The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tulip Siddiq on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will support an EU-wide ban on single-use plastic carrier bags.
Anna Soubry
The EU Carrier Bags Directive (EU 2015/720) already requires all member states to take measures to reduce the consumption of plastic carrier bags and provides for marketing restrictions such as bans.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Madeleine Moon on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will assess the effect on the bee population of the repeal of the ban on neonicotinoid pesticides; and if she will make a statement.
George Eustice
The UK Government has not repealed a ban on neonicotinoids. There is not a ban, but an EU restriction on the use of three neonicotinoids that has been in place since 1 December 2013. A number of uses of these neonicotinoids remain approved. The restriction has been implemented in full in the UK.
EU rules on pesticides allow for the limited and controlled use of restricted neonicotinoids in emergency situations to control a danger which cannot be contained by any other reasonable means. In assessing applications for limited and controlled use, the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides considers all the relevant environmental and agronomic factors, including the effects on bees and the value of the products as a consequence of safeguarding crop yields. Recently, Ministers followed the Committee’s advice in the granting of two authorisations to use neonicotinoids to protect an area equivalent to 5% of the national oilseed rape crop.
The European Commission has begun a review of the science on neonicotinoids and pollinators. The UK Government is participating fully in that process.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Cat Smith on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 September 2015 to Question 8416, which Minister will be chairing the Inter-Ministerial Group on International Animal Welfare.
George Eustice
The membership of the Inter-Ministerial Group has yet to be finalised.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Stephens on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the legal status of Scottish, Northern Irish and Bank of England banknotes is within the Overseas Territory of Gibraltar; and what the official policy of the Government of Gibraltar is on the use of Scottish and Northern Irish banknotes within that Territory.
Mr David Lidington
Finance and related issues are the constitutional competence of Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar. It is therefore for them to determine both the legal status and the policy on the use of the Scottish, Northern Irish and Bank of England banknotes within their territory.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent meetings he and other Ministers of his Department have had with Miguel Ángel Moratinos.
Mr David Lidington
Neither the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) or I have had any recent meetings with Miguel Angel Moratinos.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nigel Adams on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of progress in diagnosing and treating cervical cancers more effectively in the last five years; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Ellison
We recognise that cervical screening continues to play a key role in preventing women getting, and being harmed by, cervical cancer. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme in England offers screening to women aged 25 to 49 every three years, and women aged 50 to 64 every five years. Women aged over 65 should only be screened if they have not been screened since age 50 or if they have had recent abnormal results.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing as triage for women with mild and borderline results and as a test of cure for women previously treated for cervical abnormalities became routine across the NHS Cervical Screening Programme from 1 April 2014. This makes cervical screening more targeted and significantly reduces the need for repeat testing. It is estimated that over 160,000 women a year do not need repeat tests due to mild or borderline results and around 400,000 women have been removed from ten year annual follow-up due to a previous abnormal result.
In April 2012, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation, gave its support for a pilot to assess the value of using HPV testing as primary screening for cervical disease, rather than the currently used cytology test. The pilot has been establishing the feasibility of using HPV as the primary screen for cervical disease in order to achieve better outcomes for women, while minimising over-treatment and anxiety, and whether it is practical to roll out nationally. The UK NSC opened a public consultation on this in July 2015. The consultation closes on 2 November 2015. Ministers expect to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC following the closure of the public consultation.
Earlier diagnosis and prevention is a key focus of the Independent Cancer Taskforce report, Achieving World-Class Cancer Outcomes: A Strategy for England 2015-2020. It includes a recommendation that, assuming a positive recommendation by the NSC, Public Health England and NHS England should drive a rapid roll-out of primary HPV testing into the cervical screening programme. The Taskforce also made a number of recommendations on the early diagnosis of cancers more generally.
In addition, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published a range of guidance on the treatment and screening of cervical cancer and further information is available at:
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/cervical-cancer
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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Liam Byrne on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are the children of alcoholics.
Jane Ellison
The main source for estimates of children of alcohol-misusing parents comes from a 2009 research paper which provided new estimates of the number of children (under 16 years) of substance misusing parents. The report found:
– 6% living with a dependent drinker (over 700,000 children);
– Around 26,000 babies under the age of one in England living with a parent who would be classified as a ‘dependent’ drinker.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Barry Sheerman on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) his Department and (b) the NHS gives mental health parity of esteem with physical health.
Alistair Burt
We continue to take mental health as seriously as physical health and to hold the National Health Service to account for achieving the objectives set out in the NHS Mandate, ensuring that mental and physical health conditions are given equal priority. The Mandate makes clear that ‘everyone who needs it should have timely access to evidence-based services’.
We have legislated for parity of esteem between mental and physical health via the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
We have already expanded our world-leading psychological therapy services and we have invested over £120 million in order to introduce for the first time waiting times standards for mental health services from April 2015 – a very significant milestone on the road to parity. Next year we will invest £15 million into improving the provision of places of safety, in order to ensure that people in crisis receive assessments in appropriate premises, and not in police custody.
We have made clear that each clinical commissioning group’s (CCG) spending on Mental Health should increase in real terms.
NHS England’s published planning guidance for 2015/16 for commissioners made the expectation clear that each CCGs spend on mental health services in 2015/16 should increase in real terms, and grow by at least the same percentage as each CCG’s allocation increase.
We will monitor this closely to ensure this happens.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Menzies on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to provide sufficient health services in Lancashire to meet increased demand from new residents of large housing developments in Fylde.
Ben Gummer
It is the responsibility of local commissioners to plan, develop and provide NHS services according to the healthcare needs of their local populations.
NHS England advises that both Fylde and Wyre borough councils have received feedback on their proposed housing development plans from the local clinical commissioning group (Fylde and Wyre CCG). We understand that this requested that planning policies acknowledge the need for existing primary care centres to expand to meet the needs of a growing local population. Should those existing sites not be capable of expansion, the CCG has requested support for new sites in those areas.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2015-10-09.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government plans to take to ensure that sufficient doctors and nurses are trained in the UK to maintain safe staffing levels in the NHS.
Ben Gummer
The Government has established Health Education England (HEE) as the body responsible for workforce planning and the commissioning of education and training for the National Health Service and public health system with a budget of £4.9 billion.
The number of nurse training places has increased by 14% over the past three years, with currently over 50,000 nurses in training as at 31 March 2015.
HEE is forecasting that, based on their current training plans, there will be 23,121 more nurses available to work in the NHS by 2019 compared to 2014.
There are currently near record numbers of nurses and midwives in post in the NHS in England. The latest available figures from June 2015 show a total of 317,595 nurses and midwives in post.
Since May 2010, the number of doctors in the NHS has increased by 8,574 to just under 104,000.