Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of a Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme replacement.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Our deepest sympathies are with those who have experienced harm following vaccination, as well as their families.
The Government recognises that concerns have been raised in relation to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), including during Module 4 of the COVID-19 inquiry. Following the publication of the COVID-19 Inquiry’s Module 4 report on vaccines and therapeutics on 16 April 2026, the Government will carefully consider its recommendations, including on the reform of the VDPS, and will respond formally in due course.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the NHS Business Services Authority will begin writing proactively to eligible families about their NHS Healthy Start entitlement, encouraging them to apply and offering them support with the application process.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work with the NHS Business Services Authority on ways to encourage those eligible to apply for the Healthy Start Scheme to apply.
The Department keeps the eligibility criteria for the Healthy Start Scheme under continuous review. There are no current plans to change the eligibility for the scheme.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
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 revising the eligibility criteria for NHS Healthy Start cards.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to work with the NHS Business Services Authority on ways to encourage those eligible to apply for the Healthy Start Scheme to apply.
The Department keeps the eligibility criteria for the Healthy Start Scheme under continuous review. There are no current plans to change the eligibility for the scheme.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Local Housing Allowance in helping low-income tenants meet their housing costs.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed Local Housing Allowance rates and confirmed in his written statement on 26 November 2025 (HCWS1101) that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27.
Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for discretionary support through the Crisis and Resilience Fund (CRF) Housing Payments from local authorities in England. In Wales and Scotland Discretionary Housing Payments apply.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of local authorities piloting community eligibility, or open access, for the Holiday Activities and Food programme in more deprived areas.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to children and young people from low-income families during the school holidays, benefiting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
Local authorities and their providers have flexibility in how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of young people in their area. The department’s published HAF guidance encourages all local authorities to have a varied mix of provision that caters for different ages and interests, including through collaboration with relevant local organisations. We are aware that several local authorities are utilising different delivery models for HAF to better suit the needs and interests of teenagers, including the HAF Plus model, which features an App
There have been several successful pilots within the HAF programme in collaboration with participating local authorities to further test what works in practice and develop innovative approaches to supporting children and young people We will continue to consider potential future pilots.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local authorities in England have received from the Department for Education information on how they can implement the HAF Plus model of the Holiday Activities and Food programme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme provides free nutritious meals, enriching activities, and safe environments to children and young people from low-income families during the school holidays, benefiting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
Local authorities and their providers have flexibility in how they deliver provision to best serve the needs of young people in their area. The department’s published HAF guidance encourages all local authorities to have a varied mix of provision that caters for different ages and interests, including through collaboration with relevant local organisations. We are aware that several local authorities are utilising different delivery models for HAF to better suit the needs and interests of teenagers, including the HAF Plus model, which features an App
There have been several successful pilots within the HAF programme in collaboration with participating local authorities to further test what works in practice and develop innovative approaches to supporting children and young people We will continue to consider potential future pilots.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when will the Children's Commissioner publish her report on the Army Foundation College in Harrogate.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This is a matter for the Children’s Commissioner. Given her independence, my hon. Friend, the Member for South Shields will need to contact her directly.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of families are eligible to participate in the Healthy Start scheme.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold data on the proportion of families eligible to participate in the Healthy Start Scheme. As of 26 March 2026, there were 354,989 people on the digital scheme across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The data is based on individual people and is not the same as the number of families or households as there could be multiple beneficiaries living within one household.
The data includes the number of people on the digital scheme, formerly entitled beneficiaries, who have been accepted onto the scheme through an online application and issued a prepaid card at a specific point in time. This includes the number of children under the age of four years old and the number of pregnancies over ten weeks.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the uptake figures were for the Healthy Start scheme in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We do not hold data on the proportion of families eligible to participate in the Healthy Start Scheme. As of 26 March 2026, there were 354,989 people on the digital scheme across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
The data is based on individual people and is not the same as the number of families or households as there could be multiple beneficiaries living within one household.
The data includes the number of people on the digital scheme, formerly entitled beneficiaries, who have been accepted onto the scheme through an online application and issued a prepaid card at a specific point in time. This includes the number of children under the age of four years old and the number of pregnancies over ten weeks.
Asked by: Emma Lewell (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will instruct the UK Health and Security Agency to add service personnel (a) who flew atomic surveillance missions and (b) for whom he recently extended the eligibility criteria for the Nuclear Test Medal to the long-term Government study into the mortality of nuclear veterans.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This Government has reset the relationship with Nuclear Test Veterans and the organisations that support them. We remain committed to listening to their concerns and working collaboratively to address them.
In consultation with scientists at the UK Health Security Agency, we have established that it is not possible to add new individuals to the Nuclear Test Veteran longitudinal studies without biasing or affecting the results of the fifth and final analysis. It is important that these studies are carried out to the highest standards, therefore no new individuals have been added to the cohorts.