Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2024 to Question 17714 on Health Services: Veterans, how many veterans in the West Midlands used Op Restore services in 2022 and 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data on Op COURAGE is collated by the integrated care board where a patient is registered. Between 2017 and December 2023, there have been 22,371 referrals to Op COURAGE for veterans who are registered with a general practice, located in areas with military presence. In 2022 and 2023, there were 581 referrals for Op RESTORE. 78 of these were from the Midlands region. Data was collated at a regional level only, and is not available for West Midlands.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the answer of 15 March 2024 to Question 17714 on Health Services: Veterans, how many veterans used Op Restore services in 2022 and 2023.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data on Op COURAGE is collated by the integrated care board where a patient is registered. Between 2017 and December 2023, there have been 22,371 referrals to Op COURAGE for veterans who are registered with a general practice, located in areas with military presence. In 2022 and 2023, there were 581 referrals for Op RESTORE. 78 of these were from the Midlands region. Data was collated at a regional level only, and is not available for West Midlands.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many veterans in garrison towns have used Op Courage since its inception.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
Data on Op COURAGE is collated by the integrated care board where a patient is registered. Between 2017 and December 2023, there have been 22,371 referrals to Op COURAGE for veterans who are registered with a general practice, located in areas with military presence. In 2022 and 2023, there were 581 referrals for Op RESTORE. 78 of these were from the Midlands region. Data was collated at a regional level only, and is not available for West Midlands.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many veterans received Pension Credit in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not collected and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what funds his Department contributed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The UK provided the following funding to UNRWA in each of the last five financial years:
FY 2019 - 20: £65.5 million
FY 2020 - 21: £65 million
FY 2021 - 22: £11 million
FY 2022 - 23: £18.7 million
FY 2023 - 24: £35 million
The UK provided £35 million to UNRWA this financial year, including an uplift of £16 million for the Gaza humanitarian response, all of which was disbursed before the recent allegations came to light. No more British funding is due this financial year. We are pausing any future funding of UNRWA.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
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 24 May 2022 to Question 5381 on Medicine: Students, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of uprating the bursary amount paid for fifth year medical students.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Bursary funding arrangements are reviewed annually, ahead of the start of each academic year. For the 2023/24 academic year, the Government uplifted travel and dual accommodation expense rates for the NHS Bursary by 50%, with the exception of travel by public transport, which continues to be reimbursed at cost. We also uplifted disabled students’ allowance, childcare rates, and the means-testing threshold, increasing the amount of funding available to support medical students.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of legislating to compel dogs to be put on leads in public places.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
There is a balance to be struck between protecting the wider public and their animals from dog attacks, the freedom people enjoy when walking their dogs, and the welfare of those dogs including the freedom to exhibit normal behaviours. We currently have no plans to legislate to compel dogs to be on leads in public places.
The Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs already states that it is best practice to keep dogs on leads around other animals. It is also an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 to allow a dog to be on a designated road unless it is on a lead.
Under the Anti-Social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014, enforcement authorities have powers to make Public Space Protection Orders (PSPOs) insisting dogs are kept on leads in certain areas. Where a dog has been involved in anti-social behaviour, enforcement authorities can also issue community protection notices which could require a dog to be kept on a lead in public.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Op Courage awareness campaign since its launch on 9 January 2024.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In January 2024, NHS England launched a national campaign to raise awareness of Op COURAGE, and encourage veterans struggling with their mental health to seek help from the service. The campaign, which runs until the end of March 2024, features veterans who have used Op COURAGE and includes a toolkit and a film featuring high-profile veteran JJ Chalmers. Phase two of the campaign activity includes increased social media, broadcasts, and regional press, particularly within areas of higher veteran populations.
The Government has not made any assessment of the effectiveness of the awareness campaign as Op COURAGE providers have shared anecdotal feedback that there has been a rise in referrals since the launch of this campaign.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she has taken to promote Op Courage to veterans.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
In January 2024, NHS England launched a national campaign to raise awareness of Op COURAGE, and encourage veterans struggling with their mental health to seek help from the service. The campaign, which runs until the end of March 2024, features veterans who have used Op COURAGE and includes a toolkit and a film featuring high-profile veteran JJ Chalmers. Phase two of the campaign activity includes increased social media, broadcasts, and regional press, particularly within areas of higher veteran populations.
The Government has not made any assessment of the effectiveness of the awareness campaign as Op COURAGE providers have shared anecdotal feedback that there has been a rise in referrals since the launch of this campaign.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will have discussions with local authorities on introducing veteran-awareness training for local authority social care teams.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
There are no immediate plans to implement specific training for local authority social care teams. Instead, the Principal Social Work Network for Adults across England meet on a regular basis to review all aspects of social work practice and training, underpinned by statutory and policy guidance, which includes the needs of the veteran community. This national network comprises of representatives from all settings including local authorities, National Health Service bodies, the voluntary sector, and Ministry of Defence organisations, and shares an undertaking to develop the competence of the workforce to meet the needs of all vulnerable groups, including veterans and their families and carers.
The Government has an ambition to make the United Kingdom the best place in the world to be a veteran by 2028. Veterans are entitled to the same social care and support as the civilian population in England.