Thousands of people within this constituency will be affected by any cuts in further and higher education that result from Covid Take action today If you work in higher education, please use your influence and send an email to Royston Smith or send them a tweet today.
Write to your MP today As well as the obvious health implications, the current Covid crisis continues to create huge problems for the sector, staff and students in post education.
Dear Royston Smith I am writing as your constituent and someone who works in higher education to ask for your help in ensuring the government protect post education and enact much-needed safety measures for staff and students in the face of the current Covid crisis. Our sector has always been a critical part of the social and economic fabric of the UK and will be crucial to our country's recovery from the current crisis.
Added to this is an immediate need for institutions and the government to ensure that online university teaching becomes the norm wherever possible. The financial uncertainly and safety concerns about on site working and in-person teaching continue to cause uncertainty for staff and students and without urgent action from the government we risk losing vital educational capacity just when it will be needed most. The country cannot afford to push tens of thousands staff into unemployment or ill health at a time when we will need education to be a key driver of recovery.
My union, the University and College Union, has repeatedly called on government to take action to underwrite the sector, but the limited proposals and action so far have done little to maintain the confidence of students and staff.
There is a real concern that universities have encouraged students and staff to return to campus to maintain their income from tuition fees and accommodation rents, at the expense of health and safety. Meanwhile, employers have already cut jobs, with significant numbers of fixed-term contracts already lost in higher education and compulsory redundancy consultations already underway.
The government needs to underwrite the sector so institutions can make sensible decisions which prioritise the health and safety of staff and students and ensure a strong sector for the future, rather than fixating on their bottom line and on site, in-person university working.
In higher education, government and universities should follow the science, move learning online where possible and allow students to safely leave campus and be released from accommodation contracts.
Voting information from Public Whip. Built by mySociety. We provide commercial services through our wholly owned subsidiary SocietyWorks Ltd Search TheyWorkForYou.
Sign in Join Contact. Send a message Get email updates. Overview Voting Record Recent Votes. Votes Appearances Profile Register of Interests. Show more detail 11th May to 2nd June All MPs could vote remotely through an online voting tool. Consistently voted for replacing Trident with a new nuclear weapons system Show votes 4 votes for, 0 votes against, in Has never voted on removing hereditary peers from the House of Lords Details 0 votes for, 0 votes against, 1 absence, in Has never voted on a wholly elected House of Lords Details 0 votes for, 0 votes against, 1 absence, in Voted for an equal number of electors per parliamentary constituency Show votes 1 vote for, 0 votes against, 1 absence, between — Consistently voted for a reduction in spending on welfare benefits Show votes 22 votes for, 0 votes against, 1 absence, between — Has never voted on fewer MPs in the House of Commons Details 0 votes for, 0 votes against, 3 absences, between — When highlighting the deficiencies and challenges of a place, it is a tricky balancing act.
When bidding for funding it is necessary to highlight the weaknesses, and when encouraging businesses to locate or relocate we emphasise the strengths. Southampton has many strengths: it has historic medieval walls and one of the busiest Now that we are free to negotiate and sign our own trade deals, will my right hon.
Friend update the House on what progress she has made on securing deals with countries in the far east and how that will help to ensure that the port of Cruise Industry — [Clive Efford in the Chair] 22 Sep Frequently, the interesting thing about these debates is what we learn when we are in them, such as that Fair Isle, with a population of 60, still has cruises—albeit more modest ones—visiting it.
I had not thought about that—I am quite focused on Southampton; I do not know if anyone noticed—but these are really great debates for learning new things that we did not already know. We also took account of the responses received from the Future of Transport regulatory review call for evidence.
The proposed speed limit also directly influences what other rules should apply to the use of e-scooters. There is limited evidence on the impact of different speed limits for e-scooters and a range of speed limits apply in other countries.
The trials will allow us to gather evidence about the about the use of e-scooters and their effects on other road users. The Department has considered evidence available from international organisations, published reports and considered the rules for e-scooter use in other countries. The proposed power limit also directly influences what other rules should apply to the use of e-scooters. There is limited evidence on the impact of different maximum power limits for e-scooters and a range of different power limits apply in other countries.
The trials will allow us to gather evidence about the use of e-scooters and their effects on other road users. We are considering this closely and recognise that people want to take advantage of the opportunities personal vehicles, such as electric scooters can offer. The Department for Transport is committed to encouraging innovation in transport as well as improving road safety, but new modes of transport must be safe and secure by design.
The Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy, published on 19 March includes a Regulatory Review to address the challenges of ensuring our transport infrastructure and regulation are fit for the future. The Department will use the Regulatory Review to examine current legislation and determine from the evidence what is needed to make the necessary changes for a safe and healthy future.
One strand of this will look at options for enabling micromobility devices, and a consultation will be issued in due course. No assessment has been made of the potential merits of allocating specific funding for driving lessons. Service Leaders in Jobcentres can allocate funding for driving lessons through the Flexible Support Fund, where they feel this is an appropriate use of funds.
Each request is considered on a case by case basis. No such assessment has been made. Currently, general practitioner GP contractors are eligible for rental reimbursements.
The type of reimbursement applicable depends on who owns the building, and entitlements are set out in The National Health Service General Medical Services - Premises Costs Directions Where GPs are tenants in a building owned by a National Health Service landlord or a private owner, they receive leasehold cost reimbursements.
In recognition of the need for greater flexibility for families, the Regulations provide for people to meet outdoors in a group larger than six people if everyone present is from the same two households.
The Government will keep the rule of six restrictions under review in keeping with its commitment to remove current restrictions based on the data.
The flight and maritime ban from Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, has also been removed, following evidence that shows the risk of importing a variant of concern from these destinations has reduced. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Imuunisation JCVI have advised that the vaccine be given to care home residents and staff, as well as frontline health and social care workers, to those aged 50 and above, in order of age and clinical risk factors, and those with underlying health conditions, which put them at higher risk of serious disease and mortality.
The General Dental Council GDC is the body responsible for the regulation of dentists and dental care practitioners in the United Kingdom and is independent of Government. The PSA will shortly be undertaking the next review of the GDC for the period with a view to publishing its report later this year. Data is not currently available on the number of patients that accessed emergency dental services during the COVID lockdown.
Data is collected in the format requested on the number of patients requiring dental treatment. Data is collected on the number of patients see by a National Health Service dentist in, for adults, a month period and, for children, a 12 month period.
This data is published every six months. The latest data for the period ending 31 December is available at the following link:. NHS England and NHS Improvement are responsible for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet local need and as such are responsible for assessments of need. NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that NHS dentistry outside urgent care centres would begin to restart from 8 June with the aim of increasing levels of service as fast as is compatible with maximising safety.
The letter provided guidance on prioritisation of services to meet need. The letter can be found at the following link:. The General Dental Council GDC is an independent regulator and is therefore responsible for determining the level of the annual fee it charges for registration. The GDC uses the income from fees to carry out its statutory duties. In October , the GDC reduced its Annual Retention Fee for all dental professionals following a strategic review of its operating processes and costs and a public consultation on its three-year costed plan.
Within ICD obesity is assigned as code E66 and this will be recorded on any episode of care where a clinical diagnosis of obesity has been made. NHS Digital states that obesity codes may be used but not interpreted by the coder and only be coded when a diagnosis of obesity is recorded in the medical record.
This means that where Body Mass Index has been recorded in the medical record, it must not be used to assign a E66 code. A clinical coder must always refer to the responsible consultant to confirm the clinical significance of a test result. PHE is doing this by working with the food industry on the reduction and reformulation programme to make everyday food and drinks healthier; enabling healthier weight environments, including supporting local authorities to take a place-based systems approach to obesity; supporting the local delivery of evidence-based, effective and sustainable weight management services; and supporting children and families through the use of digital technologies.
The Strategy can be viewed at the following link:. The Government has outlined steps to halve childhood obesity rates by through cutting sugar from half the drinks on sale, funding more opportunities for children to exercise in schools, and working with councils to tackle child obesity locally through ground-breaking programmes. It is also critical to understand how different factors, including obesity, could be disproportionally impacting how people are affected by COVID Public Health England launched a review into the factors affecting health outcomes from COVID, to include ethnicity, gender and obesity.
This will be published by the end of May. Public Health England PHE oversees the sugar and wider reduction and reformulation programme on behalf of the Government, as set out in chapters one and two of the childhood obesity plan and the Prevention Green Paper. PHE monitors and regularly reports on their progress. The report shows a mixed picture of progress for food categories in scope and relevant businesses.
Continued progress was reported on drinks that are subject to the Soft Drinks Industry Levy. The report is available to view at the following link:. PHE published the first detailed assessment of progress for the salt reduction programme in December Further information can be viewed at the following links:.
The number of people who attended accident and emergency and general practitioner surgeries as a result of illegal drug use is not recorded centrally. People will have to self-isolate again if symptoms return. Work is going on to look at testing for immunity to the virus, but until that exists, people with COVID symptoms, and their household members, must stay at home.
