Simon Opher MP: written questions
340 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Social PrescribingDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 21 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40285More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support social prescribing.
Answer: As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future, the Government has underlined its commitment to taking a preventive approach to addressing health inequalities.We are determined to improve people’s physical and mental ...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: Carbon EmissionsDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 21 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 40284More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to decarbonise the power system.
Answer: The Government published the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan ‘a new era of clean electricity’ on 13 December 2024 detailing our plan to achieve deliver clean power by 2030. More recently, we have introduced the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, reinforcing o...
Answered 31 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordFireworks: RegulationDepartment for Business and TradeTabled 20 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39983More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to review firework legislation.
Answer: The Government's intention is to minimise the negative impact of fireworks and to support their considerate use, reducing the risks and disturbances to individuals, animals, and property. To inform any future decisions I have and will continue to engage w...
Answered 26 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordRivers: Environment ProtectionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 20 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39982More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps he has taken to implement the chalk stream recovery pack.
Answer: Cleaning up our waters, including iconic sites such as chalk streams is a top government priority. That is why on 23 October 2024, the Secretary of State announced the launch of an independent commission to fundamentally transform how our water system wor...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordEnvironment ProtectionDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 20 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39981More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to integrate his planned updates to the (a) Environmental Improvement Plan and (b) Carbon Budget Delivery Plan.
Answer: Nature and climate action must be taken together and will underpin the delivery of this Government’s missions, from clean energy to economic growth. Our revised Environmental Improvement Plan will set out the vital role of nature in mitigating and adaptin...
Answered 8 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordDoctors: TrainingDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39605More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to complete the review of postgraduate medical training.
Answer: The postgraduate medical training review announced by the Chief Medical Officer for England and National Medical Director of NHS England is underway and on track. NHS England launched an extensive engagement and listening exercise to consider the future o...
Answered 27 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAccident and Emergency Departments: StandardsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39604More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish guidance on the use of temporary care environments before the publication of the urgent and emergency care plan.
Answer: The Government recognises that long waits in accident and emergency departments are unacceptable and lead to worse patient outcomes. Patients should expect and receive the highest standard of service, and we are determined to tackle the issue of corridor ...
Answered 27 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAccident and Emergency Departments: StandardsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39603More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the use of temporary care environments in patient care.
Answer: The Government recognises that long waits in accident and emergency departments are unacceptable and lead to worse patient outcomes. Patients should expect and receive the highest standard of service, and we are determined to tackle the issue of corridor ...
Answered 27 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordAccident and Emergency Departments: StandardsDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 19 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39602More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of publishing year-round data on the number of patients being treated in temporary care environments.
Answer: We continue to keep the data available and published to support improvements to urgent and emergency care services under review.NHS England has been working with trusts since last year to put in place new reporting arrangements related to the use of tempo...
Answered 9 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordCommunity Development and Housing: GloucestershireMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38400More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2025 to Question 36815 on Community Development and Housing: Gloucestershire, if he will list the amount of funding allocated for each project.
Answer: A total of £22.8 million was allocated through the Levelling Up Home Building Fund/The Home Builders Fund. As this involves development finance provided to private companies, details cannot be disclosed due to commercial sensitivity. A total of £32.7 mill...
Answered 20 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPerforming Arts: Government AssistanceDepartment for Culture, Media and SportTabled 14 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 38399More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with stakeholders from the comedy industry on Government support for that industry.
Answer: Following on from my meeting with my Hon Friend and Louisa Jackson on 13 March 2025 to discuss support for the comedy industry, I am pleased to see one of my officials attended the Comedy-on-Prescription roundtable organised by Ms Jackson at Westminster H...
Answered 26 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSustainable Farming Incentive: Educational VisitsDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 10 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36816More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to include (a) educational access payments within the Sustainable Farming Incentive and (b) extend those payments to (i) social prescribing programmes and (ii) other a
Answer: We are developing educational access as a new 3-year capital item, which we expect to be available later in 2025. This will be a stand-alone capital item, though applicants must have an agri-environment or woodland agreement with management actions. Whils...
Answered 17 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCommunity Development and Housing: GloucestershireMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 10 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36815More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which housing and community development projects have received Government funding in Gloucestershire in financial year 2024-25.
Answer: These projects received funding from HMG through 2024/25 to develop housing and communities in Gloucestershire: Three sites across Forest of Dean, Cotswolds and Stroud have received funding through the Levelling Up Home Building Fund.Three projects across...
