Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will have discussions with food retailers on ending the use of cages for hens.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department remains firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to continue working closely with all stakeholders to deliver high standards. The major retailers have pledged to stop selling shell eggs from caged hens by the end of 2025, with some retailers extending that pledge to products containing liquid or processed egg.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring regulation on packaging of cigars and cigarillos in line with that for cigarettes.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the November 2024 Government response to the consultation 'Mandating quit information messages inside tobacco packs', we are considering introducing more stringent packaging requirements for all tobacco products, including cigars and cigarillos, tobacco related devices, cigarette papers, and herbal smoking products.
We ran a call for evidence on standardising packaging for all tobacco products between November 2024 and January 2025. We will publish a consultation next year on future regulations. We will listen very carefully to the views and evidence put forward by stakeholders.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when further details on the Structures Fund will be announced.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Structures Fund will enable local highway authorities to repair run down bridges, decaying flyovers and worn-out tunnels across England. We will publish more information about the fund in due course and encourage all MPs to highlight the opportunity to their local councils.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the statutory guidance entitled Allotment disposal guidance: safeguards and alternatives, published on 30 January 2014, remains in effect.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The 2014 statutory allotment disposal guidance remains in effect.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the UK National Screening Committee on targeted prostate cancer screening.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The UK National Screening Committee keeps my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care informed of progress on its current review into prostate cancer screening, which includes targeted screening.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 September 2025 to Question 75816 on Heart Diseases: Young People, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure that people who are (a) asymptomatic and (b) unaware of a family history also are screened.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
In the United Kingdom, national screening programmes are introduced based on the recommendations of the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC), an independent scientific advisory committee which advises Ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries on all aspects of population and targeted screening and supports implementation.
The UK NSC last reviewed screening for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in people under the age of 39 years old in 2019 and concluded that population screening should not be offered. Information on that review is available at the following link:
https://view-health-screening-recommendations.service.gov.uk/sudden-cardiac-death/
The UK NSC is currently examining the evidence for SCD screening and will open a public consultation to seek comments from members of the public and stakeholders on this in due course.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
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 help raise awareness among young people of the risks of sudden cardiac death.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To reduce the risks of sudden cardiac death, NHS England has a published a national service specification for inherited cardiac conditions that covers patients who often present as young adults with previously undiagnosed cardiac disease or families requiring follow-up due to a death from this cause. This describes the service model and guidance that should be followed to support diagnosis and treatment of patients or family members. It also includes the requirement for specialised inherited cardiac conditions services to investigate suspected cases.
NHS England is currently reviewing this service specification in line with the national service specification methods review process. NHS England is working with a broad range of stakeholders as part of this review including National Health Service clinical experts, the Association of Inherited Cardiac Conditions, Cardiomyopathy UK, Heart Valve Voice and the British Heart Foundation.
Genomics has an important role to play in diagnosing and supporting the treatment and management of several cardiac conditions. The National Genomic Test Directory sets out the eligibility criteria for patients to access testing as well as the genomic targets to be tested and the method that should be used and this includes genomic testing for a number of conditions which affect the heart, including, for example, testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH), cardiomyopathies, long QT syndrome, Brugada syndrome and others. The directory is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/national-genomic-test-directories/
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Leader of the House of Lords on when the committee stage of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill will take place.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Ministers and officials from the Department are regularly in touch with their counterparts across Government. The Tobacco and Vapes Bill has had its Second Reading in the House of Lords, and Committee stage will take place when parliamentary time allows. We expect the Bill to complete its passage within this parliamentary session.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
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 deliver the national lung cancer screening programme by the target date of end of 2029-30.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS is taking crucial steps to improve cancer outcomes for patients across England, including for lung cancer. The NHS is currently rolling out the National Lung Cancer Screening Programme to people with a history of smoking.
The timescale for full implementation of the lung cancer screening programme, alongside further ten-year plan initiatives, will be specified in due course.
Asked by: Jim Dickson (Labour - Dartford)
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 prevent the sale of nicotine pouches designed to look like confectionary products.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Nicotine pouches are highly addictive, and we have a duty to protect children and young people from potential harms.
That is why, through the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, we will introduce age of sale restrictions to 18 years old for nicotine pouches and will ban their advertising and sponsorship. The bill also includes powers to regulate the packaging, flavours, and product standards of all vapes and nicotine products, as well as their display in shops.
We plan to consult on these measures, including packaging restrictions, in due course.