Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the emissions reduction potential of nuclear energy for the Clean Power 2030 plan.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

As set out in the Clean Power Action Plan, electricity generated by renewables and nuclear power will form the backbone of a clean electricity system by 2030, supported by low carbon flexible sources of power. EDF has announced extensions to four of its existing nuclear plants, with Heysham 2 and Torness now due to generate until 2030. Hinkley Point C, the first nuclear plant under construction in the UK in a generation, is expected to see its first unit come online between 2029-2031.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate the Government has made of the cost of nuclear energy relative to renewable sources of power.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The latest published cost and technical assumptions for power technologies, including renewables and nuclear, can be found in the published Generation Costs series. [1]

Renewables and nuclear play different roles in a decarbonising system and full power sector modelling evaluates costs at the system level. For example, analysis of many power sector scenarios [2] indicates that a cost-effective system requires a mix of technologies.

^[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-generation-cost-projections#2023

^[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modelling-2050-electricity-system-analysis

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a Commissioner for Older People.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In its recent report into the rights of older people, the Women and Equalities Select Committee raised this matter and other issues. Together with other departments, we are considering those recommendations.

More widely, I refer to Minister McGovern’s recent answer 29784 on how the Government is supporting older people in tackling age discrimination and ageism in the workplace.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of recent trends in the level of rent inflation on economic growth.

Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

Rental prices are ultimately determined by the total supply of housing, relative to demand. Affordability of housing has fallen drastically, particularly in major cities, as too few homes have been built.

This Government is taking meaningful steps to reform the planning system and make it easier to build. Changes to the National Planning Policy Framework, published in December, will reintroduce mandatory housing targets and bring low quality Green Belt land in scope of development.

Building houses in the right places is vital to long-term economic growth, allowing prosperous places to grow, and providing the homes people want near good jobs.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill on the number of child sexual assault cases brought forward.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, introduced in Parliament on 17 December, will protect children at risk of abuse, stopping vulnerable children falling through cracks in services.

To keep children safe, the department plans to improve the sharing of information across and within agencies by enabling the use of a Single Unique Identifier. To better protect children from harm, we also plan to strengthen the delivery of a local decisive multi-agency child protection model through integrated multi-agency child protection teams, put a new duty on safeguarding partners to ensure education is sufficiently involved in multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and ensure parents have consent from local authorities to home educate children where there are safeguarding concerns.

Beyond the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, it is paramount the department acts to protect children from all forms of sexual abuse and exploitation. To that end, on 16 January, my right hon. Friend, the Home Secretary made clear that, before Easter, the government will lay out a clear timetable for taking forward the 20 recommendations from the final Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse report.

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 potential impact of the planned increase in employer National Insurance contributions on GPs.

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

We have made necessary decisions to fix the foundations of the public finances in the Autumn Budget. Resource spending for the Department will be £22.6 billion more in 2025/26 than in 2023/24, as part of the Spending Review settlement. The employers’ National Insurance rise will be implemented in April 2025.

We are investing an additional £889 million in general practice to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs have been employed under the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

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

Primary care networks have been able to recruit newly qualified general practitioners (GPs) through the scheme since October 2024, with £82 million in funding provided in 2024/25. Information on the number of recently qualified GPs for which primary care networks are claiming reimbursement via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme is currently being collated, but is not yet published. We are working to verify the data and establish its reliability, which is necessary before any dataset can be published.

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January 2025 to Question 21018 on UK Relations with EU, which articles of the (a) EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, (b) Northern Ireland protocol, (c) Windsor Framework and (d) EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement the EU alleges the UK is in breach of.

Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

I refer the Hon.Member for Clapham and Brixton Hill, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, to the answer provided to the Question on 20 January 2025 in the House of Lords. The response from The Baroness Twycross can be found here.

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 adequacy of the Carr-Hill formula in allocating funding for GP practices in areas with high levels of deprivation.

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

The Carr-Hill formula aims to ensure that resources are directed to general practices (GPs) based on an estimate of their patient workload. It takes into account many factors under two groups, namely 'drivers of workload' and 'unavoidable costs', including additional needs related to morbidity and mortality, but it does not specifically address deprivation. Plans to review this funding formula may be revisited in future. However, any changes would need careful planning to ensure they do not threaten stability or cause financial uncertainty for GPs.

We are committed to ensuring that primary care medical services receive appropriate support and resources. We recently announced a proposed funding uplift for GPs for 2025/26 of £889 million. This is the largest uplift to GP funding since the beginning of the five-year framework and means a rising share of total National Health Service resources being directed towards GPs.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that its development funding in Tanzania is not implicated in the forced evictions of the Maasai people.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK works hard to uphold human rights around the world and UK Ministers and officials regularly raise human rights concerns with our international partners, including the Government of Tanzania.

We have robust measures in place to ensure our aid spending is strictly monitored, and we work with the Independent Commission for Aid Impact to apply the highest standards to our programmes.

