theodi/ndl-core-corpus huggingface dataset:
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Luke Myer:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners released through early release schemes in 2024 are resident in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: This Government inherited prisons days from collapse. We have had no choice but to take decisive action to stop our prisons overflowing and keep the public safe.

The Ministry of Justice does not hold this data and to provide it would result in a disproportionate cost.

We have published SDS40 release data alongside the quarterly Offender Management Statistics, in line with the Lord Chancellor’s commitment to transparency: Standard Determinate Sentence (SDS40) release data - GOV.UK.
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Damian Hinds:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of lead times for Parole Board hearings in each year from the earliest year for which data are available to the latest year for which data are available. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Parole Board has worked hard to reduce its growing caseload and manage the time it takes from referral to completion of prisoner reviews at both paper and oral hearings.

Timeliness of Parole Board hearings is not routinely published, however, in its annual report for 2023/24, the Board states that it had seen a reduction of 78% in cases waiting over 90 days to be listed for an oral hearing compared to the previous year: Parole Board for England and Wales Annual Report and Accounts 2023-24.

We continue to work closely with the Parole Board to further improve the efficiency and timeliness of prisoners’ parole reviews.
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Damian Hinds:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of the addition of modular precast concrete blocks in Category C prisons. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: In December, we published the 10-year capacity strategy outlining our commitment to build 14,000 prison places. We have already delivered c.2,500 places in the prison estate since coming into office, including a new c.1,500 place Category C prison HMP Millsike.

To deliver the 14,000 places, we are using a range of supply types which are compliant with standards and requirements for prison accommodation to be safe, decent and lawful. This includes houseblocks and modular units such as Rapid Deployment Cells. We use Modern Methods of Construction and Design for Manufacture and Assembly to provide efficiency in terms of both timelines and costs; for example, through the use of pre-manufactured components, such as pre-cast concrete, which streamlines on site-assembly.
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Rupert Lowe:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average custodial sentence for people convicted of Islamist terror offences is. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: Information about individuals convicted or in custody for terrorism and terrorism-connected offences, by ideology, is published by the Home Office as part of the ‘Operation of police powers under the Terrorism Act 2000’ statistics series. The series can be accessed via the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/operation-of-police-powers-under-the-terrorism-act-2000.

The numbers held in custody are shown on table P.01 of the annual and quarterly tables. As of 31 March 2025 (the most recent data available), 61% of terrorist prisoners were categorised as holding Islamist Extremist views.

Given the sensitive nature of the information, further breakdowns are not published as they may undermine our national security efforts.

Data on all terrorism-related offences is in the published series but not disaggregated by ideology. Table C.03 gives details on the numbers convicted for terrorism-related offences. Information on sentence length is included in table C.04, and the number released by sentence length is provided in table P.05.

All terrorists are managed through a specialist, multi-agency case management process, which includes regular risk assessments and rehabilitative tools to identify, assess and manage an offender’s terrorist risk and needs, including any clear links to an extremist ideology. We have a range of interventions to address and reduce the drivers of radicalisation and move offenders away from harmful ideologies. Our interventions are carried out by qualified staff who receive specialist training. The tracking of religion relies on prisoners’ self-declaration.
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David Baines:To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether she plans to extend the Prison Service Long Service Medal to operational officers in privately managed prisons. \p Sir Nicholas Dakin: The Prison Services Long Service & Good Conduct Medal is awarded to operational staff in the UK Prison Services on completion of 20 years’ continuous meritorious service, and aligns operational public sector prison staff with comparable organisations such as the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services and the Armed Forces. It is a medal awarded by the Head of State to eligible state employees, details of which are set out in a Royal Warrant.  In 2016, the Cabinet Office confirmed that official medals of this type can only be awarded to staff working in public sector prisons and not those in prisons run by private sector companies. This is in line with the existing criteria used for the award of Long Service & Good Conduct Medals to the other Crown services.
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Sarah Gibson:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has set any targets for improving employment rates among autistic adults; and what additional support is being provided to employers to create neurodiverse-friendly workplaces. \p Alison McGovern: In the plan to Make Work Pay (October 2024), government committed to raising awareness of all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace. This includes autism. We are supporting employers to be more inclusive in their workplace practices.

In January this year we launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity. This will build on the work of the independent Buckland Review which reported to the previous government in February 2024, and which focused more narrowly on autism employment. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate, making their recommendations to employers and government later this summer.

The Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade have also asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead the independent review Keep Britain Working. While not specific to neurodiversity, this review is considering how best to support and enable employers to recruit and retain more people with health conditions and disabilities, promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, and how to support more people to stay in or return to work. Sir Charlie Mayfield will deliver his final report in the autumn.

Our existing support includes:

The employment of autistic people is estimated using data from the Annual Population Survey (APS), which looks at the employment circumstances of the UK population. It is the largest household survey in the UK and is the recommended source for employment-related statistics, such as estimates of the number of people in employment or unemployed.
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Richard Foord:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the potential savings to the public purse of issuing the Winter Fuel Payment on a per-household basis. \p Torsten Bell: No such estimate has been made. The Winter Fuel Payment is already a household payment paid on an individual basis.

Winter Fuel Payments are typically £200 for a household with someone of State Pension age and £300 for a household with someone aged 80 or over.

Winter Fuel Payments are paid automatically, without the need to claim, based on information held by DWP.

Where a pensioner is receiving a relevant income-related benefit such as Pension Credit, whether as a single person or as part of a couple, one payment of £200 or £300 (depending on age) is made to that household. This is because Pension Credit is assessed and paid on a household basis.

State Pension is not assessed or paid on a household basis, so shared payments are made to individuals to reflect the household effect. For example, a couple, each under 80 and not on Pension Credit will receive a shared payment amount of £100 each.
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Cameron Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to encourage people who are not in employment but have the capability to work to re-enter the workforce. \p Alison McGovern: Our Get Britain Working reforms, set out in a White Paper in November last year, will tackle economic inactivity, build a thriving labour market, and increase the number of people in work. By delivering the biggest reforms to employment support for a generation, with a combined focus on skills and health, we will enable more people to get into work and get on in work. This will move us toward our long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate, which is central to growing the economy.

Building on our Get Britain Working reforms, our ‘Pathways to Work Guarantee’ will provide work, health, and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions claiming out of work benefits. As announced in the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions’ statement on Welfare Reform on 30 June, we have increased the funding for employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions, investing an additional £300m over the next 3 years. This means our Pathways to Work Guarantee is now an investment of £2.2 billion by 2030 and brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament.
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Afzal Khan:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to allocate funding for furniture provision through the Crisis and Resilience Fund. \p Alison McGovern: The new Crisis and Resilience Fund will be introduced from 1 April 2026. This represents the first ever multi-year settlement for locally delivered crisis support

We will be working closely with local authorities and external stakeholders on the detailed design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund and We will issue further information on our planned approach in due course.
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Siân Berry:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the evidentiary requirements of the non-consensual exception to the two-child limit on Article (a) 8 and (b) 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998. \p Sir Stephen Timms: The Department recognises the sensitivities surrounding disclosure that a child was likely born of non-consensual conception and has designed processes that reflect this.

All DWP policies are formulated with regard to legal obligations, including those flowing from the ECHR. The current regulations are considered to be compliant with those obligations.
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Edward Morello:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to bring forward the timing of Personal Independence Payment review assessments. \p Sir Stephen Timms: We have launched a review of the PIP assessment as a whole, to make sure it is fair and fit for the future in a changing world and helps support disabled people to achieve better health, higher living standards and greater independence. I am leading the review.

We published the Terms of Reference for the Review on 30 June 2025, and will update these shortly. We have committed to co-producing the review with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, Members of Parliament and other stakeholders. We will engage widely over the summer to design the process for the work of the review and consider how it can best be co-produced to ensure that expertise from a range of different perspectives is drawn upon.

We are committed to concluding the review by Autumn 2026 and will report outcomes to the House in a ministerial Oral Statement. We have committed to a general debate on this, in Government time. The legislation to implement the outcomes of the review will not be brought forward until that has happened.
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Sir John Hayes:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much the Health and Safety Executive has spent on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years. \p Sir Stephen Timms: HSE spend on equipment to enable staff to work from home in each of the last three years is shown in the table below.

