theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Dr Rosena Allin-Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing recipients of universal credit to receive performance based bonuses without penalty. \p Sir Stephen Timms: No assessment has been made.

A Universal Credit award is calculated on the basis of the set benefit rate against money coming in to ensure fairness of treatment for all customers against the money that they have earned. This means as earnings increase Universal Credit is gradually reduced. This is a long-standing principle of means-tested benefits.

Bonuses are usually treated as earnings and are treated in the same way as any other earnings. This is already true for tax and other purposes, regardless of whether or not an individual is claiming a benefit. All earnings, above any applicable work allowance, are subject to the 55% taper and the Universal Credit award is calculated on that basis.
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Robert Jenrick:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will provide a breakdown by prison establishment of the number of prisoners who have been erroneously released since 1 April 2025. \p Jake Richards: Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.

While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those releases in error that do occur – including through improved staff training and establishing a new specialist unit. A joint protocol between HMPPS and NPCC is in place, to ensure effective and timely communication between partner agencies when an individual is released in error to rearrest them as quickly as possible.

We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again

Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab), and provide data up to March 2025.

The number of people who have been released in error since April 2025 cannot be provided because it would form a subset of releases in error data which underpins future versions of these Official Statistics.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Justice Transcribe tool was developed (a) in-house or (b) in partnership with external technology providers. \p Jake Richards: Justice Transcribe is an AI-powered note-taking tool that records and transcribes conversations between probation officers and people on probation. It was developed in-house.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners have been released from prison early in error since 5 July 2024. \p Jake Richards: Releases in error have been increasing for several years and are another symptom of the prison system crisis inherited by this Government.

While the overwhelming majority of offenders are released correctly, we are clamping down on those releases in error that do occur. As the Deputy Prime Minister set out to the House, immediate measures have been introduced to strengthen release checks across prisons – making them the strongest release checks to ever be in place.

We have gripped this chaos – by building more prison places, ending the last Government’s early release scheme, being transparent with the public, immediately making changes to sentences to ease pressure on the system and, now, taking landmark reforms through our Sentencing Bill to make sure that prisons never run out of places again.

Annual totals for releases in error are published each July in the HMPPS Annual Digest, available via Prison and Probation Performance Statistics - GOV.UK, and provide data up to March 2025.

The total number of releases in error from 5 July 2024 to 31 March 2025 is 193.

The number of people who have been released in error since April 2025 cannot be provided because it would form a subset of releases in error data which underpins future versions of these Official Statistics.
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Ben Obese-Jecty:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have been suspended for mistakenly releasing prisoners early since 5 July 2024. \p Jake Richards: The Ministry of Justice cannot provide the information requested. The internal HR system records details of staff suspensions but does not include the reasons for those suspensions. It is therefore not possible to identify, from centrally held data, which suspensions may relate specifically to the mistaken early release of prisoners.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, broken down by police force area. \p Alex Davies-Jones: It is vital that information about an offender’s release is available to victims who need it most. Victims who are eligible for, and who have opted into, the Probation Service Victim Contact Scheme or Victim Notification Scheme will be informed about any changes to an offender’s release date where it is appropriate to do so. Responsibility for informing victims about release through each of these schemes sits with HMPPS Victim Liaison Officers.

We have committed to improve the support and information for victims, which is why, through the Victim and Courts Bill, we are establishing a new route for all other victims to request information about an offender’s release, which will be delivered through a new, dedicated Helpline. This will give victims confidence about the routes available to receive information about their offender’s release.

With regards to how many victims have been notified of the early release of their offender in each of the last five years, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
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Mr Richard Holden:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many officers are currently assigned to the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service; what that Service’s annual budget is for the 2025-26 financial year; and what discussions she has had with that Service on the adequacy of its capacity to tackle organised HGV and freight thefts. \p Sarah Jones: We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. This Government is determined to crack down on it.

The Government does not fund the National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS). NaVCIS is funded by industry, including finance and leasing companies, insurers and hauliers, to provide dedicated specialist intelligence and enforcement.

My officials have regular discussions with key partners, including Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, and NaVCIS about tackling organised freight crime.
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Ian Roome:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the police are able to enforce bail conditions for people released on post-charge bail. \p Sarah Jones: The Government ensures that policing has the powers, resources and guidance it needs to enforce bail conditions and keep people safe.

