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Written Question
Environmental Land Management Schemes
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will publish an impact assessment of the structure of payments within the Environmental Land Management schemes.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

This Government will always back British farmers which is why in January we increased the payment rates across our Environmental Land Management schemes by 10% on average and will open an expanded offer this July. We have made almost 13,000 Sustainable Farming Incentive agreement offers to farmers. As part of this offer, we are constantly assessing the impact of outside events while making sure all farm types can access funding and support that works for them.


Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if his Department will (a) identify and (b) contact people in Luton South who were (i) infected and (ii) affected by the contaminated blood scandal as part of Government preparations for responding to Infected Blood Inquiry recommendations on compensation.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4,000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable Member’s questions on her constituency.


Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Thursday 7th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people have received interim compensation payments because of (a) their and (b) their family member’s infection from contaminated blood or blood products in Luton South constituency.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Statistical Expert Group, established by the Infected Blood Inquiry, has provided valuable insight into the numbers of infections from blood and blood products in the UK between 1970 and 1991 and subsequent survival rates. Since October 2022, the Government has paid over £400 million in interim compensation payments to those infected or bereaved partners registered with the UK Infected Blood Support Schemes, totalling over 4,000 individuals. However, the requested information is not available by Parliamentary constituency. There is also considerable uncertainty over the number of people, especially those affected, who might be eligible under Sir Brian Langstaff’s recommendations. Therefore I am not able to provide a substantive response to the Honourable Member’s questions on her constituency.


Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what psychological support is available for people (a) infected and (b) affected by contaminated blood and blood products in Luton South.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

Psychological support is available for those who are beneficiaries of the England Infected Blood Support Scheme (EIBSS) and their families. The EIBSS provides a grant of up to £900 a year for beneficiaries and family members to access counselling and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved talking therapies. In August 2022, this offer was expanded to enable beneficiaries to access funding for ongoing or longer-term treatment. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/talking-therapy-support.

A bespoke psychological support service for infected blood victims, commissioned by NHS England, is currently being developed, and is intended to go live in early summer 2024.


Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who were (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions by the NHS in Luton South constituency.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department has not made an estimate of the number of people who were treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions by the National Health Service in the Luton South constituency.


Written Question
Blood: Contamination
Wednesday 6th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who have died since being (a) treated with contaminated blood products and (b) given contaminated blood transfusions in Luton South constituency.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The Department has not made an estimate on the number of people who have died since being treated with contaminated blood products and given contaminated blood transfusions, in the Luton South constituency.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Access
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve access to mental health services.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

  • We increased investment in mental health services by close to a billion pounds in 2022-23 compared to the previous year, with almost £16 billion going on mental health care. This enabled 3.6 million people to access mental health support, a 10% increase from 2021-22.

  • We are also funding 24 early support hubs for young people across England, one of which will serve constituents in the Honourable Member’s Luton constituency.


Written Question
Councillors: Disclosure of Information
Monday 4th March 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the Committee for Public Life report on Local Government Ethical Standards, published on 18 March 2022, what plans he has to ensure that councillors are not required to publicly disclose their home addresses.

Answered by Simon Hoare - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)

The sensitive interest provisions at Section 32 of the Localism Act 2011 currently allows councillors to request that their home addresses are not published if disclosure could lead to them, or a person connected to them, being subject to violence or intimidation. The Government encourages monitoring officers to look sympathetically at requests for withholding home addresses where there are legitimate concerns.

Intimidation is unacceptable and it is vital that councillors feel able to raise concerns about intimidation, and that those in leadership positions in councils take concerns seriously and deal with them appropriately.


Written Question
Dementia: Research
Monday 26th February 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how the £95 million investment in dementia clinical (a) trials and (b) innovative research will be allocated across the Mission’s pillars of (i) innovations in biomarkers, data and digital and imaging technologies, (ii) increasing the number and speed of UK-based clinical trials for research into dementia and neurodegeneration and (iii) end-to-end implementation.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission was launched in August 2022 with £95 million of Government funding. There is now more than £120 million of committed funding to the mission, which will be invested into three key pillars. The first pillar centres on biomarkers and experimental medicine, and will receive £50 million of the funding for the mission, with the intention of securing match funding from industry partners. As part of this pillar, Innovate UK launched a Small Business Research Initiative competition, with the aim of accelerating innovations in clinical biomarker tools and technologies for dementia, where organisations could apply for a share of £6 million of funding out of the allocated £50 million. These technologies will enable the discovery, validation, and implementation of a suite of decision-enabling biomarkers to help transform clinical trials and precision therapies. The competition closed on 4 September 2023, and the recipients awarded a portion of the £6 million will be announced soon.

The second pillar will focus on clinical trial infrastructure and innovation, with two recently announced initiatives to support its delivery. The first of these initiatives is the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s Dementia-Translational Research Collaboration Trials Network, with almost £50 million of funding over five years. This will expand the United Kingdom’s early phase clinical trial capabilities for dementia, speeding up the development of new treatments. The second initiative is the Clinical Trials Delivery Accelerator, focused on dementia, also named the Dementia Accelerator. This was announced in the Autumn Statement 2023, in response to Lord O’Shaughnessy’s independent review into commercial clinical trials in the UK, with up to £20 million of additional funding.

The third pillar will be focused on end-to-end implementation, specifically on aligning translational research, clinical practice, and regulatory frameworks to prepare health-systems for new dementia medicines. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS England, the Department, the devolved administrations, and the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission are already working closely together to plan for the implementation of new dementia medicines, should they gain approval in the UK.


Written Question
Sewage: Luton South
Wednesday 14th February 2024

Asked by: Rachel Hopkins (Labour - Luton South)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many sewage releases there were in Luton South constituency in (a) 2022 and (b) 2023.

Answered by Robbie Moore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Over the past eight years the Environment Agency and Defra have worked with water companies to introduce Event Duration Monitors (EDMs), which provide them with much more information about where and when storm overflows are occurring. Water companies submit annual returns of their EDM data, which are publicly available here. The annual returns for 2023 are not yet available. The 2022 return shows that there were 32 storm overflows reported by Thames Water within the Luton South constituency. Only 5 of these storm overflows had EDM installed in 2022. EDM recorded 12 spills from these 5 overflows in 2022, lasting a total of 8.62 hours. Of the remaining 27 overflows without EDM, 2 were reported as being no longer operational, and their discharge permits have now been revoked. The other 25 overflows were all due to have EDM installed by December 2023. At the end of 2023, the Government target of having all storm overflows in England monitored was met, so EDM data on these sites should soon be available as well.