Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the quality of (a) court buildings and (b) technology used in courts.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

Historical underfunding has resulted in challenges across the court estate, with an estimated £1.3 billion building maintenance backlog.

It is vital that court infrastructure does not prevent hearings from taking place, that is why we announced a boost in court capital maintenance and project funding from £120 million last year, to £148.5 million for 2025/26.

We are committed to enhancing the condition of our existing estate while also delivering new facilities. Examples include a purpose‑built modern court building under construction in the City of London, with further new facilities in Reading and Blackpool. A state-of-the-art Tribunals Centre in London, providing 30 hearings rooms, is scheduled to open in early March.

We also continue to invest in technology in courts as part of a providing a modern justice system. In 2025/26 HMCTS is investing over £20 million of capital funding in IT hardware to provide the courts with modern audio-visual capability - to improve digital evidence presentation and remote participation, replaced over a quarter of staff laptops and improved Wi-Fi coverage and capacity. In 2025, HMCTS replaced the contact centre solution used by the Courts and Tribunals Service Centres and modernised significant digital applications used in courts, moving old technology out of legacy data centres. As part of continual improvement, HMCTS is progressing with the adoption of Artificial Intelligence, to improve systems and services throughout the Justice system.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to reduce the number of delays to court hearings caused by the late arrival of prisoners.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

In 2025, the overall Criminal Justice System timely delivery to court performance was 98.19%, Prisoner Escort and Custody Services (PECS) suppliers met the contractual requirement for timely delivery of prisoners to court in 99.91% of cases. The impact of recent reform policies on delivery times is under review.

In addition to its regular oversight meetings with the contractors, the PECS contract management team continues to work collaboratively with criminal justice partners to address any performance issues. Strategic Partnership Boards convene quarterly to review performance and agree strategies to drive and sustain improvement.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her department has assessed the potential implications of levels of workforce availability of sheep shearers on animal welfare.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

With a national flock of around 30m sheep, Defra recognises the good work that British Wool does in delivering training for domestic sheep shearers, the importance that shearing sheep plays in managing the health and welfare of the UK flock, and the continued challenges that the industry faces each year in sourcing sufficient numbers of trained shearers.

We continue to work closely with the industry in addressing these challenges.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of pressures on the sheep shearing workforce on (a) farm businesses and (b) the sheep industry.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

With a national sheep flock of around 30m sheep, Defra recognises the good work that British Wool does in delivering training for domestic sheep shearers, the importance that shearing sheep plays in managing the health and welfare of the UK flock, and the continued challenges that both individual farm business and the wider industry face each year in sourcing sufficient numbers of trained shearers.

We continue to work closely with the industry in addressing these challenges.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the contribution of British Wool's (a) sheep shearing training and (b) exchange with shearers and sheep farmers in Australia and New Zealand to farming in the UK.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

With a national flock of around 30m sheep, British Wool provides a unique and valuable service, for around 30,000 registered wool producers across the UK, to collect, grade, promote, and sell their fleece wool to the global textile industry.

British Wool is also the main provider and promoter of training for sheep shearers in the UK. In each of the last five years (2021-2025) British Wool has provided shearing training for between 798 and 898 people at skill levels ranging from beginners through to highly proficient commercial shearers. British Wool’s investment in this training includes subsidised courses for between 100- 200 young farmers a year.

Defra is aware of the role that shearers and sheep farmers from countries such as Australia and New Zealand have provided in sharing skills and expertise with UK sheep farmers and in supporting the health and welfare of the UK flock.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what role he intends for optometry practices to play in delivering the 10 Year Plan.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The 10-Year Health Plan will make the National Health Service fit for the future by delivering three important shifts: from hospital to community; from sickness to prevention; and from analogue to digital. This includes expanding eye care in community settings and strengthening joint working between primary and secondary eye care services.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate the impact of upcoming living wage, national insurance and business rates changes on community pharmacies.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government recognises that pharmacies are an integral ‘front door’ to the National Health Service, staffed by highly trained and skilled healthcare professionals.

