Chewing tobacco and paan are harmful to your health. There is national advice on NHS.uk about the dangers and where to seek advice through local stop smoking services to help people quit.

Local authorities also provide campaigns, advice and support within their communities. To support clinicians and local authorities, Public Health England have published the ‘Delivering Better Oral Health’ guidance that contains a chapter on tobacco use, along with self-assessment tools to improve local tobacco control work and an oral cancer registrations indicator in the Public Health Profiles data for local commissioners to access.

In March 2020, Ofwat and the Environment Agency (EA) wrote an open letter to water retailers and wholesalers requesting that they work together to develop an action plan to help deliver greater water efficiency in the non-household sector. Ofwat and the EA have proactively engaged with industry to develop the action plan, which is due to be signed off shortly. The action plan aims to:

1. Provide greater clarity on expectations and ambition for business water efficiency;
2. Improve understanding of how business water is being used, where and how much;
3. Improve collaboration in water resource planning and in identifying and progressing options to meet future business and societal water needs;
4. Identify and address barriers to the delivery of business water efficiency; and
5. Deliver insights into business customer motivations to save water using them to inform water saving campaigns and initiatives.

Highways England is developing a nationally-targeted campaign to increase road user confidence on All Lane Running (ALR) motorways, including what to do in the event of a breakdown in a live lane. The campaign concept has been tested on a number of audiences. Stakeholders in the recovery and insurance industries have been engaged throughout the process and have helped to shape the campaign.

Highways England is now in the production phase of the campaign, which will launch in January 2021. The campaign will be seen widely across the country including on TV, social media and national radio to ensure maximum reach amongst the target audience.

We continue to expand access to talking and psychological therapies through the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. IAPT services are promoted through Every Mind Matters, an online platform which contains resources to help people look after their wellbeing and mental health and local services can be located through NHS.UK.

Data from 2019/20 shows that there were 1.69 million referrals to talking therapies in England and 1.17 million people started a course of treatment within this year. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to ensuring that a total of 1.9 million adults will be able to access IAPT services by 2023/24.

On 20 January 2020, the Department for Education launched a new scheme which makes free period products available for state-funded primary schools, secondary schools and colleges in England.

This scheme is in place to ensure that no learner misses out on education due to their period. Schools and colleges should have period products available should learners need them. Schools may choose to order period products through this scheme or through an alternative route.

Our supplier phs Group reported in August that almost 40% of eligible organisations have placed orders for period products through this scheme, and we are continuing to monitor orders closely. The scheme remained in operation during partial school and college closures, and these organisations are still able to order a range of period products and distribute them to learners.

We continue to work with our delivery partner phs Group to encourage engagement with the scheme. We intend to publish positive stories from organisations that have benefitted from the scheme in order to promote it further.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to PQs 121394 and 33512.

No specific assessment or plans have been made.

The Universal Service Conditions set out by Ofcom require the two Universal Service Providers (BT and KCOM in the Hull area) to take ‘reasonable steps... to raise awareness of the potential availability of Broadband Services under these Conditions among members of the public’. As of September 2020, BT had directly contacted 47,000 premises that are eligible for the Universal Service Obligation.

In addition, Ofcom, who are responsible for implementing the Universal Service Obligation, are taking their own steps to publicise it through both their website and a localised, geo-targeted social media campaign.

The Universal Service Obligation is technology neutral. It provides a legal right to request a decent broadband connection delivering a minimum 10Mbps download speed. It does not limit the technologies that can be used by the Universal Service Provider to deliver the minimum specification or provide a legal right for consumers to request an upgrade to a fibre connection. That said, the Universal Service Providers have provided fibre connections under the Universal Service Obligation where this is the most efficient technology solution.

In addition, the government has a number of other programmes to help people upgrade to gigabit capable connections, including the rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme for example. This is in addition to our commitment to invest £5bn from April 2021 to bring gigabit coverage to the hardest to reach areas as part of the UK Gigabit Programme.

