Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to enable Ukrainian refugees to more easily register personal vehicles with the DVLA for tax and insurance purposes.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
The Department continues to explore options for how Ukrainian communities can be supported in the UK. To support the registration of Ukrainian vehicles, officials within the DfT are working across Whitehall to identify any other potential actions within existing legislative frameworks and will look to utilise these as appropriate.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government under what criteria migrants or refugees would be moved from an area once they have been satisfactorily settled in that area.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth - Shadow Minister (Home Office)
Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis across the United Kingdom and there are established mechanisms in place, via Migrant Help and Support Casework, if individuals have a specific, acute need to be accommodated in a particular area.
Accommodation providers may need to move individuals if the property they are currently occupying is no longer suitable or must be handed back to the owner when contract with the landlord expires. However we limit the amount of moves that can take place through our contract.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the UK’s public health standards as a result of the measures proposed in the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill 2022.
Answered by Lord Markham - Shadow Minister (Science, Innovation and Technology)
Through the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, the Government is currently reviewing which retained European Union law should be repealed, reformed or preserved. the Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders to ensure that any such reforms maintain and improve current standards in patient safety and public health.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to engage with the devolved administrations in relation to (1) the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill, and (2) the proposed sunsetting of all remaining EU regulations.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government remains committed to proactively engaging with devolved administrations at official and Ministerial level on the reviews into retained EU law and sunsetting of EU regulations.
To date, there have been regular official level discussions with the devolved administrations and we will continue to engage in areas of interest as the Bill progresses through Parliament.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they will take to ensure a full consultation with (1) environmental, and (2) public health, organisations before progressing with the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Policy on the environment is owned by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and any decisions regarding retained EU law on the environment are for Defra Ministers to take.
Policy on public health is owned by the Department for Health & Social Care, and any decisions regarding retained EU law on public health are for DHSC Ministers to take.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce UK regulations covering food and environmental safety if remaining EU regulations are removed from the UK statute book.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Lord Chamberlain (HM Household)
Defra is in the process of analysing its REUL stock to determine what should be preserved as part of domestic law, and what should be repealed, or amended. This work will determine how we use the powers in the Bill, including in relation to food and environmental standards.
The United Kingdom is a world leader in environmental protection and in reviewing our retained EU law, we want to ensure that environmental law is fit for purpose for the UK’s unique environment and able to drive improved environmental outcomes, whilst ensuring regulators can deliver efficiently. Any changes to environmental regulations will be driven with those goals in mind.
Maintaining the UK’s high food standards also remains our priority. HM Government remains committed to promoting robust food standards nationally and internationally, to protect consumer interests, facilitate international trade, and ensure that consumers can have confidence in the food that they buy.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the proposed station renewal for Darlington will be completed by the time of the bi-centennial celebrations of the Darlington and Stockton Railway in 2025.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton
Following close work between the Department, Network Rail and Tees Valley Combined Authority, a Full Business Case for a package of interventions at Darlington Station has recently been submitted for consideration. This is currently being reviewed as part of the process for determining if delivery funding will be awarded for the scheme.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the levels of (1) training, and (2) accreditation, for staff administering simple breathing tests, such as (a) spirometry, and (b) FeNO.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
There are no plans to introduce an annual respiratory services delivery report.
The Association of Respiratory Technology and Physiology (ARTP) sets and assesses competence against the standards for quality assured spirometry. The ARTP oversee a national register of those who achieved certification in the performance and/or interpretation of spirometry. Additional funding has been made available to systems in 2021/22 and 2022/23 for the training and accreditation of staff in the provision and interpretation of quality assured spirometry. This process is being supported by respiratory clinical networks.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved Fractional Exhaled Nitric Oxide devices to diagnose asthma. These devices were selected by the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC) for tailored support in 2021/22 as part of the Rapid Uptake Product (RUP) programme to increase adoption in the National Health Service.
During 2021/22, the RUP programme produced resources with AAC partners to support successful implementation and improve patient access to these products. This included educational packages for health professional responsible for care to improve knowledge and skills.
Asked by: Baroness Harris of Richmond (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure the universal restart of spirometry testing in primary care prior to the establishment of community diagnostic centres.
Answered by Lord Kamall - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
Systems have been asked to work towards restoring asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) registers and spirometry checks for adults and children to pre-pandemic levels in 2022/23. The Quality Outcomes Framework (QOF) for 2022/23 includes respiratory indicators in relation to the diagnosis of asthma and COPD which was fully re-instated in April 2022.
For people with a diagnosis of asthma, the QOF sets thresholds for maintaining a record of patients with either a record of spirometry and one other objective test between three and six months after diagnosis, and within six months of registration for those newly registered with a diagnosis of asthma but no record of objective tests performed at the date of registration.
For those with COPD, the QOF asks practices to maintain a record of people with a diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 whose diagnosis has been confirmed by quality assured post bronchodilator spirometry between three months before or six months after diagnosis or within six months of registration, in addition to patients with a clinical diagnosis on or after 1 April 2021 who are unable to undertake spirometry.