Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the proposal made on 8 July 2022 by the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on cooperation to de-mine that island.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
In accordance with the rest of the international community, with the sole exception of Turkey, the UK does not recognise the self-declared "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus" as an independent state. In line with UN Security Council calls, the UK continues to urge the leaders of both communities to agree a plan to achieve a mine-free Cyprus and overcome existing barriers to this work. We continue to believe that a just and lasting settlement is the best chance of resolving this issue and our commitment to support this through the UN-led process remains unwavering.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the disability cost of living payment on levels of poverty among disabled people.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
To date, 6,400,000 Disability Cost of Living Payments have been processed by DWP.
As of 26 June 2023, over 99% of DWP claimants already eligible for the Disability Cost of Living Payment have had their payments processed.
Management Information on the Cost of Living Payments is available here: Cost of Living Payment 2023 to 2024 management information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
An evaluation of the Cost of Living Payments is underway. This will seek to understand their effectiveness as a means of support for low-income and vulnerable households, including those with a disability.
This Government is committed to reducing poverty, including poverty among disabled people, and supporting low-income families, and has overseen significant falls in absolute poverty since 2009/10.
The proportion of people in families where someone is disabled who are in absolute poverty after housing costs has decreased by 1 percentage point since 2019/20, and by 3 percentage points since 2009/10. The number of people in such families has increased slightly due to an increase in the number of people in families where someone is disabled.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and is taking action to help. The total support over 2022-2025 to help households with the high cost of living is £104 billion.
This includes up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments for households on eligible means-tested benefits. The most recent payment of £300 was made between 31 October 2023 and 19 November 2023 for most people who are eligible, which follows on from the £301 payment issued in April 2023 to 8.3 million households. A further payment of £299 will be made by spring 2024 for those entitled. In addition, more than eight million pensioner households across the UK will receive an additional £300 Cost of Living Payment during winter 2023-24 paid as a top up to the Winter Fuel Payment and 6.4 million individuals on eligible ‘extra-costs’ disability benefits have also received a further £150 Disability Cost of Living Payment.
Since October 2021, the Government have provided total funding of over £2 billion via the Household Support Fund to local authorities in England to enable them to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the cost of essentials. The current scheme worth £842m runs until March 2024 and the devolved administrations receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion. Local authorities are expected to support households in the most need, and in particular those who may not be eligible for the other support the Government recently made available, but are nevertheless in need of support. In the scheme guidance, local authorities have been strongly encouraged to explore ways in which they might use the funding to support disabled people in their area.
On 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44, representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW.
Subject to parliamentary approval, working-age benefits will rise by 6.7% from April 2024, in line with inflation, including Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance. The Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who lost job opportunities in the time between an Access to Work assessment and its implementation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
This data is not routinely collected.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to assess which workplace interventions are suitable to help ensure that people with arthritis are able to remain in work.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government has a range of initiatives to provide expert and tailored support for disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with arthritis, to start, stay and succeed in work. These focus on providing suitable interventions for each individual and helping employers to support their employees’ needs:
Work in partnership between the DWP and the health system, including the Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care (IPSPC) programme, a Supported Employment model (place, train and maintain) delivered in health settings, aimed at people with physical or common mental health conditions to support them to access paid jobs in the open labour market.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) recruit and (b) train more Access to Work advisors.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
There have been several recruitment and redeployment activities this year to increase the AtW Advisor staffing numbers. All of these staff will have comprehensive training when they join AtW to enable them to carry out their role.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to support employers to encourage good musculoskeletal health in the workplace, in the context of levels of musculoskeletal-related economic inactivity in the workforce.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government is taking several steps to help support employers to encourage good musculoskeletal (MSK) health in the workplace and reduce MSK-related economic inactivity.
In October 2022, we published the Musculoskeletal (MSK) Health Toolkit for employers and further education institutions which encourages employers to support adolescents and young adults with MSK conditions. The Musculoskeletal health toolkit for employers was developed in partnership with Business in the Community and provides practical information for employers of all sizes to address MSK conditions in the workplace for the working age population.
