Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with Integrated Care Boards on (a) increasing vaccination rates for and (b) prevention of measles.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) declared a national standard incident response for measles on 10 July 2025 to oversee the risk assessment and public health response to the increase of measles cases in England and coordinate the multi-agency input to the response nationally with the aim of limiting further spread. The Department, UKHSA and the National Health Service are already working with local partners to undertake community and stakeholder engagement to raise awareness that measles is circulating, promote the importance of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination and target catch-up efforts at key under vaccinated communities and in a range of settings.
NHS England is working with local health teams, including integrated care boards, to monitor reported measle cases, provide advice and support local communities to be aware of action they can take to protect themselves, including getting vaccinated.
Building on the MMR coverage gains achieved in 2023/24, NHS England continues to deliver national and regional improvement plans that include activities to strengthen the routine vaccination offer and to address inequalities by supporting MMR catch up vaccination by school age vaccination services in schools and community settings, for example, summer ‘catch up’ immunisation clinics are being stood up in some of the areas of England with the lowest MMR uptake including Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton and St Helens. In London, childhood vaccination clinics have been stood up in outbreak areas including targeted community clinics, pharmacies offering MMR and we are working with school immunisation services to deliver some MMR catch up in schools once term starts.
Additional steps are being taken which will strengthen efforts to reduce the risk of future measles outbreaks, including bringing forward MMR vaccination for children so they are protected sooner. There are also plans to explore new ways of delivering vaccinations such as greater use of community pharmacies and during at health visits. Further to this, a new national communications and marketing campaign will kick off in August 2025 with a brand-new programme of always on activity to reach parents, pregnant women and multicultural audiences and encourage uptake of MMR as well as other vaccinations.
It is vitally important that everyone takes up the vaccinations they are entitled to, for themselves, their families, and wider society.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
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 is taking to encourage local authorities to undertake high street rental auctions.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is working with eleven early adopter councils who are taking steps to implement High Street Rental Auction powers to showcase their benefits and provide a source of best practice for other councils. My officials are also providing practical support and guidance to other councils and we have made up to £1 million available in 2025/26 to support the creation of vacancy registers and fund property refurbishments, as well as new burdens funding for local authority administrative costs.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending eligibility for Blue Badges to include voluntary patient transport providers.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is preferable for disabled individuals to hold their own Blue Badge, allowing them to use it in any vehicle they travel in, whether as a driver or a passenger. However, an organisational Blue Badge may be issued to an organisation for use in vehicles transporting disabled people who would individually qualify for a badge, as set out in Section 4(2) of the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000.
Local authorities must be able to confirm that the organisation both cares for and regularly transports individuals who meet the eligibility criteria for a personal Blue Badge, and that there is a clear operational need for an organisational badge rather than relying on individual badges.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information her Department holds on average cab temperatures on buses in periods of hot weather; and if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of average cab temperatures on the health of bus drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport does not hold this information.
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring all transport workers have access to suitable working conditions. The majority of bus services in England outside London are provided on a commercial basis by private operators, who are responsible for ensuring their employees have access to healthy and safe working conditions.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of the introduction of bans on enriched cages for laying hens in European countries.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to upholding our high animal welfare standards as part of wider trade policy.
We remain firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards. The use of cages for laying hens is an issue which we are currently considering very carefully.
This Government was elected on a mandate to introduce the most ambitious plans to improve animal welfare in a generation. The Prime Minister announced that we will be publishing an animal welfare strategy later this year.