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 reduce delays in NHS ophthalmology services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We have committed to ensuring that 92% of all patients, across specialties, wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment (RTT) by March 2029. As a first step, we have delivered a reduction in the waiting list by over 206,000, having now delivered 5.2 million additional appointments, compared to the previous year. This is more than double our pledge of 2 million extra appointments.
In ophthalmology, the current national waiting list stands at 593,646 pathways, with 69.8% of those having waited 18 weeks or less. This marks a 16,630 reduction in the ophthalmology waiting list, and a 3.7 percentage point improvement in patients waiting 18 weeks or less than in June 2024. In June 2024, the ophthalmology waiting list stood at 610,276 pathways, with 66.1% of patients waiting 18 weeks or less.
Ophthalmology is the largest outpatient speciality, with over 9.7 million outpatient attendances across 2024/25. Reforms to outpatient care outlined in our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, are already reducing delays in National Health Service ophthalmology services. We are reducing missed appointments through enhanced two-way communication between hospitals and patients. We are using AI prediction to reduce missed appointments and increasing the use of remote monitoring and patient-initiated follow up where appropriate, to offer patients more flexibility over their care.
We will improve the IT connectivity between primary and secondary eye care services, to improve the referral and triage of patients and enable a more integrated approach to delivering eye care. The 10-Year Health Plan will also support more eye care services being delivered in the community, to help create capacity in secondary care by shifting care away from hospitals.
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) increase NHS winter capacity in Chichester constituency for the 2025-26 winter period and (b) enhance public awareness of winter illness prevention.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service is already preparing for winter this year with the development and better testing of winter plans. This includes the surge capacity and escalation plans in place across all NHS and urgent care services including Chichester.
The UK Health Security Agency publishes the Adverse Weather and Health Plan for England, which sets out a framework for action to protect the population from harm to their health from adverse weather including excess cold.
On 20 October 2025, the Department will launch a multimedia campaign encouraging flu vaccination among people with long-term health conditions. This follows September 2025 campaigns promoting vaccination for pregnant women and children of pre-school and school age.
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, whether his Department plans to review the NHS Car Parking Guidance.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department currently has no plans to review National Health Service car parking guidance. Free hospital car parking is available to groups that are most in-need, including disabled people, frequent outpatient attenders, the parents of sick children staying overnight, and staff working night shifts.
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 provide clearer support pathways for women experiencing surgical menopause.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that women suffering from symptoms of menopause have been failed for far too long, and we acknowledge the impact it has on women’s lives, relationships, and participation in the workplace.
Surgical menopause can have significant consequences both in the short and long term. Menopausal symptoms can be particularly severe due to the sudden loss of ovarian function in both pre/post-menopausal women. Experiences vary, but this can be very debilitating.
Women should be counselled prior to surgery about what to expect and offered hormone replacement therapy if appropriate and desirable in managing symptoms. They should have a full discussion about implications of removal of ovaries and treatment options.
We have supported the system to improve access to more specialised and multidisciplinary teams in the community through the introduction of women’s health hubs. The hubs provide better communication and integrated care for women with a range of different needs, including menopause symptoms.
NHS England has supported a range of tools and interventions that will help to upskill more general practitioners in menopause care and will improve access to treatments that can be helpful, including a Menopause Optimal Pathway Toolkit (OPT). The OPT is an online resource that was developed in collaboration with partners including the British Menopause Society, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of General Practitioners, and the Royal College of Physicians. It is designed to be used in real-time, alongside the consultation, to guide health professionals through a menopause consultation. The information within the OPT is intended to be comprehensive, including National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, easy-to-use and locate, and should provide up-to-date information.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 effectiveness of the (a) Marine Management Organisation, (b) Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities and (c) Environment Agency in tackling (i) illegal fishing and (ii) unsustainable fishing practices.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra works closely with the Marine Management Organisation, Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities, and other organisations to make sure the appropriate arrangements to enforce fisheries regulations are in place to protect our waters. Building upon the vision for future technologies, outlined by the Government Office for Science, Defra is exploring continually how technology can innovate and enhance fisheries monitoring and surveillance methods to tackle illegal fishing and unsustainable fishing practices.