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

HSE Equipment Spend (inclusive of VAT)

£329,011

£308,537

£317,551

Note – the cost mainly relates to provision of equipment for new starters and HSE has increased its staff numbers in this period mainly due to becoming the Building Safety Regulator.
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John McDonnell:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to bring forward a compensation scheme for women impacted by State Pension age changes. \p Torsten Bell: The Department’s response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues, was published on the 17 December 2024 and is available here:

Government response to Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s Investigation into Women’s State Pension age communications and associated issues - GOV.UK
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Jim Shannon:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations to promote staycations. \p Chris Bryant: While tourism in Wales, Scotland and Ireland is devolved to the respective Governments and tourism bodies, VisitBritain retains responsibility for marketing Great Britain on the international stage. Its GREAT-funded international marketing campaign launched at the beginning of this year. ‘Starring GREAT Britain’ uses the hook of Britain’s rich film and television history to encourage more international visitors to explore across Great Britain. Staycations are by definition the responsibility of the devolved Administrations.
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Noah Law:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the National Visitor Economy Strategy will include provisions to support areas with a majority of domestic tourism. \p Chris Bryant: We are in the process of developing a Visitor Economy Growth Strategy with the Visitor Economy Advisory Council and are happy to hear representations on what it should include, but we want to grow the tourism industry beyond London and champion visits to the British countryside and coastal areas to a worldwide and domestic audience.
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Ben Maguire:To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the registration scheme for short-term lets will include appropriate (a) checks and (b) enforcement to ensure that holiday lets are both (i) legal and (ii) safe. \p Chris Bryant: During the Short Term Lets registration process, providers of short-term lets will be reminded of their legal responsibilities and required to confirm that their properties comply with legal requirements and meet safety standards. Details of the scheme, including enforcement, are still being determined and will be announced in due course. Public testing on the register is due to start later in 2025 and a full version of the scheme is due to arrive in 2026.
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Vikki Slade:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with police forces on the effectiveness of their complaints system for police officers who believe that a miscarriage of justice has taken place against them. \p Dame Diana Johnson: There are separate routes of appeal depending on whether a police officer is appealing against the conviction of a criminal offence or the finding or outcome at disciplinary proceedings.

Where an officer believes they have been wrongly convicted of a criminal offence, they can appeal a criminal conviction in the normal way through the standard appeals process. Separately, police officers who wish to challenge a disciplinary finding or outcome may do so to the Police Appeals Tribunal (PAT). Following the decision of the PAT, officers have a further appeal route through the judicial review process.
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Fred Thomas:To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with police forces on the steps they are taking to ensure that incidents of harassment do not escalate into (a) more serious incidents and (b) violent crimes. \p Jess Phillips: Everyone has the right to both feel safe and be safe going about their day-to-day lives. Harassment should be treated seriously by all police forces, with every victim treated with dignity, and every investigation and prosecution conducted thoroughly and professionally.

We are investing £13.1 million in a new Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Public Protection this year to help drive better national coordination in the response to VAWG and strengthened specialist training for officers across the country. In addition, we will be publishing a new cross-Government VAWG Strategy later this year which will set out the wider actions we will take to tackle these and other crimes.
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Esther McVey:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what litigation costs his Department incurred in Wilson and others v Bayer Pharma and others, [2023] EWHC 1282 (QB); and how many representatives of his Department attended the Royal Courts of Justice for that hearing. \p Ashley Dalton: A total of £469,613.30 in legal costs, as of the end of May 2025, excluding VAT, has been incurred by the Department of Health and Social Care via the Government Legal Department representing them on the Wilson and others v Bayer Pharma and others case. Another matter, Forshaw, was litigated at the same time where the costs were included within the billing for Wilson, but it is not possible to split the costs on these cases because that data is not available in that format.

Four legal representatives on behalf of the Department and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) attended the hearing in May 2023 at the Royal Courts of Justice, namely a senior Government Legal Department lawyer accompanied by a legal executive, and two Counsel, a King's Counsel and a barrister. There were no attendees from the Department of Health and Social Care or the MHRA.
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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce the time taken to diagnose brain tumours. \p Ashley Dalton: Improving diagnosis rates is a key priority for the Government for all cancer types, including brain cancers. To achieve this, we are improving public awareness of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlining referral routes, and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.

In addition, the Government has now exceeded its pledge to deliver two million extra operations, scans, and appointments, having delivered 4.5 million additional appointments as a first step to delivering on the commitment that 92% of patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, in line with the National Health Service constitutional standard, by March 2029.

Furthermore, NHS England is delivering a range of interventions to support general practices in diagnosing brain cancer earlier, for example through the early cancer diagnosis service specification for primary care networks. This specification is designed to support improvements in rates of early cancer diagnosis by requiring primary care networks to review the quality of their general practices’ referrals for suspected cancer and take steps to improve this, where appropriate.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the level of awareness amongst medical professional of (a) youth sudden cardiac death, (b) the symptoms of cardiac conditions in the young and (c) the referral pathways for people who have lost a relative under the age of 35 to a cardiac condition. \p Ashley Dalton: The Department expects National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance on the use of electrocardiograms for young people presenting with certain symptoms to be followed.

