Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure that public contracts are not awarded to companies that blacklist workers.
Answered by Chris Ward - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to ensuring public procurement supports British jobs and industry. Under the exclusion regime in the Procurement Act 2023, contracting authorities may exclude suppliers for blacklisting offences. The exclusion regime came into force in February this year and can be applied, for example, on the grounds of professional misconduct.
Those suppliers may also be added to a central debarment list by the Cabinet Office. This Government will not hesitate to make use of the full range of powers it has where there is evidence of wrongdoing having taken place.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps the Government is taking to support women in the workplace with flexible working.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Flexible working can make work more inclusive for those facing barriers to staying in and getting on at work, including women navigating parenthood, caring responsibilities, health conditions, and other personal circumstances.
We are changing legislation through the Employment Rights Bill to make it more likely that flexible working requests are accepted.
Where employers do reject a request, they will be required to explain the basis for their decision.
We also intend to run a public consultation in early 2026 on a new process for employers planning to reject a request to prompt dialogue about what types of flexible working might be feasible.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to ensure employers are taking a proactive and preventative approach to protecting their employees from workplace sexual harassment.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
On 26 October 2024, the Worker Protection (Amendment to the Equality Act 2010) Act 2023 came into force. This inserted a new section 40A into the Equality Act 2010 which requires employers to anticipate the risk of sexual harassment occurring and take steps to prevent it. The Equality and Human Rights Commission published updated guidance to support employers with the changes.
We are also further strengthening protections against harassment by introducing three amendments to the Equality Act 2010 through the Employment Rights Bill. These will:
Employers will be provided with clear guidance in advance of the new legislation coming into force. This will ensure that they are fully supported in complying with the changes.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what measures the Government is taking to ensure that employers are supporting women managing menopause in the workplace.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We know that support in the workplace during the menopause can be crucial. That is why we will require large employers to detail the steps they are taking to support their staff during the menopause as part of an action plan. These will be introduced on a voluntary basis from April 2026, before becoming mandatory in spring 2027.
Furthermore, we will publish guidance for small and medium employers on the measures they should consider to enable women to better manage their symptoms, including: uniform and temperature; flexible working; and, recording menopause-related leave and absence.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the database of AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine side effects was last updated.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for monitoring all authorised medicines and vaccines in the United Kingdom, including the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, on an ongoing basis to ensure their benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This monitoring strategy is continuous, proactive, and based on a wide range of information sources, including reports of adverse events and rare side effects retrieved from the Yellow Card Database. A dedicated team of assessors reviews this information on a weekly basis to look for safety issues or unexpected, rare events.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine no longer has an active market authorisation in the UK, since 2024. Consequently, no additional research activities have been undertaken beyond the ongoing monitoring of reported suspected adverse events through the Yellow Card Scheme. The most recent data extraction of spontaneous suspected adverse reactions reported via the Yellow Card Scheme was conducted on 20 September 2025. Further information is available at the following link:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idaps/CHADOX1%20NCOV-19
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how often the database of AstraZeneca covid vaccine side effects has been updated in each year since 2020.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for monitoring all authorised medicines and vaccines in the United Kingdom, including the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, on an ongoing basis to ensure their benefits continue to outweigh any risks. This monitoring strategy is continuous, proactive, and based on a wide range of information sources, including reports of adverse events and rare side effects retrieved from the Yellow Card Database. A dedicated team of assessors reviews this information on a weekly basis to look for safety issues or unexpected, rare events.
The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine no longer has an active market authorisation in the UK, since 2024. Consequently, no additional research activities have been undertaken beyond the ongoing monitoring of reported suspected adverse events through the Yellow Card Scheme. The most recent data extraction of spontaneous suspected adverse reactions reported via the Yellow Card Scheme was conducted on 20 September 2025. Further information is available at the following link:
https://yellowcard.mhra.gov.uk/idaps/CHADOX1%20NCOV-19
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 make (a) apheresis and (b) immunoabsorption treatments available for vaccine damage patients when doctors feel it would be beneficial.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the very rare event where an individual may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, care and treatment will be managed by National Health Service local specialist services, augmented as appropriate by national specialist advice, with any treatment dependent on the individual’s clinical needs.
The Government remains committed to research to improve the diagnosis and treatment in those rare cases where individuals may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Since the start of the pandemic, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has allocated more than £110 million of funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of issues around vaccine safety. As part of this, the Department commissioned a £1.6 million programme of work through the NIHR, to understand the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare condition of blood clotting with low platelets following vaccination for COVID-19.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
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 (a) approve and (b) fund specialist treatments for AstraZeneca vaccine damage.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the very rare event where an individual may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, care and treatment will be managed by National Health Service local specialist services, augmented as appropriate by national specialist advice, with any treatment dependent on the individual’s clinical needs.
The Government remains committed to research to improve the diagnosis and treatment in those rare cases where individuals may have suffered a severe adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine.
Since the start of the pandemic, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has allocated more than £110 million of funding for COVID-19 vaccine research, including consideration of issues around vaccine safety. As part of this, the Department commissioned a £1.6 million programme of work through the NIHR, to understand the mechanisms underlying the occurrence of COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia syndrome, a rare condition of blood clotting with low platelets following vaccination for COVID-19.
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the rate for (a) approval of claims, (b) claims overturned at review and (c) payout has been for the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme since March 2022.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) provides a one-off, tax-free payment of £120,000 to claimants who have been found, in rare cases and on the balance of probabilities, to have been severely disabled by certain vaccines for a disease listed in the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979.
As of 12 November 2025, data from NHS Business Service Authority (NHSBSA), the administrators of the VDPS, shows that since March 2022 there have been (a) 249 successful claims made through the scheme. Of these 249 successful claims, (b) 31 were as a result of the decision being overturned after review. The 249 successful claims amounted to a total of (c) £29,880,000 in payments.
Information on COVID-19 claims to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme is published on a quarterly basis by NHSBSA. Further information is available at the following link:
https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/vdps-covid-19
Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has carried out an assessment of the potential impact of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority estate's voluntary exit scheme on the (a) delivery of objectives and (b) trends in the level of operating costs at the former Trawsfynydd nuclear power station.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) remains focused on delivering its statutory mission to keep former nuclear sites safe and secure while progressing decommissioning and managing waste. To achieve this efficiently, the NDA has introduced voluntary exit schemes as part of wider organisational restructuring and cost management measures. These schemes are designed to ensure resources are directed to front-line hazard reduction and decommissioning, while maintaining safe operations at all sites, including Trawsfynydd.
The NDA continues to monitor delivery against objectives and operating costs as part of its normal governance processes, alongside its commitment to supporting people and communities through investment in skills and economic diversification.