theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Tracy Gilbert:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help establish diplomatic relations with Palestine. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: The Foreign Secretary has exchanged letters with Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, formally establishing diplomatic relations with Palestine.
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Colum Eastwood:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the statement of 14 November 2025 by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon that Israel’s wall in southern Lebanon has crossed the Blue Line and made 4000sq metres of Lebanese territory inaccessible to Lebanese people. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: The UK is concerned by reports of escalating strikes by Israel on Lebanon, and of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) peacekeepers being affected by Israeli military activity. All necessary measures must be taken to protect UNIFIL personnel and premises and allow them to fulfil their mandate.

The UK continues to call for the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the Cessation of Hostilities agreement between Israel and Lebanese Hizballah. On my recent visit to Southern Lebanon, I repeated those calls, and reiterated the UK's support for Lebanon's plan to disarm non-state actors, including Lebanese Hizballah.
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Adam Jogee:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent engagement her Department has had with international partners on the 2025 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 29 October to question 83638.
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Chris Law:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she plans to hold an inquiry into the employment of Gila Ben-Yakov Phillips at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 19 November to question 90113.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the £40 million Trust Fund for Chagossians under the agreement with Mauritius forms part of the £40 million support package for Chagossians pledged in 2016. \p Stephen Doughty: No. The £40 million Trust Fund for Chagossians under the Agreement with Mauritius is entirely separate from the support package for Chagossians pledged in 2016. As we have said, this Government will scale-up HMG’s support for Chagossians in the UK and elsewhere.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will publish the total spending by her Department on (a) rail reform and (b) the formation of Great British Railways since 4 July 2025. \p Simon Lightwood: The recently published Railways Bill Impact Assessment sets out estimated costs for GBR and the passenger watchdog. Costs will be confirmed in the Full Business Case, which we expect to publish next year.
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Laura Kyrke-Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average waiting time is for a driving test in Aylesbury; and when the backlog for those tests will be cleared. \p Simon Lightwood: The average waiting time in weeks, as of October 2025, at Aylesbury driving test centre (DTC) was 19 weeks.

The average waiting time in weeks, as of October 2025, for other DTC’s that might serve customers in the area, are shown below:

Bletchley – 24 weeks

High Wycombe – 5 weeks

Leighton Buzzard – 24 weeks

Oxford – 24 weeks

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times. The agency is intensifying its efforts to reduce waiting times and improve access to driving tests that will break down barriers to opportunity as part of the government’s Plan for Change.

At the Transport Select committee on 12 November 2025, the Secretary of State for Transport confirmed the latest DVSA modelling shows it is not possible to meet a 7-week waiting time by summer 2026. There are several factors driving higher demand for tests, and it is not currently possible to say when waiting times will reduce to 7-weeks or fewer. The Secretary of State will be working closely with DVSA in addressing this important issue.

In the coming months, DVSA will:
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much local authorities made in profit from (a) traffic junction enforcement, (b) clean air zones and (c) congestion charging in 2024-25. \p Simon Lightwood: The Department for Transport does not hold this data.
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Sarah Coombes:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, for what reasons vehicles may not have registered keepers. \p Simon Lightwood: Vehicles that are currently in the motor trade may legitimately have no registered keeper as well as vehicles that have been sold but the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) has not yet been notified of the new keeper.

There will also be cases where the DVLA has been made aware of someone being incorrectly associated with a vehicle they are not responsible for. In those cases, the DVLA will remove the person’s name from the vehicle record to help ensure that they are not contacted about a vehicle for which they are not responsible.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many incidents of inoperable active lane signage were recorded on smart motorways in each year since 2015. \p Simon Lightwood: It is vital that roadside technology is working as intended to best support driver safety and confidence. Smart motorways have a system of inter-related features that work together to keep drivers moving safely and reduce reliance on one single feature.

The Office of Rail and Road has reported on the availability of roadside technology assets on all lane running smart motorways in its three annual assessments of safety performance on the SRN. Between April 2022 and December 2024, monthly availability for signs has ranged from 88.4% to 92.4%, and from 92.3% to 97.4% for signals.

