Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the use of Western Sahara's natural resources by the occupying power on the indigenous Saharawi people.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We do not consider commercial activity to be illegal in Western Sahara, providing it respects the interests of the Sahrawi people. The UK continues to support the UN-led efforts and the work of Staffan de Mistura as Personal Envoy of the UN-Secretary-Genera to Western Sahara and we continue to encourage constructive engagement with the political process and monitor progress.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department has made on meeting its target of installing 300,000 electric vehicle charging points by 2030.
Answered by Anthony Browne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The number of public charging devices is rapidly increasing. 16,622 chargepoints were installed in 2023, bringing the total number of public chargepoints to 53,677 on 1 January 2024 – an increase of 45% since 1 January 2023. This puts us on a growth rate consistent with over 300,000 public charging devices in the UK by 2030.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the timing of a decision on the continuation of the Household Support Fund on the operation of local authority support services.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the Government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 18 January 2024 to Question 9353 on Energy Charter Treaty, with which civil society stakeholders she has consulted as part of that review.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK is considering views from a range of stakeholders to inform its position on the Energy Charter Treaty, including civil society stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, campaign groups, academia and thinktanks in the environment and development sectors.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which NHS bodies have a role in the consideration of Abiraterone for inclusion in the drug repurposing programme for the treatment of locally advanced high-risk non-metastatic prostate cancer; and what the remit of each body is in that process.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The national, multi-agency Medicines Repurposing Programme is hosted and funded by NHS England and is overseen by a steering group, including decision-making members from the Department, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the National Institute for Health and Care Research, and NHS England. Each of the national agencies brings a different contribution to the programme, in line with their respective regulatory and statutory responsibilities.
The programme steering group has not discussed adopting abiraterone for high-risk, non-metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer into the repurposing programme. This is because an off-label clinical commissioning policy covering the off-label use of abiraterone in this indication is being developed by NHS England and, in this case, NHS England considers this to be the most appropriate route to support a decision on routine patient access in the National Health Service. The policy is being considered through the established process in line with the current methods, which are available at the following link:
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with UNITAID on funding for that organisation.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has been a strong supporter and partner of Unitaid for over 17 years. We highly value Unitaid's work to drive access to life-saving new health technologies for those who need them most.
The UK has a 20-year donor arrangement with Unitaid from 2007-2026 and has contributed £588 million to date. We continue to collaborate closely with Unitaid as a trusted partner. Allocations for 2025-26 and beyond will form part of the next Spending Review process, and the UK will work closely with multilateral partners through this process.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department collects data on students who self-report (a) depression, (b) bad nerves and (c) anxiety.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The mental health of children and young people is an absolute priority for this government. The department wants to ensure all students have the opportunity to thrive, no matter their background or the challenges they may face.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA, now part of the Joint Information Systems Committee) is responsible for collecting and publishing data about UK higher education. HESA collects data on the number of students declaring a disability, including mental health conditions. This is not disaggregated further to categories such as depression, bad nerves and anxiety.
Statistics covering the academic years 2014/2015 to 2021/2022 are available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-15.
From 2022/2023, students with multiple disabilities will disclose each of their disabilities instead of falling under a catch-all "multiple disabilities" category. However, depression, bad nerves, schizophrenia, anxiety, and other mental health conditions are still included in one mental health category.
The department collects data on various aspects of children and young people’s wellbeing and mental health. Key sources of this data, both from the department and other stakeholders, are collated into the annual State of the Nation report on Children and Young People’s Wellbeing. The report brings together a range of published information from government, academic, voluntary, and private sector organisations to provide a clear narrative for all those interested in the wellbeing of children and young people in England. The most recent report is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-the-nation-2022-children-and-young-peoples-wellbeing.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the clinical lead proposal form relating to abiraterone acetate as a treatment for advanced high risk non-metastatic prostate cancer was (a) completed and (b) sent to the Clinical Effectiveness Team (NHS England) under section A1.4 of Methods: National clinical policies.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The application form for a clinical policy relating to this treatment was initially received by NHS England on 29 March 2022. The policy proposition continues to be developed in line with NHS England’s document, Methods: national clinical policies.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will provide funding for Unitaid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK has been a strong supporter and partner of Unitaid for over 17 years. We continue to highly value Unitaid's work to drive access to life-saving new health technologies for those who need them most.
The UK has a 20-year donor arrangement with Unitaid from 2007-2026 and has contributed £588 million to date. Allocations for 2025-26 and beyond will form part of the next Spending Review process.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will publish the (a) dates and (b) draft agendas of meetings of committees of NHS England and NHS Improvement scheduled for 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is required under the Public Bodies (Admission to Meetings) Act 1960 to publish the agenda for its board meetings in advance, and to hold board meetings in public.
NHS England’s board has delegated some of its duties and responsibilities to Board Committees which provide regular assurance and, by exception, escalate issues that merit full board discussion and decision. A list of Board Committees is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/about/nhs-england-board/board-governance/
Committee activity is also summarised in the Accountability Report section of NHS England’s Annual Reports and Accounts.