Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to encourage more freight on to rail for efficiency and environmental reasons; and to improve Ely Junction to facilitate goods travelling by rail from east coast ports and elsewhere in the UK.
Answered by Lord Davies of Gower - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to growing rail freight to unlock the economic and environmental benefits it can deliver. We are undertaking a number of initiatives including setting a long-term growth target of increasing freight moved by rail by at least 75% by 2050, which was announced in December 2023, and a review of the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme. Network Rail also continues to work closely with freight operators to improve performance and efficient use of the network.
The October 2023 Network North announcement confirmed Government’s support for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement. The next stage of work for the scheme will involve detailed design work, development of a Full Business Case and beginning the process for securing delivery powers (for example, a Transport and Works Act Order).
Asked by: Mary Kelly Foy (Labour - City of Durham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the Women’s Health Strategy; and whether she plans to help tackle disparities in access to fertility services for LGBTQ+ couples.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Women’s Health Strategy is a 10-year strategy. On 17 January 2024, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, set out our priorities for implementing the Women’s Health Strategy in 2024. This statement is available at the following link:
https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-01-17/hcws192
Improving access to fertility treatment is a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy. On 15 May 2024, we laid a Statutory Instrument to update the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act to allow gamete donation for people with HIV, who have an undetectable viral load. It will also eliminate additional screening costs for female same sex couples undertaking reciprocal, or shared motherhood, in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment. This is part of wider work to improve access to IVF for everyone, and ensure same-sex couples have the same rights as a man and woman when accessing fertility treatment.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15138 on Cycling: Pedestrian Areas, how he plans to support the DVSA in increasing awareness of Rule 64 of the Highway Code among cyclists.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Factual awareness-raising and behaviour change campaigns took place in 2022 and 2023, to highlight the changes the Department made to the Highway Code in January 2022, as part of helping to improve road safety for people walking, cycling, and horse riding.
The campaigns were supported by significant media resource: utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand, and social media advertising. This approach has helped the Department and DVSA to increase awareness of the relevant Highway Code rules for cycling.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to measure the air quality of (a) hospitals and (b) hospital car parks.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The policy around outdoor air quality measurement is led by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. This data is publicly available and used by National Health Service trusts, and NHS England. NHS England has set out a range of measures to reduce trusts’ impact on outdoor air quality, as part of its commitment to achieve Net Zero for direct NHS emissions by 2040. Specific actions are set out in its Net Zero Travel and Transport Strategy, Net Zero Estates Delivery Plan, and Clinical Waste Strategy, which are available respectively at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/net-zero-travel-and-transport-strategy/
https://www.jpaget.nhs.uk/media/588250/Estates-Net-Zero-Carbon-Delivery-Plan.pdf
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/nhs-clinical-waste-strategy/
The NHS’s guidance on indoor air quality is set out in the NHS technical memorandum 03-01: Specialised ventilation for healthcare premises, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/specialised-ventilation-for-healthcare-buildings/
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to collaborate with the Department for Health and Social Care on pandemic preparedness.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our new £520m fund will help provide the capabilities and capacities to support domestic UK health resilience and ensure a robust response to potential future health emergencies, such as influenza pandemics. The Office for Life Sciences will publish the fund’s strategic objectives, process, and assessment criteria in due course. We are working closely with DHSC to ensure that the fund will contribute to the Government’s pandemic preparedness priorities.
Asked by: Wes Streeting (Labour - Ilford North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number and proportion of prescriptions that were written by pharmacists in each of the last five years.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service does not currently commission prescribing services from community pharmacists but pharmacists working in other NHS settings, including general practices, can prescribe on the NHS.
The following table show the total number of items prescribed, the number of items prescribed by a pharmacist, and the percentage this equates to in terms of overall prescribing in England, in each of the last five years:
Year | Total number of items | Items prescribed by a pharmacist | Percentage of items prescribed by a pharmacist |
2019 | 1,118,845,270 | 22,089,868 | 1.97% |
2020 | 1,122,769,640 | 30,824,967 | 2.75% |
2021 | 1,128,633,578 | 36,145,631 | 3.20% |
2022 | 1,162,723,444 | 40,701,768 | 3.50% |
2023 | 1,203,435,207 | 45,713,123 | 3.80% |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
The number of pharmacists that are independent prescribers is increasing. From 2026 all newly qualified pharmacists will be prescribers and we are upskilling the current workforce. NHS England are piloting services with varying models to evaluate how this could work in future clinical services in community pharmacy. In future, prescribing in community pharmacy has the potential to unlock more clinical services in community pharmacy, taking further pressure off general practice.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
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 17 November 2024 to Question 9340, when she plans to respond the correspondence of an East Londonderry constituent of 16 June 2023 on water fluoridation policy; and for what reason a response has not yet been provided.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department received the hon. Members’ correspondence of 16 June 2023, and, with apologies, responded on 16 January 2024. We have resent the response to the hon. Member on 15 May 2024.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to protect children from unhealthy food and drink marketing.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to working with businesses to ensure that we create the conditions for a healthier nation, and we are implementing an ambitious programme of measures to tackle childhood obesity. On 1 October 2022, the Government introduced legislation to restrict the location of foods high in fat, salt, or sugar in shops and online.
On 1 October 2025, the volume price promotion restrictions will come into force, restricting volume price promotions such as three for two offers on less healthy products. The Government will simultaneously introduce a United Kingdom-wide 9:00pm television watershed for products high in fat, salt, or sugar, and a restriction of paid-for advertising of these products online, also on 1 October 2025. We continue to work with industry on the Food Data Transparency Partnership, to co-develop voluntary reporting requirements for food business to demonstrate the healthiness of their sales.
The Government, through its focus on prevention, is committed to improving the oral health of our young children through the Smile for Life programme, so that they have good habits by the time they start primary school.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of access to defibrillators.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve survival rates for out-of-hospital cardiac arrest cases, the Government launched a new £1 million one-off fund that will expand community access to Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). The grant was made available from September 2023.
We estimated 1,000 new defibrillators would be provided by the fund, with the potential for this to double, as most applicants would be asked to match the funding they receive partially or fully. To date, the grant has successfully delivered 2,000 AEDs.
Research has shown that those in the most deprived areas of England had to travel over one kilometre to their nearest accessible, nonstop service public access defibrillator, which tended to be 99.2 metres further away than in the least deprived areas.
Applications for AEDs are selected in line with criteria to provide AEDs where there is greatest need. The criteria include remote communities with extended ambulance response times, places with high footfall and high population densities, hotspots for cardiac arrest including sporting venues and venues with vulnerable people, and deprived areas.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support her Department is providing to families of children with poor mental health.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The Every Mind Matters website and the National Health Service website both contain helpful advice for parents and carers of a child or young person with poor mental health. This includes signposting to a number of voluntary organisations offering support and information.
Family members of children with poor mental health, who feel they themselves need psychological support, should speak to their general practitioner, or can self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies online. Details are available on the NHS website.
In addition, NHS England is developing a new waiting time measure for children and their families and carers to start receiving community-based mental health care within four weeks of referral. NHS England began publishing this new data in 2023, to improve transparency and drive local accountability.