Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce ambulance response times.

Answered by Helen Whately - Shadow Secretary of State for Transport

Our Delivery plan for recovering urgent and emergency care services sets out the range of measures being taken to achieve our ambition of reducing average Category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes, across 2024/25. Further information on the delivery plan is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/B2034-delivery-plan-for-recovering-urgent-and-emergency-care-services.pdf

Ambulance trusts received £200 million of additional funding in 2023/24 to increase deployed hours and reduce response times. We will maintain the improved ambulance service capacity from this additional funding in 2024/25, alongside the additional 5,000 permanent hospital beds delivered last year to improve patient flow through accident and emergency, and reduce ambulance capacity lost due to handover delays.

There have been significant improvements in performance across the country, with average Category 2 ambulance response times in 2023/24 over 13 minutes faster compared to the previous year, a reduction of over 27%.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage take up of degree-level apprenticeships.

Answered by Luke Hall

Degree-level apprenticeships (Levels 6 and 7) provide people with high-quality training and are important in supporting productivity, social mobility and widening participation in higher education and employment. There are now over 170 degree-level apprenticeships available in exciting occupations such as Doctor and Nuclear Scientist. More broadly, the department has now developed nearly 700 high-quality apprenticeship standards with employers, so today nearly 70% of occupations are available via an apprenticeship.

The department has seen year-on-year growth of degree-level apprenticeships, with 229,970 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. The department want to further accelerate the growth of degree level apprenticeships and are providing an additional £40 million over two financial years to support providers expand their offers, improving access to young people and disadvantaged groups. The department has also teamed up with UCAS so that students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their service, putting apprenticeships on an equal footing with traditional academic routes, and continuing outreach work in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress her Department has made on increasing access to dentists in Maidstone and the Weald constituency.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom

In the 24 months to June 2023, 496,306 adults were seen by a National Health Service dentist in Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB). This figure is 12% higher than the year before, where 444,190 adults were seen by an NHS dentist, in the 24 months to June 2022.

On 7 February 2024, we published Faster, simpler, and fairer: our plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry, which is backed by £200 million and will fund approximately 2.5 million additional appointments. The plan sets out our actions to improve dental access for patients across the country to address the challenges facing NHS dentistry, including in Maidstone and the Weald.

A new patient premium is supporting dentists in taking on new patients, and a new marketing campaign will help everyone who needs an NHS dentist in finding one. We have further supported dentists by raising the minimum Units of Dental Activity rate to £28 this year, making NHS work more attractive and sustainable.

From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to all ICBs across England. Kent and Medway ICB is responsible for having local processes in place to identify areas of need, and determine the priorities for investment across the ICB area.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent progress she has made on retaining more GPs.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom

There were 2,799 more full time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in general practice (GP) in December 2023, compared to December 2019.  The Government is working with NHS England to increase the GP workforce in England. This includes measures to boost recruitment, address the reasons why doctors leave the profession, and encourage them to return to practice. NHS England has made available a number of retention schemes, to boost the GP workforce.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what progress his Department has made on ending rough sleeping; and whether it remains his policy to end rough sleeping this year.

Answered by Felicity Buchan

The Government is committed to ending rough sleeping and we have made good progress towards this goal. Despite the challenging context, the long-term rough sleeping trends show the progress that government and local partners have made. Rough sleeping levels are 18% lower in 2023 compared to the peak in 2017 and 9% lower than they were in 2019 before the pandemic.

We are providing an unprecedented £2.4 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping, including over £547 million via the Rough Sleeping Initiative (RSI) 2022-25. This includes a total additional investment of over £47 million announced in September 2023 and January 2024 for the RSI, and a further investment of up to £10 million through Rough Sleeping Winter Pressures funding, which is targeted at areas with the highest pressures.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what steps he is taking to help increase the amount of aid getting into Gaza.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We trebled our aid commitment in the last financial year and are doing everything we can to get more aid in as quickly as possible by land, sea and air.

Israel has committed to significant steps to increase the amount of aid getting into Gaza, including allowing the delivery of humanitarian aid through the Port of Ashdod and the Erez crossing.

The UK has long urged Israel to take these steps and welcomes these commitments, and we have urged Israel to deliver on implementation. The Foreign Secretary discussed this with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on 17 April. We are resolved that the international community will work with Israel to see these vital changes fully implemented.

