Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing £100 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative for the 2025-26 financial year.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is a longstanding supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), having contributed £1.4 billion since 1995. Flexible UK funding enables the GPEI to be responsive. UK funding was used to facilitate the two rounds of poliovirus vaccination campaigns recently completed in Gaza. The UK is working with international partners to ensure sustainable resources for upcoming global health replenishments. These are being considered together to ensure we are best placed to deliver for the global health challenges ahead. Funding decisions will be taken following the conclusion of the Spending Review in 2025.

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 impact of recent changes to funding for nurse training on (a) the recruitment of mature graduates and (b) other nurse recruitment; and what plans he has for future levels of medical school and nursing course places, in the context of recent trends in levels of NHS staffing.

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

No such assessment has been made. Tuition fees and student maintenance loans for nursing training are set by the Department for Education. Through the Department of Health and Social Care, eligible students also continue to receive support whilst they are studying, through the Learning Support Fund, which includes a non-repayable grant of £5,000 a year. The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review.

We have launched a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. A central and core part of this plan will be our workforce, and how we ensure we train and provide the staff the NHS needs, including doctors and nurses, to care for patients across our communities.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has commissioned research into the factors causing increased GP consultation rates.

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

The Department has not formally commissioned research into this topic. General practice consultation rates have increased in recent years, as a result of significant growth in the clinical workforce. This increase also represents a recovery from the abnormally low level of consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that adults with autism receive suitable advice on housing.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Legislation is in place which requires local authorities to ensure that advice and information on how to apply for social housing is accessible and that any necessary assistance in making an application is made available for people who are likely to have difficulty in doing so without assistance.

For autistic adults already living in social housing, registered providers of social housing are required to deliver the outcomes set out in the Regulator of Social Housing’s Transparency, Influence and Accountability standard. This requires registered providers to understand the diverse needs of their tenants, to ensure that communication with tenants is appropriate to their diverse needs, and to ensure that landlord services are accessible.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of housing regulations on the (a) number of windows, (b) size of windows, (c) natural light and (d) residents' wellbeing in new homes.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Building regulations do not place specific restrictions on the number, type or size of windows. Windows can contribute to the health and wellbeing of occupants by providing daylight, ventilation and regulating temperatures. Part O of the Building Regulations, which was introduced in 2021, requires that new buildings are built to mitigate the risk of overheating.

New residential buildings, including houses, flats, residential care homes, student accommodation, and children’s homes must now be designed to minimise unwanted heat from the sun and to allow windows to be opened to provide appropriate ventilation and to remove excess heat when it is cooler outside than inside.

This is an important part of our work to adapt our country to face climate change, and it will protect the most vulnerable, the elderly and the very young where they live and sleep. Our expectation is that there will continue to be adequate daylight for occupiers of buildings.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of re-joining the EU pet passport scheme.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government will seek to negotiate a veterinary/Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to deliver benefits to businesses and consumers in the UK and the EU. It is too early to provide an update on specific elements of any agreement at this point, including on pet travel.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure continued funding for GAVI.

Answered by Anneliese Dodds - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK is one of the largest donors to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, committing £1.65 billion from 2021-2025. This funding supports their mission to immunise 300 million children and save up to 8 million lives from vaccine-preventable diseases over this period. The UK is working with international partners to ensure sustainable resources for the upcoming global health replenishments. These are being considered together to ensure we are best placed to deliver for the global health challenges ahead. Funding decisions will be taken following the conclusion of the Spending Review in 2025.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure all children with epilepsy receive an individual healthcare plan.

Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)

Statutory guidance on ‘Supporting pupils at school with medical conditions’ recommends the use of individual healthcare plans as good practice. This guidance can be accessed here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ce6a72e40f0b620a103bd53/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions.pdf. Individual healthcare plans can help schools support pupils with medical conditions, providing clarity about what needs to be done, when and by whom. The school, healthcare professionals and parents should agree, based on evidence, when a healthcare plan would be appropriate.

The department will keep the statutory guidance under review as we take forward the commitment to delivering an inclusive mainstream system.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her policies on higher education reform will include employment rights protections for (a) permanent and (b) non-permanent lecturers.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The government wants to work in partnership with the higher education (HE) sector to deliver the change that the country needs. The department has outlined its five strategic priorities for the sector and will set out its plan for HE reform by summer 2025, to ensure the system delivers against these priorities.

HE providers are independent from government, and as such government does not have a role in workforce matters, including in staff contracts or pay and provision at specific providers.

However, the department does recognise the financial environment of the HE sector is increasingly challenging, for both HE providers and for staff. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing in order to safeguard their financial sustainability.

The department will continue to work on building strong relationships with sector bodies and unions to better understand the issues facing the sector and its workforce. Departmental officials are working closely with the sector to find practical ways forward to address the challenges faced, and with officials at the Department for Business and Trade on the provisions of the Employment Rights Bill.

This government is committed to creating a secure future for our world-leading universities so they can deliver for workers, students, taxpayers and the economy.

On employment rights protections more generally, the government’s plan to Make Work Pay sets out an ambitious agenda to ensure employment rights are fit for a modern economy, empower working people and contribute to economic growth. Once implemented, it will represent the biggest upgrade of workers’ rights in a generation.

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 help support Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (a) to reduce waiting times, (b) limit the rejection of referrals and (c) improve trust in services by both (i) parents and (ii) children.

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

It is unacceptable that too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are too long. We are determined to change that, which is why we will recruit 8,500 additional mental health workers across child and adult mental health services, to reduce delays and provide faster treatment.

Better prevention is key to reducing the demand for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, which is why we will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school, so that mental health conditions, such as anxiety and depression, can be identified early on and prevented from developing into more serious conditions in later life. We will also roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.

We expect that these measures will help to limit the rejection of referrals to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, and improve trust in services for both parents and children.