There is wide discretion in law for police to impose bail conditions on suspects to protect victims and witnesses, prevent offending and to prevent the suspect from failing to appear in court. Bail conditions must be necessary, reasonable, proportionate and enforceable, and should be subject to regular review as the perceived risk posed by the suspect may change over time.

Police have a range of powers under section 7 of the Bail Act 1976 to arrest a suspect in relation to suspected or anticipated breaches of bail conditions. This includes where there are reasonable grounds for believing the suspect is likely to break conditions, or where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting (a lower threshold) that conditions have been broken. Following arrest on these grounds, a suspect must be brought before a court within 24 hours, where a magistrate may remand them in custody or grant court bail.

The College of Policing produces its Authorised Professional Practice (APP) to provide authoritative guidance the police. APP advises that bail conditions should be accompanied by a police action plan to ensure effective enforcement. This is intended to ensure that victims can have improved confidence that the police will take action in the event of a breach, and that perpetrators understand that there are consequences to their actions. Action plans may include curfew checks at home addresses, proactive patrols to exclusion zones and scrutiny into whether conditions such as signing on bail at a police station are being maintained.

Policing is operationally independent of Government. Chief Constables and elected Police and Crime Commissioners are responsible for the operational management of their police officers and the enforcement of bail conditions.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make it her policy to direct police forces to instruct them to scrap the recording of all non-crime hate incidents. \p Sarah Jones: This Government has been clear that the police should focus on tackling real crime and policing the streets, and that a consistent and common-sense approach must be taken with non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs).

That is why the Home Secretary has asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing to expedite its review of NCHIs which began earlier this year. The review, which is ongoing, is considering the recording of information that has not yet reached the criminal threshold, but which may still be useful for the purposes of monitoring community tensions and keeping the public safe. It is also considering the fundamental right of freedom of expression and recent court rulings in this area.

The Home Office is working closely with the NPCC and the College as they further develop their findings. We look forward to receiving the final recommendations of this review, and to working with forces to ensure they have the clarity they need to focus on keeping our communities safe whilst protecting free speech.
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Dr Al Pinkerton:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions her Department has had with police forces on the adequacy of the steps they are taking to deter incidents of arson in Surrey Heath constituency. \p Sarah Jones: Steps taken by Surrey Police to deter arson is an operational matter for the police force, working with the fire service and other partners.
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help (a) discover and (b) seize cannabis farms. \p Sarah Jones: Local police forces and Regional Organised Crime Units deliver the bulk of enforcement and seizure activity against cannabis production and supply. The Home Office has provided funding to enable Operation Mille which is one of the most significant operations of its kind aimed at disrupting organised crime groups (OCG) by identifying and dismantling large-scale cannabis farms which provide a key source of illicit income.

Since June 2023, in Phases 1-3 of the operation, police have executed 1,368 search warrants and arrested over 1,000 individuals. They have also seized a significant number of cannabis farms including the recovery of over 100,000 cannabis plants worth over £100 million, as well £1m in cash and many weapons including 14 firearms.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of public confidence in police handling of complaints; and whether she plans to strengthen accountability mechanisms to improve that trust. \p Sarah Jones: The Government is committed to strengthening the public’s confidence in the police. This includes ensuring that when officers fall seriously short of the high standards expected of them, they are swiftly identified and robustly dealt with.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has a statutory duty to secure and maintain public confidence in the police complaints system, and as part of this role carries out regular surveys on public confidence. This data is published on the IOPC’s website: www.policeconduct.gov.uk/our-work/research-and-statistics/public-confidence. The most recent survey (2024/25) showed that the majority of the public say that they would complain if unhappy about an officer’s behaviour towards them. The percentage of respondents reporting they feel confident that police deal fairly with complaints is increasing; from 36% last year to 41% this year.

The Government is taking action to improve public confidence. This includes introducing measures via the Crime and Policing Bill to put the victims’ right to review on a statutory footing for complainants who want to challenge a decision by the IOPC not to refer a case to the Crown Prosecution Service, and committing to an independent review into timeliness in the police misconduct system looking at what changes can be made to improve timeliness and effectiveness.
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Martin Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of support available to police who attend callouts to attempted suicides. \p Sarah Jones: The Government has been clear that the health and wellbeing of our police is a priority and that those who have faced suicide-related incidents in the line of duty receive the support they need to recover and continue serving.

We continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service, which has developed an evidenced-based trauma support model which is now available to forces. The Service has also introduced a Trauma Tracker tool to help forces better understand exposure to traumatic incidents and ensure timely support for officers and staff.

Chief Constables have a responsibility to manage their workforce effectively and this includes ensuring appropriate training provision for all officers and staff and ensuring their wellbeing.
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Martin Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of collecting data on the number of callouts police attend to (a) attempted suicides and (b) suicides in progress. \p Sarah Jones: The Home Office does not collect data from police on calls about suicidal ideation or where an apparent suicide is in progress and has no current plans to do so.

The College of Policing sets the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.

The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and the Mental Health APP which has guidance on suicide prevention and bereavement response.

Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will allocate additional funding to support police forces in rural areas. \p Sarah Jones: The Government is committed to giving police the resources they need to tackle crime and the allocation of funding to police forces in England and Wales remains an important consideration. The Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years and more details on police force funding allocations for 2026-27 will be made via the provisional police funding settlement later in the year.

Through our Safer Streets Mission, rural communities will be safeguarded, with tougher measures to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, strengthened neighbourhood policing and stronger measures to prevent farm theft and fly-tipping. We have worked closely with the National Police Chief’s Council to deliver their updated Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy for 2025-2029. The strategy will set out operational and organisational policing priorities in respect of tackling crimes that predominantly affect rural communities.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of allowing police forces to release details of a suspect's (a) ethnicity, (b) nationality and (c) immigration status on the fairness of subsequent trials. \p Sarah Jones: The Home Office does not direct operational policing decisions, including those related to the disclosure of information about a person suspected or charged with committing an offence. These matters rightly fall under the purview of Chief Constables.

The murders and subsequent riots in Southport in July 2024 raised questions about how the Government may best counter misinformation and disinformation without creating a risk of being in contempt of court in relation to ongoing criminal proceedings. There are restrictions on what can be said before and during a trial to ensure that trials are fair and justice is delivered. At the same time, however, social media is putting these long-established rules under strain, especially in cases such as Southport where partial or inaccurate information appears online.

The NPCC and the College of Policing issued interim guidance to police forces in August, which aims to support forces in managing sensitive investigations and mitigating risks associated with them.

The interim guidance encourages police forces to confirm a suspect’s ethnicity and nationality (where known or recorded) in certain high-profile or sensitive investigations where they determine it is necessary to maintain public safety and reassure the public.
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Mr Andrew Snowden:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department provides to local police forces to identify and tackle anti-social driving behaviour in known wildlife and animal collision hot spots. \p Sarah Jones: Tackling anti-social behaviour is a top priority for the Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission. We are giving police the powers they need to tackle anti-social driving in both rural and urban areas so that they will be able to more easily seize these vehicles from offenders and dispose of them.

The Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, will enhance police powers to seize nuisance vehicles which are used in an anti-social manner by removing the requirement to first give a warning to the offender and allow police to put an immediate stop to offending.

The Government has also recently consulted on proposals to allow the police to more quickly dispose of seized vehicles which have been used anti-socially. The consultation closed on 8 July and the Government response will be published in due course.

Combined, these proposals will help tackle the scourge of vehicles ridden anti-socially and illegally by sending a clear message to would-be offenders and local communities that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
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Bell Ribeiro-Addy:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions her Department has had with the Metropolitan Police Service on the level of its compliance with its statutory obligations (a) under the Data Protection Act 2018 and (b) with GDPR in relation to Subject Access Requests from members of the public. \p Sarah Jones: Compliance with data protection obligations, including the handling of Subject Access Requests (SARs), is the responsibility of individual police forces. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) produces guidance for organisations on how to comply with data protection law.

The Data (Use and Access) Act received Royal Assent in June 2025 and includes some changes to data protection obligations while maintaining high standards of protection for personal data.
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Mark Pritchard:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, ﻿if she will take steps with mobile phone companies to introduce a (a) single and (b) central emergency telephone number paid for by mobile phone (i) operators and (ii) manufacturers to allow reporting by victims of unlocked mobile phone theft to report those thefts immediately; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of doing so on (A) (1) financial and (2) personal data theft and (ii) the number of police hours dedicated to mobile phone crimes. \p Sarah Jones: The Home Secretary and Policing Minister are determined to take the strongest possible action to reduce the number of phone thefts in London and elsewhere across the country.

