Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support those with back pain and musculoskeletal sick notes to get back to the workplace.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Musculoskeletal (MSK) problems were one of the leading causes of sickness absence in the UK in 2024. Early detection and prevention, including increasing access to employment advice, can support people with MSK conditions getting into and remaining in work.
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including those with back pain and MSK conditions, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as Connect to Work and WorkWell.
As well as supporting people back into work, it is important that they are supported to successfully remain there. The Keep Britain Working review, published in November 2025, examined how employers can support healthier and more inclusive workplaces. Sir Charlie Mayfield was appointed to work in partnership with DWP, DBT and DHSC to oversee the implementation of his recommendations. Over 120 employers and ten regions are working with us through employer-led vanguard sprints, reshaping how health and disability are managed at work.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on utilising spare capacity in the chiropractic sector to support those with back pain and musculoskeletal sick notes back to the workforce.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including back pain and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, with their employment journey. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as Connect to Work and WorkWell.
As well as supporting people back into work, it is important that they are supported to successfully remain there. The Keep Britain Working review, published in November 2025, examined how employers can support healthier and more inclusive workplaces. Sir Charlie Mayfield was appointed to work in partnership with DWP, DBT and DHSC to oversee the implementation of his recommendations. Over 120 employers and ten regions are working with us through employer-led vanguard sprints, reshaping how health and disability are managed at work.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to make court and tribunal transcripts more accessible and affordable.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Government is committed to strengthening transparency across the justice system and is already taking significant steps across all jurisdictions.
We are also committed to upholding the principle of open justice, including embracing AI and exploring the opportunities it offers to produce court and tribunal transcripts more quickly and cost-effectively, while still meeting the necessary accuracy and safeguarding standards.
In the Crown Court, sentencing remarks are now published online in cases of significant public interest, and judges can also permit broadcasters to film Crown Court sentencing remarks, ensuring greater public visibility of judicial decisions.
From spring 2027, the Government is expanding free access to Crown Court sentencing remarks to all victims who request them. This builds on the existing process where victims of rape and serious sexual offences and bereaved families of victims of homicide, manslaughter and fatal road accidents were entitled to free transcripts of Crown Court sentencing remarks. These can be requested here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-transcript-of-a-judges-sentencing-remarks.
In the family court, the Government has also been working to support the judiciary to increase the number of family court judgments published in anonymised form, while ensuring the privacy and protection of children and families involved in proceedings. On more targeted transparency measures, the government is working with the judiciary to roll out new provisions relating to Transparency Orders across England and Wales, providing a clear framework for reporting where a journalist or legal blogger has attended a family court hearing. Since 29 September 2025, provisions relating to Transparency Orders have applied to all children’s cases.
In civil proceedings, litigants in England and Wales do not need to pay for the written order or judgment relating to their own case. This is sent to all parties involved, setting out the court’s reasoning for the decision, which parties can refer to if they wish to appeal that decision.
In tribunal proceedings, any judicial decision and the reasons will be provided to the parties unless there has been an order restricting that. Many of the major tribunal chambers also allow parties to proceedings to request fuller written reasons for tribunal decisions for no additional cost.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to help support fire and rescue services (a) in Nottinghamshire and (b) nationally via financial investment.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
On 9 February 2026, the Ministry published the 2026/27 Local Government Finance Settlement which sets out funding allocations for all local authorities including fire and rescue.
(a) In 2026/27, Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Authority will have a core spending power of £60.48 million, an increase of 4.7% compared to 2025/26.
(b) The Settlement will make available almost £1.95 billion in core spending power for standalone fire and rescue authorities in England (excluding North Yorkshire and Greater Manchester), an average 4.71% increase compared to 2025/26. By the end of the multi-year period, we will have provided a 12.75% increase in core spending power compared to 2025/26.
