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 impact of the revised covid-19 autumn 2025 vaccination eligibility criteria on vulnerable patients with underlying health conditions.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government’s policy on groups eligible for vaccination programmes is based on the advice of the independent expert body, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). Over time, the risk from COVID-19 has reduced across the United Kingdom population, through exposure to the virus, changes in the virus and vaccination.

The JCVI carefully considered the latest evidence on the risk of illness, serious disease in specific groups, as well as cost-effectiveness analysis, to provide the Government with advice on the autumn 2025 programme. The evidence indicates that whilst the risk from COVID-19 is now much lower for most people, adults aged 75 years old and over, residents in care homes for older adults, and those who are immunosuppressed are those at highest risk of serious COVID-19 disease. A more targeted vaccination programme, aimed at individuals, with a higher risk of developing serious disease, and where vaccination was considered potentially cost-effective, was advised for autumn 2025.

Whilst current COVID-19 vaccines provide good protection against hospitalisation and/or death for those at highest risk, they provide very limited protection against acquiring COVID-19 infection or mild illness, meaning any potential public health benefit of reducing transmission is much less evident.

Long term health consequences following COVID-19 infection, including post-COVID syndromes, such as long COVID, have been discussed at meetings of the JCVI. It remains uncertain whether getting extra COVID-19 vaccine doses has any effect on the chances of developing long COVID, how it progresses, or how it affects people.

The JCVI has proactively published an updated list of Research Recommendations, encouraging future investigations on the exploration of data and evidence on the benefit of vaccination amongst post-COVID syndromes, and those with underlying medical conditions who are not currently eligible.

The JCVI keeps all vaccination programmes under review. Accordingly, the Government will consider any additional advice from the JCVI in due course. Further information on the details of the modelling and analysis considered are within the 2025 and spring 2026 advice, on the GOV.UK website.

Information is collected on hospital bed occupancy and on the reason for hospital admissions. It is, however, not possible to determine which admissions associated with COVID-19 were for individuals who were eligible for vaccination in autumn 2024 but no longer eligible in autumn 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will hold discussions with the National House Building Council on protecting homeowners from registered property developers who repeatedly set up new businesses and fail to complete property builds.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

My Department engages regularly with the National House Building Council and is committed to improving upon existing means of redress for new build homebuyers for when things go wrong. This includes bringing into force a statutory New Homes Ombudsman scheme with accompanying Code of Practice.

We are also changing incentives in the housing market and giving local authorities the tools they need to speed up delivery.

On 25 May, we published the Speeding Up Build Out working paper, which sets out proposals to increase build out rates. This includes incentivising and supporting models of development that build out faster, giving local authorities tools to agree and monitor build out rates and potentially giving local authorities the ability to charge developers a ‘Delayed Homes Penalty’.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what transport support is available for SEND families (a) in cases where a child is placed in a specialist setting but is not yet of compulsory school age and (b) in other instances.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

​​The Education Act 1996 requires local authorities to arrange free home to school travel for eligible children. A child is eligible if they are of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families.

​Local authorities have the discretion to arrange travel for other children, such as those below compulsory school age attending a specialist setting, but are not required to do so. It is for each local authority to decide whether and how to exercise their discretionary power.​

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 reduce waiting times for people seeking psychological therapy to support employment.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to delivering expansions of NHS Talking Therapies and individual placement and support schemes to address the root causes of mental health issues and provide support for people to contribute to the economy by remaining in or returning to work. We will also make it easier for people to self-refer to talking therapies services through the NHS App.

We are continuing to roll out employment advisors in our NHS Talking Therapies services to support people with common mental health conditions in seeking and retaining employment. Our advisors help people who are in work but struggling or facing difficulties in the workplace, are off work sick, or are looking for work, so we can provide the right support at the right time.

Confidential support is available to people at any stage of their career. This could include school- or college-leavers looking for their first job to people looking at changing their lifestyle or work-life balance as they get closer to retirement.

We are also expanding individual placement and support schemes embedded in community mental health services to improve employment outcomes for people with severe mental illness. These schemes offer intensive, individually tailored support to get people into work, with ongoing support for the employer and employee to help ensure the person keeps their job.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking with the Armed Forces Pay Review Body to minimise the requirement for back pay for service personnel when pension calculations are made.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) aims to put Armed Forces pensions into payment as quickly as possible so as not to cause undue delay and stress, and every individual's pension entitlement is considered with the utmost diligence.

