Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure that (a) communications between parents of children with special educational needs and local authorities are transparent and (b) authorities are accountable in their decision making.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Local authorities are responsible for identifying, assessing and meeting the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and should communicate openly with children, young people and their families.
The SEND Code of Practice sets out that they must consult children, young people, parents and carers when preparing and reviewing their Local Offer. The department supports family involvement through funding Parent Carer Forums, regional participation events and local information, advice and support services.
Where parents disagree with particular decisions, they can use local complaints processes, and, for EHC (education, health and care) related issues, seek early resolution through mediation and appeal to a First-tier Tribunal.
Area SEND inspections provide independent evaluation of local arrangements, and the department, alongside NHS England, provides support and challenge to local area partnerships, including through the use of intervention, which we propose to strengthen, where the quality of local provision is not acceptable.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to ensure the timelines set out in the animal welfare strategy are met.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Animal Welfare Strategy sets out the priority issues that this Government will address, focusing on the changes and improvements that Defra aim to achieve by 2030. Policies will be delivered throughout this time.
This Government will convene regular meetings at both official and ministerial level with stakeholders to facilitate sharing of information and ensure the reforms which have been identified are working and as a forum to review progress against the strategy.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the eligibility criteria applied to Fire Control staff for the award of the Platinum Jubilee Medal, Diamond Jubilee Medal, and Golden Jubilee Medal.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The eligibility criteria for each Jubilee medal were agreed across government, in consultation with the Devolved Administrations, Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and approved by the Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals and Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In respect of the Fire and Rescue Services, eligibility was restricted to fire service personnel called to the scene of 999 response calls and who were potentially placing themselves in danger.
No further assessment has been made and there are no plans to review the criteria.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
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 ensure parity of recognition between Fire Control staff and other operational personnel who contribute to incident response, including those attending incidents in roles such as National Incident Liaison Officers or Communications Tactical Advisors.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Control staff are a vital part of Fire and Rescue services and it is right that their outstanding work is recognised. Chief Fire Officers, and senior leaders, should ensure that nominations for recognition of deserving members of staff, should be considered as a matter of routine.
Nationally, the honours system is open to all members of the Fire and Rescue Service through the national recognition system on gov.uk.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure access for those with mobility issues at train stations, including reliable access to lifts, ramps, and waiting rooms.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We are continuing to deliver the Access for All programme that has made more than 270 stations accessible including 36 in the last two years. In January 2026 we confirmed that 8 Access for All projects will be progressing directly to delivery and 23 projects will undergo design work for potential future delivery.
In November 2025 the Department published the Accessibility Roadmap which sets out the accessibility improvements being delivered ahead of the establishment of Great British Railways. This includes improving the reliability of key accessibility facilities - ensuring that lift and escalator reliability remain a top priority for accessible travel and introducing better monitoring by operators, so faults are identified and rectified more quickly.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
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 merits of the use and funding of technology enabled care in the NHS and other care settings.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the significant beneficial impact of technology on patient care. Analysis shows that hospitals that make the changes to plug their systems and processes into the NHS App key features alongside broader clinical, operational, and digital transformation have improved elective care waiting times. However, we need to go much further in our modernisation of the health system and so, as set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, £10 billion has been dedicated to technology and digital transformation by 2028/29.
This investment will further drive National Health Service productivity improvements, including freeing up staff time, rolling out a new single patient record which would allow providers to access a comprehensive patient record, seamlessly integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into most clinical pathways, including AI Assisted Triage for ensuring people’s needs are identified early and matched to the right level of care straightaway, and upgrading the NHS App to give patients more information, choice, and control over their care.
To help assess the use of technologies in adult social care, the Government has funded testing and evaluation of technologies in social care, including falls prevention and detection, through the Adult Social Care Technology Fund. Emerging evidence from Government-funded independent evaluations indicates that sensor-based technologies help people live at home for longer and can prevent falls and “long lies” in care homes by between 37% to 49%, as well as reduce hospital admissions and free up staff time. We will publish the findings from these projects this year.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to help ensure that deposit schemes represent good value for tenants and landlords; and what steps he is taking to ensure the system is transparent.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The recent extension of the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDP) contracts secured significant improvements in value for money and overall performance, including enhanced financial transparency and the introduction of more stretching and relevant Key Performance Indicators, delivering service improvements and the creation of a Social Value fund.
Ongoing scrutiny of supplier financial performance, transparency of revenue and cost data, and the ability to challenge performance and enforce contractual remedies where required, ensure services continue to deliver strong outcomes.
The TDP contracts are due to end in March 2028. As part of the process to re-procure these contracts, the government will work to ensure that the service provides good value for tenants and landlords and that the system remains transparent.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what backlog remains outstanding for DLA and PIP applications, and what measures are being taken to speed up processing times for DLA and PIP applications.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We are committed to ensuring people can access financial support through Disability Living Allowance for children (DLAc) and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in a timely manner. Reducing customer journey times for our claimants is a priority for the Department and we are working constantly to make improvements to our service.
Between October 2024 to March 2025, the Department recruited and re-deployed in excess of 100 case managers to improve clearance times for DLAc new claims. Between 1 August 2025 and 31 March 2026, the Department cleared around 185,900 DLAc new claims, of which 68.3% (126,900) were cleared within 45 working days. In this time, the percentage of claims cleared within these planned timescales rose from 4.7% to 90.7%. More information can be found on gov.uk: DLA for children for claims cleared between 1 August 2025 and 31 March 2026 - GOV.UK
We have seen a decrease in PIP clearance times since August 2021 with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 20 weeks at the end of January 2026. In addition to prioritising new claims, we have been working closely with our assessment suppliers to increase assessment capacity and reduce waiting times. These include recruitment and training of additional health professionals and a series of process improvements to streamline the assessment journey.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support victims of (a) fraud and (b) poor installations under the ECO4 scheme, particularly where relevant companies have gone into administration.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
ECO4 projects must comply with PAS2030 and PAS2035 standards and they are subject to an oversight system which includes energy suppliers, certification bodies, MCS, Trustmark and Ofgem. Certification bodies, MCS and TrustMark have audit and compliance regimes in place. Ofgem has dedicated counter-fraud and whistleblowing teams, working with authorities including Report Fraud and the Serious Fraud Office.
To protect against the scenario where an installer ceases to trade or in some cases fails to rectify issues, TrustMark requires a guarantee is issued, which for solid wall insulation will cover up to £20k.
Asked by: Damien Egan (Labour - Bristol North East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to ensure banks carry out appropriate anti-fraud checks.
Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes the issue of fraud very seriously and is dedicated to protecting the public from this appalling crime.
Financial institutions are required by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to maintain robust systems and controls to detect and prevent financial crime under the Money Laundering Regulations. Banks must report certain suspicious activity, including fraud, to the National Crime Agency under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and banks may already freeze or block accounts where suspicious activity is detected.
The Government has also introduced new rules allowing banks to delay and investigate suspicious payments for up to 72 hours. This supports interception of suspicious payments — complementing existing account freezing powers — by giving firms more time to prevent funds reaching fraudsters when complex cases are identified.
As set out in the Fraud Strategy published on 9 March 2026, the Government is now taking decisive additional action to reinforce the system wide response. The new Online Crime Centre will bring together law enforcement, intelligence agencies and private sector partners, including the financial services industry, to improve real time data sharing and analysis, helping firms spot suspected scam accounts sooner and act more quickly to freeze or restrict them where appropriate. Alongside the Strategy, the Home Office launched a call for evidence on economic crime information sharing to remove barriers that currently prevent firms acting on intelligence earlier. The call for evidence closed on 18 May 2026.
The Strategy also tasks the FCA with developing best practice guidance on preventing Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud and money mule activity, supporting firms to identify, investigate and close suspicious accounts more effectively, and improving protections for customers at risk.