Answered 13 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPrisoners' Release: CurfewsMinistry of JusticeTabled 6 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 36156More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what her planned timeline is for the proposed extension of the maximum period that an eligible prisoner may spend on Home Detention Curfew.
Answer: The maximum period that an eligible prisoner may spend on Home Detention Curfew will be extended from 180 days to 365 days from 03 June 2025.
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCancer: ScreeningDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 5 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35792More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that cancer screening programmes recommended by the National Screening Committee are (a) funded and (b) available to patients as quickly as possible.
Answer: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) Secretariat works closely with NHS England. This means NHS England is aware of conditions that the committee is considering for a screening programme. The costs and workforce requirements of potential screening...
Answered 14 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCancer: Children and Young PeopleDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 5 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35791More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to including a separate faster diagnosis target for children and young people with cancer.
Answer: The Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS) includes children and young people and ensures that cancer is diagnosed or ruled out, within 28 days from referral. The latest FDS data, for December 2024, shows that 89.8% of children and young people with suspected ca...
Answered 17 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordCancer: ScreeningDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 5 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35790More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure early diagnosis of cancer.
Answer: Earlier diagnosis of cancer, at stages 1 or 2, is key to delivering improved cancer outcomes and boosting chances of survival. The earlier that cancer is diagnosed, the more options there are for effective treatment.The Government is committed to improvin...
Answered 11 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSexual Offences: Crown CourtMinistry of JusticeTabled 4 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35388More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the backlog of (a) rape and (b) sexual offence cases in the Crown Court.
Answer: We know that victims of rape and other sexual offences can wait longer than victims of other offence types for their cases to complete at the Crown Court. Judges, where possible, look to prioritise cases involving vulnerable victims and witnesses, which w...
Answered 10 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordBritish Nationality: Fees and ChargesHome OfficeTabled 4 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 35387More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's publication entitled Good character: caseworker guidance, updated on 13 February 2025, whether her Department plans to review the £1,630 citizenship application fee.
Answer: Fees for immigration and nationality applications are kept under review. The Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2025 laid on 21 January, sets out increases to the fee maxima that applies to applications made from within the UK to natural...
Answered 10 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordNuclear Power Stations: GloucestershireDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34010More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he will visit the decommissioning power stations at (a) Oldbury and (b) Berkeley (Severn Edge); and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of (i) deploying Small Modula
Answer: Great British Nuclear is driving forward its Small Modular Reactor competition and has separately acquired the site at Oldbury-on-Severn. No decisions have yet been taken on deployment of technologies at specific sites but the merits of any projects would...
Answered 5 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordRiver Severn: Flood ControlDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural AffairsTabled 26 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 34009More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the long-term strategic investment required to support flood mitigation along the Severn Estuary.
Answer: We are committed to supporting coastal communities and ensuring flood risk management is fit for the challenges we face now and in the future. We will work to improve resilience and preparation across central government and local authorities to better pro...
Answered 4 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements OrdersMinistry of JusticeTabled 25 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33616More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of legal mechanisms available to victims of (a) coercive control and (b) other abuse when family courts do not enforce child custody arrangements.
Answer: A Child Arrangement Order may be made by the family court to specify whom a child should live with, spend time with or otherwise have contact with.If the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person has failed to comply with a Child Arrangemen...
Answered 3 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordPolice: TrainingHome OfficeTabled 25 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33615More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces are adequately (a) trained and (b) resourced to respond effectively to (a) reports of (i) coercive control and (ii) abuse and (b) breaches of cour
Answer: Tackling violence against women and girls is a top priority for this Government and we will treat it as the national emergency that it is.In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening training for policing to ensure they have the right knowledge and ski...
Answered 3 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements OrdersMinistry of JusticeTabled 25 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33614More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans to review (a) the requirement to pay fees to initiate legal action when child custody court orders are breached and (b) other financial barriers to enforcing those orders.
Answer: A Child Arrangement Order may be made by the family court to specify whom a child should live with, spend time with or otherwise have contact with.If the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person has failed to comply with a Child Arrangemen...
Answered 3 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordChild Arrangements OrdersMinistry of JusticeTabled 25 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 33613More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that breaches of child custody court orders are enforced (a) effectively and (b) in a timely manner.
Answer: A Child Arrangement Order may be made by the family court to specify whom a child should live with, spend time with or otherwise have contact with.If the court is satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that a person has failed to comply with a Child Arrangemen...
Answered 3 Mar 2025
Original Parliament record
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