Cat Smith MP: written questions
221 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Cancer: Alcoholic DrinksDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 4 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 57258More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) recognise and (b) address the increased risk of developing cancer associated with alcohol consumption.
Answer: Alcohol has been identified as a causal factor in more than 200 medical conditions, including mouth, throat, stomach, liver and breast cancers. The Government is committed to reversing the trend on alcohol-specific deaths and shortening the amount of time...
Answered 30 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Remote WorkingDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 56259More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the announcement of 60% office-based attendance on staff wellbeing in her Department.
Answer: Civil Service Heads of Departments across government have agreed that the Civil Service is best able to deliver for the people it serves by taking a consistent approach to in office working. Heads of Departments agreed that 60% minimum office attendance f...
Answered 10 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordDepartment for Work and Pensions: Flexible WorkingDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 2 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 56258More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make assessment of the potential merits of flexible working in her Department.
Answer: DWP recognises the potential merits of flexible working and has experience over decades of offering and allowing a variety of flexibilities. Flexible working hours, compressed hours, part-time hours, part-year working and partial retirement are firmly est...
Answered 10 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordDriving under InfluenceDepartment for TransportTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 54854More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the use of alcohol-interlocks on vehicles of people convicted of drink driving.
Answer: In 2021, the Government commissioned PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) to publish a report on alcohol interlocks. www.pacts,org.uk/locking-out-the-drink-driver-using-alcohol-interlocks-to-reduce-drink-driving-in-the-uk/ Governmen...
Answered 9 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordRoads: SafetyDepartment for TransportTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 54853More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to publish a new road safety strategy.
Answer: Improving road safety is one of my key priorities. Too many people are killed and seriously injured in road traffic collisions, and this Government will work hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users. That is why we are developing our Road Safety...
Answered 4 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordSodium Valproate: CompensationDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 May 2025AnsweredUIN 53082More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 51501 on Sodium Valproate: Compensation, which Government departments he is having discussions with on developing a timetable for implementation of
Answer: The Government is carefully considering the valuable work done by the Patient Safety Commissioner and the resulting Hughes Report, which set out options for financial and non-financial redress for those harmed by valproate and pelvic mesh. Department offi...
Answered 28 May 2025
Original Parliament recordConversion TherapyWomen and EqualitiesTabled 1 May 2025AnsweredUIN 904022More
Question: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to ban conversion practices.
Answer: Conversion practices are abuse, and I can assure my honourable friend that this Government is absolutely committed to introducing a fully trans inclusive ban on conversion practices.This is a complex issue, and it is imperative that we get this right. We ...
Answered 7 May 2025
Original Parliament recordMulti-sport Grassroots Facilities Programme: TennisDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 17 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38612More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much and what proportion of the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme she plans to spend on (a) tennis and (b) padel facilities in each of the next three years.
Answer: The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of background, should have access to and benefit from quality sport and physical activity opportunities.The majority of funding for grassroots sport is provided through Sport England, our a...
Answered 24 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordMulti-sport Grassroots Facilities Programme: WomenDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38365More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to support (a) sports with higher levels of female participation, (b) tennis and (c) netball through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Answer: The Government is dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and committed to ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality facilities. On Friday 21 March, we confirmed that DCMS is investing £100 million...
Answered 21 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEpilepsy: WomenDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 13 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 903269More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support women with epilepsy.
Answer: The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health, placing women’s equality at the heart of our agenda and ensuring women’s health is never again neglected.At a national level, there are several initiatives supporting service improvement and bett...
Answered 19 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSports: WomenDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 13 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38035More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many women and girls will be impacted by the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme.
Answer: The Government is dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and committed to ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality facilities. On Friday 21 March, we confirmed that DCMS is investing £100 million...
Answered 21 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCremationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 3 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 34859More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of delays to the Environment Agency’s guidance on the operation of crematoria on relevant stakeholders.
Answer: The final updated Process Guidance Note 5/2 (24) is currently being reviewed by Ministers.