We have announced £3 million of additional funding for equipment to support UN and aid agencies at new and existing land crossings to get more aid into Gaza. The UK's contribution will include trucks, forklifts, generators, fuel stores and lighting towers.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what diplomatic steps he is taking to strengthen international co-operation to tackle illegal migration.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

We engage with partners worldwide, including through international fora such as the G7 and the UK-hosted European Political Community summit in July 2024, to improve returns processes, tackle organised immigration crime and address the root causes of irregular migration.

In 2023/2024, we signed new deals with Bulgaria, Belgium, and Frontex (European border and coastguard agency), and through our close partnership with France stopped over 26,000 crossing attempts in 2023.

On 17 April 2024, the UK signed an agreement with Vietnam to increase cooperation on tackling illegal migration.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the health issues faced by homeless people.

Answered by Felicity Buchan

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is working closely with the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID), the National Health Service and public health bodies to improve health outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.

This includes DLUHC funding of up to £186.5 million for the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Grant, providing evidence-based drug and alcohol treatment and wrap-around support, and funding over £30 million of health interventions under the Rough Sleeping Initiative.

As part of the cross-government Drug Strategy, we are also working with OHID to provide up to £53 million for the Housing Support Grant to improve the recovery outcomes for people in drug and alcohol treatment with a housing need. In addition, the NHS England Long-Term Plan establishes new specialist mental health provision for people who sleep rough in high need areas, underpinned by a £30 million investment. To date, 37 sites have been launched across the country.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he plans to publish a national youth homelessness strategy.

Answered by Felicity Buchan

This Government is committed to tackling all forms of homelessness including youth homelessness.

The Government’s ‘Ending Rough Sleeping for Good’ Strategy, published in 2022 and backed by £2.4 billion, recognises young people face particular challenges. The strategy confirmed a £200 million investment in the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme which will deliver homes for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping, including young people. In addition, £2.5 million of Rough Sleeping Initiative funding for 2022-2025 supports youth services in local areas.

The Department will continue to work with local authorities and partners in the voluntary and community sector and private sector to tackle youth homelessness.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a (a) single and (b) ring-fenced support fund for homelessness.

Answered by Felicity Buchan

This Government has made the unprecedented commitment to end rough sleeping within this Parliament and to fully enforce the Homelessness Reduction Act. We are providing an unprecedented £2.4 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping via a range of programmes. The majority of this funding is provided through ring-fenced grants, including the Homelessness Prevention Grant and the Rough Sleeping Initiative, to make sure that resources are committed to these priorities.

The approach to future funding will be a matter for the upcoming Spending Review.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the participation of (a) girls and (b) women in sport.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Opposition Chief Whip (Commons)

The Government is committed to increasing women and girls’ participation in sport and physical activity.

Our sport strategy, Get Active, includes the target of getting 1.25 million more women and 1 million more children active by 2030. This will be supported by Government investment of over £600 million to boost equal access in school sport.

Government is delivering an historic level of direct investment of over £327 million between 2021-25, through the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme, to provide up to 8,000 new and improved multi-sport grassroots facilities and pitches across the whole of the UK.

All projects on the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme are assessed against their ability to deliver increased participation by under-represented groups, including women and girls, and all projects over £25,000 in England must have an equal access women and girls plan in place.

This includes the £30 million Lionesses Futures Fund, which will deliver up to 30 artificial pitches across the country, creating opportunities to play for almost 8,000 women and girls.

The Government welcomes the Women and Equalities Select Committee’s recent report on ‘Health Barriers for Girls and Women in Sport’ and accepts most of the reports recommendations. We will continue to work with the sector to remove the barriers that prevent women and girls from being active and continue to give women and girls a voice on what they want.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, if he will hold discussions with his Nigerian counterpart on the effectiveness of the Safe Schools Initiative for supporting the education of (a) girls, (b) religious minorities and (c) other children in conflict-affected areas of northern Nigeria.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

Special Envoy for Girls Education, Helen Grant MP, will meet the Nigerian Education Minister on May 20 to discuss Nigeria's upcoming programme of education reform. The UK and Nigeria are signatories of the Safe School Declaration which commits governments to protect education from violence. The UK supports the implementation of the Safe Schools Initiative in Nigeria through its Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises (EiEPC) programme. This provides assistance to children affected by conflict in Borno and Yobe states, allowing them to learn foundational skills, increase their resilience and strengthen systems which support formal and non-formal education during emergencies.