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, what his planned timeline is for negotiations on reform of the NHS dental contract.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to National Health Service dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.
There are no perfect payment systems and careful consideration needs to be given to any potential changes to the complex dental system so that we deliver a system better for patients and the profession.
We continue to meet the British Dental Association and other representatives of the dental sector to discuss how we can best deliver our shared ambition to improve access for NHS dental patients.
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 steps she is taking to support economically inactive people back into work in (a) West London and (b) other parts of London.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Get Britain Working White Paper published in November set out plans to deliver fundamental reform of our health, employment and skills system, that will help support economically inactive people in all areas in England get back into work.
We committed to:
The Greater London area will host several Trailblazers, covering both inactivity and youth. This will involve working closely with a range of local partners, including those based in West London. Additional funding will also be given to the Greater London Authority to support the development of their local Get Britain Working plan, to cover the four sub-regional London partnership areas delivering Connect to Work.
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, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of extending school-based counselling on reducing child and adolescent mental health service waiting lists.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school through expanding Mental Health Support Teams, so every young person has access to early support to address problems before they escalate.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to make it easier for people over the age of 25 to access skills training and employment support.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is taking several steps to make it easier for adults to access training. The Adult Skills Fund (ASF) fully or co-funds education and skills training for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to help them gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.
Currently, approximately 60% of the ASF is devolved to nine Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority. These authorities are responsible for deciding what provision and support to offer their residents, allowing them the flexibility to respond to local needs.
The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships to give more people a foot in the door of work, whilst supporting the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth. Skills Bootcamps also continue to be funded and are available across England, giving adults the chance to build sector-specific skills, including in digital, construction and green industries, with an offer of a job interview on completion.
Lastly, in the 2026/2027 academic year, the department is also introducing the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). The LLE will transform the post-18 student finance system by allowing people to develop new skills and gain new qualifications at a time that is right for them. From September 2026, learners will be able to apply for LLE funding for the first time for courses and modules starting from January 2027 onwards. From its launch, the LLE loan will be available for full courses at level 4 to 6, such as a degrees, technical qualifications, designated distance-learning and online courses, and modules of high value technical courses at level 4 to 5.
Under the LLE, eligible learners will be able to access a tuition fee loan, with new learners able to access up to the full entitlement of £38,140, equal to four years of study based on the 2025/ 2026 academic year fee rates, and a maintenance loan to cover living costs, for courses with in-person attendance. Ultimately, this will enable individuals to learn, upskill, and retrain across their entire lives.
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 steps she is taking to support young people with SEND needs into employment.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions are supporting many young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to find employment.
The government will be launching a Youth Guarantee for all 18-21 year olds in England, to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. This will start with eight trailblazers, which are launching this spring, and testing localised approaches to supporting young people, which could include those with SEND.
Asked by: Danny Beales (Labour - Uxbridge and South Ruislip)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether his Department plans to promote universities as centres for industrial innovation; and if he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of including them in the Industrial Strategy.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government has committed to developing an ambitious Industrial Strategy in partnership with business, devolved governments, regions and other stakeholders. This includes universities, who play a key role in driving local and national economic growth – in 2023, UK university spinouts raised £1.66 billion in equity funding, 9.5% of all equity funding raised by UK companies.
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 she has made of the potential merits of starting a national roll out of Housing First.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant is a consolidated rough sleeping fund aimed at tackling rough sleeping and is providing a total of £185.6 million to local authorities across England in 2025-26. Local authorities have the flexibility to choose to continue provision of their Housing First or Housing Led services through the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant allocations.
The Deputy Prime Minister is leading cross-government work to develop a strategy to deliver the long-term solutions we need to get us back on track to ending all forms of homelessness. This work includes taking into account what is working well nationally and locally and where improvements are needed.
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, what assessment his Department has made with NHS England of the efficacy of booster vaccinations for mPox.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An assessment of the efficacy of booster vaccinations has not been made as there is currently no requirement for mpox booster vaccinations.
There is currently insufficient evidence to support routine boosters of mpox vaccination in immunocompetent individuals, namely people with the ability to produce a normal immune response; further information is contained in Smallpox and mpox: the green book, chapter 29, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/smallpox-and-vaccinia-the-green-book-chapter-29
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, what the level of vaccine uptake is by (a) ethnicity, (b) region and (c) socio-economic group.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in England in 2023/24 financial year was 21,225. The total number of mpox vaccinations administered in 2024/25 financial year to date currently stands at 15,649. The latest vaccine coverage statistics are available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake
Influenza and COVID-19 coverage data can also be viewed in the weekly flu and COVID-19 surveillance reports, which are available at the following link:
Childhood vaccination coverage statistics in England are available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics
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, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of integrating Mpox vaccines into routine sexual health services for higher risk groups.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is planning for a routine Mpox vaccination programme, whilst continuing to offer vaccination to eligible cohorts in areas with the highest density of the eligible population as part of the response to the recent Mpox outbreaks.
NHS England has recently opened additional Mpox vaccination sites across the country to support the access for eligible individuals, with further information available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/2025/02/nhs-opens-new-mpox-vaccination-sites-across-england/
The programme will be delivered through Sexual Health Services who have experience in the assessment, identification, and vaccination of those who are at increased risk of Mpox infection.