We recognise that it is important that the fundamental rights of people continue to be respected throughout their lives and that the specific needs of older people are recognised and respected.

We have previously considered the merits of introducing an older person’s commissioner. However, we believe that the duties that would be covered by such a role are covered by work elsewhere in the system.

Establishing an older person’s commissioners would also have significant costs associated with it. Net expenditure in the first year that Northern Ireland’s Older People’s Commissioner was set up was around £101,674 in 2011-12 and has since increased to £876,272 in 2017-18. Recent estimates indicate that there are around 33% more over 65s in England than in Northern Ireland, suggesting such a body would create significant annual costs.

The Government is committed to making this country one of the best places to grow old in.

Across the health and social care system in England there are already systems in place, that are able to listen to the voices of older people and respond to their concerns.

To tackle plastics pollution, we have introduced a world-leading microbeads ban, reduced single-use plastic bag usage by 90% in the main supermarkets, and launched the Commonwealth Clean

Ocean Alliance to tackle the issue globally. We also have a widespread package of measures on plastic pollution in our Environment Bill.

My Right Honourable friend and I recognise the importance of vaccination in tackling antimicrobial resistance (or AMR). Our AMR national action plan, developed across Government, includes commitments to optimise use of vaccines in humans and animals, and stimulate vaccine research and development.

A cross-departmental Delivery Board, co-chaired by my Department and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, will drive and oversee delivery of this work and met for the first time this month.

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to increasing the provision of mental health support for all patients who require it. The importance of addressing the mental health needs of people with diabetes is recognised and further work is underway to consider the most effective routes for supporting this as part of the future development of services.

On 21 March 2018, NHS England and NHS Improvement, along with the National Collaboration Institute for Mental Health, published ‘The Improving Access to Psychotherapy Therapy (IAPT) Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms’. The guidance outlines the IAPT pathway, and accompanying benchmarks, to support the national expansion of IAPT services for adults with long term conditions and medically unexplained symptoms.

The education funding reforms unlocked the cap which constrained the number of pre-registration nurse training places allowing more students to gain access to nurse degree training courses. Eligible pre-registration nursing students now receive at least 25% more support than under the National Health Service bursary system through tuition fee loans and living cost support from the Student Loans Company.

Additionally, to support pre-registration nursing students whilst attending the clinical placement element of their courses, the Government introduced a Learning Support Fund. Eligible loan funded students can apply for non means tested and non-repayable annual payments of £1,000 for child dependents allowance, reimbursement of all clinical placement travel costs above their usual daily travel and exceptional hardship payments of up to £3,000. These are in addition to the allowances paid by the Student Loans Company.

On 19 September 2019 the Universities and College Admission Services (UCAS) published data on full-time undergraduate applicants to nursing and midwifery courses. The data shows that there are 21,590 placed applicants on nursing and midwifery courses at English providers. This is 4% higher than the same point in 2018 when there were 20,690 place applicants.

UCAS will publish further data in December 2019.

The European Union has confirmed that it will grant UK nationals visa-free travel for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180 day period - subject to reciprocity.

The Government has also said that we do not intend to require visas for tourists or short term business visitors from the European Union.

The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund was announced in October 2018. We are providing £315m for this fund to support industrial energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects. This will help to bring down energy costs and reduce carbon emissions for vital industries, including energy intensive industries. We have sought stakeholder views through our informal consultation as well as a market intelligence exercise, helping to inform the design of the fund. We will publish a consultation setting out our preferred fund design and invite stakeholders to comment shortly.

The IETF will complement existing schemes such as the Industrial Heat Recovery Scheme and the Industrial Energy Efficiency Accelerator.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister chaired a roundtable with automotive companies to discuss how the Government can best continue to support the industry through this period of unprecedented change. The Prime Minister announced a £500 million loan guarantee to support Jaguar Land Rover’s design, manufacture and export of the next generation of electric vehicles, with similar support also available to others in the sector. Through our industrial strategy and landmark automotive sector deal, we remain committed to keeping the UK at the forefront of new technological development.

May I address the invitation I have just received, Mr Speaker? Of course I enjoy a sweet sherry, but I am afraid I will be on my way to Belfast by that point.

This year, the UK is spearheading a global campaign on media freedoms, and our diplomatic missions around the world have stepped up their activity accordingly. We have announced the appointment of Special Envoy Amal Clooney, establishing a high-level panel to drive legislative reform throughout the world, and we will announce further practical steps with wide international support at next month’s UK and Canada-led conference.

Patient safety remains a key priority for the National Health Service. NHS Improvement and NHS England are developing a new National Patient Safety Strategy that will sit alongside the NHS Long Term Plan.

The strategy will be published this summer and will build on existing work to provide a coherent framework that the whole NHS can recognise and support

We do not currently collect this data. Individual trusts may hold this data but are not required to share this with the Government. There are currently no steps being taken to reduce the volume of these requests.

I can confirm that the proportion of subject access requests made to the Ministry of Justice since June 2018 that were responded to within time is 75%. This figure includes requests received up to and including March 2019, representing the latest available performance results.

The Ministry of Justice takes its data protection responsibilities seriously. We have seen a significant increase in the numbers of subject access requests received since the General Data Protection Regulation came into force. We have developed plans to address this increase and taken steps to achieve the desired level of performance. We have:

• Reviewed and improved working practices and streamlined staff training
• Increased staffing levels
• Invested in technology and we are conducting a trial to release more information to offenders in prison.

The volume of subject access requests received by the department is beyond its control. Since the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation and the accompanying Data Protection Act 2018 on the 25 May 2018, the number of SARs have increased by 160% from offenders and 55% from MoJ staff and members of the public.

The export strategy sets out how the Government will encourage, inform, connect and finance UK businesses so that they can take advantage of the international demand for British goods and services. In February we launched the new export champion community, a network of the UK’s leading exporters which will encourage their fellow firms to start exporting and will offer practical advice.

Data is not available to show the number of Right of Access requests that included a request for Child Maintenance Group records prior to 5/11/2018.

Therefore, the following information shows the number Right of Access Requests that included a request for Child Maintenance Group records from 5/11/2018

CMG RECORDS REQUESTS COMPLETED

For the period 5/11/2018 to 21/5/2019:

Regarding the current workload we have the following measures in place:

We have secured an additional resource to support existing colleagues

As a contingency we have cross skilled staff that we can utilise if required

As at end March 2019, the market value of the UK’s official reserves was $169.5 billion. This comprised of (a) $12.9 billion gold, (b) $129.5 billion foreign currency reserves and (c) $27.1 billion other assets.

Most post-mortem examinations are carried out by pathologists who specialise in histopathology. However, post-mortems are not a requirement of the Certificate of Completion of Training in histopathology, therefore, the number of histopathologists who are qualified to carry out post-mortem examinations for coroners is not held centrally.

Overall, in January 2019, there were 1,206 full time equivalent (FTE) consultant histopathologists in the National Health Service in England. This represents a 10% (119 FTE) increase compared to January 2010.

Health Education England has committed to attract and retain more histopathologists by 2021 as part of its Cancer Workforce Plan for England published in December 2017. In 2019, 100% of specialist histopathology training places were filled.