In addition to settlement funding, the Government has provided Fire and Rescue Authorities with several grants intended for specific purposes, such as the Fire Pensions Grant and Protection Uplift Grant.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure the Access to Work scheme supports people with multiple sclerosis.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. All assessments are done on an individual basis with all conditions, including Multiple Sclerosis where applicable, considered as part of an individual’s application.
We continue to engage disabled people’s organisations and individuals with lived experience, drawing on their insights alongside the National Audit Office’s recommendations as we take forward improvements to the scheme.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the ways in which the Youth Guarantee will benefit disabled young people seeking employment.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is taking action to help young disabled people move towards work. Disabled young people are diverse group, so it is key that the individual gets access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, for them.
The Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will guarantee specialist support for disabled young people.
At the Budget, we have announced an £820 million funding package for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn. Over the next three years nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds will be offered a dedicated session with a Work Coach, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support. We will also expand our network of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain. This investment will create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21 through the Jobs Guarantee.
Success of the Youth Guarantee will be measured by improvement in employment outcomes, reduction in economic inactivity, and an increase in participation in education and training. We will monitor these outcomes nationally for all Youth Guarantee participants. This will build on already commissioned evaluation of eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers and a planned full process evaluation of the Jobs Guarantee.
Alongside the Youth Guarantee, the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our plans for the Pathways to Work offer. Backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade, building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We anticipate that the Pathways to Work offer once fully rolled out will include a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.
Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will build on the range of support already available to disabled people, regardless of their benefit status or Work Group. For example, Connect to Work a supported employment programme that joins up work skills and health support, and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combine the expertise of therapists and employment advisers to give those with mental health conditions the support they need to find work tailored to them. Additionally, disabled people might be able to access WorkWell, which is our new way to deliver integrated work and health support through local partnerships.
Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn is leading on an investigation of the rise in youth inactivity with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability and expected to report in Summer 2026.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department are taking to improve recognition and provision for people with long COVID.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has invested significantly in supporting people with long covid. This includes setting up specialist post-COVID-19, or long covid, services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, and investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition.
Since April 2024, in line with the National Health Service operating framework and the establishment of integrated care systems, the commissioning of post-COVID-19 services has been the responsibility of local integrated care boards to meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to establish the International Post Covid and Post Infection Conditions Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice to support people affected by long covid.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, are committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long covid, including for children and young people. This includes the world’s largest longitudinal cohort study to understand the impact of long covid in children, the Children and young people with Long-Covid study.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department are taking to improve A) diagnosis and B) treatment of children with long COVID.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has invested significantly in supporting people with long covid. This includes setting up specialist post-COVID-19, or long covid, services nationwide for adults, and children and young people, and investing in ensuring general practice teams are equipped to support people affected by the condition.
Since April 2024, in line with the National Health Service operating framework and the establishment of integrated care systems, the commissioning of post-COVID-19 services has been the responsibility of local integrated care boards to meet the needs of their population, subject to local prioritisation and funding.
To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to establish the International Post Covid and Post Infection Conditions Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice to support people affected by long covid.
The National Institute for Health and Care Research and Medical Research Council, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, are committed to funding high-quality research to understand the causes, consequences, and treatment for long covid, including for children and young people. This includes the world’s largest longitudinal cohort study to understand the impact of long covid in children, the Children and young people with Long-Covid study.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if she will set out the timeline for publishing the spending allocations for Official Development Assistance up to 2028/29; and what steps she is taking to ensure funding for humanitarian programmes is protected.
Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 28 January to Question 107281.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to include kinship parents in its Parental leave and pay review.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government’s Parental Leave and Pay Review will conclude in early 2027 with a set of findings which outline next steps for implementing any reforms.
In addition to considering, all current and upcoming parental leave and pay entitlements, the Review is considering the needs of other working families who do not qualify for existing leave and pay entitlements, such as kinship carers.
The Government is also supporting kinship carers through other mechanisms and has recently launched a kinship pilot to support up to 5,000 kinship families by paying eligible carers an allowance equivalent to the Fostering National Minimum Allowance.