In 2025/26 funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework has been increased to £3.073 billion. This represents the largest uplift in funding of any part of the NHS, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Additional funding is also available, for example for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

The Department will shortly consult with Community Pharmacy England on any proposed changes to reimbursement and remuneration of pharmacy contractors for 2026/27. As part of this we will consider financial pressures on the sector.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help ensure that all patients in England have access to Minor Eye Conditions Services (MECS) and Community Urgent Eyecare Services (CUES).

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards are responsible for assessing the health needs of their local population and for commissioning the primary and secondary eye care services required to meet them. Local systems may take different approaches to meeting the needs of their local population, including commissioning minor and urgent eye care services in the community.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has assessed the potential impact on farm businesses and the sheep industry of the withdrawal of visa concessions allowing for temporary employment of sheep shearers.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Defra recognises the good work that British Wool does in training domestic sheep shearers and the continued challenges the industry faces with a national sheep flock of around 30m sheep in sourcing sufficient numbers of trained shearers. We are also aware of the role that shearers and sheep farmers from countries such as Australia and New Zealand have provided in recent years in sharing skills and expertise with UK sheep farmers and in supporting the health and welfare of the UK flock.

Defra continues to work with the industry in supporting the training of UK resident shearers. Visa concessions are a matter for the Home Office.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to issue guidance to NHS commissioners to help ensure community eyecare services are commissioned across England to help improve equality in access to care.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet the needs of their local population. National Health Service sight tests are widely available across the country, with no known access issues. ICBs can also commission enhanced eye care services in the community.

ICBs are required to work with local authorities to assess the current and future health, care, and wellbeing needs of their local population. They will then set out in joint local health and wellbeing strategies how they will meet those needs, which could include addressing any identified inequalities in accessing services.

The Department worked with the eye care sector to develop a standard clinical specification for the commissioning of Community Minor and Urgent Eye Care Services, and this was published in February 2024. The specification can be found at the following link:

https://locsu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1.-CUES-Service-specification-vs-1.43-Feb-2024.pdf

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 help ensure equitable access to community eye care services across England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet the needs of their local population. National Health Service sight tests are widely available across the country, with no known access issues. ICBs can also commission enhanced eye care services in the community.

ICBs are required to work with local authorities to assess the current and future health, care, and wellbeing needs of their local population. They will then set out in joint local health and wellbeing strategies how they will meet those needs, which could include addressing any identified inequalities in accessing services.

The Department worked with the eye care sector to develop a standard clinical specification for the commissioning of Community Minor and Urgent Eye Care Services, and this was published in February 2024. The specification can be found at the following link:

https://locsu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1.-CUES-Service-specification-vs-1.43-Feb-2024.pdf

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the withdrawal of the visa concession for temporary employment as sheep shearers on the sheep industry.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Immigration Rules concessionary arrangements are temporary and subject to regular Ministerial review. The sheep shearing concession had been operating for 14 years and closed after the 2025 shearing season as it reasonable to expect that over this period a long-term sustainable solution had been found to fill this workforce gap. To provide plenty of time to plan and transition to new arrangements DEFRA officials were informed last year that the concession would not be renewed again.

Ministers regularly meet with their DEFRA counterparts to discuss a wide range of issues, including the closure of this concession.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation the her Department has had with counterparts at the Department of Envronment, Food and Rurual Affairs on the potential impact on the UK sheep industry of withdrawing the visa concession for temporary employment as sheep shearers.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Immigration Rules concessionary arrangements are temporary and subject to regular Ministerial review. The sheep shearing concession had been operating for 14 years and closed after the 2025 shearing season as it reasonable to expect that over this period a long-term sustainable solution had been found to fill this workforce gap. To provide plenty of time to plan and transition to new arrangements DEFRA officials were informed last year that the concession would not be renewed again.

Ministers regularly meet with their DEFRA counterparts to discuss a wide range of issues, including the closure of this concession.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what consultation her Department has had with counterparts at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the withdrawal of the visa concession for temporary employment as sheep shearers.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Immigration Rules concessionary arrangements are temporary and subject to regular Ministerial review. The sheep shearing concession had been operating for 14 years and closed after the 2025 shearing season as it reasonable to expect that over this period a long-term sustainable solution had been found to fill this workforce gap. To provide plenty of time to plan and transition to new arrangements DEFRA officials were informed last year that the concession would not be renewed again.

