Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Government of Israel on the protests against that Government's proposed judicial reforms.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Prime Minister made clear the importance of upholding the shared democratic values that underpin our relationship, including in relation to the proposed judicial reforms in Israel during his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on 24 March in London. The Foreign Secretary also raised judicial reform and the importance of seeking consensus on this sensitive issue with Mr Netanyahu and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, during his visit to Israel on 11-13 September. The UK enjoys a deep and historic relationship with Israel and we continue to urge all parties to ensure that a robust system of checks and balances, and the independence of Israel's judiciary, are preserved.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps she is taking to reduce the number of people on zero hour contracts in (a) Ealing Central and Acton constituency and (b) the UK.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Zero hours contracts are an important part of the UK’s flexible labour market. They are useful where there is not a constant demand for staff, allowing flexibility for both employers and individuals – like carers, people studying, or retirees. For some, a zero hours contract may be the type of contract which works best for them.
Individuals on zero hours contracts represent a very small proportion of the workforce. The ONS estimates that 155,000 people aged 16 and over were employed on a zero hours contract in London in April – June 2023, representing 3.3% of people in employment in the area.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 help tackle the backlog of cardiovascular care in the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The NHS Long Term Plan has committed to a number of key ambitions to improve care and outcomes for individuals with cardiovascular disease including enhanced diagnostic support in the community, better personalised planning and increasing access to cardiac rehabilitation. These ambitions will support the delivery of the aim to help prevent 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029.
To support elective recovery, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cardiovascular disease. Steps taken include rolling out up to 160 Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs) which will provide echocardiography services by March 2025. In addition, the National Health Service will increase capacity, seeking alternative capacity in other trusts or the independent sector and increasing activity through dedicated and protected surgical hubs.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 reduce waiting times for kidney disease diagnosis.
Answered by Will Quince
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance, Chronic kidney disease: Assessment and management [NG203], updated in November 2021, sets out best practice for clinicians in the diagnosis and management of chronic kidney disease. The guidance covers monitoring for those patients at risk, pharmacological management and referral where appropriate. The guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng203
In addition to evidence-based guidance to support clinicians to diagnose problems of the kidney, we are also working to detect people at risk of kidney disease through the NHS Health Check Programme. The Programme, which is available to people aged between 40 and 74 years old who are not already on a chronic disease register, assesses people’s health and risk of developing certain health problems. Using this information, patients are supported to make behavioural changes and access treatment which helps to prevent and detect kidney disease earlier.
We are investing in new delivery models for the NHS Health Check, including nearly £17 million for the development and roll-out of an innovative new national digital NHS Health Check that will give people choice about where and when to have a check.
The NHS England Renal Services Transformation Programme has recently launched a toolkit which identifies principles and actions that the health care system can take to improve the identification of kidney disease. The principles will encourage integrated care systems to focus on early identification and management of kidney disease but outlines actions developed in collaboration with clinical and operational colleagues that could help them achieve better patient outcomes and experience.
NHS England is also reviewing renal service specifications. Historically, these specifications have focused on advanced disease. However, future versions will support early diagnosis and intervention.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 (a) providing additional funding for services that help people stop smoking and (b) using proceeds from the tobacco industry to fund smoking cessation services.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
The Public Health Grant will increase over the current spending review period, rising to nearly £3.6 billion in 2024/25 and continues to support local authorities to provide a range of public health services, including stop smoking services.
Latest figures from 2021/22 show that local authorities reported spend of £68 million on local authority led stop smoking services, with further reported spend of nearly £12 million on wider tobacco control.
Local authorities are best placed to identify the groups within their community where resources should be focused to reduce smoking harms. We continue to work with HM Treasury regarding tobacco taxation and revenue funding, including reviewing options to raise additional funds for smoking cessation services.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent steps he has taken to tackle illegal pavement parking.
Answered by Richard Holden - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
We undertook a consultation on the options to tackle pavement parking outside London. We are currently working through the policy options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them and as soon as those matters are certain we will publish our formal response. I can assure you this is a priority for us and that we will announce next steps for policy as soon as possible.
The formal consultation response will be available to view at: www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking.
Under the Road Traffic Act 1984, councils outside London have the power to prohibit pavement parking by introducing local laws through Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs); and the Department looks to local authorities to use these traffic management powers where problems occur.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 improve access to (a) technological and (b) psychological support for people with diabetes.