Staying at home will help control the spread of the virus to friends, the wider community, and particularly the most vulnerable. The stay at home guidance is available at the following link:.
NHS England issued a series of guidance to ensure dental teams safety and their role in supporting the wider NHS and social care system during the pandemic. Dentists were asked to suspend all routine treatment and instead to offer urgent advice and, where required, prescriptions for antibiotics by telephone.
The urgent dental centres are expected to provide, where urgently needed, the full range of dental treatment normally available on the NHS. NHS England and NHS Improvement announced on 28 May that NHS dentistry outside urgent care centres will begin to restart from 8 June with the aim of increasing levels of service as fast as is compatible with maximising safety.
A copy of the letter that was published can be found on the NHS England website. Whilst cruise ships may provide one option for supporting patient beds, the configuration of cruise ship bedrooms make the treatment of patients with COVID potentially more difficult with regard to staffing.
Initial symptoms of H1N1 swine flu and COVID are very similar, so laboratory tests are required to confirm the nature of the disease.
The advice to protect against H1N1 swine flu is to get vaccinated as there is a suitable vaccination available on the market. While United Kingdom scientists have started testing a new vaccine for COVID, to date, there is no specific medicine recommended to prevent or treat it. People are advised to follow guidance set out at the following link:.
We have been closely monitoring the situation in Wuhan and China more widely and we have put in place proportionate, precautionary measures. Professor Whitty and Public Health England, aided by independent experts, are in close contact with their international counterparts, and are continually monitoring the scientific evidence as it emerges. The United Kingdom is well prepared for these types of outbreaks — we are one of the first countries in the world to develop a test for the new virus.
We can confirm two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus. The patients are receiving specialist National Health Service care and we are using tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus.
We are already working rapidly to identify any contacts the patients had, to prevent further spread. We are advising people that if they have returned from Wuhan or anywhere in Hubei province in the last 14 days they should:.
Public safety is the top priority. Anyone who has been repatriated from Wuhan will be safely isolated for 14 days, with all necessary medical attention.
This will support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan, transforming the health system by providing more integrated and person-centred care. We have made significant investment in new technology for the National Health Service to support service delivery since The Government recognises that loneliness can have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of older people.
It brought together Government, local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated and resilient communities.
Work in other areas can also help to tackle loneliness and social isolation. Similarly, through our Ageing Society Grand Challenge, the Government will harness innovative products and services to help people remain healthy and independent for longer, continue to participate through work and within their communities, and stay connected to others. The Government remains fully committed to working with others to combat loneliness and social isolation.
The FCDO remains fully committed to working closely with the Department for Transport and key industry leaders following the publication of the second Global Travel Taskforce report. International cruises will restart alongside the wider restart of international travel, in line with the "traffic light" system.
This will be subject to continued satisfactory evidence from the domestic restart and cruising in other countries. Travel advice will continue to be informed by the latest public health risk assessments. For now, national restrictions on international travel remain in place, including only permitting travel abroad for a limited number of reasons set out in law.
Holiday travel is not included. The UK Government was appalled by the attack on a maternity hospital in Kabul last month. The UN Security Council made clear the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice, in its statement of 13 May. We commend this. All ethnic and religious groups, including the Hazaras, have equal rights and an important role to play in Afghanistan's political decision-making.
At the Human Rights Council HRC , the Afghan Government accepted our recommendation that they establish an independent mechanism to assess how security protection can be improved for religious and ethnic minorities.
The team includes a senior member of UK Fire and Rescue Service, a medical specialist in trauma and mental health, and a military liaison officer specialising in crisis response. They have been working with Australian counterparts to establish what further UK support will be of most use to Australian emergency responders, and ensure that such contributions are fully integrated with Australian efforts.
Following the death of Qasem Soleimani, we urged all parties to de-escalate tensions and find a diplomatic way through the crisis. These measures will provide certainty to residents and lenders, boosting the housing market and helping to ensure that developers, investors and building owners who have the means make a fair contribution to costs of remediation, without passing on costs to leaseholders.
No consideration has been made for a self-assessment exemption for leaseholders of high rise buildings with unsafe cladding. In June the Government announced that HMRC would determine the eligibility and grant amount for people in this situation using either their self-assessment return or the average of their to returns.
The arrangements that ensured that people were not made ineligible for previous rounds of the SEISS as a result of parenthood have been replicated for the fourth and fifth rounds. If new parents are in this position and are applying for SEISS 4, their eligibility will be determined based on either their self-assessment return or an average of their to returns, to determine both their eligibility and grant calculation.
