Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department plans to provide additional funding for the maintenance of listed building social housing stock.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No specific funding has been allocated for the maintenance of listed building social housing stock.
In the five-step plan for delivering a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing published on 2 July 2025 (which can be found on gov.uk here), we announced measures to rebuild the financial capacity of social housing providers to enable them to borrow and invest in new and existing homes. These included a stable long-term rent policy of CPI+1% for 10 years, social rent convergence, and over £1 billion of building safety funding between 2026-2027 and 2029-20 30.
In addition, just under £1.15 billion has been provided to retrofit social homes across 138 projects under Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 across England. In April 2026, the government announced it will be providing a further £100 million for solar panel installations.
This funding will help landlords meet new decent homes and energy efficiency requirements, but some requirements may still be difficult or impossible to achieve for listed buildings. Where physical or planning constraints prevent compliance, exemptions will remain in place to protect landlords from unreasonable costs.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what support his Department is providing for listed building social housing projects.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No specific funding has been allocated for the maintenance of listed building social housing stock.
In the five-step plan for delivering a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing published on 2 July 2025 (which can be found on gov.uk here), we announced measures to rebuild the financial capacity of social housing providers to enable them to borrow and invest in new and existing homes. These included a stable long-term rent policy of CPI+1% for 10 years, social rent convergence, and over £1 billion of building safety funding between 2026-2027 and 2029-20 30.
In addition, just under £1.15 billion has been provided to retrofit social homes across 138 projects under Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 across England. In April 2026, the government announced it will be providing a further £100 million for solar panel installations.
This funding will help landlords meet new decent homes and energy efficiency requirements, but some requirements may still be difficult or impossible to achieve for listed buildings. Where physical or planning constraints prevent compliance, exemptions will remain in place to protect landlords from unreasonable costs.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of access to (a) rugby in schools and (b) other school sport opportunities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Rugby remains an established part of school sport and there are clear inequalities among girls, disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs.
The department maintains regular engagement with sporting bodies, including the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League. These organisations report growing participation in schools and are investing in and are investing in formats such as T1 (non-contact) rugby, tag rugby and touch rugby, which can help schools introduce the sport more easily and safely.
We are investing over £1 billion in PE and school sport over the next three years, including £530 million for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. The Network will strengthen links between schools, governing bodies and local clubs, helping to identify and remove barriers to participation and ensuring that rugby, including contact rugby, and other sports are accessible to young people across the country.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with sporting bodies on increasing rugby participation in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Rugby remains an established part of school sport and there are clear inequalities among girls, disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs.
The department maintains regular engagement with sporting bodies, including the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League. These organisations report growing participation in schools and are investing in and are investing in formats such as T1 (non-contact) rugby, tag rugby and touch rugby, which can help schools introduce the sport more easily and safely.
We are investing over £1 billion in PE and school sport over the next three years, including £530 million for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. The Network will strengthen links between schools, governing bodies and local clubs, helping to identify and remove barriers to participation and ensuring that rugby, including contact rugby, and other sports are accessible to young people across the country.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with sporting bodies on increasing contact rugby participation in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Rugby remains an established part of school sport and there are clear inequalities among girls, disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs.
The department maintains regular engagement with sporting bodies, including the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League. These organisations report growing participation in schools and are investing in and are investing in formats such as T1 (non-contact) rugby, tag rugby and touch rugby, which can help schools introduce the sport more easily and safely.
We are investing over £1 billion in PE and school sport over the next three years, including £530 million for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. The Network will strengthen links between schools, governing bodies and local clubs, helping to identify and remove barriers to participation and ensuring that rugby, including contact rugby, and other sports are accessible to young people across the country.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support rugby in schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Rugby remains an established part of school sport and there are clear inequalities among girls, disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs.
The department maintains regular engagement with sporting bodies, including the Rugby Football Union and Rugby Football League. These organisations report growing participation in schools and are investing in and are investing in formats such as T1 (non-contact) rugby, tag rugby and touch rugby, which can help schools introduce the sport more easily and safely.
We are investing over £1 billion in PE and school sport over the next three years, including £530 million for the new PE and School Sport Partnerships Network. The Network will strengthen links between schools, governing bodies and local clubs, helping to identify and remove barriers to participation and ensuring that rugby, including contact rugby, and other sports are accessible to young people across the country.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 occupational therapist prescribing rights on (a) reducing waiting times and (b) improving access to care in West Dorset.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
We support the expansion of non-medical professional groups being able to use legal mechanisms to prescribe, supply, and administer medicines to patients where it is safe to do so. There is a robust process in place for making such changes to ensure they are safe and beneficial for patients.
We are considering requests for the extension of existing medicines responsibilities and recently concluded a consultation on proposals to extend the medicines responsibilities of four professions. Further information can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/extend-medicines-responsibilities-for-allied-health-professions
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of extending prescribing rights for occupational therapists on patient access to treatment, waiting times, or access to care in West Dorset.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 support occupational therapists to undertake training required for independent prescribing qualifications.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
We support the expansion of non-medical professional groups being able to use legal mechanisms to prescribe, supply, and administer medicines to patients where it is safe to do so. There is a robust process in place for making such changes to ensure they are safe and beneficial for patients.
We are considering requests for the extension of existing medicines responsibilities and recently concluded a consultation on proposals to extend the medicines responsibilities of four professions. Further information can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/extend-medicines-responsibilities-for-allied-health-professions
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of extending prescribing rights for occupational therapists on patient access to treatment, waiting times, or access to care in West Dorset.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
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 prescribing rights for occupational therapists on patient access to treatment.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
We support the expansion of non-medical professional groups being able to use legal mechanisms to prescribe, supply, and administer medicines to patients where it is safe to do so. There is a robust process in place for making such changes to ensure they are safe and beneficial for patients.
We are considering requests for the extension of existing medicines responsibilities and recently concluded a consultation on proposals to extend the medicines responsibilities of four professions. Further information can be found at the following link:
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/extend-medicines-responsibilities-for-allied-health-professions
No specific assessment has been made of the impact of extending prescribing rights for occupational therapists on patient access to treatment, waiting times, or access to care in West Dorset.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made representations to the Government of Spain on improving cooperation with UK authorities where a second post-mortem is unable to determine the cause of death because organs have been retained overseas.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
In any given year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office provides information and assistance in around 6,000 cases where a British person has died overseas. Every death is a personal tragedy, and our consular staff aim to provide practical, compassionate and timely support to those affected. We publish detailed country-specific guidance for Spain covering registering a death, the process of post-mortems and navigating local procedures. We work closely with Spanish authorities to help families navigate those processes. Where concerns are raised about systemic issues or significant delays affecting British families, we raise these with the relevant authorities and press them for improvements, including in Spain.