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 his Department is taking to provide consistent funding for fertility treatment across all NHS Trusts.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Access to NHS-funded fertility services varies across England, which is unacceptable.
Revised National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines are due this Spring.
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), based on their population’s clinical needs. We expect ICBs to commission fertility services consistent with these new guidelines, ensuring equal access to treatment across England.
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 cost of (a) implementation for GP practices and (b) operation of the online appointment booking system introduced for GP practices in October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) have been required to offer and promote an online consultation tool to their registered patients since 2021.
The change introduced in October 2025 regarding online access will mean explicitly requiring that all modes of contacting the practice are available at least during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30. This means parity for walk-in, phone, and online access. This requirement builds on policies that have been in place for several years to encourage the shift to modern GPs. Practices that consistently use online access have reported improvements in services for both patients and staff, support timely access to care, and enhance productivity for patients.
The National Health Service provided extensive support to practices in the lead up to the introduction of these requirements and continues to do so. This includes reaching out to any practices that are struggling to help them to prepare, including providing guidance, webinars, case studies, and bringing in GP practitioners and practice staff who are experts in service redesign and improvement in GPs.
NHS England has provided a total of £71 million in funding for practices to procure high-quality online consultation, messaging, and appointment booking tools. An additional £88 million over 2023/24 and 2024/25 was provided for transition cover and transformation support for practices to implement these new systems.
We are also investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, this is the biggest cash increase in over a decade.
The percentage of patients who said that it was easy to contact their GP increased from 61% in August 2024, to 74% in October 2025 according to the Office for National Statistics Health Insight Survey.
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, pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 80890 on Electric Vehicles, whether public EV charging infrastructure funded through the Local EV Infrastructure Fund will offer rates comparable to domestic overnight electricity tariffs available to residents with off-street parking.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government recognises that public charging is more expensive than charging at home. To keep charging costs down for users, the Local EV Infrastructure Fund primarily supports lower powered local charging infrastructure, which tends to be cheaper than rapid charging.
The Government has also launched a review into the cost of public electric vehicle charging, looking at the impact of energy prices, wider cost contributors, and options for lowering these costs for consumers.
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 potential impact of proposed changes to biodiversity net gain thresholds on the financial stability of National Parks.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department will publish Government responses to the biodiversity net gain (BNG) consultations in the new year. They will be accompanied by evidence annexes which will include the proportion of developments expected to be exempt from BNG following the changes announced in December.
In December the Government announced it is proposing to introduce an area-based exemption for small sites that are 0.2 hectares or less and will also consult on an additional targeted exemption for residential brownfield development. National Park Authorities will continue to be able to engage with BNG, including providing off-site BNG units for developers who cannot achieve all of their BNG onsite. The Government is also introducing BNG for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects next year, which will support demand for units from the BNG off-site market.
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 proportion of development will be exempt from biodiversity net gain requirements.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The department will publish Government responses to the biodiversity net gain (BNG) consultations in the new year. They will be accompanied by evidence annexes which will include the proportion of developments expected to be exempt from BNG following the changes announced in December.
In December the Government announced it is proposing to introduce an area-based exemption for small sites that are 0.2 hectares or less and will also consult on an additional targeted exemption for residential brownfield development. National Park Authorities will continue to be able to engage with BNG, including providing off-site BNG units for developers who cannot achieve all of their BNG onsite. The Government is also introducing BNG for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects next year, which will support demand for units from the BNG off-site market.
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 distance will be classified as near to a train station for the default yes position the department is currently consulting on as part of its review into the national planning policy framework.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The consultation sets out the details of the proposed approach to land around stations, including those that are defined as well-connected and those that are within and outside of settlements. It can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
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, whether any other transport infrastructure will be considered in the government's consultation on a default yes position for development around train stations in the national planning policy framework.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The consultation sets out the details of the proposed approach to land around stations, including those that are defined as well-connected and those that are within and outside of settlements. It can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
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, whether access to healthcare will be a consideration in the default yes position for housing developments around train stations when consulting on the national planning policy framework.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is currently consulting on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
The consultation sets out the details of the proposed approach to land around stations, including those that are defined as well-connected and those that are within and outside of settlements. It can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.
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 improve access to specialist care, treatment and medication for a) children and b) people with phenylketonuria.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as phenylketonuria, through the UK Rare Diseases Framework. A priority of the framework is improved access to specialist care, treatment, and drugs. In February last year the England 2025 Rare Diseases Action Plan was published, including progress made under this priority, namely:
Information about symptoms, medicines, tests and treatments, is provided on the NHS England webpage on phenylketonuria, at the following link:
The treatment sapropterin is eligible for people with phenylketonuria. Clinical trials suggest that approximately four in 10 people may benefit from sapropterin, improving their quality of life significantly and reducing restrictions on the food they can eat.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has made an (a) assessment of the effectiveness of her policies to reduce waiting times for driving tests and (b) estimate of the costs to (i) people in Chichester constituency and (ii) the economy of those waiting times.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The average waiting time in weeks, in December 2025, for a car practical driving test at Chichester driving test centre was 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) fully acknowledges car practical driving test waiting times remain high and understands the impact this continues to have on learner drivers across the country, particularly where a driving licence is vital for accessing jobs and training. The agency is intensifying its efforts to reduce waiting times and improve access to driving tests that will break down barriers to opportunity as part of the government’s Plan for Change, supporting economic growth.
On the 12 November, the Secretary of State for Transport, updated the Transport Select Committee on the government’s ongoing response to high driving test waiting times.
In the coming months, DVSA will: