Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to update the 2017 Code of Practice for the Welfare of Cats; and if she will meet with animal welfare organisations to seek their input on this matter.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is developing an overarching approach to animal welfare and has initiated a series of meetings with key animal welfare stakeholders as part of this work. The department will continue to engage with the sector to help improve cat welfare practices.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
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 help reduce waiting lists for people needing urgent allergic care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working closely with a range of stakeholders from across the Government, the National Health Service, voluntary organisations, and patient representative groups, including the National Allergy Strategy Group, to consider how allergy care and support could be improved.
The Government is committed to returning accident and emergency waiting times to the safe operational waiting time standards set out in the NHS Constitution. In doing so, we will be honest about the challenges facing the health service and serious about tackling them.
The Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 was published on 6 June 2025 and focuses on improvements that will make urgent and emergency care better every day. The plan will:
Further information on the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/urgent-and-emergency-care-plan-2025-26/
In July 2025, we published the 10-Year Health Plan to create a new model of care, to be fit for the future. This includes establishing the Neighbourhood Health Service, to shift care into the community and reduce demand in emergency departments, which is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment. Further information on the 10-Year Health Plan is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that adequate (a) training and (b) funding is made available for schools to meet the needs of children with physical challenges requiring individualised support.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government is committed to strengthening the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system to help improve outcomes for children and young people.
The department has published allocations for £740 million high needs capital in 2025/26. This funding is intended to create facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit 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.
Funding for schools is increasing by £4.2 billion by financial year 2028/29, compared to this financial year 2025/26. This additional funding will provide an above real terms per pupil increase on overall schools funding, which will take per-pupil funding to its highest ever level and enable us to transform the SEND system. We intend to set out plans for reforming the SEND system in further detail in the coming months.
The department has recently commissioned the Council for Disabled Children to produce new guidance for schools on their duties towards their disabled pupils under equality law, including a new handbook on their accessibility duty, available here: https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/uploads/files/Accessibility%20plans%20and%20the%20Equality%20Act%202010%20A%20handbook%20for%20schools.pdf. We have also commissioned a forthcoming training package to complement that guidance.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the upcoming NHS Workforce Plan will include measures to improve the recruitment and retention of staff in women’s health services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Women’s health is a priority for this government, which is why we are implementing the Women’s Health Strategy. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for women, when they need it. We are working through how the Plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the time taken for Gateway (a) 2 and (b) 3 approvals under the Building Safety Regulator; and if he will provide additional support for (i) manufacturers and (ii) contractors whose businesses are affected.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has established a dedicated external remediation team who assess all building control approval applications for cladding remediation. The team is already delivering engagement events to improve developers’ understanding of the requirements, and therefore increase the quality of applications and approval rates.
The BSR is also in the process of establishing a remediation enforcement unit, to oversee escalations from government/partner regulators where remediation is not progressing quickly enough. The unit will have access to additional, dedicated resources for building control work to deal with the increasing demand, and to help increase the pace of remediation works.
We recognise that delays in assessing Gateway approval applications are unacceptable, which is why we announced reforms on 30 June including carving out the BSR from the Health and Safety Executive and establishing the Regulator as a standalone body with a clear focus on building safety.
The BSR is already making operational and policy changes to speed up decision making, particularly on building control approval, including through the introduction of an Innovation Unit. Early signs are positive with all applications in the Innovation Unit so far on track to exceed or meet the 12-week SLA as they progress through the application process.
In addition to this, BSR has initiated a new approach of batching applications so they can be processed by multidisciplinary teams formed by Registered Building Control Approvers with oversight from BSR.
The BSR is continually improving the suite of guidance that supports those with duties in understanding what the law requires of them and how they can comply. New guidance with the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has been published to help applicants better understand what’s needed for a successful submission.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the press release of 19 June 2025 entitled Game changer for the nation, if she will provide a breakdown of the £900 million funding for sports by grant; and what funding will be allocated to the West Midlands.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to them and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity. That is why, in June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. This funding will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities that promote health and wellbeing and remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of constructing an indoor Velodrome in Birmingham; and whether she plans to allocate funding from the £900 million funding for sport announced on 19 June 2025.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
High-quality, inclusive facilities help people get active. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to them and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity. That is why, in June, we committed another £400 million to transform facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years. This funding will be invested in new and upgraded grassroots sport facilities that promote health and wellbeing and remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are now working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that essential NHS staff in Band 2 and Band 3 roles are eligible for inclusion on the (a) Health and Care Worker visa and (b) the Immigration Salary List.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service staff working in Agenda for Change band 2 roles have never been eligible for the Health and Care Worker visa as they do not meet the skills threshold of the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) level 3 diploma.
On 9 April, the minimum salary for Health and Care Worker visa holders increased to £25,000 per year. This applies to new Certificates of Sponsorship assigned on or after that date.
Entry-level band 3 roles do not meet the new minimum salary threshold for a Health and Care Worker visa. However, band 3 staff currently on the Health and Care Worker visa are not required to meet the new minimum salary threshold until the point at which they need to renew their visa. At that point, we expect the majority of staff to have accrued two or more years of experience, and therefore be at the top of band 3, which is above the new minimum salary threshold.
The expanded Immigration Salary List allows time-limited access to the United Kingdom’s immigration system for selected occupations of skill levels RQF 3 to 5 until the end of 2026, with restrictions on bringing dependants. The list includes occupations that the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) identified as being in shortage in its 2023 review and 2024 rapid review.
No new roles will now be added to the list, as it is being phased out at the end of 2026. The MAC has been commissioned to advise on a future Temporary Shortage List.
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make his policy to introduce a Long service and good conduct medal for (a) doctors and (b) nurses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Employers across the National Health Service are best placed to identify and reward staff for either long service or excellence in the delivery of healthcare. Most organisations have developed a wide range of schemes to celebrate long service in the NHS and these include celebratory events, commemorative badges, and monetary awards and gifts.
For NHS employees who have made an outstanding contribution, the honours system celebrates those who go above and beyond to change the world around them for the better. Nominations can be made online via the Cabinet Office website.
There is also the opportunity for members of Parliament to acknowledge the work of NHS staff in their constituency through the NHS Parliamentary Awards, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhs-parliamentary-awards/about/
Asked by: Cat Eccles (Labour - Stourbridge)
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 the operation of NHS Practitioner Health beyond March 2026.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Looking after the mental health of our hardworking National Health Service staff is a priority for the Government.
The National Staff Mental Health Treatment Service currently supplied by NHS Practitioner Health is funded until March 2026, and work is being completed to re-commission this service for the next three years, aligned to the Multi-Year Spending Review, from 2026 to 2029.
More recently, the 10-Year Health Plan committed to roll out Staff Treatment Hubs. These hubs will provide a high-quality occupational health service for all NHS staff.