Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will have discussions with airport operators on the adequacy of provision within airports for people with (a) autism and (b) other conditions that cause sensory overload.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Aviation accessibility is a priority for government. The Department for Transport is in regular discussions with airport operators and will be hosting workshops on accessibility with the industry in November. These will include considerations around non-visible disabilities and neurodiversity. The government's Disability and Access Ambassador for Aviation also ran a workshop on 5 October 2023 covering how the UK standard for designing and managing the built environment for people with neurodiversity, ‘Design for the Mind,’ can be incorporated into UK airports.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 tackle regional disparities in pancreatic cancer survival rates.
Answered by Will Quince
Reducing inequalities and variation in cancer treatment is a priority for the Government, as is increasing early cancer diagnosis, which is a key contributor to reducing cancer health inequalities and improving survival rates, as set out in the NHS Long Term Plan.
The pancreatic cancer clinical audit, led by the Royal College of Surgeons, began in 2021, with the first outcomes expected in 2024. A key aim of the audit is to support services in the National Health Service to stimulate improvements in cancer detection, treatment, and outcomes for patients, including improving survival rates.
To improve early diagnosis, the NHS is implementing non-specific symptom pathways (NSS) for patients who present with vague and non-site specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type. This includes symptoms of pancreatic cancer. By March 2024, the NSS programme will achieve full population coverage across England for non-specific symptom pathways as set out in the 2023/24 NHS Operational Planning Guidance.
On 24 January 2023, the Government announced that it will publish a Major Conditions Strategy. The strategy will cover cancer as one of the six conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England. The strategy will apply a geographical lens to each condition to address regional disparities in health outcomes, supporting the levelling up mission to narrow the gap in healthy life expectancy by 2030. We published the Major Conditions Strategy Case for Change and Our Strategic Framework on 14 August 2023 which sets out our approach to making the choices over the next five years that will deliver the most value in facing the health challenges of today and of the decades ahead, including for cancer.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase funding for the research and development of treatments for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department invests in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG).
DIPG is a difficult research area with a relatively small research community, and we are relying on researchers to submit high-quality research proposals. In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. The Government is committed to funding high-quality brain cancer research, and we expect to spend more as new research progresses. The £40 million funding remains available; if we can spend more on the best quality science we will do. It is also worth noting that all applications that were fundable in open competition have been funded.
The NIHR has supported delivery in the health and care system for eight DIPG research studies funded by research funding partners in the charity and public sectors since 2018.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made on the effectiveness of the criteria for releasing prisoners who have committed a serious crime.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
This Government has ensured that the courts have the fullest range of sentencing powers available to deal effectively with serious offenders, with release provisions that protect the public.
Those who commit the most serious offences may be given a life sentence, where the court sets a minimum period in custody (the tariff) after which the prisoner may be released by the Parole Board only if it is satisfied that detention is no longer necessary to protect the public. Other serious sexual and violent offenders may be given an Extended Determinate Sentence or a Sentence for Offenders of Particular Concern where they must serve their custodial term in full unless the Parole Board assesses they are safe to release before that point, having served at least two-thirds in prison. In the Victims and Prisoners Bill, we are strengthening the test which the Parole Board must apply when considering the release of prisoners. The new test makes clear that protecting the public must be the sole consideration - a prisoner must not be released unless there is no more than minimal risk of the prisoner committing a further offence that would cause serious harm. We also introduced a Serious Terrorism Sentence where a minimum custodial period of 14 years is imposed which must be served in full.
Most prisoners serve a standard determinate sentence of imprisonment which, in most cases, means release is automatic at the half-way point on licence for the remainder of the sentence. In the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, for those sentenced to 4 years or more for certain serious sexual and violent offences, we strengthened the provisions to require those offenders to serve two-thirds of their sentence in prison, to better reflect the severity of their crimes. The Act also introduced a new power to prevent the automatic release of prisoners who receive a standard determinate sentence, if they pose a danger to the public.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling families of victims of crime to participate in the process of taking decisions on prisoner release.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Victims can already participate in the process of considering a prisoner’s release in a number of ways.
Any victim, or bereaved family member, of a serious sexual or violent offence where an offender receives a custodial sentence of 12 months, or more is entitled to join the Victim Contact Scheme. Victims who join the Scheme will be allocated a Victim Liaison Officer who will provide the victim with regular updates including key information about how the sentence and release processes operate. Victims can request that the offender on release is subject to specific licence conditions for their safety and peace of mind, such as exclusion zones and non-contact conditions. These requests must be considered by the Probation Service.