The Department delivers regular communications about Access to Work support using a variety of high reach channels including social media, proactive press releases explaining the support available and how to apply via Gov.uk. Activity also includes working with a variety of organisations to increase awareness of Access to Work support among disabled employees, including the Disability Confident network of more than 19.000 employers, and regular stakeholder communications to encourage them to promote Access to Work to their clients. Remploy and Ingeus deliver Access to Work Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) on the Department’s behalf. The Department works with those providers to support activity to promote their Access to Work Mental Health Support Services externally using their communications channels to reach customers experiencing mental health issues or conditions within the workplace. All promotional activity delivered by Access to Work MHSS providers has to be approved by the Department.

The Department also targets information about Access to Work at the point of need where it can have maximum impact, for example when someone is offered a job, or develops a health condition that impacts their work. This means using key touch points with disabled people, including employers, Jobcentre work coaches, Disability Employment Advisers and partners who engage directly with disabled people.

This approach has been highly effective as Access to Work is supporting thousands more people with disabilities and health conditions than ever before. In the most recent official statistics published in September 2020, Access to Work funded tailored and flexible support for 43,000 people in 2019/20, a 20% increase on the previous year, demonstrating the Department’s approach to promoting Access to Work continues to be highly effective. Access to Work support has also led to increased take up among underrepresented groups including those with Mental Health conditions, with 8,710 successful applications in 2019/20, almost double the number compared to the previous year and the highest ever.

The increased consumption and reach of digital channels, in particular social media, and the Department’s extensive reach with employers and stakeholder organisations means that key audiences can be reached in a much more cost-effective way than previously. However, to ensure that Access to Work information reaches as many people as possible, the Department is planning to supplement this already extensive promotion with paid advertising from January 2021. Final proposals are currently being worked on for the paid advertising campaign and detailed media planning will determine final spend, therefore at this stage we are unable to confirm the final spend estimate.

The Department delivers regular communications about Access to Work support using a variety of high reach channels including social media, proactive press releases explaining the support available and how to apply via Gov.uk. Activity also includes working with a variety of organisations to increase awareness of Access to Work support among disabled employees, including the Disability Confident network of more than 19.000 employers, and regular stakeholder communications to encourage them to promote Access to Work to their clients. Remploy and Ingeus deliver Access to Work Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) on the Department’s behalf. The Department works with those providers to support activity to promote their Access to Work Mental Health Support Services externally using their communications channels to reach customers experiencing mental health issues or conditions within the workplace. All promotional activity delivered by Access to Work MHSS providers has to be approved by the Department.

The Department also targets information about Access to Work at the point of need where it can have maximum impact, for example when someone is offered a job, or develops a health condition that impacts their work. This means using key touch points with disabled people, including employers, Jobcentre work coaches, Disability Employment Advisers and partners who engage directly with disabled people.

This approach has been highly effective as Access to Work is supporting thousands more people with disabilities and health conditions than ever before. In the most recent official statistics published in September 2020, Access to Work funded tailored and flexible support for 43,000 people in 2019/20, a 20% increase on the previous year, demonstrating the Department’s approach to promoting Access to Work continues to be highly effective. Access to Work support has also led to increased take up among underrepresented groups including those with Mental Health conditions, with 8,710 successful applications in 2019/20, almost double the number compared to the previous year and the highest ever.

The increased consumption and reach of digital channels, in particular social media, and the Department’s extensive reach with employers and stakeholder organisations means that key audiences can be reached in a much more cost-effective way than previously. However, to ensure that Access to Work information reaches as many people as possible, the Department is planning to supplement this already extensive promotion with paid advertising from January 2021. Final proposals are currently being worked on for the paid advertising campaign and detailed media planning will determine final spend, therefore at this stage we are unable to confirm the final spend estimate.

The Department delivers regular communications about Access to Work support using a variety of high reach channels including social media, proactive press releases explaining the support available and how to apply via Gov.uk. Activity also includes working with a variety of organisations to increase awareness of Access to Work support among disabled employees, including the Disability Confident network of more than 19.000 employers, and regular stakeholder communications to encourage them to promote Access to Work to their clients. Remploy and Ingeus deliver Access to Work Mental Health Support Service (MHSS) on the Department’s behalf. The Department works with those providers to support activity to promote their Access to Work Mental Health Support Services externally using their communications channels to reach customers experiencing mental health issues or conditions within the workplace. All promotional activity delivered by Access to Work MHSS providers has to be approved by the Department.

