Written answers

Wednesday, 28 July 2021

  • Department for Transport

    • Travel: Quarantine

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on negotiations to extend the quarantine-free covid-19 travel rules for double-vaccinated travellers from Amber list...

    • Driving Licences

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to stop the most common driving licence renewal internet searches returning advertisements for third-party scam websites...

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    • Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme: Holiday Leave

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what rights furloughed workers have to the accrual of holiday pay.

    • Agency Workers: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether periods when schools are closed to all but vulnerable pupils and children of key workers during the covid-19...

      Courier Services: Conditions of Employment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if his Department will take steps to improve the workplace treatment of app-based courier drivers.

      Courier Services: Dismissal

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of app-based courier services dismissing their couriers as a...

      Sharing Economy: Conditions of Employment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the workplace treatment of (a) app-based courier...

      Infrastructure: Greenhouse Gas Emissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the Green Alliance's report entitled Getting the building blocks right Infrastructure priorities for...

      Solar Power

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate he has made of the number of solar farms in the UK.

      Electric Vehicles: Wolverhampton

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps are being taken to improve the availability of electric vehicle charge points in Wolverhampton.

      Greenhouse Gas Emissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the feasibility that UK reaches net zero emissions sooner than 2050.

      University of Bristol: Contracts

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take into account the conduct of Professor David Miller in the future letting of contracts to...

  • Department of Health and Social Care

    • Cancer: Waiting Lists

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Network Contract Directed Enhanced Service, Early: Cancer Diagnosis Guidance, published on 31 March 2021, what...

    • Coronavirus: Disease Control

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available to ensure that where a person is clinically vulnerable they are able to interact safely in public after the...

      Diabetes: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer pf 13 July 2021 to Question 28361 on Diabetes: Health Services, what recent steps his Department has taken to...

      Cancer: Nurses

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on providing a fully-costed and comprehensive multi-year funding...

      Mental Health Services: Care Leavers

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) steps his Department is taking to support local authorities in signposting care leavers to appropriate mental health support and...

      Infectious Diseases: Disease Control

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of the role of single-use technology in (a) controlling and preventing...

      Veterans: Disability

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending free prescriptions to veterans other than holders of a Valid...

      Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is sufficient psychological support within non-specialised clinical settings for young...

      Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 7785 tabled on 26 May 2021 by the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion; and what assessment he has made...

      Malta: Travel Restrictions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of UK nationals who may be affected by the Government of Malta’s decision to deny entry to...

      Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the health and wellbeing needs of people who are currently participating in trials of...

      Coronavirus: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of trends in the number of people requiring covid-19 tests; and what steps he is taking to ensure sufficiency...

      Patients: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the level of inpatient hospitalisations of people reported to be infected with the covid-19 virus...

      Coronavirus: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with relevant stakeholders on the finding of the AffiDX antigen lateral flow covid-19 test small-scale study...

      Coronavirus: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on how many occasions in the last two months regional covid-19 PCR testing sites in England reached their maximum daily testing capacity.

      Coronavirus: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the available covid-19 PCR testing capacity for each of the regional testing centres in England.

      NHS: Software

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average time in (a) days and (b) hours it takes for NHS Test and Trace to (i) trace and (ii)...

      Asthma: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the roll out of asthma diagnostic hubs, set out in NICE Guidance NG80.

      Coronavirus: Disease Control

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether anyone has been appointed to take over the responsibilities that Dr Jenny Harries held, in terms of shielding and other policies...

      Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Government will publish local data on who is being infected by covid-19 by (a) age, (b) ethnicity and (c) socio-economic status.

      Steroid Drugs: Misuse

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on the recognition of topical steroid withdrawal as an official condition by the NHS.

      Hospitals: Meat

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help ensure that patients at hospitals can access information as to how the meat they are served in hospital...

      Pharmacy: Medical Records

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2021 to Question 23078 on Pharmacy: medical records, whether (a) his Department and (b) NHS bodies plan...