We recognise the impact on pension calculations of the late announcement of annual pay awards and are committed to reducing the delay. We announced both the 2025 pay award and 2026/27 pay round two months earlier than last year and remain committed to bringing forward pay announcements further.

Defence officials are working with the Armed Forces’ Pay Review Body on this year’s pay round and the submission of their 2026 report. We will publish this report and the Government’s response to their recommendations as soon as practicable in 2026, recognising the importance of giving certainty on pay settlements as early as possible.

This Government is committed to the independent Pay Review Body process and is focused on delivering fair and timely rewards for public sector workforces, including the Armed Forces, getting well-deserved pay rises to those delivering our vital public services.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will take steps to help ensure that military families looking to foster a child have adequate housing to meet the criteria required by fostering organisations.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Defence continually reviews its accommodation policies to ensure they are suitable for modern families. All Service personnel who are active foster carers are entitled to accommodation as necessary to support them fostering children. Families wanting to foster a child for the first time are eligible to apply for suitable accommodation where it is available.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation is committed to providing personnel and their families with high quality, modern and well-maintained accommodation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken in Certificate of Sponsorship allocations for Skilled Worker visa holders in cases where (a) a compliant sponsor with an A-rated licence has submitted a valid request with supporting evidence and (b) delay risks causing a lawful worker to fall out of immigration status.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

It is the responsibility of individual businesses to monitor the visa expiry dates of their overseas employees and to take appropriate action to ensure continuity of employment.

The published service standard for non-complex Undefined Certificate of Sponsorship (UCoS) allocations and renewals is 18 weeks, as outlined on GOV.UK. Businesses may also opt to use the priority service, which aims to process requests within 5 working days.

Responsibility for submitting timely applications or updates lies with the sponsoring business.

Where necessary, the Home Office conducts additional checks to maintain the integrity of the immigration system, which may delay the processing of applications to assure ourselves that requests are genuine and full time work and employment will be given to a prospective employee, for their own protection.

UK visa sponsorship for employers: Your responsibilities - GOV.UK

The Home Office is currently operating within the published service standards for all Sponsorship applications.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support young people in supported accommodation.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

It remains the department’s priority to support young people in supported accommodation.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) provides support with rent and other living costs through Housing Benefit and Universal Credit to eligible individuals (including young people) living in supported accommodation. Subject to criteria, individuals may be eligible for help with housing costs through Housing Benefit, to pay all or part of their rent and any eligible service charges. In 2023, DWP spent an estimated £4.1bn on Housing Benefit and Universal Credit housing entitlement for people living in supported accommodation.

To drive up quality of provision for people in supported accommodation, DWP is working alongside the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to implement measures arising from the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act. A government response to the first consultation on the Act is due to be published as soon as possible.

We also acknowledge there is a challenge arising from the interaction between Universal Credit and Housing Benefit for working age customers residing in supported and temporary accommodation.

We are considering options to improve work incentives for residents of supported housing and temporary accommodation, while taking into account the views of stakeholders. Any future decisions will be taken in the round and in the context of the current fiscal environment.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Construction Industry Training Board levy on (a) the profitability of the construction sector in the past five years and (b) the level of health and safety in that sector.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Responsibility for the Construction Industry Training Board transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions on 16 September 2025. The Secretary of State has not yet made any assessment of the potential impacts of the Construction Industry Training Board’s levy.

Responsibility for health and safety within the construction industry in England sits with the Health and Safety Executive.

Buying community energy locally

Securing habitat for endangered swifts and other cavity nesting birds

Impact of EU 90/180 day rule on UK citizens

Open Doors 2025

Britain’s canals and rivers

President Trump’s 20-point peace plan

Conduct of Sir Robbie Gibb and the independence of the BBC Board

Fairtrade tea campaign

Local government and social care

Release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah and the plight of British nationals arbitrarily detained abroad

US trade and impact assessments

UK-US Trade Deal and animal welfare and farming

Greyhound racing

Warm Homes Plan

National Cancer Plan

Water bills

Contribution of legal immigrants

40th anniversary of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sarah Owen (Chair); Alex Brewer; David Burton-Sampson; Christine

Submit Evidence (by 9 Jan 2026)

This inquiry will examine whether women donating and freezing their eggs do so with sufficient information about the process, health impacts and consequences and whether the current regulatory framework provides sufficient safeguards to people who go through these procedures.

This inquiry examines why and how Black people face disproportionate risks of homelessness. It will also consider what measures the Government should include in its upcoming cross-departmental homelessness and rough sleeping strategy.