Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of staff sickness levels within East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust; and what support is being provided to reduce sickness absence.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As of July 2025, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) had an average annual sickness absence rate of 7.6%. This has remained at the same rate as the average for the 12 months to July 2024. The EEAST average annual sickness absence rate is 0.9 percentage points higher than the average annual sickness absence rate for all ambulance trusts in England, which is 6.7%. This difference has been consistent across the past five years.
NHS England publishes monthly information on the sickness absence rates of staff in National Health Service bodies, which is available at the following link:
https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-sickness-absence-rates
The primary cause for sickness absence amongst professionally qualified ambulance staff remains, anxiety, depression and mental health conditions.
The EEAST recognises that its sickness levels remain high and is committed to reducing these while ensuring its staff are properly supported.
The EEAST continues to work with system partners on effective measures to ensure its staff can handover patients safely as soon as possible and has taken actions to address its sickness levels. These include training for line managers on how to best support staff, a wide-ranging health and wellbeing offer, and temporary and permanent redeployment.
Local employers across the NHS have in place arrangements for supporting staff including occupational health provision, employee support programmes and a focus on healthy working environments.
As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, we will roll out staff treatment hubs to ensure all staff have access to high quality occupational health support, including for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two main causes of sickness absence in the NHS.
To further support this ambition, we are working with the Social Partnership Forum to introduce a new set of staff standards for modern employment, covering issues such as access to healthy meals, support to work healthily and flexibly, and tackling violence, racism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what proportion of people employed by councils in Greater Essex does his Department expect will be required for the new council structure.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
We anticipate the vast majority of local council workers will transfer to roles in the relevant new unitary council and all workers will be protected by the relevant employment laws.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Councils offered flexibility to complete reorganisation, published on 18 December 2025, what discussions he has had with local government bodies in Essex on the expected change in the number of councillors following local government reorganisation.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
No decisions have yet been taken on reorganisation in Essex, Southend on Sea and Thurrock and as such the Secretary of State has not had discussions on any expected change in the number of councillors.
On 5 February 2025, the Government invited two-tier authorities and their neighbouring small unitary councils to develop proposals for unitary local government. In those proposals, areas were asked to include details of the expected number of councillors for any new unitary council. The four proposals submitted by councils in Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock each included councillor numbers. Consultation on these proposals closed on 11 January 2026. The Secretary of State will now consider the proposals, alongside consultation responses and other available evidence, before deciding which, if any, to implement.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what discussions his Department have had with Basildon Council regarding the financial viability of the 5 council model where Basildon and Thurrock would merge.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities.
The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised.
On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what recent discussions his Department has had regarding financial support for whichever restructured council area inherits the debts of Thurrock, Basildon, and Essex Councils.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities.
The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised.
On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with refence to his Department's oral statement of 18 December 2025 on Local Government Reorganisation, Official Report col 1130, what discussions his Department have had with the commissioners at Thurrock Council on the preferred option for which councils Thurrock should merge with.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Thurrock Commissioners were involved in the development of reorganisation proposals and my officials met with them in the course of those and other responsibilities.
The Department met with councils following the submission of proposals on 26 September, and officers from Basildon attended the meeting on the five unitary authority proposal meeting in November.
Baroness Taylor of Stevenage visited Basildon on 12 December, where local government reorganisation was raised.
On the wider question of Thurrock’s debt and the general handling of council debt, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 77936 on 13 October 2025.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure that road user charges for the Lower Thames Crossing are proportionate for local residents.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The charging regime for the Lower Thames Crossing has not yet been set. Many crossings in England, including the Dartford Crossing, already have a charge, and this will also apply to the Lower Thames Crossing. Charges are necessary to cover the costs of providing the infrastructure, whether funded publicly or privately. Under the Government's preferred financing option, the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model, it is envisaged that there would continue to be a discount for local residents once the transfer to the regulated private entity has completed.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how national housing targets are balanced against local transport constraints in rural areas.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should be responsive to local circumstances in rural areas.
To promote sustainable development, housing should be located where it will support and enhance the vitality of rural communities, especially where this will support local services.
The Framework is also clear that significant development should be focused on locations which are, or can be made, sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes. It also notes that opportunities to maximise sustainable transport solutions will vary between urban and rural areas, and this should be taken into account in both plan-making and decision-making.
The Framework sets out that development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or the residual cumulative impacts on the road network, following mitigation, would be severe, taking into account all reasonable future scenarios.
The government is currently consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes policies on housing and sustainable transport.
The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the British Embassy in Brussels' press release entitled Diplomat for a Day 2026 in Brussels: enter our competition' published on 9 January 2026, what estimate her Department has made of the cost to UK taxpayers of this initiative.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The work experience competition referred to by the Hon Member is in its fourth year in Belgium, run by the UK embassy alongside their counterparts from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, and not only provides an outstanding opportunity for the young women selected to take part, but an important means for the embassies involved to engage with high schools across their host country, and cement our strong relationships in that country for the future. The competition is delivered at minimal cost, shared across the four embassies, and while the Hon Member may take a different view, we believe in increasing the opportunities available to young women all over the world to play their full part in public life.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what guidance is issued to local planning authorities on approving housing developments in areas where existing rural road infrastructure cannot be expanded.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that planning policies and decisions should be responsive to local circumstances in rural areas.
To promote sustainable development, housing should be located where it will support and enhance the vitality of rural communities, especially where this will support local services.
The Framework is also clear that significant development should be focused on locations which are, or can be made, sustainable, through limiting the need to travel and offering a genuine choice of transport modes. It also notes that opportunities to maximise sustainable transport solutions will vary between urban and rural areas, and this should be taken into account in both plan-making and decision-making.
The Framework sets out that development should only be prevented or refused on highways grounds if there would be an unacceptable impact on highway safety, or the residual cumulative impacts on the road network, following mitigation, would be severe, taking into account all reasonable future scenarios.
The government is currently consulting on a new NPPF that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. The consultation includes policies on housing and sustainable transport.
The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.