Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the (a) challenges faced by disabled renters in the private rented sector and (b) potential impact of the Renters (Reform) Bill on tackling those challenges.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.

Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.

We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of using the Property Portal to record accessibility information on private sector dwellings.

Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The Government is committed to helping disabled people to live independently and safely in their home. The Renters (Reform) Bill will help improve the quality of privately rented homes by introducing a Decent Homes Standard in the private rented sector for the first time. This will ensure tenants, including those with disabilities, benefit from homes that are safe and decent.

Through the abolition of Section 21 evictions, the Bill will give all tenants greater security in their home and will empower disabled tenants to challenge poor practice and request home adaptations where they are needed, without worrying about retaliatory eviction by their landlord. The Bill will also create a new PRS Landlord Ombudsman which tenants can complain to if they think their landlord unreasonably refused permission to make an adaptation to their home. The Bill will also make practices by landlords and/or those acting on their behalf which discriminate against those who receive benefits, including disability benefits, illegal.

We are working with a range of stakeholders to understand what information is important to tenants when using the property portal and will outline this in regulations.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential (a) economic and (b) environmental impact of mandatory food waste reporting in Battersea.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The 2022 public consultation on improved food waste reporting by large food businesses in England included an Impact Assessment which assessed the economic and environmental impacts of the of the voluntary and mandatory approaches to reporting. These assessments were made at the national level. No regional or local assessments have been made.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 16 March 2023, what progress his Department has made on the test of the feasibility of sharing assessment reports with Personal Independent Payment applicants before a decision is made; and when he plans to publish the findings.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

We are currently conducting a test to understand the impact of sharing assessment reports with PIP claimants by default. As part of the evaluation, we will gather insight from claimants to understand whether sharing the assessment report provides them with the opportunity to clarify evidence so that we can make the right decision as early as possible and improve trust and transparency in the decision-making process. Once the analysis of that insight is complete, we will consider next steps.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the priority areas of research are under the five year grant made to NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre for vision research innovation in 2022.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) is a partnership between Moorfields-Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology, dedicated to pioneering discovery to transform the lives of patients facing sight loss. The BRC has five research themes:

- vascular disease and inflammation;

- genomic discovery and therapeutics;

- regenerative therapies, lasers, and medical devices;

- translational data science; and

- imaging, visual assessment, and digital innovation.

The BRC’s themes bridge biological sciences, health data, and translational science. Their aim is to change lives across the United Kingdom and the world by preserving sight and driving equity through innovation, particularly for those with the greatest need.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper, published on 16 March 2023, what progress his Department has made on testing matching a Personal Independent Payment applicant’s primary health condition to a specialist assessor; and when he plans to publish the findings.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Health and Disability White Paper, published in March 2023, set out ambitious and extensive reforms to further support disabled people including exploring the initiative referred to as “Specialist Assessors”.

As the term “specialist” has a very specific meaning in a medical context, the decision has been made to rename the initiative to “Condition Focused Assessors” to avoid misalignment with clinical definitions. The ambition and intent of the initiative remains the same.

In September 2023, we began a small-scale test matching certain PIP claimants’ primary health condition to an existing healthcare professional (HCP) with relevant clinical experience. This test ran until January 2024, at which point it was expanded to cover claimants with multiple conditions.

We continue to work closely with key stakeholders and support organisations as we progress our testing. Initial exploratory research will be published later this year. The Health Transformation Programme looks to publish evaluation when services are suitably developed, and when findings are robust and provide a representative picture of our progress.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to inform recipients of the (a) limited capability for work-related activity element of Universal Credit and (b) Employment and Support Allowance support group of their potential entitlement to Personal Independence Payment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

DWP Work Coaches and Disability Advisers can signpost and support claimants who may be eligible for other benefits. Signposting is also performed by Citizens Advice Bureau, Disability Groups, healthcare professionals and Welfare Rights organisations.

Information for those who want to know more about DWP benefits is also available on GOV.UK and via social media.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make it his policy to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in the context of potential famine.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We want the fighting to stop now. We are calling for an immediate pause to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to destruction, fighting and loss of life.

The UK is also doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible. We recently announced that more than 2,000 tonnes of UK-funded food aid are being distributed by the World Food Programme on the ground. This is our largest delivery of aid to Gaza in this crisis. This is in addition to the 150 tonnes of aid the Government announced 13 March.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on (a) suspending arms exports to and (b) reviewing trade agreements with Israel.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The Government operates a robust and thorough assessment of all licence applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria.

The UK's strategic partnership with Israel includes trade. As the Secretary of State for Business and Trade told the House on 7 March, Israel remains a part of the FTA programme, negotiations continue, and she has recently discussed with the Israeli Minister of Economy our existing trading relationship as well as how Israel is managing the challenges of working on an FTA while fighting a war.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department has plans to upskill non-clinical eye health staff as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The department has an existing programme addressing the upskilling of this workforce. Ophthalmic Practitioner Training is a training programme for hospital-based ophthalmic nurses, optometrists, and orthoptists who wish to develop skills in one or more of four sub-specialty areas: medical retina; glaucoma; cataract; and emergency ophthalmology. The programme is a collaboration between the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, the Royal College of Nursing, the College of Optometrists, and the British and Irish Orthoptic Society. It offers a standardised and supportive platform for these healthcare professionals to learn new clinical skills, for the benefit of their patients. The programme trains postgraduate orthoptists, optometrists, ophthalmic nurses, and other eye care practitioners in secondary care, to develop their skills in eye care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many new training places there will be for ophthalmologists as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As part of the historic expansion of medical school places set out in the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, we will ensure that there is adequate growth in foundation placement capacity, as those taking up these new places begin to graduate, and a commensurate increase in specialty training places is required. A decision regarding which specialities these places will be allocated to will be made nearer the time that the places are required for the expanded workforce. NHS England will work with stakeholders to ensure this growth is sustainable and focused in the service areas where need is greatest.

In 2023, the General Medical Council reported that there are 592 doctors in ophthalmology specialty training across England, which is 34, or 6.1%, more than in 2019. As of November 2023, there are 3,058 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of ophthalmology in National Health Service trusts and other core organisations in England. This is 214, or 7.5%, more than in 2019. This includes 1,465 FTE consultants, which is 125, or 9.4%, more than in 2019.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on immediately rehabilitating (a) horticulture, (b) livestock farming, (c) fishing and (d) other food production systems in Gaza.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

The international community will need to make a massive effort to deliver a reconstruction plan for Gaza.

The UK is doing all it can to get as much food into Gaza as possible. We recently announced that more than 2,000 tonnes of UK-funded food aid are being distributed by the World Food Programme on the ground. This is our largest delivery of aid to Gaza in this crisis. This follows 750 tonnes of UK funded food aid arriving in Gaza in December, delivered through the World Food Programme, followed by a second delivery of 315 tonnes in January. Last month the UK and Jordan also air-dropped life-saving food and medicines directly to the Tal Al-Hawa hospital in northern Gaza.

Support for families of British Palestinians

Palestinian family visa scheme

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Found: Siobhan Baillie MP (Conservative, Stroud ) Neil Coyle MP (Labour, Bermondsey and Old Southwark ) Marsha

Found: Siobhan Baillie MP (Conservative, Stroud ) Neil Coyle MP (Labour, Bermondsey and Old Southwark ) Marsha

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