Ministers regularly meet with their DEFRA counterparts to discuss a wide range of issues, including the closure of this concession.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her letter to the Environmental Audit Committee dated 30 January 2026, what steps she is taking to increase funding for flood risk management in local authority areas in instances where revenue funding from the Local Government Finance Settlement is being reduced.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Delivering on the Plan for Change, this Government is investing at least £10.5 billion until 2036 to construct new flood schemes and repair existing defences.

In October 2025 the Government announced major changes to its flood and coastal erosion funding policy – optimising funding between building new defences and maintaining existing ones. Deprived communities will continue to receive vital investment - at least 20% of future investment will help protect the most deprived communities over the next ten years. New projects will be prioritised based on value for money. The list of projects to receive Government funding will be agreed in the usual way, on an annual basis, through Regional Flood and Coastal Committees, with local representation. The final list of schemes to benefit in 2026/27 will be published in March 2026.

Alongside our £10.5 billion investment, the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion, a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-2025. The majority of local Government funding is not ringfenced, recognising that local authorities are best placed to decide how to meet the rising service pressures in their local areas, including on flood risk management.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when she will be providing guidance to local authorities on the floods funding criteria that will be in place for the 2026-27 financial year.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

As part of the Environment Agency's wider programme of improvements to implement the new Defra flood funding policy, the Environment Agency will publish updated project funding guidance for practitioners before 1^st April 2026.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has provided to community pharmacies through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework in real terms in each year since 2016.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The following table shows the nominal and real terms funding provided through the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework each year since 2015/16:

In 2025/26, the funding for the core community pharmacy contractual framework was increased to £3.1 billion. This represented the largest uplift in funding of any part of the National Health Service at the time, over 19% across 2024/25 and 2025/26. Additional funding was also made available, for example, for pharmacies delivering Pharmacy First consultations and flu and COVID-19 vaccinations.

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 foundation pharmacists beginning their training in 2025 had been assigned a Designated Prescribing Practitioner.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Foundation trainee pharmacists who have graduated against the 2021 standards for the initial education and training of pharmacists are required to have a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP), a healthcare professional with independent prescribing rights, such as a doctor, pharmacist, or nurse, to support the supervision and assessment of prescribing activities during their foundation year.

Under the Foundation Trainee Pharmacists National Recruitment Scheme, training providers are required to ensure that trainees have access to a DPP and to submit DPP details to NHS England once the trainee pharmacist is in post.

Of the 2,894 graduates in England who began foundation pharmacist training in 2025/26, 2,417 trained against the 2021 standards and therefore require a DPP. As of February 2026, 2,013 of these trainees, approximately 83%, had submitted details of an assigned DPP to NHS England.

By training window, 1,814 of 2,119 summer starters, or 85.6%, and 199 of 318 autumn starters, or 62.5%, had submitted DPP details. Autumn starters typically undertake prescribing later in the training year, and some may not yet have been required to submit DPP information. NHS England continues to monitor this.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has shared a definition of corridor care to (a) NHS trusts and (b) ICBs.

Answered by Karin Smyth - 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.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will publish data on the numbers of patients receiving corridor care in NHS hospitals before the end of the financial year.

Answered by Karin Smyth - 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.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of covid vaccinations were administered by community pharmacies in the winter 2025-26 programme.

Answered by Ashley Dalton

NHS England collected, but does not currently publish, data on the proportion of COVID-19 vaccinations that were administered by community pharmacies in the autumn 2025 vaccination programme. This unpublished data indicates that during the autumn campaign, which ran from 1 October 2025 to 31 January 2026, approximately 45% of COVID-19 vaccinations were administered by community pharmacies.

Palantir and the NHS

Royal Mail postal delivery services

Royal Mail delivery standards

NHS dentistry

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Curlew populations

Covid Day of Reflection 2026

Cardiac risk in the young

Dual nationals without British passports

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

Child protection from illicit vapes

High street bank closures

President Trump’s 20-point peace plan

Repair Cafés

Community sport spaces and Sport England

Community spaces

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2026

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

River Meon

Review of the student loan system