Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what factors are considered when allocating investment for research in the less survivable cancers; and what steps he is taking to combat underfunding for less survivable cancers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Cancer is one of the largest areas of spend at over £133 million in 2023/24, reflecting its high priority.
These investments are pivotal to informing our efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes. An example of this investment is Imperial College London’s research on breath tests to detect less survivable cancers, including pancreatic cancer. Further information on the research is available at the following link:
https://imperialbrc.nihr.ac.uk/2023/06/05/imperial-led-uk-cancer-breath-tests-reach-final-stages/
Another example of Government investment was the launch of the NIHR’s national Brain Tumour Research Consortium in September 2024, which is bringing together researchers from a range of different disciplines and institutions with the aim of making scientific advances in how we prevent, detect, manage, and treat rare and less-survivable brain tumours in adults and children.
The NIHR welcomes further high-quality proposals from researchers to inform approaches to prevention, treatment, and care in relation to less survivable cancers. Furthermore, the Government is committed to ensuring that all patients have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments. The Government supports the Rare Cancers Bill and its ambitions to incentivise clinical trials and access to innovative treatments for rare cancers.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on how the National Health Service will improve diagnosis and outcomes for all cancer patients in England, including for less common cancers.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 help ensure that cancer patients receive radiotherapy treatment within the 62 day standard wait time in Stoke-on-Trent South constituency.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department remains committed to ensuring that all patients receive a swift diagnosis and timely access to treatments, including patients in the Stoke-on-Trent South constituency. We know that patients are often waiting too long for treatment which is why we have recently invested £70 million into new LINAC radiotherapy machines, replacing older, less efficient machines. These machines are currently being rolled out. This will be the first step in boosting productivity across the country, thereby allowing more patients to be seen per session, reducing waiting times for patients who require radiotherapy treatment.
In addition, the National Health Service is delivering an additional 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week. The NHS has exceeded its pledge to deliver an extra two million operations, scans, and appointments in our first year of Government, having delivered 5.2 million more appointments.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of private parking firms using payment by app only on users who cannot use a mobile phone.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In accordance with the Private Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the government has recently consulted on its proposals for a new code of practice for private parking operators to follow.
The government is aware that predominantly elderly and disabled motorists are the most likely to experience challenges when using mobile phones to pay for parking.
As part of the consultation, the government sought views on the impact its proposals would have on protected groups, as defined by the 2010 Equality Act.
The consultation closed on 26 September and the government will respond in due course.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 help tackle the use of retrospective planning applications to regularise unauthorised development; and whether she plans to close loopholes that may undermine the effectiveness of local planning enforcement.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.
The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 help support local planning authorities to improve the (a) capacity and (b) resourcing of their planning enforcement teams in North Staffordshire.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.
The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 improve enforcement of agreements under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Enforcement is at the discretion of local planning authorities. They have a wide range of powers with strong penalties for non-compliance and it is for them to decide how and when they use those powers depending on the circumstances of each case.
The government has no plans to amend local planning authorities’ enforcement powers at this time. We will, however, continue to keep the operation of the enforcement system under review.
With regard to capacity and capability, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 67508 on 14 July 2025.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 potential merits of implementing an expanded national programme of Housing First to tackle homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 72851 on 15 September 2025.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking as part of its role within the Interministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to reduce and prevent homelessness.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
We are working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and other Departments through the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to develop a new long-term cross-government strategy to put us back on track to ending homelessness.
We are continuing to expand our Community Accommodation Service 3 (CAS3) to support more prison leavers at risk of homelessness each year. Our CAS3 service supports prison leavers who are subject to probation supervision, by offering up to 12 weeks of basic transitionary accommodation to provide a stable base on release. This programme has been gradually rolled out nationwide since July 2021 and since then has supported over 23,100 prison leavers who would otherwise have been homeless. We have also employed 50 Strategic Housing Specialists to support prisons in their response to reducing homelessness by working in partnership with probation and Local Authorities to identify suitable accommodation for those released to the area, regardless of the prison they are released from.
We know that a cross-agency and cross-government approach is required to address the challenge of securing long-term accommodation. That is why we are working closely with MHCLG, health partners and other departments at a national and local level, to address barriers to accommodation for prison leavers, drawing on learning from partnership efforts – including the Changing Futures programme – to take a holistic, trauma-informed approach to supporting individuals with multiple unmet needs.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the reduction in the post-decision move on period on levels of homelessness.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
We closely monitor the impact of all our policies, including the move on period, on the number and occupancy of asylum hotels, the overall costs of the asylum accommodation estate, the wider effect on local communities, and any pressures placed on local authorities and public amenities. We remain committed to working closely with our partners to identify improvements and make efficiencies in supporting newly recognised refugees move on from asylum accommodation.
Asked by: Allison Gardner (Labour - Stoke-on-Trent South)
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 (a) help tackle illegal sales of semaglutide and (b) regulate unlicensed pharmacists.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for the regulation of all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. This also includes applying the legal controls on the retail sale, supply and advertising of medicines which are set out in the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
Public safety is the number one priority for the MHRA and its Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) works hard to prevent, detect and investigate illegal activity involving medicines and medical devices. This year, the CEU and its partners have seized millions of doses of illegally traded medicines, including weight loss products.
The MHRA also works closely with web-based sales platforms and the internet industry to identify and remove non-compliant medicines and medical devices where possible. This has included the suspension of hundreds of websites and social media listings linked to the sale of weight loss products over the last two years.
The MHRA works tirelessly to develop new and innovative ways to tackle the trade in illegal medicines. This includes:
- enhanced collaboration with search engine and UK internet service providers aimed at blocking harmful online content;
- boosted collaboration with Home Office Border Force allowing the MHRA to grow its operational footprint at the border and increase the interdiction rates of illegally trafficked medicines;
- the launch of an online checker that allows users to search if a website offering medicines has been deemed fraudulent by the MHRA;
- implementation of a web-based reporting scheme allowing users to report suspicious websites, online marketplace listings and social media channels directly to the MHRA; and
- the use of cutting-edge technology to identify, track and seize the proceeds of crime, including cryptocurrency.
The MHRA’s FakeMeds campaign provides advice to people in the UK who are considering buying medication online, outlining how products can be accessed from safe and legitimate sources.
Anyone who believes they have had a side effect from a medicine, or think they’ve received falsified stock, can report it to the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme.
Most legitimate weight loss products are prescription-only medicines, meaning that a consultation with a doctor or qualified healthcare professional is needed to assess the patient's suitability for the treatment and consider any potential risks. Usually, they should only be obtained from a registered pharmacy against a valid prescription. The General Pharmaceutical Council is responsible for the regulation of pharmacies and pharmacists licensed to practice in Great Britain.