On the 24 January 2023, the Government announced plans to publish the Major Conditions Strategy (MCS). The Strategy will focus on six major groups of conditions including musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis. It will explore how we can tackle the key drivers of ill-health in England, reduce pressure on the NHS and reduce ill-health related labour market inactivity. MSK is one of six key focuses of the MCS, which will be published early next year.
In the Spring Budget of 15 March 2023, the Government also set out a package of measures to tackle the leading health-related causes keeping people out of work, including people with MSK conditions:
The Government also has a range of initiatives to provide expert and tailored support for disabled people and people with health conditions, including people with MSK conditions, to start, stay and succeed in work. These include:
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress he has made on delivering the Government's dementia moonshot commitment; and what recent estimate he has made of when that commitment will be delivered, in the context of the finding in Alzheimer's Research UK's report entitled Tipping Point: The Future of Dementia, published in September 2023, that every £1 invested in dementia research is expected to generate an average of £2.91 of economic benefits in the UK between 2020 and 2040.
Answered by Will Quince
The Government is strongly committed to supporting research into dementia. In 2019, we committed to double funding for dementia research to £160 million per year by 2024/25. The Government spent over £413 million on dementia research from 2017/18 to 2021/22.
On 14 August 2022, the Government launched the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Mission, along with £95 million of funding. The Mission is part of the commitment to double dementia research funding. The Mission aims to speed up the development of new treatments.
On 20 March 2023, we announced the appointment of two co-chairs of the mission, Hilary Evans, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, and Nadeem Sarwar, of Novo Nordisk. The Mission chairs have developed a roadmap that sets out their ambition to work with industry and other United Kingdom initiatives by developing innovations in biomarkers, data and digital sciences, and increasing the number and speed of clinical trials in dementia.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to make primary care optometry the default option for glaucoma care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In England, optometrists and ophthalmic medical practitioners play a vital role in the early detection of glaucoma, which is usually picked up during a routine sight test. Patients with suspected glaucoma will be referred for further investigation and any clinically necessary treatment.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning secondary care services and are also able to commission out-of-hospital services from primary eye care providers to meet local needs, which could include the ongoing management and monitoring of selected glaucoma patients.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to issue guidance on hospital eye services partnering with local optometrists to deliver local care.
Answered by Neil O'Brien
In England, integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the planning and commissioning of services to meet local needs. This includes decisions on how to configure services and whether to commission enhanced eye care services from primary eye care providers, which could include glaucoma monitoring and pre- and post-operative cataract checks.
NHS England have commissioned a range of pathfinder projects to examine how the current eye care pathways could be improved, including by the greater use of primary eye care providers. The outcomes of these projects will inform future commissioning decisions by ICBs.
In addition, to support ICBs in this area we are working with the profession and NHS England to develop a standard service specification for minor and urgent eye care services. These services have the potential to remove demand from hospital services and provide care for minor conditions closer to home.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
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 increase the availability of non-invasive cancer treatment technologies in the NHS.
Answered by Will Quince
The adoption of new treatments, including increasing the number of minimally invasive cancer treatments, into the National Health Service in England is generally the result of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance and commissioner decisions. Both NHS England and integrated care boards (ICBs) are required to put in place access for any treatment that carries a positive recommendation from the Technology Appraisal programme, operated by NICE.
Where treatments are approved by NICE through the Technology Appraisals programme, the NHS is required to make them available within agreed timescales, which vary by technology. Implementation of any NICE approvals will be supported by the service readiness assessment and the development of additional capacity where necessary.
The NHS continues to increase investment in minimally invasive cancer therapies and radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. Since April 2022, the responsibility for investing in new radiotherapy machines has sat with local systems. This is supported by the 2021 Spending Review, which set aside £12 billion in operational capital for the NHS from 2022 to 2025.