This is a crime that causes significant distress to victims and fuels wider criminality. That’s why we are driving greater collaboration between policing leaders, the Metropolitan Police, National Crime Agency, the Mayor of London, leading tech companies and others to break the business model of mobile phone thieves. This has included exploring what technical interventions would be most effective, including discussion around improving reporting mechanisms when a mobile phone is stolen. Positive developments include commitments to improving visibility of unique identification numbers/IMEIs to help identify stolen devices and raising awareness of existing mechanisms for reporting the theft of mobile devices, which include calling 101, going to a local police station or reporting the crime anonymously via Crimestoppers.

All stakeholders must play their part in designing out and disincentivising this type of theft, disrupting the resale of stolen phones, exploring technological solutions to make devices harder to re-register or resell, and helping the public protect themselves and the data and personal information on their devices.
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Ben Goldsborough:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of legislating to ensure that the (a) historic and (b) cultural value of heritage metal is considered in prosecutions for metal theft. \p Sarah Jones: This Government recognises the distress and disruption that heritage theft can cause to local communities.

That is why the sentencing guidelines on theft were amended in 2016 to highlight that where theft is of heritage assets or causes disruption to infrastructure, this should be taken into account when assessing the level of harm caused.
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Neil Coyle:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when her Department will announce the pilot areas for Respect Orders. \p Sarah Jones: In February, we introduced new Respect Orders through our Crime and Policing Bill. The Bill recently completed Second Reading in the House of Lords, with Committee Stage expected to begin in November.

Respect Orders will be tough behavioural orders aimed at tackling the most persistent adult anti-social behaviour offenders. Further details on next steps for the Respect Order will be provided in due course.
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Steff Aquarone:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many skilled worker visas were sponsored by Jhoots Group before their removal from the register of licensed sponsors on 24 October 2025. \p Mike Tapp: The information requested is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
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Blake Stephenson:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of visa holders who were granted a visa who did not have basic proficiency in English on entry in each of the last five years. \p Mike Tapp: No such estimate has been made of the number of visa holders who did not have basic proficiency in English on entry.
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Mike Reader:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children born in the UK have at least one parent with indefinite leave to remain. \p Mike Tapp: The information requested is not centrally held.
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Wendy Chamberlain:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when was the most recent evacuation under the (a) Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and (b) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy; and when are the next planned evacuations. \p Mike Tapp: The UK made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 38,700. people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes.

Afghanistan Resettlement Schemes operational data is published quarterly with the last publication on the 21 August 2025.

Data on recent and planned resettlement is not available due to the operational nature of the schemes. For operational security reasons, we are unable to provide additional information on plans for future resettlement flights.

The data published within: immigration system statistics release  (year ending June 2025, published 21 August 2025) provides a breakdown of arrivals by quarter. The number of individuals resettled under the schemes is as follows: 19,048 under ARAP. 10,160 individuals under ACRS Pathway 1, 1,406 individuals under ACRS Pathway 2 and 1,679 individuals under ACRS Pathway 3.

Afghan Operational data is viewable at: Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)
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Sir James Cleverly:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what formal arrangements exist between (a) the Home Office, (b) the NHS and (c) Braintree Community Hospital for (i) scanning and (ii) x-rays of asylum seekers at Wethersfield Airbase. \p Mike Tapp: Asylum seekers have access to health and social care services from point of arrival in the UK and the Home Office work closely with the NHS, local authorities and contractors to ensure that asylum seekers can access the support they need. In relation to Wethersfield, financial support is being provided to the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board.

There are varying entitlements to secondary healthcare services across England and the devolved governments. Specific examples can be found on NHS entitlements: migrant health guide - GOV.UK.

