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 the NHS England 987 inclusion health scheme on access to A&E services outside of the scope of that scheme.

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

Access to National Health Service care at accident and emergency departments, and the waiting times at the point of delivery for those services, will always be based on clinical priority.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with refence to his oral statement of 20 January 2025 on New Hospital Programme Review, Official Report columns 748-750s, what the (a) pre-construction works, (b) full construction start and (c) completion date in his re-phasing of the new hospital programme is of (i) Leicester general hospital and Leicester royal infirmary, (ii) Watford general hospital, (iii) Specialist and emergency care hospital in Sutton, (iv) Kettering general hospital, (v) Leeds general infirmary, (vi) Musgrove Park hospital, (vii) Princess Alexandra hospital, (viii) Torbay hospital, (ix) Whipps Cross hospital, (x) St Mary’s hospital in London, (xi) Charing Cross hospital, (xii) Hammersmith hospital, (xiii) North Devon district hospital, (xiv) Eastbourne district general hospital, (xv) Conquest hospital and Bexhill hospital, (xvi) Hampshire hospitals, (xvii) Royal Berkshire hospital, (xviii) Royal Preston hospital, (xix) the Royal Lancaster infirmary and (xx) Queen’s medical centre and Nottingham city hospital.

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

The following table shows the start dates for the pre-construction work, which involves business case development and critical enabling works, and the main construction work, for the schemes requested:

Note: the Charing Cross Hospital and Hammersmith Hospital are counted as one scheme under the New Hospital Programme, as are Eastbourne District General Hospital, Conquest Hospital, and Bexhill Hospital

The expected completion dates for the schemes in the New Hospital Programme will be confirmed following the approval of a Full Business Case, as set out in HM Treasury’s Green Book, and as is usual for large infrastructure projects, and they are therefore not included.

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 adequacy of Land Registry application processing times; and what steps she is taking to improve those times.

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

Improving speed of service remains the top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). It has been delivering on this objective by increasing the capacity and capability of its staff and enhancing the services its customers use. This work has been undertaken whilst continuing to deliver the essential services required to enable property transactions to complete. There has been a significant reduction in the overall age of applications in recent months, and HMLR is determined to build on this progress.

HMLR acknowledges that some customers may not yet feel the positive impact of these improvements. Anyone who is concerned that a delay with their application may cause financial, legal or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.

HMLR publishes information each month about its latest processing times. These can be found on gov.uk here.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 13 January 2025 to Question 22633 on NHS: Weather, on what date in early December he first chaired a winter preparedness weekly meeting.

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

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care first held discussions on winter planning with the Department ahead of the general election. The first briefing my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care received on winter preparations was on his first day in office, on 5 July 2024.

On 4 September my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care chaired a preliminary winter preparations meeting. The Minister of State for Health chaired fortnightly meetings on winter preparedness from 26 September 2024 until 2 December 2024 at which point, as planned, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, began chairing a weekly meeting.