Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help support pensioners in North Shropshire constituency whose pre-1997 contributions are not subject to indexation.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Most schemes do pay some pre-1997 indexation, because of scheme rules or as a discretionary benefit. Analysis published last year by the Pensions Regulator shows that as of March 2023, only 17 per cent of members of private sector defined benefit pension schemes do not receive any pre-1997 indexation on benefits. This information can be found at: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests#f3a5fe60511a445f91112bd7dd8a64ae
But for those affected by a lack of indexation I recognise the significance this can have.
Members of these pension schemes are now understandably concerned at seeing inflation erode the value of their retirement income.
It would be unreasonable to retrospectively increase the cost to schemes for benefits already earned, as these costs could not have been taken into account in the funding assumptions used to set contribution rates at the time.
The Government’s upcoming pension reforms on the use of surpluses in defined benefit schemes will make it easier for individual schemes to make decisions that improve outcomes for both sponsoring employers and members, which could include discretionary benefit increases.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of (a) high street bank and (b) Crown post office closures on the availability of monetary services in rural communities.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government sets Post Office access criteria, ensuring that nationally, 99% of people live within three miles of their nearest branch, with further specific criteria for rural areas. These ensure that Post Office delivers essential services, including banking, within local reach of all citizens. Due to the Banking Framework, customers will be able to do their everyday banking at post offices across the UK until 2030. Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, providing access to critical cash and banking services.
There are two Directly-Managed Branches (DMBs) located in rural areas. Post Office announced the transition to a fully franchised network. Post Office will ensure all communities currently served by a DMB will have at least one Mains branch within a 1-mile radius of the existing branch.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of the closure of Crown post offices on rural communities.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government sets Post Office access criteria, ensuring that nationally, 99% of people live within three miles of their nearest branch, with further specific criteria for rural areas. These ensure that Post Office delivers essential services, including banking, within local reach of all citizens. Due to the Banking Framework, customers will be able to do their everyday banking at post offices across the UK until 2030. Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, providing access to critical cash and banking services.
There are two Directly-Managed Branches (DMBs) located in rural areas. Post Office announced the transition to a fully franchised network. Post Office will ensure all communities currently served by a DMB will have at least one Mains branch within a 1-mile radius of the existing branch.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the access criteria for Post Office services for rural areas.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Government sets Post Office access criteria, ensuring that nationally, 99% of people live within three miles of their nearest branch, with further specific criteria for rural areas. These ensure that Post Office delivers essential services, including banking, within local reach of all citizens. Due to the Banking Framework, customers will be able to do their everyday banking at post offices across the UK until 2030. Government is working closely with banks to roll out 350 banking hubs, providing access to critical cash and banking services.
There are two Directly-Managed Branches (DMBs) located in rural areas. Post Office announced the transition to a fully franchised network. Post Office will ensure all communities currently served by a DMB will have at least one Mains branch within a 1-mile radius of the existing branch.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral contribution of 19 May 2025, on what date his Department plans to hold the first meeting of cross-party talks on social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has clearly set out the importance of reaching cross-party consensus on adult social care. Building cross-party consensus is fundamental to the national conversation, and the Prime Minister has tasked Baroness Casey, as Chair of the Independent Commission into adult social care, to facilitate this.
Given the commission is independent, it is only right for Baroness Casey to independently build public and cross-party consensus on how best to meet the current and future needs of the population.
Baroness Casey has the autonomy to convene cross-party talks over the course of her work as she sees fit, with political parties invited as participants.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with Baroness Casey on engaging with political parties (a) individually or (b) collectively in relation to the Independent commission into adult social care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The commission has now formally begun. Given the commission is independent, it is only right for Baroness Casey to independently build public and cross-party consensus. This includes choosing how and when the voices of political parties are best brought into the conversation.
Baroness Casey has the autonomy to convene cross-party talks over the course of her work as she sees fit, with political parties invited as participants.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential implications for its policies of foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Hungary, Slovakia and Germany in 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has closely monitored the 2025 foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks in Hungary, Slovakia, and Germany. Following Germany’s confirmed FMD case in January, its FMD-free status was temporarily suspended but reinstated by the World Organisation for Animal Health in April after swift containment.
Hungary and Slovakia reported FMD outbreaks in March 2025, prompting immediate action. Defra assessed the risk of FMD entering Great Britain from these countries as medium, citing potential spread via wild animals and human activity.
As a result, the UK imposed temporary import bans on live animals and certain products from affected regions. Defra also reinforced biosecurity messaging to livestock keepers and increased disease surveillance.
To strengthen long-term resilience, the UK is investing £200 million into its animal health infrastructure, including Weybridge’s national reference laboratory. Defra continues to adapt its policies in response to developments and remains committed to protecting the UK’s biosecurity and livestock sector.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
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 reduce the prevalence of infant brain injuries at childbirth.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has invested £7.8 million to develop the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth programme, which will reduce the number of avoidable brain injuries that occur during childbirth. This will be implemented by NHS England and will provide staff with the tools and training to identify, intervene, and manage obstetric emergencies, as well as better identify signs that a baby is showing distress during labour.
Additionally, the Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations (MNSI) Programme investigates certain cases of potential severe brain injury that occur in the first seven days of life. The MNSI investigations seek to improve maternity safety and reduce the prevalence of adverse outcomes through providing learning to the health system via reports at a local, regional, and national level.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department informs all (a) GPs and (b) care providers when a new Community Diagnostic Centre opens for referrals in the nearby area.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The local community diagnostic centre (CDC) for patients in Shropshire is the Shrewsbury, Telford and Wrekin CDC. The CDC is located at Hollinswood House in Telford, TF3 3BD. Patients requiring tests will also be referred to other settings as appropriate, including local hospital sites. A list of all operational CDCs is published and available at the following link:
The Department and NHS England do not directly inform local providers or general practices (GPs) when CDCs open for referrals in the nearby area, but it is the expectation that each CDC and their host National Health Service trust does local engagement, including with local providers and GPs.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which Community Diagnostic Centres patients could attend after being referred for a scan as of 30 April 2025; and what the addresses are of these locations.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The local community diagnostic centre (CDC) for patients in Shropshire is the Shrewsbury, Telford and Wrekin CDC. The CDC is located at Hollinswood House in Telford, TF3 3BD. Patients requiring tests will also be referred to other settings as appropriate, including local hospital sites. A list of all operational CDCs is published and available at the following link:
The Department and NHS England do not directly inform local providers or general practices (GPs) when CDCs open for referrals in the nearby area, but it is the expectation that each CDC and their host National Health Service trust does local engagement, including with local providers and GPs.