Where the prisoner’s release is subject to a review by the independent Parole Board then, in addition to requesting licence conditions, victims may also submit a Victim Personal Statement to explain to the Parole Board how the crime has affected the victim and their family. We have committed to going further by allowing victims the opportunity to make written submissions to the Parole Board. Information in the submissions could include their views on the offender’s potential release and questions to the Parole Board. This change will be enshrined in the updated Victims’ Code which is expected to be introduced in 2024.
The decision on whether to grant parole is based entirely on risk. Where a victim has information relevant to the assessment of future risk, there are mechanisms in place that enable the victims’ information to be provided to the Parole Board by the Probation Service. This approach protects the victim from being liable to be called as a witness to the parole hearing and subject to questioning by the Panel or the prisoner and/or their legal representative.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of checks on decisions made by (a) prison governors and (b) other prison and probation authorities on the release of prisoners.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Most prisoners are released automatically or by the Parole Board but prisoners serving standard determinate sentences of at least 12 weeks, but less than four years may be considered for release before their automatic release date under the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) scheme. Decisions on HDC are taken on behalf of the Secretary of State by the prison Governor or delegated decision-maker, informed by a report from probation who assess the suitability of release to the proposed address.
HDC provides a managed transition from custody to the community for lower risk offenders serving sentences of less than four years. Offenders are released subject to strict licence conditions including electronically monitored curfew and only once a robust risk management plan is in place.
The operation of the scheme is kept under review and a new Policy Framework was issued in June 2023. This added specified offences linked to domestic abuse to the list of offences that presume offenders unsuitable for the scheme. This followed changes we made last year to mandate checks with police and children’s services for domestic abuse and safeguarding risk information in all HDC cases. The new Framework, building on learning since it was last issued in 2019, also made the assessment more robust, ensuring account is taken of the risks presented overall, and not just to those at the address; and that all necessary information-sharing takes place before there is a decision to release on HDC.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to take further steps to support women who were affected by Poly Implant Prothèse breast implants prior to 2012.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Government remains committed to protecting patient safety and women’s health.
Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) breast implants have not been re-introduced to the United Kingdom market since their withdrawal in 2010.
The 47,000 women who were given PIP implants, mainly in private clinics, can come forward and have those implants removed on the National Health Service if their doctors agree. Information and advice for women who think they might have PIP implants is available on NHS webpages.
Since PIP breast implants were withdrawn in 2010, the health system has enacted important changes to protect against future events. The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry collects and publishes data on all types of breast implant and removal surgery in the UK since 2016.
The future regulations for medical devices will enhance the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) proactive patient safety monitoring of devices, enabling earlier identification of safety issues. The future regulations will also look to enhance pre-market requirements, ensuring medical devices receive increased risk-proportionate scrutiny before they reach the market.
In addition, the MHRA will improve the traceability of devices through the introduction of Unique Device Identifier requirements. The MHRA gained powers from the Medicines and Medical Devices Act 2021 to improve transparency with respect to safety issues with devices, such as breast implants.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues to the Metropolitan Police on handling climate protests in accordance with the Public Order Act 2023.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing have primary responsibility for publishing police guidance and are operationally independent. They have recently published specific guidance on the measures in the Public Order Act 2023 that have already commenced (Public Order Act 2023: Supplementary content (college.police.uk)). Further guidance on the remaining measures will be published in due course.
The College of Policing have also worked with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to publish the National Protest Operational Advice document (National protest operational advice (college.police.uk)), which provides operational guidance on the handling of protests and the application of the Public Order Act 2023.
In addition, the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice on Public Order Public Safety (Public order public safety | College of Policing) has recently been updated and signposts to both the Public Order Act 2023 and the National Protest Operational Advice document.
The Home Office will continue to provide support where appropriate to assist the College of Policing in publishing accurate and up to date guidance on the Public Order Act 2023.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Draft Bill on rural businesses.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Terrorism (Protection of premises) draft Bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC). As part of this process, the Home Office have published a full Impact Assessment, which can be found on gov.uk.
A fundamental consideration when developing this draft Bill is proportionality, and it is vital that we balance this against the threat we face today.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support people with (a) disabilities and (b) long-term health conditions into work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A range of Government initiatives are supporting disabled people, and people with health conditions, including those with long-term health conditions, to start, stay, and succeed in work. These include:
To tackle rising economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, we announced a wide-reaching package at the Spring Budget to support disabled people and people with health conditions to work. New investment will provide faster access to joined-up work and health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two leading causes of economic inactivity due to long term sickness.