To stop sudden cardiac death (SCD) in young people, the current consensus is to focus on the rapid identification and care of people who are likely to be at risk of SCD due to a family link or because they have had symptoms, and to train people to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation and to use defibrillators.

NHS England has published the national service specification Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages) that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease and families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. NHS England is working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of this review including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation. The Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages) service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf

These documents describe the service model and guidance that should be followed to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients. They cover all paediatric cardiac activity, including both surgery and cardiology, taking place in the Specialist Children’s Surgical Centres, which are Level 1 services, the Specialist Children’s Cardiology Centres, Level 2 services, and the Local Children’s Cardiac Centres, Level 3 services, including activity undertaken by the specialist centres on an outreach basis, where it is delivered as part of a provider network, with the aim of ensuring that all patient care is of a consistently high quality.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce misdiagnoses of people under the age of 35 with cardiac symptoms. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England has published the national service specification Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages) that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease and families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases. NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. NHS England is working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of this review including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice, and the British Heart Foundation. The Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages) service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf

These documents describe the service model and guidance that should be followed to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients. They cover all paediatric cardiac activity, including both surgery and cardiology, taking place in the Specialist Children’s Surgical Centres, which are Level 1 services, the Specialist Children’s Cardiology Centres, Level 2 services, and the Local Children’s Cardiac Centres, Level 3 services, including activity undertaken by the specialist centres on an outreach basis, where it is delivered as part of a provider network, with the aim of ensuring that all patient care is of a consistently high quality.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will issue guidance on health screening for people who have had a family member die from sudden cardiac death under the age of 35. \p Ashley Dalton: NHS England has published the national service specification Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages), which covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease and families requiring follow up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and mandated guidelines and guidance that should be followed to support the diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases. Further information on the Inherited Cardiac Conditions (All Ages) service specification is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cardiology-inherited-cardiac-conditions.pdf

Genomic testing in the National Health Service in England is provided through the NHS Genomic Medicine Service and is delivered by a national genomic testing network of seven NHS Genomic Laboratory Hubs (GLHs). The NHS GLHs deliver testing as directed by the National Genomic Test Directory (the Test Directory), which includes tests for over 7000 rare diseases with an associated genetic cause and over 200 cancer clinical indications, including both whole genome sequencing (WGS) and non-WGS testing. Further information on the Test Directory is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-genomic-test-directories/

A robust and evidence-based process and policy is in place to routinely review the Test Directory to ensure that genomic testing continues to be available for all patients for whom it would be of clinical benefit, while delivering value for money for the NHS. Further information on this process is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/genomics/the-national-genomic-test-directory/

Genomics has an important role to play in diagnosing and supporting the treatment and management of a number of cardiac conditions. The Test Directory sets out the eligibility criteria for patients to access testing, as well as the genomic targets to be tested and the method that should be used, and this includes genomic testing for a number of conditions which affect the heart, such as testing for familial hypercholesteremia, cardiomyopathies, Long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome, and others.
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Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether sudden cardiac death in young men is being considered as part of the Men's Health Strategy. \p Ashley Dalton: We are developing a Men's Health Strategy which will seek to improve the health and wellbeing of all men in England, and which will be informed by a call for evidence. This includes finding the right ways to promote healthier behaviours, improving outcomes for health conditions that hit men harder, and improving engagement with healthcare. The call for evidence closed on 17 July 2025 and we are now analysing the responses to inform the development of the strategy. The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) is currently examining the evidence for screening for sudden cardiac death in people under 39 years old. This will consider screening the whole population under 39 years old and will therefore include young men. The UK NSC will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on this in due course.
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Shivani Raja:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Sickle Cell Disease Quality Improvement Programme will continue when the Department of Health and Social Care takes over the responsibilities of NHS England. \p Ashley Dalton: The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Quality Improvement Programme remains committed to improving outcomes and quality of life for people living with sickle cell and thalassaemia. The programme is taking targeted action to align to the commitments within the 10-Year Health Plan to reduce health inequalities nationally, to ensure people in these communities can live longer, healthier lives, spending less time in poor health.