National Highways is continuing to invest in upgrading roadside technology to further improve performance and availability.
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Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has assessed the potential merits of offering bonus payments to driving instructors for undertaking driving tests above their contracted duties. \p Simon Lightwood: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) does not employ driving instructors. By law, approved driving instructors (ADI) cannot work as examiners at the same time as being a registered instructor, even temporarily.

Whilst DVSA does not have the power to either increase or limit the number of ADI, the number of instructors on DVSA’s ADI register has increased in the last few years.

The attached spreadsheet shows the number and percentage of practical driving test bookings, where the initial test candidate’s driving licence number was subsequently changed to a different driving test candidate’s licence number, in each month since March 2025.
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James Wild:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 61225 on Department for Transport: Public Expenditure, how many lines of activity in her Department were considered as part of the zero based review. \p Simon Lightwood: At Spending Review 2025, the government conducted the first zero-based review (ZBR) of department budgets in 18 years, with every line of spending scrutinised to ensure value for money.

To ensure consistency in approach, cross-government guidance set expectations for the level of granularity each review should consider, recommending that departments review all spending within individual programme expenditure – at a minimum reflecting any lines of spending in excess of £1m per annum.

Savings identified through this process will support delivery of the government's commitment for all departments to deliver at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028-29.
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Tim Farron:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when she plans to seek new nominations for another round of mid-tier Access for All funding. \p Simon Lightwood: Spending Review 2025 confirmed £280m total funding for the Access for All programme over a four-year period. Our focus is on delivering full step free access at stations, rather than the smaller scale upgrades previously delivered under the mid-tier. As such, we have no current plans to fund a future round of mid-tier projects.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with train operating companies on the potential merits of introducing train tickets with a 24-hour validity period to support commuters working night shifts. \p Keir Mather: There are no current plans to introduce 24-hour return tickets. Regular commuters, including those working night shifts, can make significant savings with season tickets. As part of our fares simplification, preparing for Pay as You Go expansions in urban areas, we are introducing single leg pricing meaning a single fare will cost roughly half the price of a return.
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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department holds information on the number of railway strike days, broken down by year; and what is the first year for which such records are held. \p Keir Mather: Published Office of Rail and Road data reports that there were 52 national strike days between April 2022 and March 2024.
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Laurence Turner:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Network Rail's spreadsheet published on 2 February 2022 entitled Payments for disruption on the railway, if Network Rail will publish an updated version of that table. \p Keir Mather: Network Rail publish information to meet their statutory obligations and where it would be valuable to the public.

They aim not to duplicate information published elsewhere (for instance on their Safety Central site, their Annual Report and Accounts, or through the Rail Data Marketplace).

Annual Schedule 8 payment figures are published in Network Rail’s Regulatory Financial Statements.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the expected remit, budget, and governance arrangements of the UK Maritime Innovation Hub are. \p Keir Mather: The UK Maritime Innovation Hub will serve as a globally leading unit, encouraging innovation and supporting economic growth by helping innovators navigate the UK’s regulatory landscape. It will work collaboratively with classification societies and relevant UK regulators to facilitate innovation in the maritime sector, including initiatives for the trial and safe use of future fuels and other novel technologies.

Funding for the Innovation Hub from 2026/27 onwards is subject to the Department for Transport's Business Planning process.

The UK Maritime Innovation Hub will be within scope of the Department for Transport and Maritime and Coastguard Agency's existing Governance arrangements, with the necessary system of controls in place to monitor the performance of the Hub, ensuring it delivers value for money for taxpayers.
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Graham Leadbitter:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on access to the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service. \p Keir Mather: Through our regular engagement with the aviation industry, we are aware of the operational implications following the loss of access to the EU’s European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service.

