into all conditions, including cancer. The Department does this through its funding of the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) INVOLVE organisation, which aims to support active public involvement in National Health Service, public health and social care research.
Underlining the Department’s commitment to the fight against cancer, NIHR funding for cancer research has risen from £101 million in 2010/11 to £137 million in 2016/17.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what analysis his Department has undertaken of the (a) cost and (b) effectiveness of mandatory testing of babies at birth for neuroblastoma.
Answered by Steve Brine
The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) last reviewed the evidence to screen for neuroblastoma in 2015 and recommended that screening should not be offered. This is because the evidence published at the time of the review was insufficient in terms of quality and volume to accurately answer key questions to introduce screening which included no evidence that a screening test that would only detect cases of neuroblastoma that needed treatment; and no evidence that neuroblastoma screening (at any age) would reduce the number of deaths from neuroblastoma.
The UK NSC is due to review the evidence for neuroblastoma in 2019.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to participate in work experience.
Answered by Anne Milton
We want all young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to be able to access high quality external work placements. This is so they can benefit from real life work experience in the same way as any other student.
The Government is aware that SEND students may require more support when embarking on a work experience placement. We have recently launched a work placements Capacity and Delivery Fund which will receive £74 million in additional funding from April 2018. This will help providers boost their capacity to provide work placements from 2018/19.
We expect providers to use some of this fund, alongside other available funding (e.g., High Needs Funding), to provide additional support and any reasonable adjustments within the workplace. This will enable students with SEND to access the same quality of provision as their peers.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that young disabled people are able to access good quality careers advice.
Answered by Anne Milton
The Government is taking steps to improve careers education and guidance for all ages. We are investing over £70m this year to help young people and adults access quality careers provision.
The Government is also funding specialist training for careers advisers working with young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). And we will be supporting post-16 providers in developing training and materials to help young people entering the workplace.
The careers strategy, which will be published shortly, will include proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers advice in schools. In particular, these will provide aspirational careers advice for children, young people and adults with SEND.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the maximum fine available to courts and local authorities for fly-tipping from the current levels.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Sentencing Guideline for environmental offences was reviewed and strengthened in 2014. The maximum penalty on indictment for fly-tipping is imprisonment of up to five years or a potentially unlimited fine. The value of total fines handed down increased in 2016/17 and custodial sentences for fly-tipping increased by 56%. The Government will continue to provide information to the Sentencing Council as they monitor the impact of their guidance
The Government is committed to tackling fly-tipping at all levels. We have recently given local authorities the power to issue fixed penalty notices up to £400 for small scale fly-tipping and enhanced the local authorities and Environment Agency’s ability to search and seize vehicles of suspected fly-tippers.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what progress the Government has made on brining forward legislative proposals to prohibit pensions cold-calling.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The government is committed to banning pensions cold-calling. Following a consultation, the government will bring forward draft legislation for scrutiny to ban pensions cold-calling, including texts and emails, in early 2018. It will then legislate on a ban as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the referral pathway for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia.
Answered by Steve Brine
Work is ongoing to help develop pathways of care for patients once a positive diagnosis of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is made.
Public Health England is working with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, HEART UK and the British Heart Foundation on the development of an implementation guide; expected to be published shortly. The guide is for commissioners and local health economies, and aims to help facilitate the development of local FH services, supporting better identification and management of people and families affected by FH, across England.
NHS England and Genomics England are working to reconfigure genetic services in England and this should help ensure that genetic testing is more widely available.
Asked by: Julia Lopez (Conservative - Hornchurch and Upminster)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to introduce a nationwide, family-based, follow-up system to ensure comprehensive identification of people affected by familial hypercholesterolemia.
Answered by Steve Brine
Public Health England (PHE) is part of a cross-organisation national familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) Steering Group, led by the National Clinical Director for Heart Disease.
PHE is working with NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), HEART UK and the British Heart Foundation on the development of an implementation guide which will be published in early 2018. The guide is for commissioners and local health economies, and aims to help facilitate the development of local FH services, supporting better identification and management of people and families affected by FH, across England.
A cholesterol test is included as part of an NHS Health Check. Guidance alerts practitioners conducting the check to consider the possibility of FH in line with NICE. Emerging evidence shows that compared to routine primary care practice, the NHS Health Check programme is detecting more cases of FH.