Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has conducted an equality impact assessment of maintaining income tax thresholds until 2030/31.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has published a Tax Information and Impact Note (TIIN) setting out the impact of maintaining income Tax and equivalent National Insurance contributions thresholds. This includes an equalities assessment which states that individuals may be affected by this measure regardless of their protected characteristics.
The previous Government legislated to maintain personal tax thresholds until April 28. This Government has continued the policy maintaining thresholds to April 31.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
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 ensure a) all women who are eligible take up breast screening in West Sussex and b) his Department tracks and follows up on non-attendance appointments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All eligible individuals, including in East and West Sussex, are given a timed appointment to attend the screening location closest to their registered general practice address, with the option to change the appointment time or location given by contacting the service. Research has shown that timed appointments are more effective in encouraging attendance. The service sends text reminders two and seven days before appointments.
Should an individual not attend their appointment, they are automatically given a new timed appointment at the same location and the same text reminder process occurs. If the individual does not attend the second timed appointment, they are offered an open invitation. This means that the individual can contact the service to book their own appointment. Since implementation of text reminders, the service has seen an improvement in appointment attendance, in line with expectations based on research.
Regular “do not attend” audits are undertaken by the service. The processes involved with these audits help identify any common rationales for non-attendance that can inform service improvement strategies.
Asked by: Mims Davies (Conservative - East Grinstead and Uckfield)
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 (a) ensure all women who are eligible take up breast screening in East Sussex and (b) track and follow up on non-attendance appointments.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All eligible individuals, including in East and West Sussex, are given a timed appointment to attend the screening location closest to their registered general practice address, with the option to change the appointment time or location given by contacting the service. Research has shown that timed appointments are more effective in encouraging attendance. The service sends text reminders two and seven days before appointments.
Should an individual not attend their appointment, they are automatically given a new timed appointment at the same location and the same text reminder process occurs. If the individual does not attend the second timed appointment, they are offered an open invitation. This means that the individual can contact the service to book their own appointment. Since implementation of text reminders, the service has seen an improvement in appointment attendance, in line with expectations based on research.
Regular “do not attend” audits are undertaken by the service. The processes involved with these audits help identify any common rationales for non-attendance that can inform service improvement strategies.