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 reduce waiting times for NHS treatment in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England.

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

Tackling waiting lists is a key part of our Health Mission and a top priority for the Government, as we get the National Health Service back on its feet. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has now announced new investment to support this. Funding has been provided to support the delivery of our commitment to an extra 40,000 NHS operations, scans, and appointments per week. A £1.5 billion capital investment has also been announced towards new surgical hubs and scanners, alongside £70 million for new radiotherapy machines. We will be supporting NHS trusts to deliver more activity through innovation, sharing best practice to increase productivity and efficiency, and ensuring the best value is delivered.

We are transforming diagnostics to cut long waits through the Community Diagnostic Centres (CDCs). In Cheshire there are four CDCs currently delivering much needed diagnostic activity, specifically: the Congleton War Memorial CDC; the Shopping City CDC; the Warrington and Halton CDC; and the CDC at Victoria Infirmary Northwich, located within the Mid-cheshire constituency, which has been delivering activity since October 2021.

Dedicated and protected surgical hubs are transforming the way the NHS providers elective care by focusing on high volume low complexity surgeries. Across England, there are currently 110 operational surgical hubs as of September 2024. In Cheshire, a new surgical hub is due to open in April 2025, the Cheshire and Merseyside Surgical Centre, and will provide services to patients across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) financial and (b) other steps his Department is taking to support the work of Air Ambulance charities.

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

The Department and the National Health Service continue to support the work of air ambulance charities, including through NHS ambulance trusts’ provision of key clinical staff and medical equipment, which supports the operation of air ambulances.

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 increase the number of face-to-face GP appointments in Mid Cheshire constituency.

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

We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP). Patients can’t get through the front door of the National Health Service, so they aren’t getting the timely care they need.

Mid-Cheshire sits within the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board, where 62.8% of appointments were face-to-face in June 2024. Compared to August 2023, where 66.2% of appointments were face-to-face, appointments delivered face-to-face are down by 3.4%.

We have pledged to guarantee a face-to-face appointment for all those who want one. We will make sure the future of GPs is sustainable by training thousands more GPs, ensuring increased capacity across the NHS to deliver this commitment and secure a future pipeline of GPs.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking with the Attorney General to speed up the justice system for victims of domestic violence.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

This Government inherited a record and rising court backlogs which have seen too many victims waiting far too long for justice.

We are committed to bearing down on the court backlog to speed up the delivery of justice.

Timely and effective justice is key to increasing the confidence of victims and survivors in the justice system. Strengthening the justice system response to domestic abuse and increasing victim confidence are crucial to achieving this Government’s ambitious commitment to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) this decade.

The decision on when and where a case is listed is the responsibility of the independent judiciary, although judges do look to prioritise cases involving vulnerable complainants and witnesses, such as victims and survivors of domestic abuse, wherever possible.

In addition, CPS, NPCC and College of Policing’s Joint Justice Plan aims to transform how the police and the CPS investigate and prosecute domestic abuse cases, including a commitment to improve the timelessness and effectiveness of investigating and charging in domestic abuse cases. I look forward to the publication of this plan in November.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what steps she is taking to increase the number of prosecutions for domestic violence; and what steps she plans to take with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that victims of domestic violence receive appropriate support to (a) navigate and (b) have confidence in the criminal justice system.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

Strengthening the criminal justice system response to domestic abuse and increasing victim confidence are crucial to achieving this Government’s ambitious commitment to halve violence against women and girls this decade.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) takes prosecuting domestic abuse very seriously and maintains a steady charge rate of over 75% and a conviction rate of approximately 76%.

Next month, in partnership with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), the CPS will publish a national joint justice plan to transform how cases of domestic abuse are prosecuted and handled. The plan recognises that better communication between the CPS and NPCC improves case outcomes for victims. Additionally, through its Victim Transformation Programme the CPS is improving the service it provides to victims of crime.

The Ministry of Justice provides funding to Police and Crime Commissioners who commission community-based support services for domestic abuse victims and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors. The Victims and Prisoners Act 2024 (Act) aims to improve support for victims of domestic abuse by placing a duty on local commissioners in England to collaborate when commissioning services for victims of domestic abuse. The duty will require commissioners to assess the needs of victims of domestic abuse in their area and produce a joint local commissioning strategy. The Act will also improve awareness of and compliance with the Victims’ Code, which supports victims of crime to understand what they can expect from the criminal justice system and sets out the minimum level of service that victims should receive.

The Home Office will also ensure that there are specialist rape and sexual offences teams in every police force and police officers receive stronger training on racism and violence against women and girls.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate she has made of the number of victims of domestic violence who have withdrawn their cases due to court delays in each of the last five years.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

It is not possible to separately identify cases of domestic violence, which will be recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, for example, intentional strangulation or suffocation.

Victims and survivors of domestic abuse also may choose to withdraw their cases for a number of reasons (for example, personal reasons).

This Government inherited record and rising court backlogs which have seen too many victims waiting far too long for justice. We are committed to bearing down on the caseload backlog to speed up the delivery of justice for all victims.

Timely and effective justice is key to increasing the confidence of victims and survivors in the justice system. Strengthening the justice system response to domestic abuse and increasing victim confidence are crucial to achieving this Government’s ambitious commitment to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) this decade.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average time was for a domestic violence case to be heard in court in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England in each of the last five years.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

It is not possible to separately identify cases of domestic violence, which will be recorded under the specific offences for which they are prosecuted, for example, co intentional strangulation or suffocation.