The Department also targets information about Access to Work at the point of need where it can have maximum impact, for example when someone is offered a job, or develops a health condition that impacts their work. This means using key touch points with disabled people, including employers, Jobcentre work coaches, Disability Employment Advisers and partners who engage directly with disabled people.

This approach has been highly effective as Access to Work is supporting thousands more people with disabilities and health conditions than ever before. In the most recent official statistics published in September 2020, Access to Work funded tailored and flexible support for 43,000 people in 2019/20, a 20% increase on the previous year, demonstrating the Department’s approach to promoting Access to Work continues to be highly effective. Access to Work support has also led to increased take up among underrepresented groups including those with Mental Health conditions, with 8,710 successful applications in 2019/20, almost double the number compared to the previous year and the highest ever.

The increased consumption and reach of digital channels, in particular social media, and the Department’s extensive reach with employers and stakeholder organisations means that key audiences can be reached in a much more cost-effective way than previously. However, to ensure that Access to Work information reaches as many people as possible, the Department is planning to supplement this already extensive promotion with paid advertising from January 2021. Final proposals are currently being worked on for the paid advertising campaign and detailed media planning will determine final spend, therefore at this stage we are unable to confirm the final spend estimate.

No specific assessment has been made.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned a national specialised service to address the healthcare needs of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients with rare complications that cause major health problems, called complex-NF1. There are two centres responsible for the diagnosis and long-term care of patients with complex NF1, which are based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust.

These centres also provide education with the National Health Service to raise and maintain awareness of NF1 and are expected to form a relationship with local health and social care providers to help optimise any care for complex NF1 patients provided locally.

Since March 2020, Public Health England has translated key public guidance on COVID-19 in multiple languages including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese (traditional), Chinese (simplified), French, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi and Urdu. This now also includes translation of shielding guidance into Bulgarian, Hindi and Nepali. Examples of guidance are available at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-shielding-and-protecting-extremely-vulnerable-persons-from-covid-19

The Department is working closely with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement to promote vaccinations and raise awareness of their benefits and the diseases they prevent. We are also working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to help social media platforms identify and take action against incorrect claims about COVID-19 in line with their terms and conditions. This includes anti-vaccination narratives that could endanger people’s health. As we get closer to a potential COVID-19 vaccine, we will continue to provide clear information to the public and urge people to seek National Health Service advice, so they have the right information to make an informed choice.

The latest Pension Credit take-up statistics covering 2018-19 were published on 29 October 2020, which can be found at www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income-related-benefits-estimates-of-take-up-financial-year-2018-to-2019. They show a small but encouraging improvement in the take-up of Pension Credit. Take-up of Guarantee Credit – the safety-net element of Pension Credit – has risen from 68% to 70% of those eligible to claim it. The statistics also show a significant improvement in the take-up of Pension Credit by expenditure, with some 76% of Pension Credit being claimed, up from 70% in the previous year.

This year we took steps to raise awareness of Pension Credit by launching a campaign aimed at dispelling some of the common misconceptions about Pension Credit eligibility. We engaged with our stakeholders to ensure that the key campaign messages could be widely disseminated because we know that trusted organisations working in the community are often one of the first places that people are likely to go to seek information.

We have updated our online Pension Credit toolkit (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit) with the recent awareness campaign materials to supplement the resources it already contains for those working with pensioners, such as guides to Pension Credit and information designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit.

In May we also launched the digital ‘Apply for Pension Credit’ (https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim) service as part of our Covid 19 response to help people claim Pension Credit online with minimal delay and to ensure they can do so while adhering to social distancing or shielding measures. This online claim service for Pension Credit supplements the existing free Pension Credit claim line number (0800 99 1234) and postal claim facilities and around 50% of claims are being made using it.

We continue working with stakeholders to find the best ways to reach eligible pensioners and raise awareness of Pension Credit.