Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timescale is for permitting opening of service dentistry outside urgent care centres as the covid-19 restrictions are eased; what the barriers are to that re-opening; what steps he is taking to tackle those barriers; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that practice-based National Health Service dental services could gradually resume from 8 June, giving dental practices flexibility to do what is best for patients and their teams. NHS England and NHS Improvement issued additionally detailed standard operating procedure earlier this month setting out detailed guidance on how dentists can restart face to face dentistry safely. NHS England and NHS Improvement dental guidance is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/coronavirus/primary-care/dental-practice/
Dentists continue to receive full NHS funding with, during the restart period, no targets for numbers of treatments delivered or patients seen. This is to ensure there is no pressure to restart in a way that could conflict with safety. At the height of the pandemic NHS England and NHS Improvement set up urgent dental care centres (UDCs) to provide clinically necessary urgent treatment to patients. The UDCs remain open during the restart period to ensure patients can access urgent care and no additional pressure is put on the pace of the practice restart.
Many dental procedures involve so called aerosol generating procedures. This requires full personal and protective equipment during the pandemic period including FFP2/3 masks. The Government is working closely with industry, the NHS, social care providers and the army to ensure that personal protective equipment is delivered to those who need it. This includes supporting dental wholesalers to stock the equipment needed by general dental practice to safely support practices to restart face to face dental care.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of whether the length of the notice given to dentists in respect of reopening on 8 June 2020 was sufficient to enable them to procure personal protective equipment in order to prevent the spread of covid-19.
Answered by Jo Churchill
NHS England and NHS Improvement as the commissioner of National Health Service dental services decided the notice period for the gradual resumption of face to face care by dental practices holding an NHS contract. The letter announcing this set out that the resumption should be gradual with practices increasing services only at a pace compatible with maximising safety.
Dentists continue to receive full NHS funding with, during the restart period, no targets for numbers of treatments delivered or patients seen. This is to ensure there is no pressure to restart in a way that could conflict with safety. At the height of the pandemic NHS England and NHS Improvement set up urgent dental care centres (UDCs) to provide clinically necessary urgent treatment to patients. Over 600 UDCs remain open during the restart period to ensure patients can access urgent care and no additional pressure is put on the pace of the practice restart.
Most high street dentists purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) via dental wholesalers which supply a range of equipment needed by dentists including PPE. During the COVID-19 pandemic the Government is working closely with industry, the National Health Service, social care providers and the army to ensure that PPE is delivered to those who need it. Our priority is ensuring the safety of patients and all health care workers, including dentists. This includes supporting dental wholesalers to stock the equipment needed by general dental practice to safely support practices to restart face to face dental care.
Asked by: Stephen Twigg (Labour (Co-op) - Liverpool, West Derby)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the conflict in Yemen on that country's economy; and what steps her Department is taking to support the Yemen economy.
Answered by Alistair Burt
Yemen’s recent economic crisis is one of the biggest risks threatening to tip Yemen into famine, with the Yemeni Riyal losing over 40% of its value between June and October.
The UK’s immediate leadership at the height of the economic crisis in October prevented a worsening of the situation. We worked with the Central Bank of Yemen in releasing $270 million of hard currency, provided by Saudi Arabia, to support importers bringing food staples into the country.
We also successfully pressed for the suspension of unnecessary processes introduced by the Government of Yemen in bringing these goods into the country. This has eased the pressure of price increases and temporarily stabilised the currency - the value of the Riyal has since appreciated, rising from 755 YER per USD to 500 YER per USD.
However, much more remains to be done. The UK is now working with the Government of Yemen to facilitate greater financial transparency, ensure foreign currency is available to commercial importers and rebuild key financial institutions.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many fires have occurred at HMP Berwyn since its opening.
Answered by Phillip Lee
HMP Berwyn is performing well since it opened last year, and represents a key part of our £1.3billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We know more must be done to improve safety across the estate, which is why we introduced body-worn cameras and additional CCTV, and have invested £100m to recruit 2,500 extra officers.
The number of concerted indiscipline, incidents at height, fires and dirty protests taking place at HMP Berwyn can be found in the table below:
| Number of incidents |
Concerted Indiscipline1 | 6 |
Incident At Height | 67 |
Fire2 | 17 |
Dirty protest3 | 3 |
|
|
| |
| |
1) All low level incidents
2) Includes 2 fire related incidents that were false alarms
3) To provide incidents of dirty protest, Miscellaneous type incidents were read to determine whether the incident should be counted as such and therefore contain an element of subjective judgement.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Since opening in Spring 2017, local data from within HMP Berwyns Security department has recorded 167 referrals to North Wales Police. HMP Berwyn is committed to working with all Criminal Justice partners across Wales.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the number of dirty protests which have occurred at HMP Berwyn since its opening.
Answered by Phillip Lee
HMP Berwyn is performing well since it opened last year, and represents a key part of our £1.3billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We know more must be done to improve safety across the estate, which is why we introduced body-worn cameras and additional CCTV, and have invested £100m to recruit 2,500 extra officers.
The number of concerted indiscipline, incidents at height, fires and dirty protests taking place at HMP Berwyn can be found in the table below:
| Number of incidents |
Concerted Indiscipline1 | 6 |
Incident At Height | 67 |
Fire2 | 17 |
Dirty protest3 | 3 |
|
|
| |
| |
1) All low level incidents
2) Includes 2 fire related incidents that were false alarms
3) To provide incidents of dirty protest, Miscellaneous type incidents were read to determine whether the incident should be counted as such and therefore contain an element of subjective judgement.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Since opening in Spring 2017, local data from within HMP Berwyns Security department has recorded 167 referrals to North Wales Police. HMP Berwyn is committed to working with all Criminal Justice partners across Wales.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents of concerted indiscipline have occurred at HMP Berwyn since its opening.