Extensive work has been undertaken with local and national health partners including the Multi Agency Forum (MAF) to work through the specifics of healthcare provision being provided at Wethersfield. The health and social care subgroup of the MAF was set up specifically to look at how we minimise the impact on local health services and facilitate primary healthcare on site, However, in specific circumstances, residents can be required to use local NHS facilities.
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Dr Scott Arthur:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on legal frameworks to support legitimate cybersecurity research. \p Dan Jarvis: The Government is conducting an ongoing review of the Computer Misuse Act. As part of the review, we are scoping several proposals to update the act, including how we can better support legitimate cybersecurity researchers so they can operate within a clear and supportive legal framework, while maintaining robust safeguards against misuse.

We are always interested in learning from the approaches taken in other jurisdictions. We are speaking with international counterparts, including our major allies, to understand how they approach the issue of legislative frameworks for protecting legitimate cyber security researchers.
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Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allow legitimate cyber activity (a) necessary for the (i) detection and (ii) prevention of crime and (b) justified as being in the public interest. \p Dan Jarvis: The Government is conducting an ongoing review of the Computer Misuse Act. As part of the review, we are scoping several proposals to update the act, including how we can better support legitimate cybersecurity researchers so they can operate within a clear and supportive legal framework, while maintaining robust safeguards against misuse.

Engagement, including with the cyber security industry, is underway to refine the approach and an update will be provided in due course.
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Sir Julian Lewis:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 October to Question 81237 on Army: Public Records, for what reason his security service personal file (PF 44288) has not been made available by her Department for release to the National Archive. \p Dan Jarvis: Government records are normally opened at the National Archives when they are 20-years old but, where they exist, some records are retained or closed, in line with the requirements of the Public Records Act 1958, in order to protect national security, international relations and sensitive personal data.
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Priti Patel:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason she has not placed China on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme. \p Dan Jarvis: No decision has been made in relation to specifying China on the enhanced tier of FIRS. As I set out in the House of Commons on 13th October, we look very carefully at any question of whether to place a particular country on the enhanced tier of the scheme.

Any changes to the countries listed will be announced first in Parliament in the usual way.
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Luke Akehurst:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason she considers that further legislation is required to help tackle threats of terrorism by (a) the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and (b) other state bodies. \p Dan Jarvis: The National Security Act 2023, includes a broad range of tools to ensure law enforcement and our intelligence agencies have the powers they need to counter all malign foreign actors, including the IRGC.

However, the Government is determined to enhance our powers as necessary. For that reason, we commissioned Jonathan Hall KC (the Independent Reviewer of State Threats Legislation) to conduct a review evaluating what powers under terrorism legislation could be emulated to tackle state-based security threats to the UK. Mr Hall KC recommended introducing a State Threats Proscription-style Tool that would be more effective in disrupting state-linked organisations, along with other proposals.

The Government is committed to taking forward his proposals as soon as Parliamentary time allows.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

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Laura Kyrke-Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of palliative care services in Aylesbury constituency. \p Stephen Kinnock: Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs, including the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB, must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations. NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.

The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.

Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining the drivers and incentives that are required in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.

We are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. The Hospice of the St Francis and Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, which both serve people in the Aylesbury constituency, are receiving £486,476 and £1,114,316 from this funding respectively.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_112

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support the wellbeing of staff working in A&E. \p Karin Smyth: The health and wellbeing of National Health Service staff, including those working in accident and emergency departments is a top priority. NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive.

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health. To further support this ambition, we will work with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism, and sexual harassment in the workplace.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_113

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people aged between (a) 60 and 70, (b) 70 and 80, (c) 80 and 90 and (d) 90 and 100 were admitted to hospital in (i) England and (ii) Surrey in 2024. \p Karin Smyth: NHS England publishes data on hospital admissions, which is available at the following link:

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/hospital-accident--emergency-activity

To show admission data by age, finished consultant episodes (FCEs) have been used as a proxy for the number of admissions.

The information requested for Surrey is collected at integrated care board (ICB) level. Therefore, the total number of FCEs in Surrey was generated by adding the FCEs of the two Surrey ICBs, namely Frimley and Surrey Heartlands.

