Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to ensure that households without signal are able to access the smart meter network.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Data Communications Company (DCC) is obligated under the conditions of its licence to provide Wide Area Network (WAN) coverage to at least 99.25% of premises across Great Britain.
The DCC is also required by licence conditions to seek to provide coverage to all premises where it is practicable and cost proportionate, and to assess opportunities to increase the overall level of coverage. For the minority of premises that currently do not receive WAN coverage, a new solution will be trialled early next year which will involve harnessing, with their consent, customers’ broadband connections to carry smart metering communications.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 (a) help reduce delays in continuing healthcare reviews for previously unassessed periods of care and (b) reduce the associated administration.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England published guidance in 2023 for assessing requests for Previously Unassessed Periods of Care (PUPoC). This guidance sets out how integrated care boards (ICBs) should approach and address PUPoC assessment requests. The guidance is available at the following link:
The guidance states that ICBs should set their own reasonable and proportionate timeframes for responding to requests. It provides best practice examples for how ICBs should complete PUPoC requests, based on the timeframe for the unassessed period of care and the completion of the required application and consent forms.
NHS England publishes quarterly statistics relating to the activity of NHS Continuing Healthcare and National Health Service-funded Nursing Care which includes PUPoC data, reporting on the number of cases agreed eligible, both total and per 50,000. This is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/nhs-chc-fnc/
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of levels of public understanding of winter illness (a) transmission and (b) prevention; and if he will consider a public information campaign on infection prevention, in addition to vaccination programmes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Public Perceptions Tracker provides insight into public attitudes and behaviours in relation to priority public health issues. It is a quarterly online survey, with a sample of approximately 1,000 participants per wave. The sample is representative of the following groups in England: gender identity; age; region; and social grade; interlocked with ethnicity.
In addition to vaccine campaigns, the UKHSA runs annual no-cost public information campaigns each winter, focused on promoting infection prevention behaviours. The campaign includes social media content, downloadable digital assets, and stakeholder engagement.
The UKHSA produces 'Virus Watch' which includes 60-second expert videos, explanatory infographics, and data summaries. This aims to help people understand which viruses are circulating and take the right actions to protect their health and prevent spread.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of schools being required to have specialist allergy nurses.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Section 100 of the Children and Families Act 2014 places a duty on maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units to make arrangements for supporting pupils with medical conditions. Schools should ensure they are aware of any pupils with medical conditions and have policies and processes in place to ensure these can be well managed. Any member of school staff providing support to a pupil with medical needs should have received suitable training. School nursing services provide health and wellbeing support for children and young people from age 4 up to 19. They provide specialist advice to schools on the management of medical conditions, including allergies.
Schools must have regard to the ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ statutory guidance, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
The department has committed to reviewing this guidance and intends to issue a consultation on an updated version of this statutory guidance.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the minimum (a) English and (b) maths requirements are to complete (i) apprenticeships and (ii) vocational courses; and whether he plans to review those requirements.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since February 2025, adults aged 19 and over no longer need to achieve a standalone English and maths qualification on top of their apprenticeship, where their employer agrees that this is not an essential part of their training. Young apprentices who are aged 16-18 at the start of their apprenticeship will continue to be required to achieve English and maths qualifications to put them in the best position to progress in their life and careers.
Upskilling in English and maths will continue to remain a key feature of all apprenticeships. All apprentices will continue to be required to secure and be assessed on the job-specific English and maths skills they need as part of the apprenticeship standard.
Regarding wider vocational courses, any student on a 16 to 19 study programme or T Level, who has not yet achieved an English and/or maths GCSE grade 4 or higher, must continue to be taught these subjects. However, the award of a qualification for these vocational courses is not contingent on their achievement of a grade 4.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of criteria for (a) parental and (b) professional involvement in decision-making for young people who lack the capacity to make the appropriate decisions to keep themselves safe after they turn 18.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People over the age of 18 years old come under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005, which has the statutory principle that an individual must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established otherwise. All practicable steps must be taken to help any individual above 18 years old to make a decision by themselves, and if unsuccessful, then all decisions made on their behalf must be in their best interests.
On 18 October 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced the intention to launch a public consultation on the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) in the first half of 2026. The consultation will cover a revised Code of Practice and will incorporate changes in case law, legislation, and good practice in application of the MCA.
The LPS, as introduced by the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019, aims to deliver greater involvement of families and professionals in providing care to vulnerable people in circumstances that amount to a deprivation of liberty.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available for the transition into adulthood at age 18 for young people who were in care during early childhood before being (a) adopted or (b) placed under alternative permanency arrangements.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
I refer the hon. Member for Chichester to the answer of 29 October 2025 to question 84112.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 increase the capacity of NHS dental services in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. For the Chichester constituency, this is the NHS Sussex ICB.
We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments to make sure that patients with urgent dental needs can get the treatment they require. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025. The NHS Sussex ICB is expected to deliver 26,546 additional urgent dental appointments as part of the scheme.
ICBs are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of, NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 help ensure that patients who are digitally excluded can retain (a) telephone and (b) in-person routes to book GP appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know that some patients may struggle or prefer not to use digital options. We are committed to ensuring that patients who are digitally excluded can retain telephone and in-person routes to book general practice (GP) appointments, by mandating that GPs must maintain these traditional access methods, alongside digital options. The move to digital-first access is designed to free up phone lines for those who want and need them, not replace them.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote parity of esteem for T Level qualifications in university admissions processes.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department regularly engages with the higher education (HE) sector to ensure T Levels are recognised as excellent preparation for higher study. We encourage the sector to accept T Levels on an equivalent basis to A levels by assigning them UCAS points in line with three A levels. For example, the highest overall T Level grade, Distinction*, is awarded the same number of points as three A*s at A level. T Level progression into HE is increasing year on year, as we are seeing more subjects become accessible to T Level graduates, with prestigious courses such as medicine now open to T Level learners in some institutions. Whilst thousands of T Level students go on to HE each year, not all providers give full clarity on their entry requirements. We are working closely with the sector to address this and continue to inform the sector on the merits of T Levels as a qualification of choice.