Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of standardising the number of NHS-funded In Vitro Fertilisation cycles available to patients across England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs), based on their population’s clinical needs. We are working with NHS England to understand and improve the offer around National Health Service-funded fertility services, including how best to support further research and data collection.
Revised NICE fertility guidelines are due for publication in Spring, setting clear expectations for commissioners. These guidelines will establish a national standard for consistent provision of fertility services across England.
We expect ICBs to commission fertility services consistent with these new guidelines, ensuring equal access to treatment across England.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 the potential impact of the implementation of guidance on trauma-informed practice on staff (a) culture and (b) practice.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. NHS England published their trauma-informed and harm aware in-patient care guidance in October 2025, and it is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/trauma-informed-harm-aware-inpatient-care/
The guidance supports National Health Service staff working in mental health, learning disability, and autism inpatient settings to make services more trauma-informed and harm aware.
Also available to NHS staff is an e-learning module which focuses on trauma-informed care and supporting the workforce to be more trauma sensitive in the way care is delivered, with the aim of fostering a trauma sensitive culture. Further information on the e-learning module is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.e-lfh.org.uk/programmes/trauma-informed-care/
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has conducted research into the potential merits of retrospectively abolishing Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
It is right that the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence was abolished. The Justice Committee and various organisations have considered a resentencing exercise but none have identified an approach that would not pose too great a risk to the public.
Whilst this Government does want to make progress in relation to IPP prisoners, we cannot take any steps that would put victims or the public at risk.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if his Department will consider the potential merits of retrospectively abolishing Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
It is right that the Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentence was abolished. Public protection will always be the top priority and abolishing the IPP sentence retrospectively would result in prisoners being released whom the independent Parole Board has determined are too dangerous. This would pose an unacceptable risk of harm to victims and the public.
We are determined to support those serving IPP sentences, but not in a way that undermines public protection. This is why the Government made changes in the Sentencing Act 2026 to provide IPP offenders with an earlier opportunity for licence termination, whilst allowing suitable time for support and rehabilitation in the community and ensuring victims and the public are best protected from harm
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has conducted research into the potential impacts on long-term rehabilitation of Imprisonment for Public Protection sentences.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Section 67 of the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 requires the Secretary of State to prepare and publish an annual report about the steps taken to support the rehabilitation of IPP and Detention for Public Protection (DPP) offenders and their progress towards release from prison or licence termination and lay the report before Parliament.
Although there has not been research conducted in this area the Government published its latest IPP Annual Report on 17 July 2025, which included a commitment for HMPPS Psychology Services to complete a review of the Never Released IPP cohort. The review aims to ensure the current barriers to IPP progression are considered and services reviewed relating to these findings to support IPP progression. We will report on the outcome of this review in our next Annual Report, which is due to be published this summer.
The 2025 Annual Report also contained a refreshed version of the IPP Action Plan, which includes measurable targets to ensure transparency and accountability.
Through the IPP Action Plan we have significantly improved support for those serving the IPP sentence, with greater access to rehabilitation and mental health support.
Changes we have made in the Sentencing Act 2026 will provide IPP offenders with an earlier opportunity for licence termination, whilst allowing suitable time for support and rehabilitation in the community and ensuring victims and the public are best protected from harm.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of freezing Local Housing Allowance rates in 2026-27 on private renters.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
At Autumn Budget, the Secretary of State reviewed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates and confirmed in his Written Ministerial Statement that LHA rates would be maintained at their current 2024/25 levels for 2026/27.
The impacts on private renters were considered alongside a range of factors, including rent levels across Great Britain, the challenging fiscal context and welfare priorities which included our commitment to reduce child poverty by removing the two-child limit which will bring 450,000 children out of poverty.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) from local authorities. From April 2026 DHPs for England will be incorporated into the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF).
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on increasing capacity for adult ADHD assessments in Leeds since 2024; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of those measures on waiting times.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines. The NICE guideline does not recommend a maximum waiting time for people to receive an assessment for ADHD or a diagnosis, however it sets out best practice on providing a diagnosis.
NHS West Yorkshire ICB continues to prioritise improvements for adults with suspected ADHD, focusing on three key areas: expanding diagnostic capacity, strengthening early support within primary care, and improving pathway safety and responsiveness. These changes and improved clinical resilience are beginning to have a positive impact on waiting times for adults in Leeds.
More specifically, individuals transferred to accredited providers are being seen faster than if they had remained on the National Health Service trust waiting list. Additionally, Leeds NHS ADHD service waiting list growth, which had previously been rising rapidly, has now stabilised due to improved referral management and clearer access criteria. Urgent and complex patients are now prioritised more consistently by the NHS trust provider, improving safety and reducing risks associated with delayed assessment or medication oversight. Lastly, the ADHD referral hub is reducing unnecessary diagnostic demand through needs-led support; more than one quarter of adults supported through the hub have not required an onward referral for ADHD assessment.
For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan; and has released technical guidance to ICBs to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving data quality and publishing more localised data. NHS England intends to publish data at an ICB level in 2026/27. NHS England has also captured examples from ICBs who are trialling innovative ways of delivering ADHD services and is using this information to support systems to tackle ADHD waiting lists and provide support to address people’s needs. More details on the improvement plan are available at the following link:
My rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, announced on 4 December 2025 the launch of an Independent Review into Prevalence and Support for Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism. This independent review will inform our approach to enabling people with mental health conditions, ADHD and autistic people to have the right support in place to enable them to live well in their communities.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
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 commissioning model for adult social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are tasked with the duty to shape their care markets to meet the diverse needs of all local people. This includes commissioning a diverse range of care and support services that enable people to access quality care.
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how local authorities in England are meeting the full range of their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014, including those related to commissioning. The assessments identify local authorities’ strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to improve the quality of initial decision-making in asylum cases.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have adopted a plan to improve the quality of asylum casework, this includes improved training for decision makers and feedback loops to ensure we are learning from appeals to get decisions right first time.
Asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks to ensure that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.
Each quality assessment will rate the impact of any casework or process errors against the agreed marking standards. Asylum decision quality data is published in the ADQ_01A table found in Migration transparency data - GOV.UK of the Immigration and Protection data.
Quality assessments must adhere to Home Office interview and decision standards. These standards are shared with Decision Makers to improve understanding of quality scores when receiving feedback.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department plans to take to help speed up decision-making for asylum cases; and what targets her Department has set for improving decision-making times.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office is investing in innovative techniques, including AI, to explore how we can improve productivity, speed up the processing of asylum cases awaiting an initial decision, and restore order in the asylum system.
The proportion of asylum claims receiving an initial decision within six months is at the highest level since Q3 2017 (60.6%).
Asylum decisions are subject to stringent quality checks to ensure that claims are properly considered, decisions are sound, and protection is granted to those who genuinely need it.
We are working to improve the speed of decisions and reduce the number of outstanding claims; but there will always be complex cases, and it is right we take time to work through them carefully.