This Government inherited a record and rising court backlog which have seen too many victims waiting far too long for justice. We are committed to bearing down on the caseload to speed up the delivery of justice for all victims.

Timely and effective justice is key to increasing the confidence of victims and survivors in the justice system. Strengthening the justice system response to domestic abuse and increasing victim confidence are crucial to achieving this Government’s ambitious commitment to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) this decade.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of fraud in each of the last five years.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

The ONS’ Crime Survey for England & Wales (CSEW) has been used to assess trends in the level of estimated fraud against individuals in England and Wales in each of the last 5 years (Year ending June 2020 to Year ending June 2024)¹.

Estimated incidents of fraud peaked sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching a peak of over 5 million incidents in 2021. Fraud incidents then declined gradually, falling to 3.335 million incidents in YE June 2023.

The latest CSEW data shows that, in the year ending June 2024, there were an estimated 3.560 million incidents of fraud against individuals in England and Wales.

This Government takes the treat of fraud extremely seriously, and is committed to bring forward a new, expanded fraud strategy covering all elements of pernicious and damaging crime.

¹ The CSEW only represents estimated incidents of fraud against individuals in England and Wales and does not capture fraud against businesses or HMG. Therefore, the true scale of fraud is likely to be larger than the figures presented above.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate she has made of the number of homeless people who have died while living on the street in each of the last five years in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England; and what steps her Department is taking to end rough sleeping in those areas.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Every death of someone sleeping rough on our streets is one too many. The estimated number of deaths of homeless people in England and Wales is published by the Office for National Statistics. You can find the data for between 2013 and 2021 here. ONS are doing further work revising their methodology for the data set to make it more robust so it is likely that their next publication will be in 2025.

We are developing a new cross-government strategy to get us on back on track to ending homelessness and rough sleeping. The £547 million Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) is continuing its support to up to 300 local authorities across England by funding local, tailored rough sleeping services. Cheshire East received £222,000 and Cheshire West and Chester received £661,000 of RSI funding for 2024-25.

As announced at Budget, we are also providing an additional £233 million in 2025-26 to prevent homelessness, taking total spending to £1 billion in 2025-26.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the regional spread of business debt in each of the last five years.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

Business debt in the UK is spread across each of the regions, with the biggest proportions found in London, the South East and South West. Please find a detailed breakdown of the changes in the regional spread of business debt in each of the last five years, using figures from UK Finance:

Table: The share of the value of SME loan facilities (with each year-on-year difference)

Source: UK Finance (Aggregated SME Database, average of small and medium businesses value of loan facilities). Quarterly figures may not be directly comparable between years due to a re-segmentation of businesses and improvements in reporting from 2023 Q2 onwards. This includes some regional re-classification.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for mental health treatment in (a) Mid Cheshire constituency, (b) Cheshire and (c) England in each of the last five years.

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

The following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for adults in the Cheshire East local authority, for the last five years:

Similarly, the following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for children and young people aged under 18 years old in the Cheshire East local authority, for the last five years:

The following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for adults in the Cheshire East and Cheshire West, and Chester local authorities combined, for the last five years:

In addition, the following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for children and young people aged under 18 years old in the Cheshire East and Cheshire West, and Chester local authorities combined, for the last five years:

The following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for adults in England, for the last five years:

Finally, the following table shows both the mean and median average waiting times, measured in days, for mental health treatment for children and young people aged under 18 years old in England, for the last five years:

Source: Mental Health Services Dataset (MHSDS), NHS England

Notes:

1. waiting time is measured in days;
2. this data differs from published waiting times because rather than looking at just community mental health it looks at the full scope of data in the MHSDS, so will include neurodevelopmental referrals across all ages, and neurocognitive referrals, including a large number of dementia diagnostic referrals for adults, as well as other smaller areas of provision, such as services for gender identity and for addictions; and
3. the statistics including waiting times for adult services for Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression are reported via a separate dataset and have not been included here.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent fiscal steps her Department has taken to help tackle regional economic inequalities.

Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury

At Autumn Budget 24 this Government invested for the long-term in regional economic growth, supporting city regions to achieve their potential and spread growth across the country. It set out the first major steps in our approach to regional growth, through devolution, investment and reform. Mayors now have greater control of their budgets through the first integrated settlements, which will apply for the West Midlands and Greater Manchester from 2025-26, and for other eligible Mayoral Combined Authorities from 2026-27.The Government has also committed to giving local leaders the powers and resources they need to secure growth in their communities, and will set out more detail in the upcoming English Devolution White Paper.

To ensure all parts of the UK feel the benefits of growth, we invested in major railway projects like the TransPennine Route Upgrade, East West Rail, and High Speed 2; confirmed funding for Investment Zones and Freeports across the UK; set out plans to give places long-term certainty through the Government's 10-year vision for infrastructure and confirmed long-term support for growth-driving sectors ahead of the full modern Industrial Strategy’s publication in the Spring; and invested in public services through apprenticeships and the Get Britain Working package, including Health and Growth Accelerators which will tailor employment, health, and skills support to the needs of local people.

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Found: Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Anna Dixon Bell Ribeiro-Addy Andrew

Found: Ballinger John McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew

Found: Ballinger John McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew

Found: Ballinger John McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew

Found: Ballinger John McDonnell Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Claire Hanna Sammy Wilson Edward Morello Andrew

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