Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of cuts to teacher training bursaries in 26/27 on teacher recruitment in Lincolnshire.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The government committed, in our Plan for Change, to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and in colleges, over the course of this parliament.

We are making progress. The latest workforce data reported over 2,300 more secondary and special school teachers in 2024/25 than in 2023/24, and this year over 32,000 trainees began training, a rise of 11% on the previous year.

Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. In reviewing these annually, we take account of historic recruitment, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. We are continuing to offer bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free to encourage more talented people to train to teach key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

In addition, we offer a Targeted Retention Incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools. In Lincolnshire, there are 56 schools where teachers are eligible for these payments.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) proportion and (b) number of people imprisoned for death by careless driving obtain a driving licence within five years after release.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested is not held. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not informed when an individual is released from prison, and endorsements ordered upon conviction by the courts for the offences of causing death by careless driving or causing death by dangerous driving are removed from the driver’s record after four years in line with the retention periods for these offences.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) proportion and (b) number of people imprisoned for death by dangerous driving obtain a driving licence within five years after release.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested is not held. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not informed when an individual is released from prison, and endorsements ordered upon conviction by the courts for the offences of causing death by careless driving or causing death by dangerous driving are removed from the driver’s record after four years in line with the retention periods for these offences.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) number and (b) proportion of people who obtained a driving licence in the last 10 years after a previous conviction for death by careless driving committed a further motoring offence.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested is not held. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not informed when an individual is released from prison, and endorsements ordered upon conviction by the courts for the offences of causing death by careless driving or causing death by dangerous driving are removed from the driver’s record after four years in line with the retention periods for these offences.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) number and (b) proportion of people who obtained a driving licence in the last 10 years after a previous conviction for death by dangerous driving committed a further motoring offence.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury

The information requested is not held. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is not informed when an individual is released from prison, and endorsements ordered upon conviction by the courts for the offences of causing death by careless driving or causing death by dangerous driving are removed from the driver’s record after four years in line with the retention periods for these offences.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of recent and proposed changes to ISAs on the complexity of the savings landscape and household saving behaviour.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

This is about making people’s savings work harder for them and for the economy. The UK has the lowest level of retail investment in the G7, with fewer than 1 in 10 people owning shares compared to 1 in 5 back in 1990. In Sweden, that figure rises to 2 in 5 people currently.

That is why the government is keeping the full £20,000 ISA allowance for investment and setting the cash ISA limit at £12,000 from April 2027.

This is part of our wider strategy aimed at supporting people to get into investing, including Targeted Support, which will be available from April 2026.

The OBR have provided a forecast of household saving in their November Economic and Fiscal Outlook

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes to business rates on the sustainability of commercial fitness gyms and community leisure centres serving rural communities.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The amount of business rates paid on each property is based on the rateable value of the property, assessed by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), and the multiplier values, which are set by the Government. Rateable values are re-assessed every three years. Revaluations ensure that the rateable values of properties (i.e. the tax base) remain in line with market changes, and that the tax rates adjust to reflect changes in the tax base.

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since Covid, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic. To support with bill increases, at the Budget, the Government announced a support package worth £4.3 billion over the next three years, including protection for ratepayers seeing their bills increase because of the revaluation. As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases, including 23% seeing their bills go down. This means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

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 severity modifier on recent NICE recommendations on blood cancer treatments.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Since the introduction of the severity modifier, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has approved 27 out of 28 blood cancer medicines it evaluated, reflecting an approval rate of 96%. Of these topics, a severity weighting was applied in nine topics.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure access to CAR-T therapy for mantle cell lymphoma patients who previously have been ineligible under the cancer drugs fund following NICE's most recent decision.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the basis of an evaluation of their costs and benefits. NICE is currently re-evaluating brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus) to determine whether it can be recommended for routine NHS use, taking into account real-world evidence generated through its use in the Cancer Drugs Fund.

NICE has been unable to recommend the treatment in the final draft guidance, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ta11545/documents

This is because the available evidence does not suggest that brexucabtagene autoleucel is value for money in this population. Final guidance has not yet been published and the period to appeal NICE’s final draft recommendations closed on 19 January.

In line with an arrangement between NHS England and the company, if NICE’s final guidance does not recommend use, patients who started treatment during the managed access period can continue their treatment.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which 30 stations have been approved for upgrades under the Access for All scheme.

Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

On 15 January, we were pleased to announce that 8 Access for All projects will be progressing directly to delivery and 23 projects will undergo design work for potential future delivery.

Full details were provided to the House in a Written Ministerial Statement which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/improving-accessibility-at-railway-stations-across-britain

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of UK primary medical degree graduates were (a) British and (b) non-British by country in each of the last five years.

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

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of (a) home students and (b) non-home students who graduated from the UK with a primary medical degree from 2010 to 2020 remain working in the NHS.