Answered by Will Quince
The latest technological support for people with diabetes, the hybrid closed loop system (the ‘artificial pancreas’) is currently progressing through the final stages of a Technical Assessment by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Ensuring that these technologies can be provided on the National Health Service at a cost-effective price increases access to these technologies for all eligible people.
The latest data shows over 60% of people with Type 1 diabetes were prescribed flash glucose monitoring, against an NHS Long Term Plan target of 20%. When the programme commenced, Flash was twice more likely to be prescribed to patients living in the most affluent areas. The current ratio between most and least affluent is now down to less than 1.2 times more likely, with many areas reporting complete parity.
As of October 2022, 97% of pregnant women living with type 1 diabetes were offered continuous glucose monitoring. The latest figures indicate that there is equitable access to the technology across deciles and ethnicities in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation.
NHS England has commissioned digital support programmes for people with diabetes. People with type 1 diabetes can self-refer to ‘MyType1 Diabetes’ and people with type 2 diabetes can self-refer to the online Healthy Living Programme.
Approximately 72% of children and young people living with type 1 diabetes have registered with the Digibete app, a free online service to support children and young people to manage their type 1 diabetes.
The Spring 2023 Budget contained a package of over £400 million to support the long-term sick, and disabled. This includes approximately £200 million for digital mental health – to modernise NHS Talking Therapies services in England. NHS Talking Therapies services provide evidence-based psychological treatments for people with depression and anxiety disorders, and comorbid long-term physical health conditions such as diabetes.
Building on Type 1 Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots the NHS Diabetes Programme approved funding for five additional T1DE sites.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
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 that women are able to access breast screening.
Answered by Will Quince
The Department has invested £10 million into the NHS Breast Screening Programme for 28 new breast screening units targeted at areas where they are needed most. This will provide extra capacity for services to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, boost uptake of screening in areas where attendance is low, and tackle health disparities.
Further steps to remove barriers to attending breast screening include promoting the use of text message alerts to remind women of upcoming appointments. National Health Service breast screening providers are also being encouraged to work with their partners to bring together work to make sure as many people as possible can access breast screening services.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to ban bidding on marketed rental prices.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
Letting agents and landlords should behave professionally and responsibly in advertising rents and they are not permitted to engage in pricing practices that are false or misleading.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question
To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what the Church of England's estimate is of the capital cost of outstanding repairs for parish churches in each diocese.
Answered by Andrew Selous - Second Church Estates Commissioner
The National Church Institutions do not hold statistics on outstanding repairs for parish churches, collectively or by diocese.
The Church Commissioners and Archbishops' Council have agreed funding of £11 million for 2023-25 in support of Buildings for Mission, which includes £2m for places of worship maintenance/repairs, and funding for up to 20 support officers to work with communities on the care of their church buildings. This is alongside a one-off commitment of £190 million (over nine years) to support the whole Church, including its buildings, in the transition towards Net Zero 2030.
12,500 church buildings are listed, with 45% of all England's Grade I listed buildings being cathedrals and churches. The average annual cost for the maintenance and repairs to parish churches alone is estimated at £150 million, and the maintenance of our churches across the country is mostly financed by generous local donors and volunteers. Support and advice, including on available grants, is available from ChurchCare: https://www.churchofengland.org/resources/churchcare(opens in a new tab)
The Church remains grateful for the continuation of the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme as it was for the Culture Recovery Fund. Money invested in church buildings has positive benefits to the wider community: the 2021 House of Good report by the National Churches Trust (https://www.houseofgood.nationalchurchestrust.org/(opens in a new tab)) found that "the annual social and economic value of church buildings to the UK is worth around £55 billion. This sum, calculated using the latest HM Treasury Green Book guidance, includes the contribution churches make to wellbeing and to local economies."
By means of an amendment to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in the House of Lords, the Government has recently agreed to make it clear that churches are legally able to access Local Authority grant funding. This clarification is very welcome and comes in response to many years of advocacy by church, heritage and Local Authority groups. The removal of ambiguity means that Local Authorities and parish councils in England will enable seed funding to repair, restore and upgrade facilities, helping churches to continue to serve their local communities as worship spaces, community hubs, and through social action projects.
The Church is committed to engaging with the Government on the implementation of the recommendations of the 2017 Taylor Review into the sustainability of church buildings (The Taylor Review: Sustainability of English Churches and Cathedrals - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab))