Written answers

Friday, 11 February 2022

  • Department for Transport

    • Bus Services: Shropshire

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timetable is for making a decision on Shropshire Council's bid for Government funding for bus services across Shropshire as part of...

    • France: Blue Badge Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress his Department is making on negotiations with the French government on the recognition of UK Blue Badges in that country.

      Bus Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to (a) coordinate an integrated bus strategy and (b) increase leadership for the bus sector.

      Bus Services and Railways: Fares

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment has he made of (a) the cost of (i) rail travel and (ii) bus travel on people's transport choices, and (b) the effectiveness of fare...

      Railways: Females and Minority Groups

      To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support the (a) recruitment and (b) training of (i) women and (ii) people from minority groups to work in the rail sector.

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

    • Hospitality Industry: Portsmouth

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the impact of the spread of the Omicron variant in December 2021 on trends in the level...

    • Hospitality Industry: Government Assistance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to support hospitality sector businesses in light of recent trends of rising costs for business owners.

      Trade Unions: Electronic Voting

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many trials of electronic balloting have taken place since the publication of the Knight review.

      Coal

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of (a) the reduction in global coal use since 2010 to date and (b) progress made in meeting...

      Housing: Insulation

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to provide urgent insulation to low-income households in order to help with increased gas...

      Warm Home Discount Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people on prepayment meters have (a) applied and (b) been approved for the Warm Home Discount scheme in each...

      Warm Home Discount Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many people on prepayment meters have been (a) issued with and (b) redeemed discount vouchers after successfully...

      Warm Home Discount Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government taken to help increase energy suppliers outreach programmes that help people with prepayment...

      Warm Home Discount Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what is the average time taken between application and issuing of the Warm Home Discount scheme vouchers to people on...

      Warm Home Discount Scheme

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he has had recent discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Warm Home Discount scheme...

      Drax Power Station: Carbon Emissions

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many tonnes of CO2 are emitted from the Drax power station as a result of burning wood pellets each year.

      Energy: Meters

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to remove the fee charged by energy companies to consumers when switching from a pre-payment to a...

      Energy: Prices

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will hold discussions with energy companies operating prepayment meters on the potential merits of increasing the...

      Energy: Meters

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will ask energy companies to equalise tariffs on a standard meter with those on pre-payment meters.

      Energy: Billing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the energy companies on the speculative increase that they are placing on direct debit...

      Energy: Prices

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to offset the increase in energy prices for (a) the elderly, (b) disabled people who are...

      Energy: Prices

      To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether he plans to take steps to ensure that people who claim benefits receive full relief on the increase in their...

  • Department of Health and Social Care

    • Coronavirus: Screening

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to guidance that a follow up PCR test is not required following a positive lateral flow test, what measures are in place...

    • Sickle Cell Diseases: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve sickle cell patient care in response to avoidable deaths and failures of care for sickle cell patients...

      Mental Health Services: Staff

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2022 to Question 113694 on mental health support teams, how many staff make up the average mental...

      Alcoholism: Rehabilitation

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold a consultation with (a) hon. Members and (b) Directors of Public Health on local approaches, initiatives and challenges...

      Care Homes: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the UK Health and Security Agency will publish data on covid-19 outbreaks in care homes.

      Care Homes: Coronavirus

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with stakeholders on bringing covid-19 self-isolation guidance for care homes in line with national guidance.

      Mental Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee on 25 January 2022, what plans his Department has to...

      Social Services: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to address inequalities in adult social care receipt by (a) age, (b) gender, (c) ethnicity and (d) geography.

      Social Services: Finance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to reconsider the funding formulae for local authorities’ social care, service planning and...

      Care Homes: Visits

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the human rights implications of his recently updated care home visiting guidance on the right to private...

      Sexual Offences

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether prioritisation is given to victims who go through the police referral route to Sexual Assault Referral Centres in England over...

      Care Homes: Inspections

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many inspections have been carried out by the Care Quality Commission to ensure care homes adhered to the guidance with respect to...

      Mental Health Services: Children

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what changes have been made to mental health services provision for children to help those services respond to increasing demand as a...

      Mental Illness: Children

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of children aged 5-16 have a clinically diagnosable mental problem; and what estimate he has made of the proportion of...

      Hospitals: Nottinghamshire

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the national discharge taskforce has made on improving the rate of discharge of medically fit patients from hospitals in...

      Members: Correspondence

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to reply to the letters from the hon. Member for Weston-super-Mare of 12 November 2021 and 6 January 2022 on behalf of...

      Mental Health Services: Schools

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government plans to make changes to the Mental Health Support Teams model to ensure that it is fit for purpose in SEN schools.

      Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reviewing the prescription charges exemptions list to include...

      Protective Clothing: Ports

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many units of personal protective equipment are in storage in shipping containers at UK ports; how many shipping containers are being...

      Nurses: Training

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have been trained as nurses in the last twelve months.

      Cancer: Health Services

      To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much of the funding announced in the Spending Review 2021 will be allocated to training new staff for key cancer professions.

  • Treasury

    • Private Rented Housing: Council Tax

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he will take to ensure that the £150 one-off council tax rebate will be given directly to renters and not to their landlords, in cases...

    • Private Rented Housing: Council Tax

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many and what proportion of renters pay their council tax directly, rather than through their landlord.

      Revenue and Customs: Portsmouth

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs he expects to be maintained by his Department in Portsmouth in the (a) short term and (b) long term in the...

      Hospitality Industry: VAT

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the 12.5 per cent VAT rate until the end of 2022 for the hospitality sector.

      Domicil: Taxation

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of HMRC aligning their application processes to allow UK Companies to apply online...

      Domicil: Taxation

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking with HMRC to improve processing times for applications from UK businesses for Certificates of Residence.

      Wealth: Taxation

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the open letter to the Chancellor from Partners in Progress, published 25 October 2021, if he will introduce a wealth tax on wealth holders.

      Food: Prices

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of rising food prices on working families.

      Food: Prices

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to control inflation on food prices.

      Food: Prices

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) adequacy of the way in which the ONS (i) collects and (ii) reports food prices.

      Hospitality Industry and Tourism: Coronavirus

      To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to continue to support the hospitality and tourism sector in its recovery from the Omicron covid-19 variant and related...

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • Cuba: Food and Agriculture Organization

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her US counterpart on the operations of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation...

    • India: Rape

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support civil society organisations in India campaigning for the criminalisation of...

      Amal Nakhleh

      To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment her Department has made of the condition of 18-year-old Amal Nakhleh, who has contracted...

  • Department for Work and Pensions

    • Social Security Benefits

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what further poverty mitigating measures she is planning to support families who are subject to the benefits cap.

    • Children: Maintenance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to tackle the number of deductions of earnings orders, rather than deductions of earnings requests, being...

      Social Security Benefits: Private Rented Housing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government is taking to support claimants who are subject to the benefits cap and who are defaulting on private rental costs.

      Energy: Billing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the adequacy of support available to claimants to meet the rise in energy...

      Social Security Benefits: Private Rented Housing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she made of the impact of the Benefit Cap on private renters in areas with high rental costs.

      Social Security Benefits: Cost of Living

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the sufficiency of legacy benefits in supporting constituents with rising fuel costs and costs of...

      Social Security Benefits: Private Rented Housing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she had with the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on the (a) setting of Broad Market Rental Area...

      Local Housing Allowance: York

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Broad Market Rental Area (BMRA) in York which extends into the wider area of North Yorkshire and impacts on the level of...

      Universal Credit: Disqualification

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claims were suspended in each month from January 2016 to February 2021.

      Pensioners: Disposable Income

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the increased cost of energy on the disposable income of people in receipt of the State Pension,...

      State Retirement Pensions: Uprating

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will review the value of the state pension in the context of the increase in the energy price cap.

      Pensioners: Cost of Living

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with Chancellor of the Exchequer to help support pensioners with increases in the cost of living.

      Universal Credit

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral Statement of 22 July 2019, Official Report, column 1146, what steps her Department is taking in line with the...

      Social Security Benefits: Private Rented Housing

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to provide additional support for housing costs to families who are facing significant increases in their private rent.

      Local Housing Allowance

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2021 to Question 79261 on Local Housing Allowance, if her officials will produce that estimate.

      Social Security Benefits: Cost of Living

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to increase the benefit cap in response to the rise in the cost of living.

      Pension Credit

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the increase in the energy price cap announced on 3 February 2022, what steps she is taking to encourage eligible people to...

      Personal Independence Payment

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many personal independence payment applications are refused at the (a) initial application, (b) mandatory reconsideration and (c) tribunal...

      Pension Credit

      To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of pensions credit uptake among eligible people in each constituency in the past twelve months.

  • Cop26

    • Renewable Energy: International Cooperation

      To ask the President of COP26, what progress has been made (a) at and (b) since COP26 on encouraging other (i) countries, (ii) public and private financial institutions and (iii) multilateral...

    • Fossil Fuels: Development Aid

      To ask the President of COP26, what discussions he has had with international partners on following the UK in ending support for fossil fuel projects overseas.

  • Home Office

    • Asylum: Mental Illness

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training her Department is providing to its staff to enable them to identify asylum seekers arriving in the UK with mental health issues.

    • Alcoholic Drinks: Minimum Prices

      To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to monitor the (a) health and (b) other impacts of minimum unit alcohol pricing in Wales.

  • Scotland Office

    • Scotland Office: Chief Scientific Advisers

      To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many meetings he had with his Department's Chief Scientific Adviser from (a) 1 March to 31 May 2021, (b) 1 June to 31 August 2021 and (c) 1...

  • Department for International Trade

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    • Charities: Lotteries

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has plans to review statutory provisions for charity lotteries.

    • Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to remove misinformation on covid-19 vaccines online.

      Gambling: Reviews

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when she plans to publish the White Paper on the gambling review.

      Disinformation

      To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to tackle disinformation.

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Birds: Animal Breeding and Sales

      To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will take steps with Natural England to ensure duplication of submitted evidence and material is not...

  • Department for Transport

    • Railways: Tickets

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their policy concerning the third party sale of rail tickets.

    • Railways: Bicycles and Electric Scooters

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the banning of (1) e-bikes, and (2) e-scooters, from some train services; what assessment they have made of the impact of such...

      Electric Scooters: Road Traffic Offences

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Vere of Norbiton on 7 February (HL5872), what plans they have to make causing death by dangerous riding of an...

      Parking: Pedestrian Areas

      To ask Her Majesty's Government when they will announce their decision on the future policy for paving parking enforcement, following the Department of Transport’s consultation Pavement...

      Egnos

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what consultation they undertook on the economic and safety impact of the cancellation of EGNOS; how they assessed these impacts; and whether they will place in...

      Cycling: Accidents

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many pedestrians have been killed by dangerous riding by cyclists in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

      Bicycles: Registration

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to mandatory number plates for cyclists.

  • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

  • Department of Health and Social Care

    • Abortion

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to bring forward a renewed approval for the continuation of early medical abortion treatment at home, prior to the expiration of the current...

    • Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any campaign encouraging COVID-19 vaccination has been linked to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

      Coronavirus: Mental Illness

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they will take to support those who are clinically extremely vulnerable who have been shielding during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now suffering with...

      Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) immunocompromised, or (2) immunosuppressed, people have received their fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

      Coronavirus: Medical Treatments

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many (1) immunocompromised, or (2) immunosuppressed, people have received (a) antiviral, or (b) monoclonal, antibody treatments for COVID-19.

      Peers: Correspondence

      To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect to reply to the letter from Lord Balfe to the Department for Health and Social Care of 14 December 2021, regarding their reply of 13 December 2021...

      NHS: Occupational Health

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the extent to which all staff within the NHS have access to occupational health services, and (2) the benefits of...

      Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many clinically extremely vulnerable people have received their fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

      DNACPR Decisions

      To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Kamall (HL5606 and HL5607), whether, in the case of a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) notice being...

      Primary Health Care: Contracts

      To ask Her Majesty's Government which Alternative Provider Medical Services primary care contracts have been found to be inadequate by the Care Quality Commission.

      Dental Services: Staff

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of people working in dental practices.

      Neurology: Health Services

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the current (1) waiting times for treatment, and (2) staffing shortages, for neurological patients.

      Dental Services

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many dental practices there are in England.

  • Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

    • China: Genetics

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they plan to take, if any, (1) to introduce sanctions on companies in China involved in the harvesting of genetic data, or (2) take other steps to...

    • Coronavirus: Vaccination

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of funding for COVAX to enable the (1) purchase, and (2) distribution, of ancillary vaccination equipment; and what...

      Kashmir

      To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last discussed with the governments of (1) India, and (2) Pakistan, the resumption at the earliest opportunity of formal bilateral relations over...

      Olympic Games: China

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have issued to sporting representatives of (1) Team GB, and (2) Paralympics GB, participating in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games...

  • Department for Work and Pensions

    • National Insurance: Foreign Nationals

      To ask Her Majesty's Government why the statistics on National Insurance numbers issued to overseas nationals were delayed two days before the due publication date of 25 November 2021; why...

    • Poverty

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report UK Poverty 2022: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK, published on 18...

  • Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

    • Deposit Return Schemes

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the benefits of introducing a Digital Deposit Return Scheme, through which consumers could recycle drinks containers via...

    • Seagulls: Urban Areas

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any health problems created by urban gulls as a result of an increase in numbers and spread inland; and what discussions they...

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

    • Schools: Arts

      To ask Her Majesty's Government how many schools achieved an Artsmark in each of the last five years.

    • Telecommunications: Standards

      To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure continuity of communication in adverse weather conditions once the Public Switched Telephone Network is turned off in 2025.

      Microprocessors: Shortages

      To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have made any assessment of the potential (1) economic, and (2) inflationary, impact on the UK of any global shortage of computer chips; and what...

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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