A range of individual evaluations and policy documents regularly published online, such as at the .GOV.UK and IFCA websites, highlight each body's contributions, successes and challenges in these areas.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to cap companies' charges for (a) all customers and (b) the elderly (i) when customers are locked out of their homes, (ii) mechanical failures in the home and (iii) all other domestic emergencies.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, traders are required to carry out a service with reasonable care and skill, and within reasonable time. Traders must also charge a “reasonable price” for services.
Otherwise, the prices businesses charge for a service are commercial decisions for them. This encourages businesses to compete, innovate and grow, creating an economy based on productive relationships and fairly won business reputations.
Under the Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act 2024, traders must take reasonable steps to ensure consumer reviews on their sites are genuine. To help consumersidentify reliable traders, the government supports approved code schemes that provide high standards of customer service and defined routes for redress.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has to help increase (a) participation in and (b) access to dance in local communities.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Improving access to the arts is a priority for this Government. Dance plays a central role in our country’s cultural ecology, from organisations like the English National Ballet and Rambert through to the community clubs across the country that ensure the talent pipeline for dancing of all styles continues to thrive.
The government supports the arts financially, including dance, through its arm’s-length body Arts Council England. Arts Council England has provided over £58 million to 153 organisations across England over 2024/25 to support dance. For instance, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s initiative “The Bridge” provides funding for working with schools and community groups nationwide to involve individuals in opera and ballet.
ACE also provides £450,000 in funding to the National Youth Dance Company, which offers high-quality training and performance opportunities through outreach to communities with higher proportions of young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to bring the financial threshold for electing for trial by jury for theft in line with that for charges of criminal damage.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
In Part I of the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, published July 9, Sir Brian Leveson recommends reclassifying certain triable either-way offences, including theft offences. We will set out our response to this and other aspects of his report in due course.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to ensure (a) effective management and (b) oversight of fibre broadband rollout in Chichester constituency.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
CityFibre is delivering Project Gigabit contracts across East and West Sussex, as well as Hampshire. These contracts currently include approximately 4,750 premises in the Chichester constituency.
All Project Gigabit contracts include criteria and obligations regarding time and budget against which suppliers’ performance is monitored. These include measures to manage effective build plans, milestones, risks and issues.
My Department holds regular meetings with suppliers to discuss their progress. Each supplier’s performance is measured using monthly contractual reporting, reviewing the build progress and payment claims on each contract.
Failure to deliver to a contract milestone on any build phase of a contract can result in the trigger of a rectification plan process and cessation of payments until the milestone is achieved.
Beyond Project Gigabit, in areas where deployment is commercially viable, we have created a competition-friendly environment to support the roll-out of gigabit broadband.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of processing times at HM Land Registry.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Improving speed of service remains a top priority for HM Land Registry (HMLR). Plans to achieve this will be outlined in its forthcoming Strategy 2025+ being published shortly.
As its sponsor department, MHCLG holds HMLR to account for performance and operational delivery and are in regular communication with HMLR about their processing times.
HMLR has been making improvements in this area through hiring and training more staff and by improving the efficiency of the services its customers use. The introduction of new pre-submission validation checks will speed up processes and reduce staff time spent on dealing with errors or mistakes. The age of outstanding post-completion applications is now under 12 months across all service lines, from a peak of 20 months in February 2023.
HMLR processing times are publicly available on gov.uk here.
Anyone who is concerned that a delay to their application may cause financial, legal or personal problems or put a property sale at risk, can apply to have their application expedited free of charge. HMLR processes nearly 1,400 expedited applications every day, with more than 95% actioned within 10 working days.