The Department continues to work with the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, who are leading the Government’s business case on a future Satellite Based Augmentation System, to ensure that aviation requirements are understood and considered as part of the decision-making process.
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Jacob Collier:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to her Department's joint press notice entitled Mirror, signal, manoeuvres: Military driving examiners mobilised to cut test backlog, published on 12 November 2025, which areas the military driving examiners will be deployed to. \p Simon Lightwood: The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has accepted the resource of Defence Driving Examiners (DDEs), to be based at the driving test centres with the highest demand near their MOD base or home location.
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Jerome Mayhew:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate her Department has made of the savings arising from the establishment of Great British Railways; and what (a) data and (b) calculations her Department used to make this estimate. \p Keir Mather: The Railways Bill Impact Assessment provides an assessment of the potential impacts of the rail reform policies within the Railways Bill, including the establishment of Great British Railways.
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Wendy Morton:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the proposed new Periodic Review funding process for Great British Railways, what mechanisms will be in place to ensure that investment in reopening stations such as Aldridge is considered alongside major infrastructure schemes when funding allocations are agreed. \p Keir Mather: During the new Periodic Review process, Great British Railway (GBR) will need to develop an integrated plan across all its proposed activity, this includes infrastructure, passenger services, and railway enhancements such as new stations. This integrated plan will ensure that all funding commitments from different sources and at different times, including those made during the new periodic review, will be considered and align across GBR’s responsibilities.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answers of 20 October 2025 to Question 78714 and of 30 October 2025 to Question 84271 on Railways: Tickets, whether the Department considers current participation levels in the Digital Pay As You Go trials in (a) Yorkshire and (b) the East Midlands to be sufficient to draw conclusions about the scheme’s effectiveness. \p Keir Mather: The Digital Pay As You Go trials are an opportunity for passengers to test cutting-edge technology and benefit from simpler, more flexible tickets. We have had good engagement from passengers, with 2,214 participants signed up across the three live trials.

The Department and delivery partners are pushing for as close to 1000 participants per trial as possible. We are working with Ipsos, an independent research agency, to effectively evaluate passenger views and participation rates of all trials. The findings from this evaluation will underpin Ministerial decisions on the next steps for any future schemes.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2025 to Question 84310 on High Speed 2 Line, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the four-year deferral of work on the Handsacre link on (a) journey times and (b) the economy during the initial operating period of HS2. \p Keir Mather: The deferral of work at Handsacre is not expected to have any impact on journey times once the delivery of HS2 is complete.

The economic benefits of the government's delivery plans for HS2 will be considered as part of the updated business case being developed in line with the work on the programme reset.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to publish a statement of financial relationship between Great British Railways and the Department for Transport, including arrangements with devolved administrations. \p Keir Mather: Relevant GBR financial information will be published in due course as officials continue to work with industry partners to ensure that the sector’s financial model is best placed to deliver change.
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Jim McMahon:To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many (a) fatal accidents, (b) serious accidents, (c) minor accidents and (d) near misses were recorded on smart motorways for each year from 2015 to date. \p Lilian Greenwood: National Highways reports annually on smart motorway safety performance. The latest report was published in September 2025 using DfT’s most up to date validated STATS19 casualty dataset and annex A contains a breakdown of casualties by severity from 2015.

The latest analysis continues to show that overall, smart motorways remain our safest roads in terms of deaths or serious injuries, but we have been clear that we will not build any new ones.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77649 on Parking: Automatic Number Plate Recognition, whether the Government allows requests from (a) Patrol, (b) the British Parking Association and (c) the Local Government Association for the use of ANPR for civil parking enforcement in off-street parking; and if he will publish responses by his Department to representations made by those bodies on this issue since July 2024. \p Miatta Fahnbulleh: As stated in my response of 13 October to Question 77649, local authorities can use ANPR for civil parking enforcement. However, the Deregulation Act 2015 restricts the use of any surveillance technology by local authorities as the sole means of enforcing parking contraventions. In practice, this means that local authorities cannot issue Penalty Charge Notices by post following the detection of a parking contravention through surveillance technology, except in the limited circumstances set out in Regulation 10(2) of the Civil Enforcement of Road Traffic Contraventions (Approved Devices, Charging Guidelines and General Provisions) (England) Regulations 2022.