The following table shows the number of hospital FCEs for each category for 2024/25 as the information is not available for the calendar year:

Age bands

England

NHS FRIMLEY ICB

NHS SURREY HEARTLANDS ICB

Surrey ICBs Total

60-69

3,456,537

33,870

56,865

90,735

70-79

4,190,011

41,980

72,905

114,885

80-89

3,126,025

34,655

61,565

96,220

90 and over

809,545

9,795

18,750

28,545

Source: NHS England Digital
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_114

Chris Bloore:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to publish the (a) recoveries, (b) write‑offs and (c) associated costs for each supplier of PPE as part of his investigation into PPE procurement. \p Karin Smyth: The Department has already committed to the Public Accounts Committee that it will report to Parliament on the COVID-19 personal protective equipment contract dissolution outcomes once work is completed.

Outcomes and details of individual cases are expected to be published wherever possible so long as any such release of information does not breach commercial interests, harm public finances, or exacerbate legal sensitivities.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_115

Ian Roome:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many private delivery partners have declined to deliver a contract for his Department on the basis of concern for protection of intellectual property or private commercial interest in the last five years. \p Karin Smyth: The Department must comply with the legal requirements under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 and, since February 2025, the Procurement Act 2023 in taking forward all procurement exercises leading to the award of a contract to a supplier. Compliance is managed by a professional procurement official within the Department’s Commercial Directorate who is assigned to each procurement exercise.

Business cases following the Government’s standard five-case model, setting out the strategic, economic/value for money, financial, commercial, and management case, are required for all procurements over £5 million. The Department’s Commercial Assurance Board (CAB) considers and approves high value, from £10 million to £30 million of capital or £50 million in revenue, business cases or high-risk commercial cases across the Department and its Arms’ Length Bodies. In addition, the CAB acts as commercial ‘keyholders’ for the business cases presented to the committees below, ensuring that commercial factors are considered when recommendations are made by:

Suppliers are invited to bid for contracts using the standard contract terms and conditions in use by the Department and across the Government. These include intellectual property (IP) clauses which grant the buyer a licence to use the supplier’s IP in the context of receiving and benefiting from the deliverables being bought. These typically allow sub-licensing under certain conditions and restrictions designed to avoid unfair exploitation of supplier IP. Standard terms and conditions are available on the GOV.UK website. By submitting a bid, suppliers are accepting the Department’s standard terms and conditions as set out above.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_116

Martin Vickers:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the support available to ambulance staff who attend traumatic callouts. \p Karin Smyth: The mental health of all National Health Service staff is a high priority, including ambulance staff as responders to emergency incidents. At a national level ambulance staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction. Additionally, ambulance trusts and the Association of Ambulance Trust Chief Executives have worked closely with NHS England to develop an ambulance sector specific suicide prevention pathway to provide immediate, 24/7 support for staff experiencing suicidal ideation.

Significant work is also underway to strengthen the quality and consistency of suicide training across the health system. NHS England published Staying Safe from Suicide: Best Practice Guidance for Safety Assessment, Formulation and Management, to support the Government’s work to reduce suicide and improve mental health services. Further information on this guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/staying-safe-from-suicide/
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_117

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that cancer patients have effective radiotherapy treatment. \p Karin Smyth: Radiotherapy is vital in cancer care, and it remains a key priority for the Government to provide the highest quality of treatment available. This is why the Government has invested £70 million of central funding on 28 new LINAC radiotherapy machines across the country to replace older, less efficient radiotherapy machines.
wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_118
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_118

Helen Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help improve underperforming NHS dental contract holders in Surrey. \p Stephen Kinnock: The Government wants to ensure that every penny we allocate for dentistry is spent on dentistry, and that the ringfenced dental budget is spent on the patients who need it most.

Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-10-30)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-10-30 conversation_119

Rebecca Smith:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of funding for (a) research into and (b) the treatment of low-grade glioma; and whether he plans to increase that funding. \p Dr Zubir Ahmed: The Department invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The NIHR is continuing to invest in brain tumour research. Working with stakeholders from across the research community, in September 2024 the NIHR launched a package of support to stimulate high-quality research applications through: establishing a national Brain Tumour Research Consortium to bring together researchers from different disciplines to drive scientific advancements in how to prevent, detect, manage, and treat brain tumours; a dedicated funding call for research into wraparound care and rehabilitation for people living with brain tumours; and a partnership with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission to fund the next generation of researchers through the Allied Health Professionals Brain Tumour Research Fellowship programme.

The NIHR continues to welcome high quality funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including low-grade glioma.