Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of increased rates of breastfeeding on cost savings for the NHS.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The public health benefits of breastfeeding for child and maternal health are significant and well established. Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that increasing breastfeeding rates, both in terms of duration and exclusivity, is likely to generate substantial cost savings to the National Health Service, although the actual amounts saved will depend on the extent of this increase.
Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, we are investing £50 million to increase the range of specialist support, which is enabling more parents to access face-to-face and virtual support whenever they need it. One of the objectives of the programme is to improve the evidence base around the impact of breastfeeding interventions, and the specific combination of interventions that are effective in different circumstances. This is expected to strengthen the case for further, more widespread investment in the future.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he is aware of delays in casework decisions where further advice on policy is sought.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Our priority is to consider claims as efficiently and fairly as possible. This is best for claimants, but also reduces the number of people on asylum support, and in turn, the burden on taxpayers. There may be circumstances which may delay the progression of a case, for example waiting for evidence that is of importance in deciding a claim, or a change in country situation requiring an update in country and policy information notes leading to a pause in deciding cases.
In these circumstances, regular reviews are undertaken at appropriate intervals, dependant on the reason why the claim cannot be progressed. As soon as the reason why the claim cannot be progressed is lifted, consideration of the claim is continued.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on the redevelopment of Casement Park.
Answered by Chris Heaton-Harris - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
EURO 2028 is a fantastic opportunity for the UK and Ireland to showcase world-class sport as hosts.
The UK Government is continuing to work closely with the Department for Communities regarding the cost and delivery of Casement Park. We remain committed to ensuring EURO 2028 leaves a lasting legacy across the UK.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the (a) coronavirus extension concession and (b) exceptional assurance concession on the average length of decision periods for applications for indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
On 4 April 2024 a change was made to the Immigration Rules to provide that:
(a) Time spent in the UK during the Coronavirus extension concession grace period (1 August and 31 August 2020) would be considered as lawful presence where an applicant’s permission expired immediately before the grace period; and
(b) Overstaying in the UK when a person held an exceptional assurance concession would be disregarded during the period of grant of exceptional assurance.
Following this Immigration Rules change, decisions on applications for settlement where the person spent time in the UK for a period covered by these concessions are now being prioritised.
Where cases fall outside service standards, the Home Office write to the applicant to inform them of this.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time taken is from submission of application to granting of probate in the last 12 months.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS is focused on increasing outputs to reduce overall timeliness on all types of applications, and the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, from submission, is 12.6 weeks in the last 12 months (October 2022 to September 2023) and following receipt of the documents required, is 10.8 weeks. The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow, with higher levels of receipts during January to September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has increased staffing levels, streamlined internal processes and continued to invest in further improving the digital service.
As a result, the number of grants issued for recent months has been at record levels, with around 16,000 more grants issued than applications received during the last four months (September to December 2023), using more recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly).
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on GOV.UK via Family Court Statistics Quarterly, and currently cover the period up to September 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for the granting of probate.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
HMCTS is focused on increasing outputs to reduce overall timeliness on all types of applications, and the average mean length of time taken for a grant of probate, from submission, is 12.6 weeks in the last 12 months (October 2022 to September 2023) and following receipt of the documents required, is 10.8 weeks. The probate service received record levels of applications during 2022 and this has continued to grow, with higher levels of receipts during January to September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
HMCTS has increased staffing levels, streamlined internal processes and continued to invest in further improving the digital service.
As a result, the number of grants issued for recent months has been at record levels, with around 16,000 more grants issued than applications received during the last four months (September to December 2023), using more recent management information published by HMCTS (which does not go through the same level of quality assurance and analysis as the Family Court Statistics Quarterly).
Average waiting times for probate grants are routinely published on GOV.UK via Family Court Statistics Quarterly, and currently cover the period up to September 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/family-court-statistics-quarterly.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the (a) average and (b) target response time is from submitting an online complaint to HM Courts and Tribunal Service.
Answered by Mike Freer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
In the period July 2023 – December 2023 the average response time for complaints submitted online was 20.3 working days.
HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) acknowledges the complaint on receipt and our aim is to respond within 10 working days.
All parts of the organisation have processes in place to flag and monitor the progress of complaint responses, but timeliness can sometimes be impacted by the level of enquiry or investigation required to enable substantive response, or by the need for administrative teams to focus temporarily on higher service delivery priorities e.g. order production.
Where staff capacity or capability is identified as a primary cause of delay, steps will always be taken to address, whether targeted training or recruitment to bring staffing up to funded headcount.
HMCTS has established a dedicated project to focus on the causes of dissatisfaction/complaints, to identify root cause and improve user experience and therefore reduce the number of, and time taken to respond to complaints.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency on the average licensing approval decision timelines for (a) generic and (b) biosimilar medicines to treat Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is taking urgent action to deliver improvements to decision timescales in established medicines, including those indicated to treat Parkinson’s disease. Last week we approved additional licences for this critical area. Whilst no specific discussions have taken place between the MHRA and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on this matter, we are taking significant steps to assess applications for medicine approval within statutory timeframes and will always prioritise applications according to public health need.
We are working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. The measures we are putting in place are already resulting in significant improvements, and we will continue to publish monthly updates providing applicants with transparent information on expected timescales. As an effective regulator, we are committed to the highest of standards of performance and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to reduce the time taken to license (a) generic and (b) biosimilar medicines to treat Parkinson's disease.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is taking urgent action to deliver improvements to decision timescales in established medicines, including those indicated to treat Parkinson’s disease. Last week we approved additional licences for this critical area. Whilst no specific discussions have taken place between the MHRA and my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on this matter, we are taking significant steps to assess applications for medicine approval within statutory timeframes and will always prioritise applications according to public health need.
We are working to reduce timelines by bringing in additional resources and developing processes that will result in significantly improved response times, while protecting patient safety. The measures we are putting in place are already resulting in significant improvements, and we will continue to publish monthly updates providing applicants with transparent information on expected timescales. As an effective regulator, we are committed to the highest of standards of performance and delivering the right outcomes for patients and public health.
Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what comparative assessment she has made of trends in the total number of medicine shortages recorded by her Department in January (a) 2021, (b) 2022, (c) 2023 and (d) 2024.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are around 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply. However, the medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex and global, and supply disruption is a common issue which affects countries all around the world.
The Department’s medicine Discontinuations and Shortages portal has been collecting notifications from suppliers of potential supply issues since October 2020, and shows that there were approximately:
- 90 supply issue notifications in January 2021;
- 110 supply issue notifications in January 2022;
- 170 supply issue notifications in January 2023; and
- 160 supply issue notifications in January 2024.
Although reporting does vary each month, annual notifications have remained fairly stable at approximately 1,600 supply issue notifications in 2022 and 2023. It is important to note that not all supply issue notifications will lead to a medicine shortage.