In addition to the use of ANPR by local authorities, the 2024 letter from Parking and Traffic Regulations Outside London (PATROL), the British Parking Association, and the Local Government Association raised other topics covering policy responsibilities of both the Department for Transport (DfT) and the MHCLG. At that time, my department issued a holding response, committing to provide a more substantive reply following a review of private parking charges. This response has not yet been provided as the department is still considering its response to the consultation on the Code of Practice for private parking which included proposals on private parking charges.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken alongside local stakeholders to reduce child homelessness in the Slough constituency. \p Alison McGovern: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 86837 on 10 November 2025.
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Sir James Cleverly:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 17 October 2025 to Question 77561 on MHCLG: Aviation, if he will list the (a) diplomatic, (b) humanitarian meetings and (c) visits that the Minister undertook on his visit to Pakistan. \p Samantha Dixon: As per the Guidance on Ministers’ meetings with external organisations and individuals (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance#annex-b-ministers-meetings-with-external-individuals-and-organisations-including-meetings-with-newspaper-and-other-media-proprietors-editors-and-senior-executives), details of meetings with foreign governments, and details of visits, are not normally disclosed.
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Mr Joshua Reynolds:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the High Court judgment in Arc Time Freehold Income Authorised Fund and others v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2025] EWHC 2751 (Admin) on the timeline of implementing (a) the removal of the requirement for leaseholders to pay freeholders' legal and professional fees when extending leases, (b) the cap on ground rent calculations for lease extensions and (c) the changes to marriage value provisions for leases with 80 years or less remaining. \p Matthew Pennycook: Following a robust defence from the government, the High Court comprehensively dismissed challenges brought to the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024. We warmly welcome the Court’s judgment.

The reforms that were challenged will make it easier and cheaper for leaseholders to extend their lease or buy their freehold by removing the requirement for marriage value to be paid; and capping the treatment of ground rents in the valuation calculation at 0.1% of the freehold value.

Valuation rates used to calculate the enfranchisement premium will be set by the Secretary of State in secondary legislation. We will consult on valuation rates and commence the relevant provisions as soon as possible.

As per my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 November 2024 (HCWS244), primary legislation will be required to rectify a small number of specific flaws in the 2024 Act before the Act’s enfranchisement provisions are commenced.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of (a) consultations and (b) reviews conducted by his Department since 4 July 2024. \p Samantha Dixon: This Government is committed to using reviews, consultations and wider public engagement to inform effective decision-making and delivery. These activities are undertaken as part of the Department’s routine business, and costs are not separately recorded in a way that would enable us to provide the estimate requested.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much (a) their Department and (b) its arm’s length bodies have spent on (i) installing electric vehicle charging facilities and (ii) purchasing electric vehicles since 4 July 2024; and what estimate their Department has made of the difference in capital cost between (A) the electric vehicles purchased by their Department and (B) comparable (1) petrol and (2) diesel models. \p Samantha Dixon: The Department has not purchased any electric vehicles since 4 July 2024.

The Department has also not incurred any expenditure on the installation of electric vehicle charging facilities since 4 July 2024.

We do not hold information of this nature in relation to our arm’s length bodies.
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Sir James Cleverly:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 75606 on Community Development: English Language, what estimate he has made of the cost of providing English language support in (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26. \p Karin Smyth: The following table shows the cost of providing English language interpretation and translation services for the 2024/25 financial year and the 2025/26 financial year to date:

Financial year

Amount

2024/25

£9,834

2025/26

£28,619
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Andrew Rosindell:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to provide doctors with a plan to improve (a) pay for NHS doctors and (b) job security for NHS doctors. \p Karin Smyth: The Government accepted the headline pay recommendations for National Health Service doctors made by the Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Renumeration (DDRB) for 2025/26. Consultant and Specialist and Specialty doctors received pay uplifts above forecast inflation of 4% and resident doctors received 4% plus £750. Resident doctors have received the highest pay uplift in the public sector over the past two years, with pay uplifts amounting to 28.9% over three years. While the Government has been clear that it cannot go further on pay this year, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has met with the British Medical Association (BMA) to discuss their priorities and is committed to improving the working lives of all NHS staff.

The Government has taken steps to accelerate the pay setting process for this year to ensure that uplifts are made in a timely manner. To achieve this, we remitted the DDRB on 22 July and submitted written evidence to them on 30 October. Written evidence was submitted a month earlier than last year, which means we are still on track for pay uplifts to go into pay packets earlier than in previous years.