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

The Department does not hold the data requested. The Department does though hold data from internal analysis that may give wider context to the question tabled and this is included below.

This analysis shows that of United Kingdom medical school students graduating in approximately 2012 to 2020, 93% of UK domiciled and 78% of non-UK domiciled students had entered the Foundation Programme year 2, as of 2024. Approximately 73% of UK and 55% of non-UK domiciled students had entered core/specialty training by 2024, though this number may rise further with time due to the level of competition to enter specialty medical training.

The following table shows the entrants to UK medical school from 2007 to 2015, tracked to registration with the General Medical Council (GMC) and entry to initial stages of NHS training, by domicile at entry to medical school:

Source: the Department of Health and Social Care’s analysis of UK Medical Education Database, Higher Education Statistics Agency, and General Medical Council data, may not match other sources.

Notes:

1. data is currently only available to March 2024;
2. the total entrants to the UK medical schools will include both those on UK Government funded places but also self-funded students at UK medical schools;
3. analysis only tracks doctors into NHS training, some graduates may be in UK medical employment outside the NHS such as research/academia/industry;
4. the numbers in specialty training may rise with time due to the competition in recruitment;
5. data is not held by year of graduation, however students starting medical schools in 2007 to 2015 will correspond approximately to graduates between 2012 to 2020, therefore this is a reasonable proxy for the requested graduate cohorts; and
6. the data represents the vast majority of UK medical students, although it may not match other sources of medical school entrant data as it includes only the four most common medical school courses.

The table above shows the entrants to UK medical schools between 2007 and 2015 by their domicile status at entry to medical school and the proportion who are then seen on the GMC register of doctors, those who have entered year one of foundation medical training, those who have entered year two of foundation medical training, and those who have entered the first level of core/specialty medical training. This analysis tracks medical students’ progress though NHS medical training up to 2024.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many staff responsible for UK Foundation programme allocation process are (a) NHS employees, (b) civil servants and (c) people involved in direct clinical care.

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

The UK Foundation Programme Office (UKFPO) facilitates the operation and continuing development of the Foundation Programme. It is jointly funded and governed by NHS England and the four United Kingdom health departments.

All of the UKFPO’s administrative team are employees of the National Health Service, none are civil servants. Many of the team have wider experience of working in hospital settings directly with foundation doctors, or of working in foundation and medical education settings.

The UKFPO's National Clinical Director is a clinician, and the role of the Clinical Advisor for Recruitment is shared by two foundation school directors who are also both clinicians. The team is also directly responsible to medical directors in the four nation statutory education bodies (SEBs).

The UKFPO has a Foundation Recruitment Group which oversees its recruitment and allocation activity and processes. This group includes stakeholders like the Medical Schools Council, the British Medical Association, and medical school representatives, as well as the four nation SEBs.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what number of UK citizens have obtained a primary medical degree outside the UK by country in each of the last five years.

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

The Department does not hold the data requested. Data is available that shows the scale of doctors employed in National Health Service trusts in England who qualified outside the United Kingdom and who declare a UK nationality. The data is not available by year of graduation, but an indication of annual numbers is possible by using the year of first General Medical Council (GMC) registration.

Within NHS trusts in England, an average of 473 UK nationals who qualified outside the UK had registered with the GMC annually in the latest five years of available data, from 2019 to 2023. This will not count doctors who do not work in NHS trusts in England, and may include international medical graduates who gained UK citizenship after graduation or UK employment. The table attached presents the total number of doctors employed in NHS trusts in England who qualified outside the UK and who declare a UK nationality, and the ten largest countries of qualification for the years 2019 to 2023.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional medical places are funded in start in 2026 compared with 2025.

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

In England, the Office for Students (OfS) sets the maximum fundable limit for medical school places on an annual basis. For the 2025/26 academic year, the OfS has published the maximum fundable limit at 8,126 for medical school places, with further information avaiable at the following link:

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/finance-and-funding/medicine-and-dentistry-funding/medical-and-dental-maximum-fundable-limits/

OfS will publish the limit for the 2026/27 academic year in due course.

There are currently approximately 9,500 specialty training places. We set out in the 10-Year Health Plan for England that over the next three years we will create 1,000 new specialty training posts, with a focus on specialties where there is greatest need. We will set out next steps in due course.

The Government is committed to training the staff we need, including doctors, to ensure patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it. We will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed services set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

Found: Written evidence submitted by Dr Caroline Johnson MP (WRP 11) Summary Over the course of this current

Found: Shadow Minister for Health and Social Care and consultant paediatrician Dr Caroline Johnson asked the

Submit Evidence (by 27 Mar 2026)

The Education Select Committee and the Health and Social Care Select Committee have jointly launched an inquiry into the mental health of children and young people. This inquiry will examine mental health support and services provided in education and community settings, available to children and young people up to the age of 25. The Committees wish to understand how this provision is integrated with specialist Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), acute and other statutory NHS services.