Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he plans to consult (a) consumer and (b) passenger groups on proposed reforms to the powers of the Civil Aviation Authority.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department consulted in January 2022 on a range of aviation consumer issues, including whether to provide the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) with additional powers to enforce aviation consumer rights.
The Department published its response to that consultation on 27 June 2023, which included a commitment to legislate when parliamentary time allows to provide the CAA with additional administrative powers. Further informal consultation with stakeholders may be required on the design of these powers.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
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 improve access to mental health services.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We have invested record amounts into NHS mental health services committing £2.3 billion a year compared to four years ago for the expansion and transformation of mental health services in England by 2024.
This has enabled 2 million more people to access NHS mental health support.
Specifically, we invested £15.5 billion in mental health across 2022/23, representing 24% more than in 2018/19 and helping to:
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Indian counterparts about the treatment of human rights defenders in that country.
Answered by Anne-Marie Trevelyan - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Human rights defenders make an essential contribution to the promotion of the rights of their fellow citizens. The UK Government has a broad and deep partnership with the Government of India and we discuss all elements of our relationship including issues where we have them. These topics were among issues discussed by Lord [Tariq] Ahmad, Minister for South Asia, with the Government of India, leaders of faith groups and others during his recent visit to India (27-31 May).
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to support research into developing low carbon propellant inhalers for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds research for the health and care system through the National Institute for Health and Social Care (NIHR). The NIHR has no immediate plans to encourage researchers to move into that specific area - though our research funding programmes are open and we would welcome applications in any area, including low carbon inhalers. The NIHR has also previously issued a cross-programme call for research into the evaluation of a range of interventions and services to support the delivery of a more sustainable United Kingdom health and care system and is considering how to support further research in this area in future.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS plans to use low carbon propellants treatments for asthma and Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients promptly once these therapies have been approved for use by patients.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service remains committed to reducing the carbon impact of inhalers. As part of all inhaler prescriptions, structured medication reviews and asthma reviews, consideration should be given to moving patients to lower carbon options, where it is clinically appropriate to do so.
NHS England has worked with key partners, industry representatives, patient groups, and clinicians to develop a package of guidance and resources to support improved respiratory disease management and shared decision-making on inhaler choice.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to verify the environmental claims of companies that the NHS procures products from.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Health Service has set out the NHS Net Zero Supplier Roadmap, a series of milestones to help suppliers align with the NHS’ net zero ambitions. The first milestone, implemented in April 2022, requires that all NHS procurements include a minimum 10% net zero and social value weighting.
The second milestone, implemented on 1 April 2023, requires that suppliers bidding for any new contract above £5 million per annum publish a Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) for emissions. This requirement will be extended to all procurements from April 2024.
NHS England has also recently launched the Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment. This online voluntary self-assessment and reporting tool allows suppliers to understand how to align with the NHS net zero and sustainability ambitions.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry: 2022, published on 10 May 2023, whether he plans to undertake a review into the (a) training and (b) employment of UK seafarers.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Department is working with the Maritime Skills Commission to address the recommendations from its 2021 review of training for officer cadets.
In June 2022 the Government announced a review of ratings training, barriers, opportunities, and areas for growth. Government will work with the Maritime Skills Commission on findings that emerge from this review.
The Seafarers in the UK Shipping Industry report is updated annually, and the next planned update is scheduled for early 2024
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has discussed recent attacks against (a) Christian communities and (b) Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, including the assault on the Church of Gethsemane on 19 March 2023, with his Israeli counterpart.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is a strong supporter of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and calls for places of worship to be respected. We condemn the violence at the Church of Gethsemane on 19 March. Israel must ensure those responsible for attacks on Christians are held to account. We value the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's important role as custodian of the holy sites in Jerusalem. The Foreign Secretary emphasised the importance of all parties respecting the historic Status Quo arrangements at Jerusalem's holy sites during Israeli Foreign Minister Cohen's recent visit to London and in my statement on 7 April.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the British Film Institute has received in applications for funding from each region in each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The British Film Institute’s (BFI) ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out the core principle for the work of the BFI to reach across all of our nation.
The below table sets out the number of applications to the BFI for both their National Lottery funding and their government-provided Grant-in-Aid funding, broken down by region, in the past three years (2019-2022). The table also sets out the number of awards given over each of those years, also broken down by region based on beneficiary location (drawn from postcode data, in accordance with the methodology agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).
