Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure the safety of babies in neonatal units in the context of the Lucy Letby case.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Most families have a positive experience of neonatal care thanks to the dedication and expertise of National Health Service clinical teams. The neonatal mortality rate for England (for births at 24 weeks gestation and over), has fallen by 30.4% since 2010 to 1.37 per 1,000 live births in 2021, the year for which the most recent data is held. There would have been 355 more neonatal deaths in 2021 if the neonatal mortality rate had been the same as in 2010.
This autumn, the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework will be implemented across the NHS, representing a significant shift in the way we respond to patient safety incidents, with a sharper focus on data and understanding how incidents happen, engaging with families and taking effective steps to improve and deliver safer care for patients.
The NHS is taking decisive steps to strengthen patient safety monitoring, and the national roll-out of medical examiners has created additional safeguards since 2021, ensuring independent scrutiny of all deaths not investigated by a coroner, and improving data quality.
The maternity and neonatal delivery plan, published this year, sets out what the NHS will do over the next three years to improve care to make it safer, more personalised and more equitable. Since 2021, NHS England has invested an additional £165 million per year to improve maternity and neonatal care.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps her Department is taking to encourage developers to purchase off-shore wind contracts.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The UK is home to the four largest operational offshore wind farms thanks to its successful Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme. Following the publication of the last CfD allocation round outcome on 8 September, the Government held a roundtable with the offshore wind sector on 12 September to discuss the results. Officials are analysing the results as they build the evidence base for the next round, which will open in March 2024. The timeline for the round has been published on the CfD microsite. Core parameters will be published in mid-November. These will be informed by updated evidence and benchmarked against industry intelligence. The Government will publish its methodology note at the same time.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent criminal organisations committing sextortion offences.
Answered by Sarah Dines
“Sextortion”, or blackmail involving the use of indecent or intimate images, is a horrific crime which the government is determined to tackle.
The Home Office is providing £150k in 2022/23 to the Revenge Porn Hotline to support victims of non-consensual intimate image sharing, colloquially known as “revenge porn”, which includes victims of “sextortion”.
The Government remains firmly committed to tackling all forms of child sexual abuse online, including cases involving “sextortion”. Our approach is underpinned by the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy which sets out firm commitments to drive action across the whole system. The Home Office invests in a number of capabilities to support law enforcement to tackle child sexual abuse.
The Home Office funds the National Crime Agency to use its unique capabilities to disrupt the highest harm child sexual abuse offenders and safeguard children. Since 2017, the Home Office has invested in a network of Undercover Online Officers in Regional Organised Crime Units to disrupt high harm offenders, including those seeking to groom or otherwise manipulate children into sharing sexual images.
We remain committed to continuing close collaboration with international partners to share best practice and insights and build international capacity to tackle all forms of child exploitation and abuse, including “sextortion”.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislation to make whole-life orders mandatory when sentencing people found guilty of the murder of a child.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Whole life orders are already the starting point for the murder of a child where such a murder is premeditated or involves the abduction of the child or sexual or sadistic motivation. On 26 August, the Prime Minister announced plans to make whole life orders the default for those who commit murders in these, and other particularly heinous, circumstances.
The Government also plans to make the murder of an individual, whether an adult or a child, subject to a mandatory whole life order if the murder involves sexual or sadistic conduct.
These reforms will ensure that those who murder the most vulnerable members of our society in the worst possible ways will face the most severe punishment available.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has considered the potential merits of making it compulsory for convicted offenders to attend court for sentencing.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Offenders should be brought before the court to face the consequences of their crimes. That is why, on 30 August 2023, the Government announced its intention to introduce two new measures with the aim of compelling offenders to attend their sentencing hearings.
First, a new power for courts to order an offender to attend their sentencing hearing. Where an offender refuses to attend without a just excuse, they will be in breach of this order and will face a maximum of 24 months’ custody in addition to their sentence for the original offence. The measure will apply to all offenders convicted of an offence which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Second, an express power in legislation for judges to require production of offenders for specific sentencing hearings. Alongside this we will make it clear in legislation that force can be used in appropriate circumstances by prison staff and prisoner escort and custody services (PECS) staff where they consider it necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to bring offenders to hearings.
We recognise that there will be circumstances where an offender’s presence may be distressing to victims and their families. Courts must have the discretion to do what is right in each case, and we anticipate that judges will consider victims’ and families’ wishes in making their decision.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will bring forward legislation to enable pubs to serve take away pints permanently.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
In order to continue to support the hospitality sector, the Government recently announced the extension of the temporary off-sales regulatory easement - set out in the Business and Planning Act 2020 - until 31 March 2025. This extension enables holders of licences that only cover ‘on sales’ to continue to sell alcohol for consumption off the premises, including ‘takeaway pints’, for a further 18 months.
The Government is considering next steps and continues to keep the Licensing Act 2003 under review.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department is taking steps to strengthen disciplinary procedures in police forces.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Government is committed to providing the police with the powers they need to protect the public. On 31 August 2023, this Government announced a raft of changes to strengthen the police disciplinary system, which will see corrupt police officers swiftly identified and robustly dealt with.
That includes handing responsibility for chairing misconduct hearings back to senior police officers, introducing a presumption of dismissal for gross misconduct and clarifying a route to remove officers who are unable to maintain vetting. Details of these changes can be found here:
Government to make it easier to sack rogue police officers - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
The majority of these reforms will require changes to secondary legislation and the Government is committed to delivering these as soon as practicable
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to amend the process for eviction of social housing tenants found to have taken part in (a) criminal and (b) antisocial behaviour.
Answered by Jacob Young - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Renters (Reform) Bill will make it easier for landlords to evict anti-social tenants under the assured tenancy system. The Bill was introduced to parliament on 17 May 2023.
The Department has also committed to explore a '3 strikes and you're out' eviction expectation for all social landlords in the recently published Anti-Social Behaviour Action Plan. Updates on this work will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure the adequacy of the (a) quality and (b) nutritional content of food in hospitals.
Answered by Will Quince
We know the importance of quality, nutritious hospital food to aid a patient’s recovery. All National Health Service trusts should ensure should healthy, nutritious food is on offer for patients and staff.
Following the publication of the Independent Review on Hospital Food in October 2020, NHS England are leading a three-year plan ‘Great Food, Good Health’ to implement the recommendations from the Review with the aim to improve hospital food.
In November 2022, NHS England published updated NHS Food and Drink Standards. These include eight mandatory standards that trusts are expected to implement, including a requirement to have a designated board director responsible for food (nutrition and safety). NHS England are considering the best way to measure the effectiveness of improvements as a result of those standards.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to prevent ultra-processed foods from being served in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Diets high in calories and saturated fat, salt, and sugar are associated with an increased risk of obesity and chronic diseases.
The standards for school food are set out in the Requirements for School Food Regulations 2014, accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-food-standards-resources-for-schools/school-food-standards-practical-guide. These standards were implemented by the Department to ensure that schools provide pupils with healthy food and drink options, and to make sure that pupils have the energy and nutrition they need throughout the school day.
The standards set out that a pupil’s healthy, balanced diet should consist of:
The standards restrict foods high in fat, salt and sugar, as well as low quality reformed or reconstituted foods. The standards also specify which types of food should be served at school and how often. For example, one or more portions of vegetables or salad should be served as an accompaniment, and one or more portions of fruit must be provided every day. There must also be at least three different fruits and three different vegetables each week. These standards ensure that pupils always have healthy options available for their school lunch.
The Department keeps these standards under review.