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 improve patient access to GPs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to tackle and identify economic abuse in the welfare system to support victims and survivors.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to safeguarding vulnerable individuals and preventing economic abuse within the welfare system. Front line staff receive mandatory domestic abuse training, including economic abuse. Specialist training is provided for teams such as Child Maintenance Service, Universal Credit, Counter Fraud and Debt, ensuring colleagues can identify, respond, and support claimants safely and appropriately.

As part of the '“Freedom from Violence and Abuse: a cross-government strategy to build a safer society for women and girls”, DWP has committed to strengthening domestic abuse training for staff. We have also pledged to remove the Direct Pay service type so that the Child Maintenance Service manages and transfers payments between parents, preventing it being used as a tool of abuse.

DWP supports vulnerable customers by considering individual circumstances in debt recovery and signposting to specialist services. Our Debt Management Vulnerability Framework and annual adviser training strengthen this approach. DWP collaborates with Surviving Economic Abuse to ensure safeguards are in place for new debt recovery powers under the Public Authorities Fraud, Error and Recovery Act, protecting victims of domestic abuse.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will consider removing the charges for the Child Maintenance Service's collect pay service.

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

Cases on the Collect and Pay service are typically those where the paying parent has demonstrated an unwillingness to pay, or has not been compliant in a Direct Pay arrangement. For this service, a fee of 20% is added to what the paying parent needs to pay, while 4% is deducted from the amount paid out to receiving parents.

Following a public consultation on wider reforms to consolidate the Child Maintenance Service into a single service type where the CMS collects and transfers payments, the Government published its response setting out plans to reform the CMS. This includes plans to reduce fees to 2% for both receiving parents and paying parents, maintaining the 20% rate for non-compliant paying parents on top of their calculated maintenance amount.

We believe fees are an important part of the service, offsetting the cost of the service and investment needed to make the reforms, reducing the burden on the taxpayer. The proposed fee structure is also intended to incentivise compliance by the paying parent.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of temporary accommodation available in Gloucester; and what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the time people spend in temporary accommodation in Gloucester constituency.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

This government inherited a homelessness crisis with record numbers in temporary accommodation. Our National Plan to End Homelessness sets out how we will get back on track to ending homelessness by tackling its root causes. We are building 1.5 million homes, including a generational increase in new social and affordable homes. We have set out a new 10-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme backed by a £39 billion investment. We will also increase the supply of good quality temporary accommodation and support resettlement through the £950 million Local Authority Housing Fund.

Legislation and statutory guidance are clear that local authorities should, wherever possible, place homeless households within their own area. Authorities receiving out-of-area placements must be notified in accordance with the law: this is not a tick-box exercise but should involve engagement with the receiving authority where necessary to minimise disruption and promote the welfare of any children. The former Deputy Prime Minister wrote to councils in November 2024 to remind them of this duty and made clear that failures to notify are unacceptable, as they put additional pressure on services and risk the safety of those placed.

In October 2025, we provided £10.9 million funding for 61 local authorities to support families and children in temporary accommodation, including those placed out of area, making a tangible impact on their quality of life whilst they remain in need. This will fund a range of interventions to support families to access basic facilities, including Wi-Fi, laundry services, travel passes for school, improved communal spaces for homework and recreation and assistance with paying for food and leisure facilities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients waited longer than 12 hours in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital in December (a) 2024 and (b) 2025; and what steps is he taking to help reduce A&E waiting times.

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

NHS England began publishing data on 12-hour accident and emergency waits at a site level from October 2025. Figures for the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2025-26/

Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements this winter and beyond. We are aiming for 78% of patients to be seen in four hours this year, meaning over 800,000 people will receive more timely care.

We are investing £250 million into expanding same day and urgent care services, helping avoid unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.

We have also introduced new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care to support better hospital flow. These set minimum expectations for timely review, availability of advice, and coordinated care when multiple specialist teams are involved.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many of the additional 6,700 Mental Health workers recruited nationally are working in (a) Gloucester constituency and (b) NHS Gloucestershire.

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

Data for the Gloucester constituency is not available, as workforce information is not collected at a parliamentary constituency level.

Between June 2024 and October 2025, the NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board saw an increase of 128 full‑time equivalent mental health staff, rising from 1,416 to 1,544, representing 9.1% growth, compared with 5% nationally over the same period.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support Gloucestershire Constabulary to tackle knife crime in Gloucester constituency.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

Halving knife crime over the next decade is a priority for Government. Since this Government has been in office, knife homicides have fallen by 18% while knife crime overall has fallen for the first time in 4 years, dropping by 5% in our first year. Our approach to tackling knife-crime is centred around smart, targeted interventions, prevention and enforcement, and a tough legislative landscape to remove dangerous weapons from our streets.

Gloucestershire Constabulary will receive £1 million from the Government’s Hotspot Action Fund for 2025/26 as part of a national £66 million investment to tackle serious violence, knife crime and anti-social behaviour. This funding will support regular, highly visible patrols and targeted problem-solving in 21 identified hotspot locations across Gloucester. In 2025/26, Gloucestershire have also received £330k to support their delivery of the statutory requirements under the Serious Violence Duty.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of educational psychologists in Gloucester constituency.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This is why the department has already invested more than £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists over two cohorts, starting their studies in 2024 and 2025. This is in addition to the £10 million invested in training more than 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023.

As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services for a minimum period of three years.

Following a Joint Area SEND inspection in Gloucestershire in December 2023, leaders in the local area have developed a local strategy to improve access to educational psychologists, including a virtual service. Officials and SEND advisors from both the department and NHS England meet regularly with Gloucestershire local area leaders to monitor progress.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussion she has had with local authorities on parking outside of schools in Gloucester.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The Secretary of State has not had discussions with local authorities on parking outside schools in Gloucester.

Responsibility for traffic management and enforcement of road traffic restrictions on local roads rests with the relevant local authority, as they are best placed to consider how local needs can be effectively met. Gloucestershire County Council has already acquired designated civil enforcement powers enabling it to issue Penalty Charge Notices in respect of contraventions of traffic restrictions which include restrictions on parking outside schools.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to address rogue builders in (a) Gloucester and (b) England.

Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

We continue to engage with stakeholders as to whether a wider licencing scheme would improve standards of consumer protection. This work is progressing alongside our broader initiatives to improve consumer redress routes and to enhance competency across the construction sector through the Industry Competence Committee, ensuring a comprehensive approach to raising standards throughout the industry.

Furthermore, the Government is fully committed to implementing the Grenfell Inquiry recommendation that principal contractors working on higher-risk buildings should be licenced through a scheme managed by the Building Safety Regulator. We have accepted this recommendation as an important step in enhancing building safety standards.

Found: Valley) Andrew George (Liberal Democrat; St Ives) Paulette Hamilton (Labour; Birmingham Erdington) Alex McIntyre

Found: Moran (Chair); Danny Beales; Ben Coleman; Dr Beccy Cooper; Andrew George; Paulette Hamilton; Alex McIntyre

Found: Declaration of Interests Alex McIntyre declared that during his paid employment, he has advised several