Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will hold discussions with employer representatives on freedom of speech in the context of the conflict in Israel-Palestine.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Minister for Women and Equalities has met with Jewish employers to discuss the impact of rising antisemitism on their staff.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the RFA Argus will be utilising its hospital facilities for casualties from the conflict in Gaza.
Answered by James Heappey
RFA ARGUS is in the eastern Mediterranean and contains a small Primary Casualty Receiving Facility. RFA ARGUS is currently tasked to be on standby to deliver practicable support.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to provide covid-19 (a) tests and (b) treatment to immunocompromised patients in winter 2023-24.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS702 on 30 March 2023, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will maintain a range of capabilities to protect those at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. We have retained appropriate levels of testing to support diagnosis for clinical care and treatment and to protect higher risk individuals. Those who are eligible for COVID-19 treatments can collect free rapid lateral flow test kits from a local pharmacy. Those who are immunocompromised are eligible for COVID-19 treatments and influenza antivirals in the community, enabling them easy access to treatment.
Higher risk individuals, their carers, and household contacts, are also part of the priority cohort in line for booster vaccines. UKHSA continues to encourage people to take vaccines they are eligible for, most recently via the ‘get winter strong’ campaign. More information on the campaign is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ukhsa-campaign-get-winter-strong-with-flu-and-covid-19-vaccines
Guidance for people whose immune system means they are at a higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19 is available at the following link:
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the findings of Asthma and Lung UK's report entitled Saving your breath, published in September 2023, if he will make it his policy to increase funding for respiratory research to £141 million per year by 2030.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department funds respiratory research through the National Institute for Health and care Research (NIHR). It is not usual practice for the NIHR to ring-fence a proportion of its budget for research into particular topics or conditions. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including into respiratory conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure that any underspend of the allocated Equitable Life compensation will be distributed amongst policyholders.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government allocated £1.5 billion to the Equitable Life Payment Scheme. Before it ceased operations in 2016, the Scheme issued £1.12 billion in tax-free payments to nearly 933,000 policyholders. The remainder of the £1.5 billion has been set aside for future payments to the With-Profits Annuitants. Further information is available in the Final Report on the Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equitable-life-payment-scheme-final-report).
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policies of the international work undertaken by Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance; and what steps his Department is taking to help support their work.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically impacted global health and immunisation. The UK Government is supporting efforts to get routine immunisation back on track and has committed £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems as a core part of restoring immunisation services.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support global (a) immunisation and (b) vaccination efforts; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK Government has pledged £1.65 billion to Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance from 2021-2025 to support their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases over this period. The UK has supported Gavi since its inception in 2000, during which time Gavi has vaccinated more than 1 billion children in 78 low-income countries, saving over 17 million lives. Alongside our Gavi investment, we are working with countries to build stronger primary health care systems to further bolster immunisation services.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
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 implementing the recommendations of the report by the World Health Organisation entitled Leveraging Vaccines to Reduce Antibiotic Use and Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance, published on 27 January 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) contributes to the World Health Organization’s efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The AMR National Action Plan (NAP) 2019-24 highlights the importance of developing new vaccines. The forthcoming NAP (2024-29) is under development, and infection prevention and control, including vaccines, will be a central part of the plan.
UKHSA conducts research on the potential for vaccines to tackle antibiotic prescribing and AMR. UKHSA leads work within a European public-private partnership. UKHSA’s AMR network provides innovative technologies and develops interventions to tackle AMR, including vaccines and alternatives to antibiotics.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps to negotiate bilateral youth mobility schemes with (a) the EU, (b) France, (c) Greece, (d) Italy and (e) Spain.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The UK remain open to negotiating new Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) arrangements with other countries and territories including EU Member States. However, as each YMS is subject to a bilateral, reciprocal arrangement which also provides benefit to UK nationals, with the details agreed between the relevant parties, we are unable to disclose the status of negotiations as they occur.
Asked by: Philippa Whitford (Scottish National Party - Central Ayrshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans with Cabinet colleagues to increase research funding into the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of blood cancers.
Answered by Will Quince
As with other Government funders of health research, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) does not allocate funding for specific disease areas. The level of research spend in a particular area is driven by factors, including scientific potential and the number and scale of successful funding applications. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including blood cancers.
The following table shows NIHR research spend on diagnosis, treatment, and diagnosis & treatment of blood cancers since 2018:
Number of projects | Total Awards Value | |
Blood Cancer Diagnosis | 11 | £11.9 million |
Blood Cancer Treatment | 14 | £14,7 million |
Blood Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment | 4 | £7,712 |