Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Dental patients to benefit from 700,000 extra urgent appointments, published on 21 February 2025, how many additional urgent dental appointments will be delivered in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency in (a) 2025–26 and (b) 2026-27.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from April 2025.
Appointments are available across the country, with specific expectations for each region. These appointments are more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. The NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB, which includes the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, is expected to deliver 57,559 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
Data on delivery of urgent dental care, including additional delivery, will be published annually as part of the NHS Dental Statistics England Official Statistics series. These statistics are released each August and are the primary source of data on the delivery of NHS dental care.
On 16 December, we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the NHS dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026. These reforms will put patients with greatest need first, incentivising urgent care and complex treatments. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the findings of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation will be available to i) the Home Affairs Select Committee and ii) hon. Members before the Crime and Policing Bill returns to the Commons.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she expects to (a) receive the findings of the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation, (b) share those findings with hon. Members and (c) publish those findings.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Following the appalling attack on a synagogue in Manchester on 2 October 2025, the Home Secretary announced an independent review of public order and hate crime legislation on 5 October. The Review is being led by Lord Ken Macdonald of River Glaven KC, supported by former Assistant Chief Constable Owen Weatherill KPM.
The Review is due to submit its report to the Home Secretary in Spring 2026.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many pupils with education, health and care plans in the Tees Valley combined authority area and its Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees local authority areas were initially placed in mainstream schools and subsequently secured a specialist placement following a successful tribunal appeal in each of the last three years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested is not held by the department.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department provides to local authorities on the SEND support that should be available to children with education, health and care plans while families are awaiting the outcome of a tribunal appeal.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice is statutory guidance for local authorities and other organisations that work with children with SEND. It explains the duties, policies and procedures in Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014. The Code sets out the support that families should receive from local authorities whilst they are awaiting the outcome of their Tribunal appeal. It explains that, in such circumstances, local authorities should continue to ensure the provision that is set out in an education, health and care (EHC) plan is delivered. It also stipulates that amendments to the cessation of EHC plans are not lawful whilst an appeal is ongoing. This is to ensure continuity of support for children and young people.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the impact of long-term stays in temporary accommodation on (a) children’s physical and mental health and (b) children’s educational outcomes; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any negative effects identified.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures to support families in need of temporary accommodation.
The government will end the unlawful placement of families in bed and breakfasts beyond the six-week limit and work with the NHS to end the practice of discharging mothers with newborn babies into bed and breakfasts or other unsuitable housing.
The government will provide £950 million through the fourth and largest round of the Local Authority Housing Fund from April 2026 to deliver up to 5,000 high quality homes for better temporary accommodation by 2030.
A new legal duty will also be introduced for councils to notify schools, health visitors, and GPs when a child is placed in temporary accommodation, so no child is left without support.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government will also introduce a clinical code on children in temporary accommodation to improve data collection, with the aim of preventing further deaths caused by gaps in health care provision.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East ahead of the publication of the forthcoming SEND White Paper.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As part of our Plan for Change, the department is determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and restore the trust of parents. We expect mainstream schools to welcome pupils from across the whole community, including pupils who may need additional support. All schools have a duty to support children and young people with SEND and to cooperate with local partners.
Ofsted’s new focus on inclusion during inspection will strengthen accountability on schools for meeting the needs of children with SEND. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission last inspected Middlesbrough Local Area Partnership (LAP) in 2023, where the partnership received a positive inspection outcome.
The department will support the mainstream workforce to increase their SEND expertise and encourage schools to set up Resourced Provision or SEN units to increase capacity in mainstream schools. Departmental officials meet with Middlesbrough Council regularly to discuss the delivery of SEND services. In meetings, the LAP is challenged on current data and how future plans will improve services and support children and young people with SEND in Middlesbrough.
The department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year. Total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND is over £12 billion in 2025/26. Of that total, Middlesbrough is being allocated over £41 million through the high needs funding block of their dedicated schools grant.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dental practices are currently accepting new NHS patients in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency; and what data his Department holds on waiting times for NHS dental treatment in that constituency for the latest available period.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Patients in England are not registered with a National Health Service dental practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. Some dental practices may operate local waiting list arrangements. Therefore, data on waiting times for NHS dental treatment is not held centrally.
As of 3 November 2025, there were six NHS dentist practices in the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, with one showing as ‘accepting new child patients when availability allows’ and zero showing as ‘accepting new adult patients when availability allows’. This data is sourced from the Find a Dentist website and is matched to constituencies based on the postcode data shown on the website, at the following link:
https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist
Integrated care board (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population. For the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency, this is the North East and North Cumbria ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. The Government is also considering the outcomes of the consultation on immediate improvements to dental care and will publish a response shortly.
We are committed to reforming the dental sector and we will deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of GP appointments (a) offered, (b) attended and (c) cancelled by practices in Middlesbrough and Thornaby East constituency in the most recent year for which data is available; and if will make it his policy to monitor trends in practice-cancelled appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General Practice Appointment Data is published monthly by NHS England and captures information on appointments that have occurred, rather than those that are offered. The data also only includes appointments that were attended or marked as 'Did Not Attend' (DNA), not those that are cancelled.
Since cancelled slots can often be rebooked and used by other patients, the most reliable and meaningful data to collect are both attended appointments and DNAs.
In September 2025, in the Middlesbrough and Thornaby East Constituency, 1.04 million appointments were delivered, and 54,000 appointments were not attended.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) specialist school places and (b) resourced mainstream places for pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans are available in (i) Middlesbrough local authority area and (ii) Stockton-on-Tees local authority area; and what plans she has to increase specialist provision in those areas.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
As of May 2024, Middlesbrough has 681 special school places, and 369 special educational needs (SEN) unit or resourced provision places. Stockton-on-Tees has 667 special school places and 207 SEN unit or resourced provision places.
The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), sits with local authorities. The department supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with SEND through annual high needs capital funding, including through the £740 million confirmed for the 2025/26 financial year. Of this funding, Middlesbrough has been allocated £1.4 million and Stockton-on-Tees has been allocated £2.2 million.
This funding is intended to create resourced provision adapted to support pupils needs. It can also be used to adapt mainstream schools to be more accessible and to create special school places for pupils with the most complex needs.