      Cancer: Waiting Lists

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS 2021-22 priorities and operational planning guidance, published on 25 March 2021, whether the NHS is on...

  • Department for Education

    • Pre-school Education: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish the evidence for excluding early years staff from the list of key workers exempt from covid-19 self-isolation rules ahead of the...

    • Further Education: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what catch-up funding will be made available to students in further education institutions beyond the 16 to 19 tuition fund.

      Pupils: Safety

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to strengthen safeguarding in schools.

      Mathematics: Education

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of students studying mathematics at (a) A Level and (b) degree level.

      Schools: North West

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to increase school funding in the north-west of England.

      Educational Institutions: Putney

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether any of his Ministers plan to visit (a) schools, (b) nurseries or (c) colleges in the Putney constituency in the next six months.

      Supply Teachers

      To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many supply teachers have taken maintained schools to Employment Tribunal for breach of Agency Workers Regulations in each of the last five years.

  • Ministry of Justice

    • Berwyn Prison: Ambulance Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times the Ambulance Service was called out to deal with incidents at HMP Berwyn in (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020.

    • Berwyn Prison: Staff

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff, not directly employed by the prison, were employed at HMP Berwyn by the end of each year for (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020;...

      Prisons: Construction

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many pre-constructed concrete sections per week have been delivered to the (a) Five Wells and (b) Glen Parva sites from the commencement of...

      Grendon Prison and Spring Hill Prison: Travel

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what information his Department holds on the average daily distance travelled by prison officers and staff working at HMP Springhill and HMP Grendon...

      Prisons: South East

      To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Annual Report of the Independent Monitoring Board at HMP Onley, published on 20 July 2021, what assessment he has made of the...

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • Israel: Palestinians

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 2 July 2021 to Question 22012 on Israel: Palestinians, whether the Constituencies for...

    • Libya: Travel Information

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of changing the travel advice (a) for Libya and (b) for...

      International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 July 2021 to Question 22172 on Israel: Palestinians, under what circumstances the UK...

      Developing Countries: Women's Rights

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans his Department has to consult and get input from women’s rights organisations and experts in...

      Sri Lanka: Human Rights

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will undertake and publish an assessment of the human rights impact of the £6.3 million the Government...

      Sri Lanka: Sanctions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to apply sanctions against (a) General Shavendra Silva and (b) other officials in Sri Lanka...

      Developing Countries: Climate Change

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the COP Presidency paper entitled Priorities for Public Climate Finance in the Year Ahead,...

      Turkey: Radicalism

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 2016 coup d'etat attempt on the level of Turkish support for (a)...

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Sheep Scab: Disease Control

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what measures the Government is taking to work with key stakeholders to manage the spread of sheep scab, or psoroptic mange,...

    • Tuna: Fishing Catches

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when he plans to publish his proposals for a catch and release pilot for blue fin tuna.

      Animal Welfare

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure animal welfare legislation is enforced in response to the reduction in the RSPCA's animal...

      Horses: Animal Welfare

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of establishing an independent body to oversee horse welfare...

      Horses: Animal Breeding

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department are taking to ensure a reduction in the number of foals being produced in the UK every year .

      Musical Instruments: Customs

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the (a) application for Musical Instrument Certificates (MICs) for musicians travelling to the UK from the EU with...

      Animal Welfare: Voluntary Organisations

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to ensure that animal rescue centres are properly licensed.

      Climate Change and Ecology

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has declared a climate and ecological emergency.

      Tree Planting: North of England

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government has made progress on tree planting targets for (a) the Northern Forest (b) the White Rose Forest and...

      Animal Products: Imports

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many meetings he has had with representatives of organisations (a) in favour of and (b) opposed to the Government's...

      Marine Protected Areas

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on (a) the Government's proposals for Highly Protected...

      Air Pollution

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a 24 hour (a) mean or (b) exceedance level...

