Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has held discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the request made by the Government of Canada to discuss a reciprocal social security agreement with the UK.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 45728 on 17 September 2022.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many requests for a reciprocal social security agreements his Department has received, including on pensions, broken down by country in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 129841 on 7 March 2022.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of liver cancer patients were diagnosed at stages 3 and 4 in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This data is not held centrally in the format requested.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Rosebank oil field development in the North Sea on the UK’s international climate obligations and commitments.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Supporting domestic oil and gas production is not incompatible with our international climate obligations. Oil field developments under existing licences, including Rosebank, are assessed by the North Sea Transition Authority, who integrate net zero considerations into the development consent process.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the new ONS method for recording and reporting veteran suicide, whether he plans to regularly publish this data.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
The Office for National Statistics will trial a new method of of recording veteran suicide from early 2023 by working closely with the Office for Veterans’ Affairs and the Ministry of Defence. As part of a 10-year retrospective study, analysis of veteran suicide data is expected to be completed by the ONS in 2023. Details on how and when this data might be published will be finalised following agreement between the MOD, ONS and OVA.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on access to multidisciplinary Parkinson's care in the UK.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no specific discussions.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
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 ensure that standards on food labelling and allergens in the UK are maintained following the Government’s proposal to sunset existing EU regulations.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Maintaining the UK's high food standards remains our priority. HM Government is committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy. The Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill will not in any way reduce that commitment.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022 on public health standards.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
HM Government is committed to maintaining the United Kingdom's public health standards, including through upholding standards on environmental quality and food safety.
Defra is in the process of analysing its Retained EU Law stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill and therefore inform assessments of its impact, including in relation to the above.
Defra is also committed to maintaining current high levels of biosecurity including sanitary and phytosanitary measures. These measures protect human, animal and plant health from disease, pests and contaminants by preventing introduction of disease agents into the country.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she will take steps to provide additional support for disabled people, in the context of increases in the cost of living.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 9 November 2022 to Question UIN 80920.
Asked by: Margaret Ferrier (Independent - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to reduce (a) delays and (b) waiting times for those in the Personal Independence Payment application process.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner, taking into account the need to review all available evidence. Reducing customer journey times for PIP claimants is a priority for the department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.
We are seeing an improvement in average clearance times for new PIP claims and the latest statistics show that the end-to-end journey has steadily reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 18 weeks at the end of July 2022. This is because we are: