Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to accelerate the pay review process so that NHS staff in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency receive uplifts nearer the start of the financial year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has taken a number of steps to accelerate the National Health Service pay review process, aiming to ensure that pay uplifts for staff are implemented as close to the start of the financial year as possible.
Having accepted the 2025/26 headline pay recommendations in full, the Government issued remit letters to the Pay Review Bodies in July 2025 formally beginning the 2026/27 pay round over two months earlier than last year.
We have now published our written evidence reports for the three pay review bodies, the NHS Pay Review Body, the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration, and the Senior Salaries Review Body, which cover pay for most NHS staff. Our oral evidence sessions that follow publication of the written evidence took place in November and December 2025. This puts us on track to meet my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s ambition to announce and implement pay uplifts into pay packets as close to 1 April 2026 as possible.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a national strategy for palliative and end-of-life care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087 I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.
The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and will enable integrated care boards to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the recently published 10-Year Health Plan.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many (a) ex-miner workers and (b) their families will receive an uplift in their pensions due to changes in the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
As of 30 October 2024, there were 4 BCSSS members in North East Somerset and Hanham. We do not have the breakdown between former miners and dependants.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 prevent British-owned companies from selling holidays that promote trophy hunting.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to banning the import of hunting trophies from species of conservation concern, which is the most effective approach the Government can take on this matter. The department continues to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can implement a robust ban. Timeframes for introducing legislation will be provided once the Parliamentary timetable for future sessions is determined.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to support tech start-up companies to scale up in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to removing barriers to growth for scaleups across the UK – ensuring the UK is one of the best places for tech to start, scale and stay.
We are strengthening regional tech ecosystems through the Regional Tech Booster, a programme supporting startups and accelerating tech clusters beyond London. Furthermore, regions across the UK, including the West of England, can bid for up to £20 million via our Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF) - a new £500 million UKRI-led programme to grow regional strengths.
More broadly, we are supporting the sector through venture capital schemes, R&D tax reliefs, targeted visa routes, the AI Opportunities Action Plan and streamlining regulation to support innovation. Through the Budget, we are investing in skills, compute, and designated AI Growth Zones; on R&D, we are committing £38.6bn to UKRI over five years; and powering entrepreneurship with the Entrepreneurship Prospectus, Enterprise Fellowships, and Innovate UK’s £130m Growth Catalyst. We are unlocking finance via pension and capital‑markets reforms, while the British Business Bank increases annual investment to £2.5bn and commits £5bn to growth‑stage funds.
Together, these measures set out a comprehensive, long‑term plan backed by record funding, to support growth across the whole UK.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department’s report Scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain: 2024, published on 23 October 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the increase in procedures involving sheep each year since 2021.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Home Office regulates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) to assure compliance with the robust protections afforded to animals used in science and to administrate the licensing framework. Licences to test on animals are only granted where applicants comply with the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement. Animals can only be used where there is no non-animal alternative, numbers are minimised, and where the most refined methods of testing are used to minimise harms.
The majority of procedures involving sheep each year are conducted for basic research purposes. The trends in the number of animals and types of procedures carried out each year are influenced by a range of extraneous factors, for example requirements for research and testing which include products being brought to market.
The Government has published the strategy, "Replacing animals in science, a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods". The strategy seeks to accelerate the development and validation of alternatives to animals in science in all but exceptional circumstances The strategy is available here:
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether it is his policy to reduce average household energy bills by £150 from April 2026 for people who use domestic heating oil.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The majority of the savings on the costs of domestic energy bills announced at the budget, including the removal of 75% of the domestic Renewable Obligation, will come off the costs of electricity so will benefit all households.
For the savings announced which will be coming off the gas bill, such as part of the ECO scheme cost, government intends to explore how we can further target these savings at electricity bills, meaning more households benefit. These policy costs do not apply currently to those on domestic heating oil.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 help tackle the causes of homelessness in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through our National Plan to End Homelessness the Government is putting prevention at the heart of public services, alongside with actions to address the root causes of homelessness through building more homes, reforming renters’ rights, and tackling poverty.
Local councils are at the front line of the response to homelessness and must lead the way in putting prevention at the core of their services. The Government has increased funding for homelessness services this year to over £1 billion, including a £50 million top-up to the Homelessness Prevention Grant announced on 11 December 2025. You can find allocations here.
We are also investing £3.5 billion in homelessness and rough sleeping services over the next three years, through more flexible multi-year funding arrangements that enable councils to invest more in prevention.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure the resilience of rail networks during periods of extreme winter weather.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department officials hold regular discussions with Network Rail and the industry to ensure severe weather preparedness plans are in place with clear mitigations to reduce the impacts of weather on the rail network. The industry’s winter preparedness regime begins in September each year.
Special trains and equipment are fully checked and any repairs carried out, while contingency plans are reviewed and agreed with train operators to keep passengers moving during adverse weather. Network Rail uses detailed forecasts from weather experts, MetDesk, to formulate local action plans during adverse weather to minimise disruption to journeys. These forecasts cover not just the weather but how the conditions will impact on specific railway infrastructure such as the tracks, conductor rails, and overhead power lines.
A network of hundreds of monitoring stations also provides real-time weather data, enabling Network Rail to respond to conditions as they develop in real time. In extreme weather conditions, Network Rail and train operators prioritise getting passengers home safely over running the normal timetable. They also prioritise vital rail freight to ensure the supply of essential goods across the country.
Asked by: Dan Norris (Independent - North East Somerset and Hanham)
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 improve early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease in primary care in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Action includes the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board providing £1.8 million to support hypertension services. Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Implementation is continuing this year, in 2025/26, and includes partnership working with community pharmacy to case find undiagnosed hypertension. £30,000 of the funding has also been invested to increase the uptake and quality of the national Blood Pressure Community Pharmacy service.