      Flood Control: Urban Areas

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of flood defences in inner cities.

  • Home Office

    • Criminal Records

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent future losses of crime records.

    • Police: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional support she will provide to the police in managing crowded areas in summer 2021 in response to the increased covid-19...

      Drugs: Organised Crime

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent (a) new county lines from starting up and (b) previous lines being resurrected by new prison...

      Ben Needham

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will provide finances for a reward for information on the case of British national Ben Needham who disappeared from the...

      Visas: Pre-school Education

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason early years workers including nursery staff were not included in the shortage occupation list for the Skilled Worker visa;...

      British Nationality: Ilois

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Chaggosians with family in the UK will be eligible for UK citizenship under the new discretionary adult registration route.

      Violence Reduction Unit

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the work of the London Violence Reduction Unit's work during Summer 2021.

      Refugees: Climate Change

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) assessment she made of the potential effect of climate change on the displacement of people and (b) steps her Department is taking...

  • Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    • Monuments: World War II

      To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of a civilian memorial to the people who lived under Nazi...

  • Cabinet Office

    • Coronavirus: Death

      To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of deaths with covid-19 noted as a cause since 1 July 2021 have been in people with underlying...

    • Douglas Smith

      To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what role Douglas Smith holds in his office.

  • Department for International Trade

    • Trade Agreements: Eswatini

      To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the implications for her international trade policies of recent reports of human rights abuses including the...

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    • Tourism: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on the (a) inbound tourism and (B) the tourism...

    • Tourism: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to support the inbound tourism industry as part of the UK's economic recovery from the...

      Gambling

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Gambling Commission has made of the accuracy of the estimated number of problem gamblers.

      Social Media: Gambling

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to restrict social media sites...

      Gambling: Reviews

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if he will make a statement on the progress of the gambling review.

  • Women and Equalities

    • Minister for Women and Equalities: Energy

      To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of her Department's energy usage in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    • UK Internal Trade: Northern Ireland

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had, if any, with (1) Amazon, and (2) other suppliers, about the fall in volume of goods being delivered from Great Britain to Northern...

    • OneWeb: Satellites

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their acquisition of a share of OneWeb on 3 July 2020, how many satellites OneWeb have launched since that date; where were those satellites...

      OneWeb: Satellites

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans OneWeb has to manufacture satellites in the UK; when they expect any such manufacture to begin; what specific applications of OneWeb satellites they...

      Global Navigation Satellite Systems

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Callanan on 20 October 2020 (HL8804), whether the Space-Based Positioning Navigation and Timing Programme has completed its...

      Lockheed Martin and Virgin Orbit

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how much funding (1) Lockheed Martin, and (2) Virgin Orbit, received from the UK Space Flight Programme, and for what purpose.

      Insolvency: Fees and Charges

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by Christians Against Poverty Shipshape or sinking ship?, published on 21 July, what plans they have to remove insolvency fees for...

      Astronomy: Scientists

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK scientists are working on (1) the James Webb Space Telescope, and (2) the Extremely Large Telescope European project under construction in Chile.

  • Department for Education

    • Islam: Curriculum

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, subject to a parental right to withdraw children from particular lessons, to require depictions of the Prophet Mohammed to be shown to pupils...

    • Teachers: Training

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Education Policy Institute The cost of high-quality professional development for teachers in...

      School Leaving: Qualifications

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children left school with no (1) GCSEs, or (2) equivalent qualifications, in each of the last three years.

      STEM Subjects: Ethnic Groups

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what data they collect regarding (1) the participation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students in STEM subjects, and (2) their access to engineering...

  • Ministry of Justice

    • Prisoners: Gender Recognition

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the judgment in the case of FDJ v the Secretary of State for Justice on 2 July, whether it is their policy to treat biologically male prisoners in...

    • Reoffenders: Females

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many recommendations they have implemented from the report commissioned by the Ministry of Justice The Importance of Strengthening Female Offenders' Family and...