Region | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 3-Year TOTAL | ||||
| Applications | Awards | Applications | Awards | Applications | Awards | Applications | Awards |
ENGLAND East Midlands | 4,708 | 5,397 | 15,043 | 8,175 | 5,013 | 5,339 | 24,763 | 18,911 |
ENGLAND Eastern | 7,644 | 9,247 | 10,463 | 12,046 | 22,533 | 10,559 | 40,640 | 31,852 |
ENGLAND London | 143,213 | 17,814 | 138,301 | 24,541 | 152,278 | 18,405 | 433,793 | 60,760 |
ENGLAND North East | 1,935 | 2,301 | 1,099 | 2,159 | 2,705 | 2,720 | 5,740 | 7,180 |
ENGLAND North West | 7,953 | 6,133 | 11,773 | 6,297 | 18,170 | 7,155 | 37,896 | 19,585 |
ENGLAND South East | 19,484 | 8,445 | 20,407 | 10,630 | 18,800 | 11,473 | 58,692 | 30,548 |
ENGLAND South West | 9,707 | 5,520 | 13,548 | 8,261 | 10,341 | 7,191 | 33,595 | 20,972 |
ENGLAND West Midlands | 11,406 | 6,022 | 12,375 | 5,823 | 5,717 | 6,714 | 29,499 | 18,559 |
ENGLAND Yorkshire & Humberside | 9,088 | 6,190 | 9,993 | 7,247 | 11,384 | 7,610 | 30,465 | 21,047 |
NORTHERN IRELAND | 10,495 | 6,253 | 10,925 | 5,737 | 11,281 | 8,095 | 32,702 | 20,085 |
SCOTLAND | 7,618 | 5,059 | 5,619 | 3,841 | 7,285 | 5,912 | 20,522 | 14,812 |
WALES | 3,399 | 3,172 | 4,307 | 2,345 | 6,562 | 3,422 | 14,268 | 8,939 |
Total | 236,652 | 81,553 | 253,854 | 97,102 | 272,067 | 94,595 | 762,572 | 273,250 |
To note, given the assessment process, applications may be made in one year, and processed or awarded in the following year. Therefore, a direct correlation cannot be established between the applications and awards made in any single year.
Extrapolated from the figures in the above table, the below table further provides the proportion of applications and awards over the three years 2019 - 2022, broken down per region.
Region | Proportion of Applications (over 3 years) | Proportion of Awards (over 3 years) |
ENGLAND East Midlands | 3% | 7% |
ENGLAND Eastern | 5% | 12% |
ENGLAND London | 57% | 22% |
ENGLAND North East | 1% | 3% |
ENGLAND North West | 5% | 7% |
ENGLAND South East | 8% | 11% |
ENGLAND South West | 4% | 8% |
ENGLAND West Midlands | 4% | 7% |
ENGLAND Yorkshire & Humberside | 4% | 8% |
NORTHERN IRELAND | 4% | 7% |
SCOTLAND | 3% | 5% |
WALES | 2% | 3% |
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much the British Film Institute has spent in each region in each of the last three years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
At the heart of the British Film Institute’s ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, is a core principle for the work of the BFI to reach across the UK, so that everyone across the regions and all four nations can experience, create and benefit from screen culture.
The below table has been extracted from data that government publishes on identifiable expenditure in the regions and nations of the UK.
It shows all expenditure in 2021/22 prices, to provide a more accurate picture accounting for inflation.
BFI Country and Region Spend 2019-2022; 2021-22 prices
Country/Region | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | Total |
Scotland | £1,629,000 | £2,132,000 | £2,049,000 | £5,810,000 |
Wales | £971,000 | £1,271,000 | £1,108,000 | £3,350,000 |
Northern Ireland | £5,076,000 | £5,029,000 | £6,565,000 | £16,670,000 |
England - North East | £802,000 | £1,284,000 | £889,000 | £2,975,000 |
England - North West | £2,234,000 | £4,162,000 | £2,675,000 | £9,071,000 |
England - Yorkshire and the Humber | £1,730,000 | £5,147,000 | £2,706,000 | £9,583,000 |
England - East Midlands | £1,560,000 | £6,522,000 | £1,727,000 | £9,809,000 |
England - West Midlands | £1,959,000 | £4,380,000 | £2,454,000 | £8,793,000 |
England - East | £6,200,000 | £15,438,000 | £6,944,000 | £28,582,000 |
England - London | £10,155,000 | £21,422,000 | £13,668,000 | £45,245,000 |
England - South East | £3,607,000 | £7,781,000 | £5,365,000 | £16,840,000 |
England - South West | £1,793,000 | £6,181,000 | £2,633,000 | £10,607,000 |
Outside UK | £971,000 | £1,330,000 | £1,006,000 | £3,307,000 |
Total | £38,687,000 | £82,169,000 | £49,786,000 | £170,642,000 |
Whilst BFI spending in London and the South East accounts for almost 36% of its total spending over 2019-22, this is due in part to the relatively high proportion of the industry based in London and the South East (70%) and also, due to the established method of recording awards based on applicant postcode, does not capture the broader outputs and widespread impact of organisations based in London and the South East but delivering on a regional or UK-wide basis.
For example, BFI National Lottery distribution awards - such as the award which supported Parasite to reach 1.6 million people across the UK - are used to give audiences everywhere the chance to enjoy the widest possible range of films; overall, titles supported by distribution awards have generated 4.5 million admissions across every corner of the UK over the course of 2017-2022. The Light Cinema Co. received £3 million from the Culture Recovery Fund and, whilst its head office is in London, the award was used to support its 10 cinemas, 7 of which are in the North of England. And ‘Into Film’, a London-based organisation who received £24 million from the BFI over 2017-2022, used this funding to deliver Film Clubs in UK schools, reaching in the last year alone more than 3 million children at over 6,500 schools across the UK. Through its National Lottery Funding Plan, the BFI will be devolving even more funding to organisations across the regions and nations through its National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund, which will invest £9 million in 6-7 clusters across the UK to lead on skills and training in their area, making sure people from a wide range of places have the opportunity to get into the industry. The BFI also funds a network of organisations across the UK - including in Nottingham, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester - to lead audience and talent development work in their respective regions and nations, with £15.2 million to be awarded to 11 partner organisations over the next three years.