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 increase the uptake of breast screenings in Ashfield and Eastwood constituency.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
Steps being taken to increase the uptake of breast screenings in Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust include:
· Implementation of SMS text messages reminders;
· Systems to telephone patients directly to offer appointments;
· Women with learning disabilities are offered extended appointments, supportive pre-visits, an easy read breast screening leaflet and are able to attend with a friend, family member or carer;
· Provision of translation services;
· Work to establish a health inequalities breast screening register; and
· Allocation of £827,200 capital funding to Nottingham University Hospitals to boost activity and uptake of breast screening.
However, data is not collected by constituency. Patients in Ashfield are usually invited for screening by the Sherwood Forest Hospitals Breast Screening Programme and patients in EastWood are usually invited for screening by the Nottingham University Hospitals Breast Screening Programme.
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 information his Department holds on the date PIP implants were reintroduced to the UK.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) breast implants have not been re-introduced to the UK market, since their withdrawal in 2010. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which regulates medical devices such as breast implants, is working towards implementing a future regulatory regime as outlined in the Government response to the public consultation on the future Medical Device Regulations, published on the 26 of June 2022. The future regime will enhance the MHRA’s 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.
The Government remains committed to protecting patient safety and women’s health.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to protect domestic abuse victims when the person who abused them has been released from prison.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Probation Service works with other agencies to manage the risks perpetrators pose on release from prison and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of victims, potential victims, and children. For domestic abuse offenders convicted of relevant sexual or violent offences this will be under Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). Where the offender is released on licence, there may be specific conditions designed to protect victims from unwanted contact with offenders.
HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) updated its Domestic Abuse Policy Framework in September 2022. (Domestic abuse policy framework - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). It sets out the expectations for managing domestic abuse cases clearly and comprehensively.
When parliamentary time allows, we will legislate so that those convicted of controlling or coercive behaviour (CCB) with a sentence of twelve months or more imprisonment or a suspended sentence will be automatically subject to MAPPA. This will place a duty on the Police, the Probation Service and a range of other agencies to share information and work together to manage the risks the individual poses. In the meantime, we will start work now on an operating model for HMPPS and the Police to use the ViSOR public protection database to share information on CCB offenders while they are subject to supervision.
A project later this year will test the effectiveness of electronic monitoring with domestic abuse offenders on licence, including testing how it can protect existing and potential victims of domestic abuse offences.
In July 2021, we commenced a three year pilot of polygraph testing with high-risk domestic perpetrators released from prison on licence. If the pilot is successful in strengthening how we risk manage domestic abuse perpetrators, we will roll this out across England and Wales.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of how many children are in kinship care in Ashfield and Eastwood.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The department does not hold information centrally on the number of children in kinship care, therefore we are unable to provide the information requested.
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 financial support is available for people suffering from cystic fibrosis.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
A range of benefits are available to provide support for those with health conditions and disabilities, including Cystic Fibrosis, that impact a person's ability to undertake daily activities or impact their functional capability for work.
People on low, or no, income or earnings, who have a health condition or disability which restricts the amount of work they can do or prevents them from working altogether, and where they meet the entitlement criteria, can claim UC and/or NS ESA with a valid fit note from a clinician. Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, and Disability Living Allowance for Children, are not means-tested and provide financial support arising from the extra costs of having a health condition or disability.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living this winter and is taking action to help. The Government's Energy Price Guarantee will save a typical British household around £900 this winter, based on what energy prices would have been under the current price cap - reducing bills by roughly a third. This is in addition to the £400 non-repayable discount to eligible households provided through the Energy Bills Support Scheme, paid over six months starting in October 2022.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments, subject to parliamentary approval. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households, on top of their Winter Fuel Payments, and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. Over this period the Energy Price Guarantee will bring a typical household bill to around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing compulsory home economics lessons in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In 2014 the Department introduced ‘cooking and nutrition’ into the design and technology curriculum, which is compulsory for pupils aged 5-14.
Pupils are taught how to cook with an emphasis on savoury dishes, and how to apply the principles of healthy eating and nutrition. In 2016, the Department introduced a food preparation and nutrition GCSE. This GCSE requires pupils to understand and apply the principles of food science, nutrition, and healthy eating when preparing and cooking food.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that (a) all regulators and (b) the Gambling Commission act in accordance with the Regulators Code.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Regulators Code is a framework for how regulators should engage with those they regulate. The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006, requires those regulators covered by its scope, including the Gambling Commission, to have regard to it when setting their policies and operational procedures.
The Office for Product Safety and Standards works to support the effective implementation of the Regulators’ Code.
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, if he will take steps to develop a men’s health strategy.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Lincoln on 20 January to question 125326.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his department will consider the potential merits of flexible funding for the Bus Service Improvement Plan for Nottinghamshire County Council.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC) was one of the successful authorities, under the leadership of Cllr Ben Bradley MP, which bid for and was awarded up to £18,713,800 for delivery of their Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP), which I know you have welcomed as part of very significant investment in Ashfield and across Nottinghamshire since 2019 to support better jobs and transport to access them.
In line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Local Transport Authority on 10 November 2022, any changes to the agreed delivery plan should be submitted to the Department via a Project Adjustment Request. The Department is actively engaged with NCC to ensure that the BSIP scheme delivers for local people in Ashfield and across Nottinghamshire and I have asked Departmental officials to be flexible in their approach within the boundaries of the Section 31 grant when tweaking the scheme to developing local priorities.
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 provide suicide prevention support for men.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
From 2019/20, we are investing £57million in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see investment in every area by 2023/24 to support local suicide prevention plans and establish suicide bereavement support services. We have ensured that this funding is testing different approaches to reaching men in local communities.
We also announced on 9 May 2022 that 113 suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprises received a share of £5.4 million funding in 2021/22 to prevent suicide in high-risk groups, including men. In addition, every local authority area has a suicide prevention plan in place, and the guidance we issued to local authorities highlights the importance of working across all local services, including the voluntary sector, to target high risk groups such as men.
The Government launched a public call for evidence on what can be done across Government in the longer term to support mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention. The call for evidence closed on 7 July 2022 and we are currently analysing over 5,000 responses received.