Answered 10 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCremationDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 3 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 34858More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Environment Agency’s guidance on the operation of crematoria will be (a) published and (b) brought into effect.
Answer: The final updated Process Guidance Note 5/2 (24) is under review.
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPrescription DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 13 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31499More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 27 January 2021 to Question 137239 on Prescription Drugs, what information his Department holds on the number of patients who have been prescribed drugs categorised
Answer: The following table shows the number of items dispensed and claimed for reimbursement for each of the categories requested, covering the most recently published 12-month period and the 12 months prior:Drug groupFinancial yearTotal number of itemsClonazepa...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordPrescription DrugsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 13 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 31498More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions were issued for each drug categorised under the (a) (i) clonazepam and (ii) other benzodiazepines, (b) z-drugs, (c) antidepressants, (d) opioids, (e) pregabalin and (f) gabap
Answer: The following table shows the number of items dispensed and claimed for reimbursement for each of the categories requested, covering the most recently published 12-month period and the 12 months prior:Drug groupFinancial yearTotal number of itemsClonazepa...
Answered 24 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordGambling: AdvertisingDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 5 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 28991More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to consider evidence related to advertising when strengthening protections against gambling harms.
Answer: We are committed to considering the best available evidence, including on advertising, from a wide range of sources to inform decisions on strengthening protections. Developing quality evidence is a key priority for the statutory levy and funding will be ...
Answered 13 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordYouth WorkDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 23 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26023More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support youth work as a profession by providing (a) financial support for students and (b) fieldwork placements.
Answer: DCMS works with the National Youth Agency (NYA) to fund bursaries for individuals to obtain youth work qualifications. Since 2019, £4 million of funding has been provided to the NYA via the Youth Worker Bursary Fund, allowing over 2,500 individuals from u...
Answered 31 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordYouth Workers: LicensingDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 23 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26022More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a revocable license to practice for youth workers.
Answer: DCMS funds the National Youth Agency to maintain a voluntary register of JNC Level 6 qualified youth workers and provide support to youth workers and organisations around safeguarding and risk management via their Safeguarding Hub.In November, this govern...
Answered 30 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordYouth ServicesDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 23 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 26021More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to ensure there is a minimum level of provision for youth services.
Answer: Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people in their area. We will be launching the Local Youth Transformation pilot ...
Answered 31 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordGender Dysphoria: Puberty Suppressing HormonesDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 21 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 25257More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the restriction of puberty blockers for the treatment of gender incongruence on the (a) physical and (b) mental health of young trans people.
Answer: On 11 December 2024 the Government introduced The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Restrictions on Private Sales and Supplies) Order 2024, which came into effect on 1 January 2025. Alongside this legislation the Government published ...
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordYouth Services: FinanceDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 15 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 24185More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding allocated to the National Citizen Service will be redistributed to youth services.
Answer: Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course, following the completion of business planning.
Answered 22 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordAcademies: PayDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22910More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish (a) the number and (b) a list of trust names of academy trusts in which the highest paid member of staff including employer pension contributions was paid (i) more than £200,000, (ii) more t
Answer: The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet a...
Answered 17 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMulti-academy Trusts: PayDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22909More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish a breakdown of the total number of trustees of schools multi-academy trusts that received remuneration either as a member of staff as well as a trustee, or in their capacity purely as truste
Answer: The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet a...
Answered 17 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordHeadteachers: PayDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22908More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average pay was for headteachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary school in the maintained sector in each of the last five years.
Answer: Information on the school workforce is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.The following link prov...
Answered 16 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordMulti-academy Trusts: PayDepartment for EducationTabled 9 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 22907More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21323 on Multi-academy Trusts: Pay, if she will take steps to collate a table with the total number of academy trusts reporting (a) one, (b) two and (c) thre
Answer: The department collates and publishes data annually in the academies sector annual report and accounts on the number of academy trusts with an individual staff member whose emoluments are above £100,000. The data is available in the attached spreadsheet a...
Answered 17 Jan 2025
Original Parliament record
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