Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will consult with blind and partially sighted patients on potential accessibility improvements to the NHS App.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are working to improve access to digital services, outcomes, and experiences for the widest range of people, based on their preferences. Patients unable to use digital channels can continue to access services via telephone and through traditional face to face services.
We conduct user research on an ongoing basis with users from diverse backgrounds to ensure our service works for everyone. This includes patients with a range of access needs and diverse groups, for instance ethnic minority groups, those with visual impairments, neurodiversity, and physical impairments. We have recruited users who are blind or partially sighted in community-based research, research with local National Health Service teams, and in remote research, either one to one or in groups. We use the findings of user research to plan and prioritise new work to improve accessibility.
Centrally built services, such as the NHS App and NHS website, are designed to meet international accessibility standards. We are modernising the mobile patient experience within the NHS App, ensuring information is clearly structured and easy to find and understand.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to help ensure accountability for the killing of Agnes Wanjiru.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Secretary of State visited Kenya in April to meet with the family of Agnes Wanjiru, and reaffirmed his personal commitment to securing justice following her tragic death over 13 years ago.
The jurisdiction for this investigation lies with the National Police Service, Kenya, therefore all enquiries on the progress of the ongoing investigation should be directed to them. The UK’s Defence Serious Crime Command are proactively engaged with the Kenyan police in support of their investigation where appropriate. In order to protect the integrity of that investigation and in the interests of justice, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to help tackle barriers to the safe use of medical devices for the management of diabetes among partially sighted and blind people.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and the National Health Service work with suppliers and manufacturers to help improve the accessibility and safe use of medical devices for the management of diabetes among partially sighted and blind people. It is recommended to suppliers that people with experience of visual and hearing impairment should be included and considered in the design of insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, and hybrid closed loop systems, as well as in the user information and instructions that accompany their supply and use.
Suppliers of the hybrid closed loop must provide educational materials appropriate for those who are visually impaired, and commissioning recommendations for blood glucose, ketone meters, testing strips, and lancets include recommendations for cohorts of the population, including the visually impaired. These commissioning recommendations are available at the following link:
Finally, the Department is in the process of modernising the listing of medical devices on the NHS Drug Tariff to further improve access by building in incentives for suppliers for cohorts of the population, such as partially sighted and blind people, who need added features.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help support leaseholders living in buildings under 11 meters with cladding remediation works.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The responsibility for fixing historical cladding fire safety defects should rest with building owners. They should not pass these costs on to leaseholders but should seek to recover costs from those who were responsible for building unsafe homes.
The department reviews cases brought to its attention which includes engaging freeholders and managing agents to make sure that proposed works are necessary and proportionate.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of adding data collection on libraries in schools to the school census.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Battersea, to the answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 27959.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of state primary schools with an onsite library.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Battersea, to the answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 27959.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage children to read for pleasure.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Battersea, to the answer of 11 March 2025 to Question 35717.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of including specific provision for blind and partially sighted young people in the National Careers Service.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The National Careers Service is a free, universal, government-funded careers information, advice and guidance service for everyone aged 13 and above in England.
All young people aged 13 to 18 can access information and advice through the webchat and telephone helpline, which are supported by local community-based careers advisers. This support from the National Careers Service supplements the provision of careers education, information, advice and guidance by schools and colleges.
The department regularly reviews the accessibility of the National Careers Service website to ensure it continues to meet the needs of all users, including those with visual impairments. The service is committed to making its website accessible for all users, in accordance with accessibility regulations. This includes ensuring users are able to listen to most of the website using a screen reader. An up-to-date version of the accessibility statement is available online.
Young adults aged 19 years and over, or aged 18 for those who are not in education, employment or training, can also access the service via face-to-face support from community-based careers advisers.
Adults with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are one of the priority groups for the service. They can access in-depth, tailored support from professionally qualified careers advisers, drawing on localised labour market information, including face-to-face support, information and advice through webchat, telephone helpline and website.
The National Careers Service has worked with the Thomas Pocklington Trust to offer advice to careers practitioners relating to the Trust’s work to improve the opportunities of blind and partially sighted people.
As outlined in the Get Britain Working White Paper, Jobcentre Plus will be brought together with the National Careers Service in England, to create a new Jobs and Careers Service, transforming the experience for all users. Accessibility for all, including blind or partially sighted customers, will continue to be a priority.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing sight loss training for (a) Access to Work advisors and (b) Jobcentre Plus staff.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of staff on-boarding and induction into DWP, staff complete learning for customers with sight loss. The learning provides the definition of disability under the Equality Act 2010, and an overview of the support available to customers including the challenges that individuals with sight loss may face.
Work coaches in Jobcentres also have a point of needs learning products, allowing them to support blind and visually impaired customers.
Access to Work support workers undergo learning which provides details of the funding that is available to support customers with sight loss. This includes the funding of lenses, colour tests and tinted glasses for health conditions, such as Irlens Syndrome (not for general sight loss) when a prescription is given from an optometrist for corrective vision.
Asked by: Marsha De Cordova (Labour - Battersea)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enforce minimum Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
For central government services, departments are required by the Government Service Standard to meet the minimum of level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 (which is the current version) for services that are in public beta or live.
Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations require most public sector organisations to ensure their services, websites, published documents, intranets, extranets and apps are accessible to disabled people by meeting the requirements of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines v2.2 to level AA and by publishing a prescribed format accessibility statement.