Further information about our programmes can be found at Devtracker.fcdo.gov.uk.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the environmental impact of running artificial intelligence technologies.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a range of issues.

The AI (artificial intelligence) Opportunities Action Plan sets out how we will achieve our AI ambitions by laying the foundations for growth, driving adoption and building UK capabilities.  We recognise that data centres face sustainability challenges, from energy demands to water use.

Through the AI Energy Council, we will be exploring bold, clean energy solutions from next-generation renewables to small modular reactors to ensure our AI ambitions align with the UK’s net zero goals. This builds on the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology’s contribution to make Britain a clean energy superpower by investing in relevant research on clean energy and climate change.

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 adequacy of the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme.

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

The Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) is subject to annual review as part of the consultation on the GP contract with professional representatives.

The consultation on the 2025/26 GP contract has now concluded and the General Practitioners Committee England has voted in support of the proposed changes for 25/26. Several changes have been confirmed to increase the flexibility of the ARRS. This includes general practitioners (GPs) and practice nurses included in the main ARRS funding pot, an uplift of the maximum reimbursable rate for GPs in the scheme, and no caps on the number of GPs that can be employed through the scheme.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has plans to introduce additional safe and legal routes, in the context of recent changes to its good character caseworker guidance.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The government is committed to supporting the most vulnerable people in the world and safe and legal routes will continue to play a role in our overall migration system. The government’s priority at present is the resettlement and relocation of those already identified as eligible but who have not yet travelled.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the adequacy of the mechanisms in place for ICBs to hold Swift Queue to account for faulty services.

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

NHS England has not undertaken a specific assessment of the mechanisms in place for integrated care boards (ICBs) to hold Swift Queue accountable for service performance. However, ICBs, as commissioners of local health services, are responsible for ensuring that contracted service providers, including those providing digital booking systems, meet agreed performance and quality standards.

Where issues arise with faulty services, ICBs have contractual levers available to address concerns, which may include service improvement plans, financial penalties, or contract reviews. If a specific issue has been identified with Swift Queue’s service provision, affected ICBs are expected to take appropriate action to resolve the matter in the interests of patient care. Where an ICB identifies systemic failures with Swift Queue or any similar provider, they can escalate concerns through NHS England and the relevant regulatory bodies.

To note, ICBs are not always responsible for commissioning services like Swift Queue. National Health Service trusts may also directly procure and manage such contracts for their own operations. If an NHS trust has commissioned Swift Queue, then it holds responsibility for ensuring the system functions properly, using its contractual levers to address service issues. Regardless of the commissioner, ICB or trust, NHS England can provide oversight and guidance if widespread or systemic issues arise with the platform.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to give local authorities in London a formal decision-making role in any future Integrated Settlement applied to the Greater London Authority.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to establish a formal shared decision-making arrangement between the Mayor of London and local authorities.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Government remains committed to engaging local authorities, including London Borough Councils, and the wider local government sector on the detail of our reforms set out in the English Devolution White Paper. As part of this process, it will be important to consider London’s unique devolution settlement, including drawing on existing ways of working between the Greater London Authority and London Boroughs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has he made of the number of registered GPs not in employment; and whether he is taking steps to reduce the number of unemployed GPs.

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

We hugely value the critical role that general practitioners (GPs) play and are determined to address the issues they face by shifting the focus of the National Health Service beyond hospitals and into the community. The Government committed to recruiting over 1,000 recently qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) over 2024/25, as part of an initiative to address GP unemployment and secure the future pipeline of GPs.

We are investing an additional £889 million through the GP contract to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.

Under recently announced changes to the GP contract in 2025/26, the ARRS will become more flexible to allow primary care networks (PCNs) to respond better to local workforce needs. The two ARRS pots will be combined to create a single pot for reimbursement of patient facing staff costs. There will be no restrictions on the number or type of staff covered, including GPs and practice nurses.

In a drive to recruit GPs via the ARRS and to bring back the family doctor, the salary element of the maximum reimbursement amount that PCNs can claim for GPs will be increased from £73,113 in 2024/25, the bottom of the salaried GP pay range, to £82,418, an uplift of £9,305 representing the lower quartile of the salaried GP pay range, as some GPs will be entering their second year in the scheme. Proportionate employer on-costs will also be included within the overall maximum reimbursement amount which PCNs will be able to claim.

Data on the number of unemployed GPs is not held centrally.

Oversight of homelessness

Keeping transport workers safe

Overseas aid budget

Garforth Residents' Campaign Against Giggle Fibre Telegraph Pole Installations

Ending Outsourcing in Government departments and agencies

Skilled worker legislation impact on government workers

Impact of independent sector provision of cataract surgery

Educationally subnormal schools in the 1960s and 1970s

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Found: Florence Eshalomi Carla Denyer Liz Saville Roberts Sorcha Eastwood Ellie Chowns Jess Asato Bell Ribeiro-Addy

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