      Prisons: Females

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the average number of miles a woman in prison is held from her home address.

  • Treasury

    • National Audit Office: Email

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 12 July (HL1536), what if any access the National Audit Office has to private emails which they regard as...

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • Turkey: Immigration Controls

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the EU’s proposal to fund border controls at Turkey’s eastern border; and in particular, whether this would lead to...

    • Nigeria: Human Rights

      To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have provided (1) financial support, or (2) capacity building training, to state governments in Nigeria to help them better manage (a) resources, and...

      Greece: Migrants and Refugees

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Amnesty International Greece: Violence, lies, and pushbacks, published on 23 June.

      Nigeria: Christianity

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 24 May (HL3), what assessment they have made of reports of the killing of eight Christians in an...

      Education: Children

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support children from endangered (1) ethnic, and (2) religious, communities in securing scholarships that would enable them to be given...

      Iraq and Syria: Minority Groups

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the situation of the (1) Yazidi, (2) Christian, and (3) Mandean, communities in (a) Iraq, and (b) Syria; what plans they have to...

      Iraq and Syria: War Crimes

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the possibility of designating the destruction of cultural heritage as an early warning sign of atrocity crimes, in line with the...

      EU Countries: Frontex

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement from Amnesty International on 23 June that there needs to be improvement to the (1) accountability, and (2)...

      Israel: Palestinians

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the United Nations Children and Armed Conflict, published on 6 May; and, in particular their finding of...

      Syria: Diplomatic Relations

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of some (1) European, and (2) Middle-Eastern, states seeking to re-open diplomatic relations with the government of...

      Afghanistan: Emigration

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likely scale of emigration from Afghanistan over the next year given the advance of the Taliban in that country.

      Cuba: Demonstrations and Religious Freedom

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the anti-government demonstrations in Cuba, and (2) the reports of the forcible detention of religious leaders in that country.

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Cauliflowers

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure the supply of fresh UK grown cauliflowers in shops.

    • Agriculture: Seasonal Workers

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their response to reports of vegetables rotting in fields throughout the UK due to a shortage of agricultural workers.

      Southern Water

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the £90m fine imposed on Southern Water by the Environment Agency for dumping raw sewage into protected seas; and what plans...

      Water Companies: Pollution

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to end the practice of water companies being permitted to self-report pollution incidents.

  • Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    • Private Rented Housing

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits to the economy of the private rental sector.

    • Rents: Arrears

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their press release Support for renters continues with longer notice periods, published on 12 May, on what grounds they have concluded that many...

      Sand: Compton Bassett

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proposal for a sand extraction quarry in the conservation area of Compton Bassett; and what plans they have to give local...

  • Cabinet Office

    • Audit: Standards

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what reporting obligations and responsibilities are placed on external auditors by section 113(7) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 in the event of a...

    • Members and Peers: Equality

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to introduce measures so that MPs and Peers are (1) covered by, and (2) liable to, regulations made under the Equality Act 2010.

      Local Government and NHS Trusts: Billing

      To ask Her Majesty's Government why National Health Service Trusts and English Local Authority Councils are allowed to be signatories to the Prompt Payment Code given the reports about failures...

      Ministers: Email

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what powers they have under Freedom of Information legislation to check, in the process of responding to an FOI request, a minister's private email address to see...

      National Audit Office: Email

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 13 July (HL1535), whether, as part of the National Audit Office (NAO) investigation into government procurement...

  • Department for International Trade

    • Tradeshow Access Programme

      To ask Her Majesty's Government when a replacement scheme for the Tradeshow Access Programme will be announced.

    • China: BGI

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the US Commerce Department’s decision to add BGI Group to an economic blacklist of Chinese companies...

What is this?

The parliamentary question is a great way for MPs and Peers to discover information which the government may not wish to reveal. Ministers reply via written answers, a list of which gets published daily.

We let you vote on whether or not the answer given is adequate.

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