Answered by Phillip Lee
HMP Berwyn is performing well since it opened last year, and represents a key part of our £1.3billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We know more must be done to improve safety across the estate, which is why we introduced body-worn cameras and additional CCTV, and have invested £100m to recruit 2,500 extra officers.
The number of concerted indiscipline, incidents at height, fires and dirty protests taking place at HMP Berwyn can be found in the table below:
| Number of incidents |
Concerted Indiscipline1 | 6 |
Incident At Height | 67 |
Fire2 | 17 |
Dirty protest3 | 3 |
|
|
| |
| |
1) All low level incidents
2) Includes 2 fire related incidents that were false alarms
3) To provide incidents of dirty protest, Miscellaneous type incidents were read to determine whether the incident should be counted as such and therefore contain an element of subjective judgement.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Since opening in Spring 2017, local data from within HMP Berwyns Security department has recorded 167 referrals to North Wales Police. HMP Berwyn is committed to working with all Criminal Justice partners across Wales.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents at height have occurred at HMP Berwyn since its opening.
Answered by Phillip Lee
HMP Berwyn is performing well since it opened last year, and represents a key part of our £1.3billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We know more must be done to improve safety across the estate, which is why we introduced body-worn cameras and additional CCTV, and have invested £100m to recruit 2,500 extra officers.
The number of concerted indiscipline, incidents at height, fires and dirty protests taking place at HMP Berwyn can be found in the table below:
| Number of incidents |
Concerted Indiscipline1 | 6 |
Incident At Height | 67 |
Fire2 | 17 |
Dirty protest3 | 3 |
|
|
| |
| |
1) All low level incidents
2) Includes 2 fire related incidents that were false alarms
3) To provide incidents of dirty protest, Miscellaneous type incidents were read to determine whether the incident should be counted as such and therefore contain an element of subjective judgement.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Since opening in Spring 2017, local data from within HMP Berwyns Security department has recorded 167 referrals to North Wales Police. HMP Berwyn is committed to working with all Criminal Justice partners across Wales.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many incidents have been referred to the police from HMP Berwyn since its opening.
Answered by Phillip Lee
HMP Berwyn is performing well since it opened last year, and represents a key part of our £1.3billion investment to reform and modernise the prison estate.
We know more must be done to improve safety across the estate, which is why we introduced body-worn cameras and additional CCTV, and have invested £100m to recruit 2,500 extra officers.
The number of concerted indiscipline, incidents at height, fires and dirty protests taking place at HMP Berwyn can be found in the table below:
| Number of incidents |
Concerted Indiscipline1 | 6 |
Incident At Height | 67 |
Fire2 | 17 |
Dirty protest3 | 3 |
|
|
| |
| |
1) All low level incidents
2) Includes 2 fire related incidents that were false alarms
3) To provide incidents of dirty protest, Miscellaneous type incidents were read to determine whether the incident should be counted as such and therefore contain an element of subjective judgement.
Data Sources and Quality
These figures have been drawn from the HMPPS Incident Reporting System. Care is taken when processing and analysing the returns but the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Although the figures are shown to the last case the figures may not be accurate to that level.
Since opening in Spring 2017, local data from within HMP Berwyns Security department has recorded 167 referrals to North Wales Police. HMP Berwyn is committed to working with all Criminal Justice partners across Wales.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to his Oral contribution of 19 October 2017, Official Report, column 1002, on Grenfell Tower, what plans he has to audit the management, operation, facilities and safety of all social housing.
Answered by Lord Sharma
Following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower, the Government has established a comprehensive Building Safety Programme with the aim of ensuring that high-rise residential buildings are safe, and that residents feel safe in them.
We have identified all Aluminium Composite Material cladding likely to constitute a significant fire hazard on social housing buildings in England over 18 metres in height; we are working with local authorities and housing associations to ensure that interim measures are in place to guarantee the safety of residents, and that there is a clear remediation plan for each affected building.
We have also asked local authorities to identify such cladding systems on privately-owned residential tower blocks, using their powers under the Housing Act 2004 as appropriate, to ensure necessary action is being taken to ensure residents’ safety, and to report their findings to government.
The Secretary of State has also appointed an Independent Expert Advisory Panel which is considering what further steps can be taken to ensure the safety of residents, and will provide further advice to building owners in due course.
In addition, the Government has announced an independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, which is being led by Dame Judith Hackitt. It is expected that the review will present an interim report before the end of the year, and a final report by April 2018.
Alongside the Building Safety Programme, we are committed to bringing forward a Green Paper on social housing. I am meeting tenants and landlords of social housing across England to hear their views, and the resulting Green Paper will be a wide-ranging review of the issues.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Haltemprice)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to provide funding required by (a) Hull City Council and (b) other councils to carry out fire safety tests on cladding on high-rise flats other than those which have aluminium composite material panels.
Answered by Lord Sharma
We are prioritising testing on buildings where people sleep overnight, which have Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding and are of a certain height. Where appropriate, organisations are working with the fire and rescue service to put in place precautionary safety
checks and measures.
Where work is necessary to ensure the fire safety of a building, we will ensure that lack of financial resources will not prevent them going ahead.
We have set up an expert panel to advise us on any immediate steps that should be taken to ensure fire safety, and we will act on those. The role of the expert panel and the advice already given following Grenfell is set out in a note published last week at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/explanatory-note-on-safety-checks-and-testing