In acknowledgement of doctors’ concerns about jobs and access to training places, the Government made an offer to BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee to double the previously announced increase in specialty training places in the 10-Year Health Plan to 2,000, bringing 1,000 of these forward to next year, to create an alternative training pathway and take steps to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates and doctors with significant NHS experience for specialty posts. On top of this commitment, NHS England has already made changes to the specialty training application process this year to reduce competition and support UK graduates.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS England on ensuring that improvements in waiting times are consistent across all regions. \p Karin Smyth: The Department and NHS England regularly monitor regional and trust level variation in National Health Service waiting lists to address variation in performance, so patients can expect to receive high quality care in a timely way, wherever they live.

We are committed to returning by March 2029 to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment. Our Reforming elective care for patients plan, published in January, sets out how the NHS will reform elective care services equitably across all trusts and regions.

As an interim goal, NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance 2025/26 has set the national ambition for 65% of patients waiting no longer than 18 weeks for treatment, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement in performance.

To support this improvement across all trusts, there is a robust performance management process in place. The new NHS Oversight Framework 2025/26 ensures that there is public accountability for performance and NHS England’s national and regional teams work with systems and providers to support improvement.

There is a specific process in place to identify, intervene, and support the providers whose performance on elective waiting lists is most challenged, led by NHS England’s national and regional teams.
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Stuart Andrew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Learning Disability Nursing is adequately supported within the new NHS workforce plan. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups, including by engaging with a wide range of partners and valued stakeholders.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the progress made by his Department on (a) reducing the NHS care waiting list and (b) meeting the 18 week referral to treatment standard. \p Karin Smyth: As set out in the Plan for Change, the Government is committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 sets a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.

To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of August 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 206,000 compared to the start of July 2024 and the proportion of waits under 18 weeks has improved by 2.2%, to 61% as of August 2025.

This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital first step in delivering the constitutional standard.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS staff were non-patient facing in each of the last ten years. \p Karin Smyth: The following table shows the number and percentage of the full time equivalent (FTE) workforce employed by National Health Service trusts and other core NHS organisations in England that are in NHS infrastructure support roles, which represents a proxy for non-patient facing roles, as of each July from 2015 to 2025:

Total staff

NHS infrastructure support staff

Percentage of staff who are in infrastructure support

July 2015

1,005,767

156,839

15.6%

July 2016

1,027,898

160,978

15.7%

July 2017

1,046,828

165,252

15.8%

July 2018

1,065,395

169,348

15.9%

July 2019

1,099,144

177,903

16.2%

July 2020

1,166,566

184,149

15.8%

July 2021

1,195,405

193,643

16.2%

July 2022

1,225,470

202,376

16.5%

July 2023

1,292,820

214,192

16.6%

July 2024

1,346,030

219,306

16.3%

July 2025

1,372,429

218,962

16.0%

Source: the data can be found in the file titled “Preliminary - NHS HCHS Workforce Statistics, Trusts and core organisations - data tables” from worksheet one of the NHS Hospital and Community Health Service Monthly Workforce Statistics, published by NHS England, and available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-workforce-statistics

Notes:
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Remedial Service Statements remain outstanding for each of the last 12 months. \p Karin Smyth: The NHS Business Services Authority confirmed that as of 30 October 2025, 415,307 Remedial Service statements are outstanding.
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the oral contribution by the Minister for Secondary Care of 17 July 2025, Official Report, column 443, when he plans to publish the report. \p Karin Smyth: The Department recognises the importance of this report and of giving members of the NHS Pension Scheme certainty about when they will receive their McCloud Remedy.

I wrote to the Hon. Member on 13 October 2025 informing him that I expect to be in a position to provide him and the House with a fuller update on the remedy replan and the review of this in good time before Christmas recess.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Stuart Andrew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan fact sheet, published on 30 June 2023, whether it is his policy to provide £2.4 billion funding for additional education and training places for healthcare professionals over the five years to 2028-29; and how much funding he plans to provide for this purpose in each financial year. \p Karin Smyth: The Government has been clear that the 2023 Long Term Workforce Plan was undeliverable and based on outdated models of care. We have committed to publishing the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026, which will represent a departure from previous plans and which will instead set out action to create a sustainable workforce that is fit for the future.

