Asked by: Greg Knight (Conservative - East Yorkshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress she has made on increasing the number of medical student places; and whether she expects to meet the commitment to double the number of medical school places by 2031.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the availability of treatment for glioma on the NHS.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Alistair Strathern (Labour - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether NHS England plans to provide dendric cell therapy for glioma.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education of 23 April 2023 on Childcare Entitlements, Official Report, for what reason the statement was made (a) before the publication of a National Audit Office (NAO) on that matter and (b) while the NAO report was under embargo.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government’s plan to support hard working families is working. The department are making the largest ever investment in childcare in England’s history. By September 2025, when the new entitlements are fully rolled out, working families will on average save £6,900 with 30 hours free childcare from when their child is 9 months old until they start school.
The roll out has already been successful, with the government exceeding its targets for the April roll out of the first 15 hours for two year olds. As the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing set out in a statement to the house yesterday, and as acknowledged by the National Audit Office report, parents of over 195,000 two year olds are now benefitting from this government’s new and historic childcare offer.
Asked by: Owen Thompson (Scottish National Party - Midlothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she plans to review the terms of the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade are negotiating a Free Trade Agreement with Israel to update the current partnership agreement. The existing agreement guarantees tariff free trade on 99% of goods by value but contains no provisions to facilitate trade in services.
Services comprise around 80% of both the UK and Israel’s economies but they only make up about 44% of total trade between us (in the 12 months ending September 2023). The trading relationship between the UK and Israel is valued at £6.4 billion (as of September 2023) and there is significant room for growth – given the UK is the world’s second largest exporter of services. An upgraded trade deal will play to British strengths and unlock trade for our world-leading services and digital sectors.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with representatives of World Central Kitchen on the creation of an independent commission to investigate the killings of aid workers in Gaza on 1 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
As the Prime Minister said in his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu 2 April, the UK was appalled by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British nationals, in an Israeli airstrike 1 April. The Prime Minister called for a thorough and transparent investigation into what happened. Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon also spoke with the CEO of World Central Kitchen, Erin Gore, on 2 April to offer our condolences.
Both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have conveyed to their Israeli counterparts the importance of effective deconfliction.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of infrastructure within Gaza to effectively distribute aid.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
The Government is closely monitoring the situation in Gaza and is in regular contact with humanitarian partners who operate there.
HMG have underlined the need for increased capacity inside Gaza including fully enabling the UN's minimal operating requirements. Both have also conveyed to their Israeli counterparts the importance of effective deconfliction.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2024 to Question 19719 on INEOS: Belgium, whether the Ineos project will be capable of processing sustainable aviation fuel.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The INEOS Olefins project is a petrochemical plant being built to produce a range of petrochemicals products rather than burnable fuels. Therefore it neither processes nor produces any form of aviation fuel.
Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for the Home Department to help prevent people (a) promoting, (b) encouraging and (c) glorifying terrorism at universities.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
Higher education (HE) providers must comply with the statutory Prevent duty to have 'due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism'. The statutory Prevent duty can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance/prevent-duty-guidance-for-england-and-wales-accessible.
HE providers should have effective policies and procedures in place to safeguard individuals susceptible to radicalisation. This includes assessing the risk of learners becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. The Office for Students has delegated responsibility from the Secretary of State for Education for monitoring compliance of the Prevent duty in Registered HE Bodies.
The department has a team of Prevent Regional Education Co-ordinators who work directly with HE institutions in England to provide advice, support and training to ensure providers are well equipped to prevent people from being drawn into or supporting terrorism. Further guidance, including bespoke training material for HE providers, can be found on GOV.UK.
In the 'Independent Review of Prevent: One year on' progress report, the department announced that it is committed to publishing research on the implementation of the Prevent duty in HE, and guidance for universities on managing external speakers on campus. The Independent Review of Prevent can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-prevents-report-and-government-response/independent-review-of-prevent-one-year-on-progress-report-accessible.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether her Department (a) has taken and (b) plans to take steps to (a) monitor the incidence of depression among stroke survivors and (b) improve interventions to enhance (i) aftercare and (ii) quality of life for those people.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Depression affects approximately one third of people with stroke, and stroke services in the National Health Service are very aware of the impact this can have on the quality of life and level of independence of people who experienced a stroke, and the importance of understanding through measurement which people are affected, to support appropriate management.
The National Clinical Guideline for Stroke 2023 recommends that people with stroke should be routinely screened for anxiety and depression using standardised tools, the results of which should be used alongside other sources of information to inform clinical formulation of treatment and support needs.
The latest published Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) data, from October to December 2023, showed that 92.4% of stroke patients were screened for mood disturbances, including depression, in hospital. 75% of stroke patients who were followed up at six months post stroke also had a mood screen, with 53% of patients receiving the psychological support needed.
NHS England is driving implementation of the National Service Model for an Integrated Community Stroke Service (ICSS) with a number of specific projects aimed at improving delivery of psychological rehabilitation. The ICSS model is vital to support psychological recovery, return to work, and improved quality of life. From July 2024, the SSNAP will record the amount of psychological rehabilitation provided to patients, and measure changes in quality of life over time.