Every parliamentary written question tabled by Jess Asato this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 141–160 of 169 · this parliament
Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing stricter sustainability guidelines for medical clothing procurement.
The Department’s Design for Life Programme is dedicated to the exploration and delivery of a circular economy for medical devices, including consumables, through greater reuse, remanufacture, and recycling. Its work includes exploring regulatory, commerci...
Whether his Department plans to publish a strategy on promoting a circular economy in medical textiles, including targets for the elimination of post-consumer plastic waste.
The Department’s Design for Life Programme is dedicated to the exploration and delivery of a circular economy for medical devices, including consumables, through greater reuse, remanufacture, and recycling. Its work includes exploring regulatory, commerci...
How his Department plans to integrate the National Programme for a Greener NHS with (a) the use of upcycled and reusable medical garments and (b) other unsustainable initiatives to help the NHS mee
The National Health Service has committed to reaching net zero by 2045 for the emissions it influences through the goods and services it buys from its partners and suppliers. This includes a greater focus on procuring and using sustainable and reusable me...
What steps his Department is taking to help ensure the use of (a) reusable and (b) otherwise sustainable medical garments within the NHS.
The National Health Service has committed to reaching net zero by 2045 for the emissions it influences through the goods and services it buys from its partners and suppliers. This includes a greater focus on procuring and using sustainable and reusable me...
What steps his Department is taking to encourage the NHS to procure (a) sustainable and (b) upcycled medical garments.
The National Health Service has committed to reaching net zero by 2045 for the emissions it influences through the goods and services it buys from its partners and suppliers. This includes a greater focus on procuring and using sustainable and reusable me...
What progress has been made towards setting targets for waste reduction in the NHS.
In 2023, NHS England published a new Heath Technical Memoranda (HTM) titled Safe and Sustainable Management of Healthcare Waste, as well as a new clinical waste strategy. Further information on the HTM is available at the following link:https://www.englan...
Whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing procurement rules to ensure that NHS medical garments are not linked to forced labour.
As part of the recommendations from the Department and NHS England’s Review of risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in the NHS supply chain, published in December 2023, it was recommended to lay regulations with a view to eradicate modern slavery,...
Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to require retailers to publish data on microplastics used in their clothing.
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a Taskforce of experts from across the Government, industry, academia and relevant NGOs. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a series of roadmaps detaili...
Whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of introducing a garment trading adjudicator to regulate the purchasing practices of domestic fashion retailers.
The UK fashion industry is famed for its historic creativity and this government recognises the important role the sector plays both in our domestic economy and on the global stage.It is important to take an evidence-based approach to considering policy o...
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussion with his counterparts in (a) France, (b) Germany and (c) Sweden to learn on steps to reduce plastic waste.
Defra officials have had discussions with their counterparts in other countries to learn lessons on tackling waste, including plastic waste. For instance, officials have had discussions with the German Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) administrator to assist i...
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has targets for the (a) recycling and (b) reuse of textiles.
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across Government, industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organisations. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a seri...
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he plans to take to reduce the amount of post-consumer textiles discarded annually.
The Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from across Government, industry, academia and relevant non-governmental organisations. The Taskforce will help to develop a Circular Economy Strategy for England and a seri...
Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has targets for the elimination of post-consumer plastic waste.
The Government is committed to moving to a circular economy for plastics - a future where we keep our resources in use for longer; waste is reduced; we accelerate the path to net zero, we see investment in critical infrastructure and green jobs; our econo...
When the Community Benefits guidance for electricity transmission network infrastructure will be published.
We are committed to ensuring that communities who live near new clean energy infrastructure can see the benefits of this and are currently considering how to most effectively deliver this. This includes developing guidance on community benefits for electr...
What the Government's policy is on (a) maternity and (b) paternity leave for public appointments.
There is a wide variety of public appointments which are made by Ministers. Typically they consist of non-executive positions of a public body, or a member of an advisory committee. A person appointed to such a position is an office holder. Office holders...
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of (a) VAT reductions, (b) tax breaks and (c) other financial incentives for businesses engaged in (i) upcycling and (ii) the sustainable production of textiles
The Government has inherited a challenging fiscal position, with debt near 100% of GDP and borrowing more than double what it was before the pandemic. In addition to this, a Treasury audit in July 2024 revealed an additional £21.9 billion pressure on depa...
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to publish a strategy for the promotion of a circular economy.
The Secretary of State has asked his Department to prioritise the development of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, to be published in 2025.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to promote a circular economy.
To enable delivery of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, the Secretary of State has asked his department to convene a taskforce of experts from industry, academia, civil society, and the civil service.
What recent estimate she has made of the number of pensioners not in receipt of Pension Credit living in (a) relative and (b) absolute poverty; and what estimate she has made of the number of additional pensioners who will be living in (i) relative and (ii) absolute poverty as a result of no longer receiving the Winter Fuel Payment.
For the latest year 2022/23, 1.9 million pensioners were in relative poverty after housing costs (AHC). Of these, 1.6 million pensioners were not in receipt of Pension Credit.For the latest year 2022/23, 1.4 million pensioners were in absolute poverty AHC. Of these, 1.2 million pensioners were not in receipt of Pension Credit. A household is in relative poverty if its income is less than 60 per cent of the median household income in a given financial year. A household is in absolute poverty if its income is less than 60% of median household income in 2010/11, uprated by inflation. ‘Households Below Average Income’ provides estimates on the number of and percentage of people living in low-income households based on their household disposable income. As an income measure, it does not include other available resources that might impact on a household’s poverty levels such as savings. These numbers have been rounded to the nearest 100,000. This data is available on Stat-Xplore at https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset. More Information on the data included in the ‘Households Below Average Income’ dataset can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2023/households-below-average-income-series-quality-and-methodology-information-report-fye-2023#income-definition. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. An account is not required to use Stat- Xplore, the ‘Guest Login’ feature gives instant access to the main functions.Recognising the wide-ranging causes of pensioner poverty, we will explore how we can use all the available levers we have across government, external partners and local authorities. This includes boosting the uptake of Pension Credit to ensure that the poorest pensioners get the support they need. We know there are low-income pensioners who aren’t claiming Pension Credit, and we urge those people to apply. This will passport them to receive Winter Fuel Payment alongside a range of other benefits – depending on circumstances, these could be worth hundreds of pounds that could really help them.
How many people aged 65 and over have been hospitalised for illnesses caused by cold weather in each of the last five years.
While the information on hospital admissions is not available in the format requested, NHS England publishes data on the number of admissions due to external causes, including exposure to excessive natural cold. The following table shows the number of finished consultant episodes due to exposure to excessive natural cold for those aged 65 years old and over, from 2018/19 to 2022/23:YearNumber of finished consultant episodes2022/237542021/225842020/216922019/205772018/19535Source: published by NHS Digital, with further information available at the following link:https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-admitted-patient-care-activity/2022-23Note: this does not include hospital admissions due to cold weather exacerbating existing conditions