Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 9 September 2019 to Question 284706, what advice the Government has issued to UK citizens travelling in the EU that require treatments not routinely covered by travel insurance policies after the UK leaves the EU.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The United Kingdom Government has proposed to all Member States that we should maintain existing reciprocal healthcare arrangements until 31 December 2020 if the UK leaves the European Union without a deal. This includes the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which can support UK residents with long term conditions travelling to the EU who may require needs arising treatment.
The Government understands the concerns of patients with long term conditions and is working to secure the continuation of reciprocal healthcare arrangements, so UK and EU nationals have access to medical treatment in the same way they do now.
Guidance for travelling to the EU after EU exit is available on gov.uk, available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-residents-visiting-the-eueea-and-switzerland-healthcare
The UK Government is advising people with pre-existing or long term medical conditions to also check the Money and Pensions Advice Service which has information on their website for people about their options for purchasing travel insurance. Further information is available at the following link:
www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/travel-insurance-for-over-65s-and-medical-conditions
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
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 there will be no shortage of the medicines and consumables needed for dialysis or transplantation following the UK’s departure from the EU.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for leaving the European Union. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the uninterrupted supply of medicines and medical products once we have left the EU.
The Department, as part of our EU exit preparations, continues to implement a multi-layered approach to mitigate potential disruption to supply, which includes medicines and consumables needed for dialysis or transplantation. This approach consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages. Further details can be found at the following link:
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
What recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on rail stations that are inaccessible to people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
We are committed to improving accessibility at rail stations, and have recently extended the Access for All programme with £300m to provide accessibility improvements at even more stations. This is in addition to improvements required whenever infrastructure work is carried out at a station by the industry.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the legal basis is for her Department to ask claimants who are victims of third-party universal credit fraud to attend an interview under caution at a Jobcentre rather than provide a witness statement.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The new process for advances and identification introduced on the 18 September 2019 mean that the level of UC advances fraud will be mitigated. Where an individual is a victim of fraud and received no money personally, no claim will be made against them. However, it is often not possible to ascertain the facts without an Interview Under Caution. The powers for an Interview Under Caution are under the Social Security Administration Act 1992, Part VI, governs this process and has been followed by successive governments of different political persuasions.
DWP will ask, and allow the individual to have the opportunity to respond to any evidence in a voluntary Interview Under Caution.
DWP follows the guidance laid down in the Criminal Procedures and Investigations Act 1996 and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Code C 2014) to afford the claimant all appropriate protection in law.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many interviews under caution have been held with victims of universal credit fraud.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information you requested could only be provided by manually examining a substantial number of individual cases. The Department estimates that this would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many bids for capital spending (a) his Department, (b) NHS England and (c) NHS Improvement has (i) rejected and (ii) not responded to in each of the last five years; and what the total value was of the bids (A) rejected and (B) not responded to in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested on capital bids received by the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement for capital spending are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
There have been a multitude of capital funds in the last five years varying in value, complexity and outcome objective and NHS England and NHS Improvement are in on-going discussions with trusts about their capital needs and plans.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average length of time was for (a) his Department, (b) NHS England and (c) NHS Improvement to respond to bids for capital spending in each of the last five years.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The information requested on capital bids received by the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement for capital spending are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
There have been a multitude of capital funds in the last five years varying in value, complexity and outcome objective and NHS England and NHS Improvement are in on-going discussions with trusts about their capital needs and plans.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many third parties who have allegedly scammed people into making a universal credit claim have been identified and investigated; and how many of those third parties have been referred for prosecution.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Examination of the cases currently being progressed by the Department indicates there are 107 third-party individuals that are subject to investigation. This number is subject to change as cases progress.
At the time of submission, one 3rd party case has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service and has been successfully prosecuted. There are a number of other cases at an advanced stage of investigation.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many administrative penalties her Department has levied on individuals who have reported they have been a victim of universal credit fraud.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The information you have requested could only be provided by manually examining a substantial number of individual cases. The Department estimates that this would incur disproportionate costs.
For the sake of clarity the policy is that an Administrative Penalty is only ever considered as an alternative to a referral for a prosecution in cases where benefit fraud has been committed, and not for innocent victims who report fraud.
Asked by: Ruth George (Labour - High Peak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in how many interviews under caution have individuals who have reported they have been a victim of universal credit fraud had a legal representative to accompany them.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
I have interpreted your question to relate to Universal Credit advances fraud.
The information requested could only be provided by manually examining the cases. We estimate that this would incur disproportionate costs. However, all claimants are entitled to bring a legal representative and are advised of this in their invitation to interview.