Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to publish a modern service framework for respiratory health.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.
The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 potential impact of furniture provision on (a) tenancy sustainability and (b) homelessness; and if his Department will encourage local authorities to use the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant to provide furniture.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
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 ensure that people (a) leaving homelessness do not enter accommodation without flooring, window coverings, furniture and white goods and (b) who have experienced homelessness can rebuild their lives.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with frontline homelessness staff on the impact of moving homelessness survivors into unfurnished properties.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of using the Crisis and Resilience Fund to encourage local authorities to provide essential furniture and white goods items to those living in furniture poverty.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in January 2026.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to conduct a review into current fireworks legislation to determine whether it is fit for purpose and efficiently protects animals and vulnerable people.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is continuing to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities, including those supporting animals and vulnerable people, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action and review into the current fireworks legislation.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign also featured new guidance for those running community fireworks events which recommends the use of low-noise fireworks to reduce the impact on communities, as well as social media materials that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the 120 dB noise limit in protecting animals and vulnerable people from harm.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government is continuing to engage with businesses, consumer groups and charities, including those supporting animals and vulnerable people, to gather evidence on the issues with and impacts of fireworks to inform any future action and review into the current fireworks legislation.
The Government launched a public campaign on fireworks safety for this year’s fireworks season. The campaign also featured new guidance for those running community fireworks events which recommends the use of low-noise fireworks to reduce the impact on communities, as well as social media materials that emphasise the risks from the misuse of fireworks.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason NHS England has not approved abiraterone for use in high-risk, non-metastatic prostate cancer.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Abiraterone is licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for use in the treatment of high-risk hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published final draft guidance on 30 October and has been able to recommend abiraterone (originator and generics) for treating newly diagnosed high-risk hormone-sensitive metastatic prostate cancer. NICE reviewed its guidance to determine whether to recommend abiraterone for use in this indication following the patent expiry for the medicine.
Abiraterone is not licensed for use in the treatment of high-risk, non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, and as such, it has not been evaluated by NICE through its technology appraisal programme. NICE makes recommendations for the National Health Service in England on the vast majority of new medicines and significant licence indications for existing medicines but does not evaluate medicines that are used outside their marketing authorisations, also known as “off-label”.
Funding decisions for off-label medicines are the responsibility of NHS commissioners who are required to make decisions on the basis of the available evidence. For cancer medicines, NHS England is the responsible commissioner and has an established mechanism to make funding decisions on medicines that are not evaluated by NICE through its clinical prioritisation process. NHS England considered abiraterone as an off-label treatment for hormone-sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer through its clinical policy development process in 2024/25. Through this process, NHS England confirmed that there was sufficient supporting evidence to support the routine commissioning of abiraterone in this indication and it was ranked as the top priority for routine commissioning.
However, NHS England has not been able to identify the necessary recurrent funding to support the commissioning of abiraterone, or any other treatments within the prioritisation round. This position in being kept under review and will be progressed as soon as recurrent funding is identified.
This position takes into account the need to ensure the affordability of introducing any new routine commissioning policies, alongside maintaining existing services for patients, and meeting their legal requirement to fund all NICE approved drugs. Abiraterone for the treatment of high-risk, hormone sensitive, non-metastatic prostate cancer remains the top priority for routine commissioning.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to write to social landlords to encourage them to offer a proportion of their properties as furnished, in the context of the best practice guide within the Decent Homes Standard.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants and with a range of stakeholders on issues facing residents and has engaged with groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their research on this issue.
On 2 July, we opened a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors. It can be found on gov.uk here.
The consultation proposed that government develop best practice guidance for all landlords including information and support where tenants in need can access help on furniture provision.
The consultation has now closed and responses are being analysed. More information about future guidance will be released as part of the government response.
People in need may be able to get support from their local authorities via the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the level of furniture poverty in Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of furnished tenancies on the level of furniture poverty.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department engages actively with registered providers of social housing on all issues facing social housing tenants and with a range of stakeholders on issues facing residents and has engaged with groups such as End Furniture Poverty to understand their research on this issue.
On 2 July, we opened a consultation on a reformed Decent Homes Standard (DHS) for the social and private rented sectors. It can be found on gov.uk here.
The consultation proposed that government develop best practice guidance for all landlords including information and support where tenants in need can access help on furniture provision.
The consultation has now closed and responses are being analysed. More information about future guidance will be released as part of the government response.
People in need may be able to get support from their local authorities via the ‘Household Support Fund’ and other services available locally.