The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups, and the consequent funding arrangements for education and training in the years covered by the 2025 Spending Review. We are committed to working with partners to ensure the plan meets its aims and will engage independent experts to make sure the plan is ambitious, forward looking, and evidence based.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Remedial Pension Savings Statements remain outstanding for each of the last 12 months. \p Karin Smyth: The NHS Business Services Authority confirmed that as of 30 October 2025, 28,374 Remedial Pension Savings Statements are outstanding.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Stuart Andrew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned training intakes are for (a) medical school places, (b) GP trainee places, (c) nurses, (d) nursing associates, (e) midwives, (f) pharmacists and (g) dentists in (i) 2025, (ii) 2026, (iii) 2028 and (iv) 2031. \p Karin Smyth: In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school and dental school places. For the 2025/26 academic year, the OfS has published its intake target at 8,126 for medical school places and 809 for dental school places, as set out on their website, at the following link:

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/finance-and-funding/medicine-and-dentistry-funding/medical-and-dental-maximum-fundable-limits/

This limit is confirmed on an annual basis. General practice training places are set out annually by NHS England.

Undergraduate training places for nurses, nurse associates, midwives, and pharmacists are not centrally commissioned by the Government, instead they are determined by local employers and education providers who decide the number of learners they admit based on learner demand and provider capacity funding.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve mobile clinic provision in rural areas. \p Karin Smyth: The integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the planning and commissioning of health services, including mobile clinic services.

In doing so ICBs must take into account the needs of their local population, which includes meeting the healthcare needs of their rural populations.

The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan commits to three big shifts which includes increasingly moving services away from centralised hospitals into the wider community.
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Freddie van Mierlo:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent data his Department holds on the number of NHS-funded IVF cycles provided in each Integrated Care Board area. \p Karin Smyth: Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs), and we expect ICBs to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. No guidance has been provided by the Department to the ICBs regarding the information provided to patients at the point of referral to fertility services.

As part of the Women’s Health Strategy for England, we published data showing how many in vitro fertilisation cycles are funded by the NHS in each area of England, to promote more transparency about what services commissioners are offering. This data is reviewed and updated periodically and was last updated on 11 September 2025. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-funded-ivf-in-england/nhs-funded-in-vitro-fertilisation-ivf-in-england
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Stuart Andrew:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with the Department for Education to support the delivery of the NHS workforce plan. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.

We have engaged with a range of partners on shaping the upcoming workforce plan, including universities and higher education providers.

We welcome the fact that so many valued stakeholders are keen to engage in the plan’s development. On 26 September 2025, we launched a formal call for evidence, which provides stakeholders the opportunity to contribute directly to the plan’s development. This closed on 7 November 2025.

The Department of Health and Social Care engages closely with the Department for Education on a wide range of matters, including the upcoming workforce plan.
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Steve Barclay:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2024 to Question xx-xxxx-xxxx on Department of Health and Social Care: Staff, what the (a) headcount and (b) FTE number of officials working in his Department was in each month since October 2024. \p Karin Smyth: This data is published monthly at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dhsc-workforce-management-information#2025
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 55468 on Gender Dysphoria: Health Services, what his planned timetable is for ensuring the delivery of a gender clinic in each region by 2026. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England has established NHS Children and Young People's Gender Services in the North-West, South-West, and London regions, in 2024. A fourth service is planned to open in the East England region in January 2026, following a process of mobilisation over 2025. Work remains ongoing to establish commissioned services that provide a pathway for children and young people with gender incongruence in the other regions by March 2027, on a phased basis.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce the amount of clinical care delivered in (a) temporary and (b) non-clinical areas within NHS hospitals. \p Karin Smyth: The Government is determined to get the National Health Service back on its feet, so patients can be treated with dignity.

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan, published in June 2025, set out steps we are taking to ensure that patients will receive better, faster, and more appropriate emergency care this winter, backed by a total of nearly £450 million of funding.

We have also been taking key steps to ensure the health service is prepared for the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates, and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to confirm they are able to meet demand and support patient flow.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Wera Hobhouse:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Minister in his Department is responsible for eating disorder services. \p Karin Smyth: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women’s Health and Mental Health (Baroness Merron) has ministerial responsibility for eating disorder services.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-11-20)

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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of nurses and other healthcare professionals currently exposed to hazardous medicinal products. \p Karin Smyth: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for St Ives on 5 November 2025 to Question 84136.