Asked by: Colleen Fletcher (Labour - Coventry North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many pensioners in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England (i) receive the basic state pension, (ii) receive pension credit and (iii) are eligible for pension credit but do not claim it; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all pensioners receive their full entitlement to pension credit.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Caseload statistics are routinely published and made publicly available via DWP Stat-xplore. The figures below show the Pension Credit and Basic State Pension caseloads in each area:
| Pension Credit | Basic State Pension |
Coventry North East Constituency | 2,873 | 10,083 |
Coventry | 7,168 | 33,981 |
North West | 131,692 | 773,219 |
England | 1,160,826 | 7,190,718 |
The latest available Pension Credit take-up statistics cover the financial year 2021 to 2022 and are available at: Income-related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year ending 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). These statistics are only available at Great Britain level and cannot be broken down to smaller geographical areas.
We continue to promote Pension Credit through our national awareness campaign, which has been ongoing since April 2022 and has included advertising on national TV, newspapers, broadcast radio, on social media and via internet search engines as well as on screens in Post Offices and GP surgeries.
At the start of 2024 - as in previous years - the DWP wrote to over 11 million pensioners as part of the annual State Pension up-rating exercise. The accompanying leaflet included prominent messaging promoting Pension Credit using the 'call to action' messaging from the communication campaign, including how Pension Credit opens the door to other financial help such as housing costs, Council Tax and heating bills.
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact. The latest available figures covering the 3 months to November 2023 show that there were over 28 thousand more households in receipt the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit than in May 2022.
Asked by: Robert Buckland (Conservative - South Swindon)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of malign actors imitating the interfaces of reputable sources on public trust in digital content.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
It is a key priority of this government to preserve the integrity of our democratic processes and safeguard the public from interference by malign state and non-state actors, including through AI-enabled threats and manipulated media.
The Online Safety Act will tackle illegal disinformation and misinformation including state-sponsored disinformation via the Foreign Interference Offence, including deepfakes and other forms of manipulated media. This means that companies will have a legal duty to take preventative action to identify and minimise their users’ exposure to state-linked interference with UK society. Such content will need to be swiftly removed, requiring tangible action against state-backed attempts to undermine our democratic, political and legal processes.
In addition to our regulatory approach, the DSIT National Security Online Information Team (NSOIT) analyses attempts by foreign states to artificially manipulate the online information environment. The NSOIT works with social media platforms to support and encourage them to put in place policies that are fit for purpose, consistently enforced, and which respect freedom of expression.
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: 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: Michael Shanks (Labour - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the level of public awareness of changes to the highway code made in 2022.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The January 2022 changes to The Highway Code to help improve road safety for people walking, cycling and horse riding have been communicated via a factual awareness raising campaign and broader behaviour change campaigns.
Over £2.4million has been spent on media across the campaign, utilising channels such as radio, digital audio, video on demand and social media advertising.
Results from the most recent campaign activity in August 2023 include:
Awareness: The percentage of road users reporting to know either a little or a lot about the Highway Code changes in September 2023 was at 70% among all road users (82% amongst drivers), with 86% of road users having heard of the changes by September 2023.
Understanding: In September 2023 86% of drivers correctly identified that you should leave at least 1.5 metres of space when passing cyclists. Pedestrian priority at junctions was correctly identified by 77% of drivers.
Empathy: Drivers agreeing that it is their responsibility to respect and give space to vulnerable road users remains consistently high and was at 93% in September 2023.
Action: In September 2023 81% of drivers claim to leave a gap of 1.5M when passing a cyclist all or most of the time.
We will continue to promote The Highway Code changes on THINK! and DfT social media channels and via our partner organisations.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to bring forward a code of practice regarding violence against women and girls online.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act (OSA) gives online user-to-user services and search service providers new safety duties. They will need to take steps to tackle illegal content and protect children. The major social media platforms – known as ‘Category 1 services’ in the Act – will also be required to take steps to enforce their terms of service and offer user empowerment tools. As the regulator for the OSA, Ofcom will set out steps providers can take for their different duties in codes of practice and guidance. This will include steps for content which disproportionately affects women and girls.
Ofcom will also produce guidance summarising all the measures it has recommended in its different codes of practice and guidance that will protect women and girls. This guidance will ensure it is easy for platforms to implement holistic and effective protections for women and girls, across their various OSA duties.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to raise awareness of legal changes requiring the microchipping of cats by 10 June 2024.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have worked closely with animal welfare and veterinary stakeholders to develop and implement a co-ordinated communication strategy to raise awareness that owned cats over the age of 20 weeks will be required to be microchipped by 10 June this year. The strategy has included press releases and a visible social media campaign.
Asked by: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the uptake of Pension Credit in (a) Wallasey constituency, (b) Wirral, (c) the North West and (d) United Kingdom.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
To raise awareness of Pension Credit and increase take-up, the Department launched a nationwide marketing and communications campaign in April 2022.
Nationally, the campaign has included advertising on TV, broadcast radio and in newspapers; in medical centre and Post Office screens; as well as advertising on buses and digital street displays. Online marketing activity has also included social media, internet search engines and sponsored advertising on targeted websites that pensioners, their friends and family are likely to visit.
We have also been promoting Pension Credit at a local level in regional newspapers (including Liverpool Echo, Blackpool Gazette, Bolton News, Lancashire Evening Post, Manchester Evening News); and on local radio (stations such as Capital radio in Lancashire, Liverpool, Manchester and Greatest Hits Radio in Blackpool and Bolton).
There is a strong indication that the campaign has had a positive impact and has resulted in an unprecedented number of Pension Credit applications.
The Department is building on this success through a range of creative no-cost media campaigns to boost awareness of the benefit. We are also engaging with stakeholders, including other Government Departments, Councils, and charities, in order to harness their help and support to raise awareness through their networks and channels. For example, we will be holding a Pension Credit Week of Action commencing on 10 June. As in previous years, this will be an opportunity to collaborate with all our partners to maximise awareness of Pension Credit and to encourage eligible pensioners to make a claim.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the video entitled The first individuals set to be removed to Rwanda, posted on X by his Department on 1 May 2024, what the objectives of posting the video were; when the video received ministerial clearance; and if he will publish the minutes of the meeting in which the decision was made to produce the video.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Videos on government social media accounts should inform the public about government policy and delivery. This video showed Immigration Enforcement officers executing thier public duties as they do all the time. It was produced by civil servants as part of their routine duties and involved no additional costs. As with all videos featuring service users or sensitive content, every care was taken to protect subjects’ identities. The video went through normal approval processes for social media content.
Asked by: Deidre Brock (Scottish National Party - Edinburgh North and Leith)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the video entitled The first individuals set to be removed to Rwanda, posted on X by his Department on 1 May 2024, who produced the video; and how much the video cost to produce.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
Videos on government social media accounts should inform the public about government policy and delivery. This video showed Immigration Enforcement officers executing thier public duties as they do all the time. It was produced by civil servants as part of their routine duties and involved no additional costs. As with all videos featuring service users or sensitive content, every care was taken to protect subjects’ identities. The video went through normal approval processes for social media content.