By calculating the grant on a four-year average of profits, the SEISS supports individuals who may have had fluctuating profits for any reason and gives the best average of an individual's usual trading profits. The Financial Conduct Authority FCA rules require insurers to handle claims fairly and promptly and settle claims quickly once settlement terms are agreed. The FCA has said that, in light of COVID, insurers must consider very carefully the needs of their customers and show flexibility in their treatment of them.
The Government is pleased that a final judgment has been reached by the Supreme Court in the FCA Business Interruption test case and trust that this will provide the legal clarity urgently sought by policyholders. The FCA has set out its expectation that insurers should move quickly to resolve claims as determined by the judgment, making interim payments wherever possible.
Under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order , it is for the Responsible Person to ensure appropriate fire safety measures are in place within their building. This can include, where relevant, ensuring that there is a waking watch in place, that this is tested and works.
Local Fire and Rescue Services and other enforcers of the Fire Safety Order can take action where appropriate if the responsible person fails to comply with their duties under the order. The guidance encourages greater use of more cost-effective measures such as alarm systems to replace or reduce dependency on waking watch wherever possible. This is further supported by the publication of the costs of waking watches on 16 October, which can be found here:.
People crossing the Channel to enter the UK have come from a safe country — usually France — and so there is no reason why they need to make this trip in order to claim asylum. Those fleeing persecution should stay in the first safe country they enter. The UK continues to work closely with France and other countries to return migrants who have entered the UK by small boat in order to provide a strong deterrent against these dangerous crossings.
The number of migrants arriving in the UK crossing the Channel by small boats for the months of January to March is approx. These are provisional figures based on operational management information. The figures for April have not passed through a data quality check and cannot be assured. The final figures for all months will be published at a later date, once they have been verified and fully quality assured.
It should be noted that, by definition, we cannot be certain of the total number of people attempting to cross the English Channel via clandestine means. Information relating to the number of illicit drug users, the economic and social costs of illicit drugs and source countries for drug production is provided in the Dame Carol Black Independent Review of Drugs evidence pack on pages 17, 30, 33 and 41, published on 27 February The EU Settlement Scheme makes it straightforward for EU citizens and their family members to obtain the UK immigration status they need in order to stay here, guaranteeing their rights in UK law.
Those resident here by 31 December have until 30 June to apply. Applicants only need to complete three key steps — prove their identity, show that they live in the UK and declare any criminal convictions. The scheme is working well: according to the latest internal figures, more than 2. Defence is working closely with other Government Departments to ensure Service personnel are not disadvantaged in their access to the COVID vaccine, whether serving in the UK or overseas. All deploying personnel will be offered vaccinations either in the UK or during their deployment in line with the national vaccines roll-out.
Data on the Waking Watch Relief Fund, including the amount of funding allocated and approved, is published at: www. The data is updated monthly and the next update will be on 16 September which will show data to the end of August The majority of the Fund is administered by local and regional authorities, who are responsible for providing the allocated funding to buildings in their area.
We will publish more details on how the additional funding will work alongside the existing funds soon. That is why we collected and published information on waking watch costs, available at: www. The data also illustrates that alarm systems can provide a more cost-effective means of protecting resident safety.
The Waking Watch Relief Fund opened on 31 January to all eligible Social sector buildings in England, and all private sector buildings except those in Greater London.
All applications have now been submitted and are being processed. Common alarm systems will enable costly waking watch measures to be replaced in buildings waiting to have unsafe cladding removed.
We are aware that some leaseholders have received significant increases in their insurance premiums where their block has building safety concerns. We are working with the insurance industry to understand this issue and are engaging with a range of proposals put forward to address it. We are encouraging insurers to take a proportionate approach to risk.
MHCLG has regular engagement with leaseholder groups and recognises the effect on residents living in high-rise buildings with unsafe cladding. Where residents of buildings fitted with flammable cladding need mental health support, they should make contact with their GP to discuss these issues so they may be referred to mental health services as appropriate.
In addition, we are working with the NHS, Public Health England and MIND, develop resources signposting all residents to key services to help those concerned about their mental health and financial situation. The Government currently has no plans to introduce new council tax exemptions. Council tax contributes to a range of vital public services, including those which are at the forefront of the Covid response.
This helps gives lenders certainty both that the cladding will be remediated, and of the total potential financial implications for a leaseholder and their property. This announcement is therefore an important step towards restoring confidence in the housing market. It provides certainty for lenders where unsafe cladding is present and complements the wider work we have underway to continue to develop a proportionate risk-based regulatory environment on fire safety.
