Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the monthly visits required under regulation 26(2)(c) of the Care Homes Regulations 2001 are carried out by individuals who are independent of the care provider.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty of care for children’s safety on Gen AI companies to ensure they are held accountable for the safety of children.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the UK, AI systems are regulated at the point of use under existing frameworks such as data protection law, competition law, equality law, and other forms of sectoral and cross-sectoral regulation.
Generative AI services that allow users to share content with one another, search live website to provide search results, or publish pornographic content are regulated under the Online Safety Act. These services must protect users from illegal content and children from harmful and age-inappropriate content. The Technology Secretary has confirmed that the government is considering how the Online Safety Act applies to AI chatbots and whether more is needed to protect users.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of of surveys by More in Common for the Campaign to End Gambling Advertising showing 70% support tougher curbs on gambling advertising and 27% saying gambling companies should not promote themselves at all; what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the 9pm watershed and other gambling advertising restrictions in protecting children and vulnerable people on television, social media, and digital platforms, in this context; and whether she plans to introduce statutory watershed protections or other measures to reduce exposure and harm.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We note that More in Common’s recent report “Ending a Losing Streak” provides an overview of the British public’s views regarding gambling advertising, particularly for children and young people. We also note that statistics from the 2025 Young People and Gambling survey demonstrates that the overall proportion of young people who recalled having seen gambling adverts or promotion weekly was consistent with 2024. We consider evidence from a wide range of sources, including the statistics in both reports, when considering the impact of gambling advertising on children and young people.
We are not considering the introduction of a statutory watershed at this time. However, we recognise that children and young people’s exposure to gambling advertising is an important issue and keep all areas of gambling policy under review. We will redouble our efforts to work cross-government and with tech platforms to address illegal gambling advertising, which poses the most risk for children and vulnerable people.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that switchovers of legacy technology, such as digital terrestrial television, support uptake and inclusion amongst digitally excluded citizens.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Digital inclusion is a priority for this Government. It is foundational to delivering on our five Missions and essential to unlocking economic growth.
The Department is leading a project to assess the future of TV distribution and we are committed to maintaining access for all, regardless of how audiences receive their television. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is protected until at least 2034, safeguarding access for millions of households.
The project is working closely with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to ensure that any opportunities to support digital inclusion is at the heart of policy development.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many people will receive the increased National Minimum Wage.
Answered by James Murray - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
From 1 April 2026, around 2.7m low-paid workers are expected to benefit from the uplifts to the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's planned timetable is for implementing the reintroduction of pet passports for travel between the UK and the EU; and what guidance her Department plans to issue to pet owners to help them plan trips in 2026.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will become easier and cheaper.
Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, owners will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU. The UK stands ready to start talks on the SPS agreement, now the EU mandate has been agreed.
We will provide further details in due course. In the meantime, owners will still need an Animal Health Certificate for their dog, cat or ferret if they are travelling from Great Britain to an EU country.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment his Department has made of the value for money of the new Contract for Difference awarded to Drax Power Station compared with alternative (a) low-carbon generation and (b) storage technologies.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has provided analysis that without large-scale biomass, we could face increased security of supply risks from 2027 to 2031.
Alternative low carbon generation such as wind or solar power, need to be supplemented with dispatchable generation to ensure security of supply.
Government has secured the best value for money deal to provide the dispatchable capacity required. Our analysis estimates that the alternative option of procuring the required capacity through the capacity market, which storage technologies bid into, would cost in the region of £170m more per year than the new arrangement with Drax.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the report from the Molly Rose Foundation entitled the Children’s exposure to (a) suicide, (b) self-harm, (c) depression and (d) eating disorder content online, published in October 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government thanks the Molly Rose Foundation for its research.
Under the Online Safety Act, intentionally encouraging or assisting suicide is a priority offence for providers’ illegal content duties, and the government is taking action to give illegal self-harm content the same status, something the Molly Rose Foundation has long campaigned for.
Services likely to be accessed by children must use highly effective age assurance to prevent children encountering content that encourages, promotes or provides instructions for suicide, self-harm or eating disorders.
Ofcom has enforcement powers under the Act and has announced investigations into over 60 services suspected of failing to comply with their duties, including a pro-suicide forum.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 997, published on 1 July 2025m what assessment she has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of removing (a) dental hygienists and (b) dental technicians from the Skilled Worker visa eligible occupation list on (i) sustainability of the dental workforce sustainability and (ii) patient access to care.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 12 May, the Government published its Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes. A technical annex (www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-technical-annex) was published alongside the Immigration White Paper setting out the impact of some of the key policy changes.
The Statement of Changes to Immigration Rules laid on 1 July represent the first step in delivering on the Governments White Paper and included raising the skills threshold for Skilled Worker, excepting an interim Temporary Shortage List of lower skilled occupations deemed critical to the UK’s Industrial Strategy, which was based on advice from the Department of Business and Trade and His Majesty’s Treasury.
Home Office and DHSC continue to work very closely to understand the impact of all Immigration Routes on sector workforce. It is our intention to publish an Impact Assessment (IA) at the earliest opportunity. NHS Employers has published www.nhsemployers.org/articles/immigration-rule-changes-july-2025 which explains the impact of the changes on health and social care occupations.
Asked by: Gill German (Labour - Clwyd North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on (a) the number of people living with long COVID and (b) the (i) severity and (ii) duration of their symptoms: and what assessment he has made of research required to help improve (A) care and (B) support.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The most recent data from the Winter COVID-19 Infection Study, a joint study carried out by the Office for National Statistics and the UK Health Security Agency, shows that, for the period 8 February 2024 to 6 March 2024, an estimated 1,140,000 people, or 1.9% of the population, in private households in England and Scotland reported experiencing long COVID-19 symptoms more than twelve weeks after a COVID-19 infection.
Of these, an estimated 839,000 people reported that day-to-day activity had been limited, of which an estimated 251,000 reported that day-to-day activity had been limited a lot.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, we have invested over £57 million on research into long COVID, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID. The funded projects aim to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical care.
This includes funded clinical trials to test and compare different treatments such as antihistamines, anticoagulants, and anti-inflammatory medicines. We continue to fund new studies regularly. A list of trials currently recruiting participants is available via the NIHR Be Part of Research website, at the following link:
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/results/search-results?query=Long%20COVID&location=