Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to launch a consultation on cohabitation law reform.

Answered by Catherine Atkinson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government published its consultation, “A Fairer End to Relationships”, on Friday 5 June.

This consultation proposes some of the biggest reforms to family law in decades, bringing the law into the 21st century and increasing protection for millions.

The consultation seeks views on building a legal framework for cohabitants, one that reflects the realities of modern family life and safeguards the most vulnerable. Over 3.5 million couples live together without getting married or entering a civil partnership, a number that has more than doubled over the past three decades. Despite this, cohabiting couples and their children have very limited financial protection should a relationship end.

In our manifesto, we committed to strengthening the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples as part of our wider ambition to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. The consultation is the first step towards reform.

The consultation will remain open until 14 August 2026, and is available at: A fairer end to relationships - GOV.UK.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) provide humanitarian aid and (b) promote compliance with international humanitarian law in Lebanon.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

As I stated during the Urgent Question debate on 3 June, the UK is already one of the largest humanitarian donors in Lebanon, and has committed £30 million in additional humanitarian support to respond to this crisis through trusted partners, including the United Nations and the Lebanese Red Cross. We have been clear in our engagements with all parties that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected in line with international humanitarian law.

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 improve (a) recruitment and (b) retention of NHS dentists.

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

Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions to rebuild National Health Service dentistry. The recruitment of dentists remains a priority, with integrated care boards continuing to be able to make use of the Golden Hello scheme to encourage dentists to work in those areas that need them most.

The 10-Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We will now make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period, intended to be at least three years.

We are also taking steps to increase the supply of dentists. We announced the first sustained expansion of dental school places since 2007. Backed by £11 million, a total of 50 dental school places a year have been allocated equally to the Universities of Portsmouth and East Anglia.

We are increasing the availability of ORE and LDS examinations for overseas-qualified dentists to enable an additional 2,000 dentists to join the register annually from 2028/29.

Our ambition is to deliver fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament, focused on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability.

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 UK businesses do not benefit from child labour in Bangladesh.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is committed to ending child labour globally, including in Bangladesh, and to ensuring UK businesses do not benefit from it.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) works with partners to engage businesses and investors to raise awareness of child labour risks in supply chains. This year, we have supported the Child Rights Action Hub in Bangladesh to reduce risks in informal, lower-tier supply chains. The Hub has trained 35 Child Rights Focal Points to identify child labour risks and strengthen community-based referral pathways. It has also engaged major textile industry associations to increase visibility of child labour risks in ready-made garment supply chains and promote sector-led action.

The FCDO's Asia Regional Child Labour Programme, our largest programme on child labour, supported interventions to reduce the vulnerability of children to exploitation across South Asia, including Bangladesh.

We will continue to work with international partners to accelerate progress towards ending child labour in line with Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s report entitled The State of Emergency Medicine in England, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve patient safety and (b) reduce excess deaths associated with waits of 12 hours or more in emergency departments.

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

The Government is committed to restoring urgent and emergency care waiting times to the standards set out in the NHS Constitution. The medium-term planning framework for the National Health Service published in October 2025 includes a commitment that 85% of patients wait no more than four hours in accident and emergency by 2028/29, as well as committing to reduce year on year, between 2026/27 and 2028/29, the proportion of patients who wait over 12 hours in accident and emergency.

Improving flow through emergency departments is critical to delivering the four- and 12-hour accident and emergency standards. To support this, the Government has provided £450 million of capital investment, including in new and expanded Same Day Emergency Care and Urgent Treatment Centres, additional mental health crisis capacity, and connected care records for ambulance services. In February 2026, the NHS published new national clinical standards, including The Model Emergency Department and The Model Acute Pathway, to support more consistent, high-quality care, and improve flow through hospitals.

We are committed to eradicating corridor care, and in partnership with organisations including the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, have published the first consistent national standard for corridor care. From June 2026, for the first time, NHS England is publishing monthly data on instances of corridor care, to support trusts to identify and target action to reduce it.

Found: meeting Members present: Dame Harriett Baldwin (Chair); Jim Dickson; John Glen; John Grady; Catherine West

Found: Hillier (Chair); Dame Harriett Baldwin; Chris Coghlan; Jim Dickson; John Glen; Peter Swallow; Catherine West

Found: Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV973186/1 Alfred West 02/08/1996 Margate Kent BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV973186/1 Alfred West 02/08/1996 Margate Kent BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV973186/1 Alfred West 02/08/1996 Margate Kent BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV973186/1 Alfred West 02/08/1996 Margate Kent BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West

Found: Huddersfield West Yorkshire BV973186/1 Alfred West 02/08/1996 Margate Kent BV22005970/1 Barbara Catherine West