Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the level of car parking charges for staff in NHS hospitals in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

No assessment has been made of the potential merits of reducing the level of car-parking charges for staff in National Health Service hospitals in the Surrey Heath constituency.

NHS trusts are expected to follow the principles set out in the NHS Car Parking Guidance. The guidance makes clear that charges, where they exist, should be reasonable for the area.

All NHS trusts that charge for car parking provide free hospital car parking in England for those most in need. This includes Blue Badge holders, frequent outpatient attenders, parents of sick children staying overnight in hospital, and NHS staff working night shifts. The Department has issued guidance to NHS trusts on the implementation of this commitment.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of installing solar panels on the roofs of (a) car parks, (b) warehouses (c) and council-owned buildings in Surrey.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government will assess the potential to drive the construction of solar canopies on outdoor carparks over a certain size through a call for evidence this year.

New standards will be introduced this year which will amend the energy efficiency standards in the Building Regulations in England. This will ensure all new homes and buildings, including warehouses and council-owned buildings, in England are zero-carbon ready.

Further details about how the Government will increase the deployment of solar panels will be set out in the forthcoming Solar Roadmap.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support students with special educational needs who have left independent schools in Surrey Heath constituency following the application of VAT to private school fees.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and ensuring every child has access to high-quality education. The government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, the government announced a £1 billion uplift in high needs funding in financial year 2025/26, providing additional support and improving outcomes for the more than a million children in the state sector with SEND.

Most children with special educational needs, including most with education, health and care (EHC) plans, are already educated in mainstream state-funded schools. All state-funded schools support children with SEND. All children of compulsory age are entitled to a state-funded school place that is free for parents. Where a private school place is necessary to support a child with SEND, the local authority will fund it through an EHC plan.

Local authorities have a statutory duty for ensuring sufficient state school places in their area. Local authorities routinely support parents that need a state-funded school place, including where private schools have closed or where pupils move between schools. The department does not collect data on in-year school applications or admissions, but where local authorities are experiencing difficulties in ensuring there are enough school places for children that need them, the department will offer support and advice.

The department expects all schools admitting new pupils in-year to provide them with appropriate support, including where they have SEND. Schools will need to work with their local authority where pupils have additional needs that cannot be met within the school.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle academic dishonesty arising from the use of generative AI in higher education.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Universities are independent and autonomous bodies responsible for decisions such as admissions, diversity of provision, course content, teaching and assessment. As such, they are responsible for designing their own policies regarding the use of artificial intelligence and for taking steps to prevent academic misconduct, as set out in the Office for Students’ regulatory framework.

Academic integrity is crucial to protecting the reputation of the UK’s world-class higher education sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to help (a) older and (b) digitally illiterate demographics in using online NHS booking services for GP appointments in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

It is for local National Health Service organisations to adopt digital health technologies and services which best meet the needs of their local populations. However, digital health tools should be part of a wider offering that includes face-to-face support with appropriate help for people who struggle to access digital services. The GP Contract is also clear that patients should always have the option of visiting their practice in person. NHS England successfully ran a number of programmes to support patients, carers, and health service staff with their digital skills. These include:

• the Digital Health Champions programme, a proof of concept to support citizens who have no or low digital skills with understanding how to access health services online;
• the Widening Digital Participation programme, aimed to ensure more people have the digital skills, motivation and means to access health information and services online; and
• the NHS App Spoken Word Pilot project, designed to test the efficacy of promoting NHS digital health products and services in languages other than English.

NHS England has also published a framework for NHS action on digital inclusion and is developing further resources to support practical actions. All digital programmes are actively considering how they can contribute to improvements in healthcare inequalities and digital inclusion.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of environmental contamination caused by sewage discharges by water companies in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

For too long, water companies have discharged unacceptable levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.

That is why we are placing water companies under special measures through the Water (Special Measures) Bill. The Bill will drive meaningful improvements in the performance and culture of the water industry as a first important step in enabling wider, transformative change across the water sector.

For Price Review 2024 (PR24), which runs from 2025 – 2030, Thames Water will invest £784 million to reduce the use of storm overflows including in and around the Surrey Heath constituency. Additional improvement actions also include increasing treatment capacity at sewage works, providing storage for high flows, reducing flows entering the system and provision of treatment for storm overflows which are separate from the main treatment route.

There have been significant pollution incidents at Camberley and Chobham Sewage Treatment Works in the last few years and these are still subject to Environment Agency investigations. We will not let companies get away with illegal activity and where breaches are found, the EA will not hesitate to hold companies to account. The Environment Agency has also undertaken recent inspections of Sewage Treatment Works, including at Camberley, Lightwater and Chobham.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the expansion of Heathrow Airport on levels of air pollution in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government has invited proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer.

Once proposals have been received, the government will review the Airports National Policy Statement, which provides the basis for decision making on granting development consent for a new runway at Heathrow.