The integration of NHS England into the Department is not due to happen in this financial year, and all programmes of work will be reviewed in alignment with budget setting in future years.
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Joe Robertson:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths involving the Isle of Wight NHS Trust required a serious incident investigation in each of the last five years; for each case, on what dates the investigation was (a) opened and (b) completed; and whether the inquest has been held. \p Ashley Dalton: We have been informed by the Isle of Wight NHS Trust that there has been a total of 56 Serious Incident investigations during this period, with 35 resulting in an inquest, 20 not requiring an inquest, and one ongoing investigation. Of the 35 cases requiring an inquest, 27 have been completed, with eight outstanding, and with the oldest cases dating back to 2020.

The table attached shows data relating to the Isle of Wight NHS Trust’s Serious Incident investigations for each of the last five years, including the opening and closing dates of the investigation and whether the inquest has been held, and the date of inquest where applicable. This includes cases that now sit under the Hampshire and Isle of Wight NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust after mental health and community services were transferred from the Isle of Wight NHS Trust on 1 October 2024.

Additional document (xlsx, 17.9KB)
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Dr Luke Evans:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the information sharing duties in the (a) Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and (b) Crime and Policing Bill on GPs. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to improving information sharing across services to help safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The Department of Health and Social Care is working closely with the Department for Education and the Home Office on their respective information sharing proposals, which are included in Department for Education’s Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Home Office’s Crime and Policing Bill.

The information sharing proposals aim to establish a clear and consistent process to share information. To support the formulation and test the feasibility of these proposals, we have engaged with health stakeholders, including general practitioners, though a variety of forums. We will continue to engage with health stakeholders as we plan for the effective implementation of the use of the single unique identifier, the information sharing duty, and the child sexual abuse mandatory reporting duty.

The Department for Education has published an impact assessment on the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childrens-wellbeing-and-schools-bill-impact-assessments

The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have published an impact assessment on the Crime and Policing Bill, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-impact-assessments

We will continue to support the departments leading on the respective bills to review and update these documents, once the bills have completed their passages through the House of Lords.
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Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-08-05)

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James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of third-sector providers on NHS pressures related to drug and alcohol treatment. \p Ashley Dalton: The Government is committed to ensuring that anyone with a drug or alcohol problem can access the help and support they need, and we recognise the need for evidence-based, high-quality treatment.

No assessment has been made on the impact of third-sector providers on National Health Service pressures related to drug and alcohol treatment. Local authorities are responsible for assessing local need for alcohol and drug prevention and treatment in their area, and for commissioning services to meet those needs. The majority of drug and alcohol treatment services are delivered by charities, with a smaller proportion delivered by the NHS or companies.

Dame Carol Black’s independent review of evidence related to drugs, published in February 2020, found that the harms associated with wholly drug-related hospital admissions are estimated at £37 million. This cost includes admissions for mental and behavioural disorders, overdoses and poisonings, and drug-related neonatal disorders. The total cost of all harms associated with partially drug-related hospital admissions is estimated at £156 million. Research shows treatment for drug users can reduce the cost of drug related hospital attendances by 31%.

Effective community alcohol treatment can reduce costs to the NHS. The institute of Alcohol Studies estimates that alcohol costs the NHS and healthcare services £4.9 billion a year, based on 2021/22 prices. Accessible specialist treatment services can help people with alcohol dependence access healthcare at an earlier stage for the high levels of comorbidity they experience.
wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_18
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-08-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_18

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to support partnerships between local pharmacies and drug and alcohol support charities to deliver harm reduction services. \p Ashley Dalton: In addition to the Public Health Grant, in 2025/26 the Department is providing a total of £310 million in additional targeted grants to improve alcohol and drug treatment services and recovery support, including housing and employment, in England. This funding can be used by local authorities to support community pharmacies to deliver harm reduction services.

Many community pharmacies provide locally commissioned services aimed at reducing harm from the misuse of alcohol and drugs, such as supervised consumption of methadone alongside support for self-care, which is an essential service all pharmacies provide. This includes free healthcare advice, public health interventions, and signposting to relevant organisations and services.

The Department is aware of the challenges in the ability of some community pharmacies to provide some substance misuse services such as dispensing, supervised consumption of methadone, and needle and syringe programmes.

