Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a national standardised water social tariff with clear eligibility and consistent discount levels.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are working with water companies to ensure vulnerable customers across the country receive support. This includes improving the guidance for companies to design the best social tariffs for their customers.
Over the next five years, water companies will have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs from 4% in 2025 to 9% in 2030. We expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
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 ensure General Practice nursing and administrative staff are offered a pay increase as a result of the funding increase for GP contracts for 2025/26.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government looks to the independent pay review bodies for a pay recommendation for National Health Service staff, including both contractor and salaried general practitioners (GPs). They consider a range of evidence from organisations including the Government, the NHS, and trade unions to reach their recommendations.
The independent review body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) have recommended an uplift of 4% to the pay ranges for salaried GPs, and to GP contractor pay. As with last year, we accepted the DDRB’s pay recommendation. We have provided an increase to core funding for practices to allow this 4% pay uplift, on top of the provisional 2.8% uplift already provided, to be passed on to salaried and contractor GPs. The additional funding will also allow for pay uplifts for other salaried GP staff, including nursing and administrative staff. Information on the funding increase was communicated to practices on 31 July 2025. Further information can be found at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/implementing-the-2025-26-gp-contract/
The Government has written to the British Medical Association’s General Practitioners Committee England to set out its expectations regarding the extra funding being used to fund uplifts for all staff and a letter to ICBs was published on 31 July, and is available at the following link:
We expect GP contractors to implement pay rises to other practice staff in line with the uplift in funding they have received. As self-employed contractors to the NHS, it is up to GPs how they distribute pay and benefits to their staff.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding the full cost of specialist palliative care delivered by hospices.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning core and specialist palliative care services to meet the reasonable needs of their population, which can include hospice services available within the ICB catchment. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and a service specification.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable ICBs to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care.
Through our MSF, we will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end-of-life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality. We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission core and specialist care more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
The recently published Strategic Commissioning Framework and Medium-Term Planning Guidance also make clear the expectations that ICBs should understand current and projected total service utilisation and costs for those at the end of life, creating an overall plan to more effectively meet these needs through neighbourhood health.
Hospices provide both core and specialist palliative care. Whilst acknowledging that not everyone will need specialist palliative care, we must ensure is that there is equitable and timely access to these services, whether they are provided by hospices or the National Health Service.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to provide exemptions from Electronic Travel Authorisation for children living abroad who hold dual citizenship having inherited their British Citizenship from a Parent but who do not possess a British Passport.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
British citizens with dual nationality (including those who acquired British citizenship from birth), are already exempt from the requirement to obtain an electronic travel authorisation when travelling to the UK.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of social media on young people’s wellbeing.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
I know parents are worried about how social media impacts children's wellbeing.
Two weeks ago, we published a study led by Professor Amy Orben which reviewed recent causal research on this issue and found it to be inconclusive. There is more to be done, which is why we announced a swift consultation, backed by a national conversation.
We will gather the evidence necessary to identify next steps and give children the childhood they deserve.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to make available to Integrated Care Boards to meet demand for ADHD and Autism assessments.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is responsible for determining allocations of financial resources to integrated care boards (ICBs). Funding for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism assessments are included within NHS England’s financial allocations to ICBs. The process of setting allocations is informed by the Advisory Committee on Resource Allocation, an independent committee that provides advice to NHS England on setting the target formula which impacts how allocations are distributed over time.
ICB allocations for 2026/27 to 2028/29 were published on 17 November 2025, and are avaiable at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/allocation-of-resources-2026-27-to-2027-28/
Through the Medium-Term Planning Framework, published 24 October, NHS England has set clear expectations for local ICBs and trusts to improve access, experiences, and outcomes for autism and ADHD services over the next three years, focusing on improving quality and productivity.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to extend the period by which UK nationals and family members living in (a) the EEA and (b) Switzerland at the end of the transition period will be eligible for home fee status, tuition fee and maintenance support to courses starting beyond 1st January 2028.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
UK nationals and their children living in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland who wish to study in the UK will be eligible for automatic home fee status and student support for courses starting up to seven years from the end of the transition period.
The seven-year period ensures that eligible UK nationals and their children whose normal place of residence is in the EEA or Switzerland will still be able to access home fee status and student financial support in England immediately on their return to the UK.
From 1 January 2028, UK nationals and their children must normally have been ordinarily resident in the UK and Islands (Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) for three years immediately before the start of their course to qualify for automatic home fee status and student support. There are no plans to extend this period.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of utilising disused water and gas pipes in the laying of new electrical cables as part of National Grid upgrades.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Network operators are responsible for assessing and selecting the appropriate construction methods for new infrastructure.
The government has not undertaken an assessment of utilising disused pipes for the installation of new electricity cables but notes there are technical difficulties in using redundant pipes for electricity transmission, including the need to dissipate heat from electricity cables running through the pipes, means of access for maintenance and repair, the need to pass cables through the existing compressors and valves and, for AC cables, the need for power factor correction components.
In addition, redundant pipes are not always located where infrastructure is required.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to publish data on the number of carers that have been convicted of fraud since 2015 due to Carer’s Allowance overpayments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the Hon. member to the answer given on 22 December to PQ 99553.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to prioritise the (a) voices and (b) needs of disabled people in the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The consultation on the development of the third Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy closed on 15 December 2025. It outlines that by 2035, this Government wants walking, wheeling and cycling to be a safe, easy and accessible option for everyone. The Department has engaged a number of disability rights organisations during the consultation including the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee and held a dedicated workshop on disability and the Strategy on 6 November 2025.