The government has been clear that any airport expansion proposals need to demonstrate that they contribute to economic growth, can be delivered in line with the UK’s legally binding commitments on carbon and meet strict environmental requirements on air quality and noise pollution.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Institution of Fire Engineers as a regulatory body for fire engineers.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Currently, the fire engineering profession is undefined and not regulated in law. The Grenfell Tower Inquiry report makes a number of recommendations in respect of fire engineering sector including the recommendation that the profession be recognised and protected by law and that an independent body be established to regulate the profession, define the standards required for membership, maintain a register of members and regulate their conduct.

Following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Fire Inquiry Report, the Department is reviewing the findings and recommendations in relation to the fire engineering sector. No assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Institution of Fire Engineers as a regulatory body for fire engineers.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a central governance board to regulate the issuance of EWS1 forms for residential buildings.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

EWS1s are not a legal or regulatory requirement, and the Department does not intend to regulate their issuance. The use of EWS1s is a commercial decision by lenders and subject to their individual lending criteria.

The absence of a correctly completed EWS1 should not be a blocker to mortgage lending, where a leaseholder can provide alternative evidence of the safety of their building or that the building is in a remediation scheme or that the leaseholder qualifies for the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act.

We are working closely with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), UK Finance and the lending industry to ensure the market continues to function for leaseholders in properties with building safety issues, and those looking to purchase properties with building safety issues.

Leaseholders should contact the building owner or person responsible for fire safety if they have concerns about the fire safety of their building.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that residents are protected from incorrectly completed EWS1 forms when trying to (a) sell, (b) remortgage and (c) purchase properties in residential buildings.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

EWS1s are not a legal or regulatory requirement, and the Department does not intend to regulate their issuance. The use of EWS1s is a commercial decision by lenders and subject to their individual lending criteria.

The absence of a correctly completed EWS1 should not be a blocker to mortgage lending, where a leaseholder can provide alternative evidence of the safety of their building or that the building is in a remediation scheme or that the leaseholder qualifies for the leaseholder protections in the Building Safety Act.

We are working closely with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), UK Finance and the lending industry to ensure the market continues to function for leaseholders in properties with building safety issues, and those looking to purchase properties with building safety issues.

Leaseholders should contact the building owner or person responsible for fire safety if they have concerns about the fire safety of their building.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that hospitals can (a) recruit and (b) retain midwives in Surrey Heath constituency.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to tackling the retention and recruitment challenges that face the National Health Service. Bringing in the staff we need will take time, but this is an absolute priority for the Government. NHS England is leading a range of initiatives to boost retention of existing staff and ensure that the NHS remains an attractive career choice for new recruits. This includes building a compassionate and inclusive culture, supporting staff wellbeing, and promoting flexible working opportunities.

Targeted retention work for midwives is being undertaken by NHS England, led by the Chief Nursing Officer. This work contains a range of measures, including the creation of a midwifery and nursing retention self-assessment tool, mentoring schemes, strengthened advice and support on pensions, and embedded flexible retirement options. NHS England has also invested in unit-based retention leads which, alongside investment in workforce capacity, has seen a reduction in vacancy, leaver, and turnover rates.

The Frimley Health midwifery workforce, which includes the Surrey Heath area, now has in place a fully resourced midwifery workforce. This follows five-years of work, led by the trust, on recruitment and retention, in addition to the ongoing work by NHS England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support hospitals affected by RAAC in the South East.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to removing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) from the National Health Service estate as a priority.

The NHS has been surveying hospital sites to identify the presence of RAAC since 2019. Once the presence of RAAC is confirmed at a hospital site, the trust joins NHS England’s national RAAC programme, which has delivered mitigation, safety, and eradication works across all hospital sites with confirmed RAAC to keep facilities safe and open, and is working to remove RAAC fully from the NHS estate. There are nine hospital sites in the South East currently in the NHS RAAC programme, and one hospital site in the South East, specifically Medway Maritime Hospital, has completely eradicated RAAC.

We confirmed £440 million specifically for RAAC mitigation and eradication in 2025/26 as part of NHS capital guidance. National RAAC funding is allocated annually based on NHS trust plans and delivery progress, and funds mitigation works at the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from RAAC.

We are working at pace to ensure that the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from RAAC in the New Hospital Programme (NHP) will be replaced as quickly as possible, including Frimley Park Hospital in the South East, to protect patient and staff safety. Construction for all RAAC replacement schemes is planned to commence and substantially deliver between 2025 and 2030 as part of Wave 1 of the NHP.

EWS1 forms and market disruption

Marking World Cancer Day 2025

Hospital maintenance

LGBT+ History Month 2025

US proposals for Gaza

Maternity care in the UK

Royal Horticultural Society and A3/M25 roadworks

Heathrow airport third runway expansion

Found: Baroness Harris of Richmond Lord Jones Danny Kruger Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Luke Myer Dr Al Pinkerton

Found: Baroness Harris of Richmond Lord Jones Danny Kruger Baroness McIntosh of Hudnall Luke Myer Dr Al Pinkerton

Found: meeting Members present: Tonia Antoniazzi (Chair); Chris Bloore; Adam Jogee; Katrina Murray; Dr Al Pinkerton