The Department has been supporting drug and alcohol treatment services to identify local solutions, including increased payment and some alternative models of provision of these services.
wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_19
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-08-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_19

James McMurdock:To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the UK does not fall behind other countries in access to innovative treatments for secondary breast cancer. \p Ashley Dalton: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. To enable rapid access for NHS patients to new and effective life-extending treatments, NICE aims, wherever possible, to issue recommendations on new medicines close to the point of licensing. The NHS in England is legally required to fund the use of NICE approved cancer medicines. NICE has recommended 24 out of the 25 breast cancer treatments it has assessed since April 2018. These medicines are now available to NHS patients in England.

The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, from referral and diagnosis to treatment and ongoing care, as well as prevention and research. It will seek to improve every aspect of cancer care to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Research and innovation are key focuses of the National Cancer Plan. The plan will look to build on the success of our life sciences sector and projects such as the NHS cancer vaccine launch pad, and will also consider the ways that we can accelerate the uptake of innovative, life-saving treatments so all NHS patients can benefit.

The plan is due to be published later this year and will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.
wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_20
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-08-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_20

Andy McDonald:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the oral statement of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of 4 June 2025 on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Official Report, Column 338, who will carry out an independent investigation into mass casualty incidents at aid sites in Gaza; and when that independent investigation will be completed. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: We are appalled by repeated reports of mass casualty incidents at Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid sites. On 2 June, the UN Secretary-General called for an immediate and independent investigation into these incidents. We have echoed this call, including during a meeting of the UN Security Council on 4 June. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has stated it is conducting investigations into some incidents. We continue to push for any investigations to be thorough, transparent and for perpetrators to be brought to account. We are unaware of any other investigations underway at present. The UK does not support any aid mechanism that seeks to deliver political or military objectives or puts vulnerable civilians at risk.
wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_21
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-08-05)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-08-05 conversation_21

Andrew Gwynne:To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterparts on the killing of (a) medical workers and (b) journalists in Gaza. \p Mr Hamish Falconer: Gaza remains the deadliest place for humanitarians, and we continue to urge that humanitarian workers must be protected, and medical and aid workers must be able to do their jobs safely.

The Foreign Secretary and I have also both paid tribute to journalists risking their lives to report in Gaza. Journalists covering conflicts and medical workers in conflict zones are afforded protection under humanitarian law. The media have a right to report freely, and we urge all parties to permit journalists to carry out their crucial role. The UK remains committed to media freedom and to championing democracy and human rights around the world. Independent media is essential to a functioning society and there must be safe access for journalists to conflict situations in order to independently cover events. We continue to engage with our Israeli counterparts on these issues, including when the Foreign Secretary spoke to Foreign Minister Sa'ar on 21 July to stress the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
wrans/answers2025-03-22 conversation_1
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-22 conversation_1

Neil O'Brien:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list all (a) statutory and (b) non-statutory guidance issued to schools and colleges since 4 July 2024, along with the dates on which the guidance was issued. \p Catherine McKinnell: The information requested can be found in the attached spreadsheet.

Statutory/non-statutory guidance issued to schools (xls, 82.5KB)
wrans/answers2025-03-22 conversation_2
Source: hansard.parliament.uk (2025-03-22)

UK Parliament Hansard data: wrans/answers2025-03-22 conversation_2

Pippa Heylings:To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the level of teacher salaries on staff retention in (a) Cambridge and (b) other areas with high living costs. \p Catherine McKinnell: High quality teaching is the within school factor that makes the biggest difference to children’s outcomes which is why this government is determined tackle staff recruitment and retention challenges, making work pay and support teachers to stay in the profession.

Fair pay is key to ensuring teaching is an attractive and respected profession, which is why this government accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s (STRB) recommendation of a 5.5% pay award for the 2024/25 academic year. This pay award was equivalent to an increase of over £2,500 for the average teacher, taking median pay to over £49,000 for 2024/25.

This also means that teachers and leaders in maintained schools have seen a combined increase of over 17%, over the last three pay awards.

The starting salary for qualified teachers is now at least £31,650 outside London, including in Cambridge. Experienced teachers can earn up to £49,084 at the top of the pay scale outside London, including in Cambridge, and earn more if they take on additional responsibilities.

The teacher pay system is set up to reward teachers as they progress through their career, encouraging retention through an annual review that can lead to increased pay. Around 40% of classroom teachers also progress each year to the next pay point, meaning even greater increases in their salary.

Teachers’ pay is reviewed, on an annual basis, by the independent STRB, which considers what is an appropriate award in the context of the wider economy and public sector finances, and the cost-of-living pressures facing households.

Final decisions on the teacher’s pay award for 2025/26 will be made following recommendations from the independent pay review body process.