These estimates are based on fire alarm costs data provided by the National Fire Chiefs Council NFCC with additional modelling to account for the average number of dwellings in buildings over 18 metres. These are published in the Waking Watch costs data release which is available at www.
The National Fire Chiefs Council NFCC has been clear in its guidance published on 1 October that, where a building moves to a simultaneous evacuation fire safety strategy, building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove dependence on waking watches.
The specification of suitable alarm systems is set out in the guidance for the Fund which also follows NFCC advice.
Alarms must meet that specification in order to be funded or if not give evidence as to why from the Fire and Rescue Service. The Fund is specifically designed to remove the need for waking watch only.
When waking watch is replaced with a common fire alarm system the NFCC guidance states that there may still be a need for a hour presence of one or more trained persons to undertake the role of evacuation management — which is a different requirement and will depend on the individual circumstances of a particular building. We anticipate that in most circumstances the evacuation management role is not required, or it may require a reduced number of staff from a full waking watch.
The Waking Watch Relief Fund is designed to incentivise buildings to install a common alarm system and to reduce the dependency on Waking Watch. As such the Fund does not cover the retrospective costs of alarms installed before the Fund was announced on 17 December The Waking Watch Relief Fund opened for applications for buildings in England, except private sector buildings in London, on 31 January and closed on 14 March.
Applications received are currently being processed. For private sector buildings in London the Fund opened on 18 March and remains open until 30 April. We will publish complete data on the Waking Watch Relief Fund, including the number of applications. The Government continues to assess new and emerging fire protection technologies through both ongoing industry engagement and through participation in the development of standards e. Through the Building Safety Bill, the Fire Safety Bill and changes to the Fire Safety Order, we are proposing a package of legislative changes that are going to ensure the problems identified with the current building and fire safety regime are rectified and residents are safe.
To focus the regime on risk, the intention is the scope of the new building safety regime will start with residential buildings with rates of fire which are considerably higher: apartment blocks over 18m. This will drive up continuous improvement in the performance of all buildings to ensure the safety of occupants. We are working with Home Office to ensure the new regime aligns with the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order , known as the Fire Safety Order FSO , which covers fire safety in business or other non-domestic premises including where vulnerable people live and sleep.
We will ensure that the two regimes work cohesively as the scope of the regulator expands. The rate at which applications to the Building Safety Fund are advanced will be dependent on the readiness of building owners to provide the required information. Following registration, MHCLG contacts building owners or the responsible person to ask for supporting evidence for their technical eligibility for the fund.
This will include evidence of the height of the building and materials that are in place. It is disappointing that almost building owners — who are responsible for making sure their buildings are safe — have been unable to provide any of this basic information. We have engaged with registrants and industry bodies to understand the challenges they have in meeting our deadlines and criteria requirements.
To address their concerns we have extended the deadlines for the fund to the end of June , giving building owners more time to submit full applications but still reflecting the importance of these critical safety works. Of these, registered buildings are proceeding with an application for full funding and have been shown to be ineligible.
An additional registrations have been withdrawn by applicants. We expect all buildings with an existing application to be started on site by September My Department is not providing any Government funding for the development of new fire extinguishing technologies. The Building Safety Fund is aimed at making sure those living in buildings covered by the fund are safe by remediating unsafe non-Aluminium Composite Material cladding systems that do not meet fire safety standards.
Matters of liability are specific to individual buildings, and the Department is not in a position to make individual assessments of the facts and circumstances surrounding each individual building. The Department has ongoing engagement with developers and building owners of private sector high-rise residential buildings with unsafe cladding.
This has led to the remediation of over half of high-rise residential buildings with unsafe Aluminium Composite Material ACM cladding being funded by the developer, freeholder or through warranty claims, without passing the costs onto leaseholders. Furthermore, the Private Sector ACM Remediation Fund and the Building Safety Fund for the remediation of buildings with unsafe non-ACM cladding both require applicants to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to recover the costs of replacing the unsafe cladding from those responsible through insurance claims, warranties or legal action.
Matters of liability and any related action are specific to individual buildings, and the Department cannot comment or provide any specific guidance on these. However, the Government provided additional funding to the Leasehold Advisory Service LEASE to provide independent, free, initial advice to leaseholders on building safety issues to ensure they are aware of their rights and are supported to understand the terms of their leases.
The Building Safety Prospectus, published in May, clearly sets out the timelines for the Building Safety Fund process and details the criteria that needs to be met in order to receive funding.
0コメント