Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of Government investment into kidney disease research in 2022-23; and which public bodies provided this investment.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Over the period of 2022/23, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has invested more than £3.9 million in funding and support for kidney disease research. Research into kidney disease has included, but is not limited to, projects exploring the multimorbidity of kidney disease and other conditions, predicting the risk of kidney failure for patients with chronic kidney disease in the United Kingdom, and assessing new diagnostic techniques.
The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including kidney disease. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what progress he has made on arranging a meeting between the Moroccan ambassador and investors who lost money in the Paradise Gold and Beach Resort.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government remains committed to doing what it can to help British investors who lost their investments in the Paradise Golf & Beach Resort (PGBR) project, and consistently raises the subject with senior Moroccan Government interlocutors on every appropriate occasion in order to bring a satisfactory conclusion to the matter. This has included encouraging the Moroccan Ambassador in London to engage with British investors directly and to the greatest extent possible.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help raise public awareness of the risks of vaping.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children. Youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and one in five children now use a vape. The health advice is clear, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape – and children should never vape. That is why we are taking decisive action to ban disposable vapes alongside broader measures to restrict flavours, vape packaging and where vapes are displayed. We will introduce legislation as soon as possible.
The department delivers a range communications and media activity to provide updates on vaping policy and raise public awareness of the risks of vaping – for example, Ministers and the Chief Medical Officer regularly undertake broadcast interviews. The department is also currently in the process of developing new advice and guidance for the Better Health website.
Over the past two years we have also taken several steps to increase training resources and support available for teachers and schools. In October 2022, we published new content on the risks of vaping for young people on the FRANK and Better Health websites and have provided input to educational resources produced by partners including the PSHE Association.
The department is currently in conversations with leading technology and social media platforms to reduce the visibility of any content that might glamourise vaping to children and young people, while increasing and enhancing the signposting to trusted sources of information on the harms to children from vaping.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of advertising vape products (a) in sports venues and (b) on sports kits on health outcomes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children. Youth vaping has tripled in the last three years, and one in five children now use a vape. The health advice is clear: if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. In our recent consultation response, we set out our plan to introduce legislation as soon as possible to further crack down on youth vaping by providing powers to restrict flavours, point of sale and packaging of vaping products.
In regard to advertising and sponsorship, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 30 January 2024 to Question 11133.
The Department has not made a specific assessment of the potential impact of advertising vape products in sports venues and on sports kits on health outcomes.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's policy is on the import of bearskin from Canada for use as hats.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence only purchases bearskin ceremonial caps made from pelts sourced from Canada which are:
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance his Department provides social care providers on using the social staff visa application portal.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Once licensed, sponsors are given access to the sponsorship management system (SMS). This online function allows them to carry out day-to-day activities and report any changes to UKVI, such as a change of organisation address. Sponsors can also use SMS to create and assign Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to workers they wish to sponsor and report changes of circumstances of their sponsored workers.
SMS has help text embedded throughout to aid navigation of the system, however, this is not sector specific. In addition, UKVI publish sponsor guidance and SMS user guides which are available on gov.uk to assist sponsors in understanding their sponsor duties and navigating SMS; however, this is not sector specific.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility of the UK Visa and Immigration portal for social care workers visas.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The accessibility statement for the social care visa online application can be found through the following link: https://visas-immigration.service.gov.uk/accessibilityStatement.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help social care providers to (a) apply for a sponsorship license for social care staff and (b) complete online applications to sponsor a social care worker visa.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There is a significant amount of information published for sponsors which helps to set out their duties and responsibilities. Further information on the general guidance can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sponsorship-information-for-employers-and-educators.
We have worked with the Department of Health and Social Care and Skills for Care on a range of information to assist those seeking to recruit into adult social care. Information can be found on the Skills for Care website at: https://www.skillsforcare.org.uk/Recruitment-support/International-recruitment/International-recruitment.aspx.
In addition to this guidance there is a dedicated team in UKVI who handle most health and care applications who are available to assist with any issues with the sponsorship process.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of attempts to log into the UK Visas and Immigration portal failed in each of the past six months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office only retains the data for 30 days.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of disabled people who are projected to move into work following the removal of the Limited Capability for Work-Related Activity mobility descriptor in the Work Capability Assessment in the next (a) 12 months, (b) two years and (c) five years.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to ensuring our welfare system encourages and supports people into work, while providing a vital safety net for those who need it most.
To reflect new flexibilities in the labour market and to ensure more people are supported to move closer to work, from 2025, we will remove the Mobilising activity used to assess Limited Capability for Work- and Work-Related Activity (LCWRA) in the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). To ensure that those with the most significant mobilising limitations are still protected we will retain the LCWRA Risk regulations for physical health. This means that where work preparation would lead to a deterioration in a claimant’s physical health they would still meet the eligibility criteria for LCWRA.
The changes to the WCA will come into effect from 2025 so impacts will be seen from 2025/26 onwards. The OBR judge that the cumulative rises in employment year-on-year from the removal of the LCWRA Mobilising descriptor are estimated to be 500 in 2025-26, 1,800 by 2026-27 and 5,900 by 2028-29. Adding to this, the expansion of the Universal Support scheme increases funding for placements of disabled people in existing vacancies and for a 'place and train' programme to support them. We expect this to increase employment by around 15,000 by 2028-29.
Additional support will be offered to those moving from the LCWRA group into the Limited Capability for Work (LCW) group. This includes Employment Advice in NHS talking therapies, which combines psychological treatment and employment support for people with mental health conditions, and the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a supported employment model aimed at people with physical or common mental health disabilities to enable them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.