Question to the Wales Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help protect Welsh democracy from foreign interference.

Answered by Anna McMorrin - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Wales Office)

The Government is fully committed to upholding and strengthening our democracy by protecting against foreign interference, improving political transparency, adding tougher checks for donations and closing loopholes by reinforcing electoral legislation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps with NHS Ambulance Trusts to assess the potential merits of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances directly.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not collect or hold information centrally on numbers of decommissioned National Health Service ambulances donated or sold to humanitarian charities.

Decommissioned NHS ambulances are generally sold at auction, mainly in the United Kingdom. Selling them or donating them to humanitarian charities is a matter for individual ambulance trusts. No specific assessment has been made on the merit of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances, nor of repurposing ambulances approaching the end of their operational lifespan; however, the Department is exploring options to continue to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine, in liaison with a range of stakeholders including ambulance services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of repurposing ambulances approaching the end of their operational lifespan for humanitarian relief in Ukraine.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not collect or hold information centrally on numbers of decommissioned National Health Service ambulances donated or sold to humanitarian charities.

Decommissioned NHS ambulances are generally sold at auction, mainly in the United Kingdom. Selling them or donating them to humanitarian charities is a matter for individual ambulance trusts. No specific assessment has been made on the merit of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances, nor of repurposing ambulances approaching the end of their operational lifespan; however, the Department is exploring options to continue to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine, in liaison with a range of stakeholders including ambulance services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many decommissioned NHS ambulances have been (a) donated and (b) sold to humanitarian charities by Trust over the past 12 months.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England does not collect or hold information centrally on numbers of decommissioned National Health Service ambulances donated or sold to humanitarian charities.

Decommissioned NHS ambulances are generally sold at auction, mainly in the United Kingdom. Selling them or donating them to humanitarian charities is a matter for individual ambulance trusts. No specific assessment has been made on the merit of enabling humanitarian charities to purchase end-of-life ambulances, nor of repurposing ambulances approaching the end of their operational lifespan; however, the Department is exploring options to continue to support humanitarian relief in Ukraine, in liaison with a range of stakeholders including ambulance services.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what the estimated timeframe is of his Department's review of whistleblowing policy.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The government has announced its intention to launch its whistleblowing consultation in the summer but has not yet decided on an exact publication date. Details will be published on GOV.UK in due course.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when his Department plans to start its review of whistleblowing policy.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The government has announced its intention to launch its whistleblowing consultation in the summer but has not yet decided on an exact publication date. Details will be published on GOV.UK in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, a) what assessment has the Department made of orthodontic waiting times in the Greater Manchester region and b) whether the Department is taking steps to bring down those waiting times.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Data on the average waiting times for National Health Service orthodontic treatment is not held centrally.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry and orthodontic services, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Bolton West constituency, this is the Greater Manchester ICB.

To support ICBs in their duties, NHS England has published a number of documents, including a clinical policy to support the commissioning of orthodontic activity, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/clinical-standards-for-dental-specialties-orthodontics/