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, whether he has had recent discussions with the Pensions Action Group on the Financial Assistance Scheme.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with the Pensions Action Group (PAG). However, on 8 January 2024 I met with representatives of PAG in which a range of issues in relation to the Financial Assistance Scheme were discussed.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will take steps to ensure that female patients are included in (a) medical research and (b) clinical trials for (i) dementia and (ii) early on-set Alzheimer's disease funded by her Department.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
UKRI, through the Medical Research Council is working to ensure that female patients are included in medical research and clinical trials for all conditions, including by instituting a requirement for both sexes to be included in research studies by default. MRC's embedding diversity in research design policy requires researchers to consider characteristics such as gender, age and ethnicity - as well as sex - in their projects. MRC is working with the MESSAGE (Medical Science Sex and Gender Equality) initiative to co-design a sex and gender policy framework which could guide organisations throughout the health and biomedical research sector.
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, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the Financial Assistance Scheme for individuals who lost occupational pensions because their sponsoring employer became insolvent.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information required to carry out such an assessment is not readily available and to obtain the detail needed would take significant time. The Secretary of State has therefore made no such assessment and does not intend to do so at this stage.
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, if she will take steps to ensure that funding provided by her Department for research into dementia is allocated on the basis of whether people undertaking that research reflect the diversity of people affected by that illness.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia. Governmental responsibility for delivering dementia research is shared between the Department of Health and Social Care, with research delivered by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, with research delivered via UK Research and Innovation.
The NIHR is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion. When populations are excluded from health and care research it leads to biases, bad science, and skewed results. The NIHR understands that more diverse and inclusive health and care research can prove whether medicines and treatments will benefit people from all backgrounds, and for that reason it supports Join Dementia Research to increase the number and diversity of people participating in dementia research. Based on the latest published data, the diversity of research participants in NIHR-funded Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) in all areas of disease in 2022, mirrored the 2011 census data on ethnicity and sex across England and Wales. Data shows that NIHR RCT research participants were 86% white, 4% black, 5% Asian, and 5% of other minority ethnic groups. Male and female participation was equal to the population, at 49% and 51%, respectively. The NIHR strives to develop researchers from multiple disciplines, specialisms, geographies and backgrounds, and works to address barriers to career progression arising from characteristics such as sex, race or disability. Diverse people and communities shape NIHR funded research.
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 it is her Department's policy to ban the promotion and advertisement of vaping products (a) in sports venues and (b) on sports kits.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Tobacco and Related Products Regulations 2016 outline restrictions on the marketing and promotion of vapes, and are available at the following link:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/507/contents/made
This includes a ban on advertising on television, radio and through information society services, such as internet advertising or commercial email. We also work closely with the Advertising Standards Authority, which investigates advertising on social media platforms.
There are no current plans to ban the promotion and advertisement of vaping products in sports venues and on sports kits. The Government’s response to the recent smoking and vaping consultation sets out our plan to introduce legislation as soon as possible. The legislation will introduce measures to crack down on youth vaping by restricting flavours, point of sale, and packaging for vaping products.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has taken recent steps to end the use of real bear fur for the King’s Guard’s caps.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is open to considering the use of using human-made materials to replace natural fur items where they provide a suitable, affordable and sustainable alternative. As such we are prepared to assess accredited testing results of material to establish whether a synthetic alternative could meet the Department’s requirements for a replacement bearskin cap material.
However, to date, and to the Department’s knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the development of faux fur bearskin hats for use in the military.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is open to considering the use of using human-made materials to replace natural fur items where they provide a suitable, affordable and sustainable alternative. As such we are prepared to assess accredited testing results of material to establish whether a synthetic alternative could meet the Department’s requirements for a replacement bearskin cap material.
However, to date, and to the Department’s knowledge, an alternative has yet to meet the standards required to provide an effective replacement for the bearskin ceremonial caps.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to help ensure that people who are not online have the choice of accessing public services (a) by phone, (b) by letter and (c) face-to-face.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration.
Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to introduce funding for public bodies to help ensure the provision of offline options for service users.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration.
Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote the proper disposal of disposable vaping products.
Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Householders can take unwanted vapes (and other electrical equipment) to designated collection facilities (typically household waste recycling centres operated by local authorities) or retailers on purchase of new vapes free of charge. The cost of the collection, transport and subsequent treatment and recycling of that waste is financed by manufacturers and importers of those products. Householders can also take their used vapes to retailers when they buy new ones. Retailers are required to provide take-back systems to customers and ensure they are sent for onward treatment.