Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether schools will be able to refer demand for breakfast clubs to existing out-of-school clubs.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department is committed to delivering free breakfast clubs across England. Schools can work with private, voluntary and independent providers such as existing out-of-school club providers to deliver this commitment.

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 with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to establish full clinical guidelines for the (a) diagnosis and (b) treatment of people with Tourette's syndrome.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has established a prioritisation board that takes decisions on which topics should be prioritised for the development of a clinical guideline, in line with the routing criteria set out in the NICE’s published prioritisation framework, and through engagement with experts and other interested parties. The prioritisation board is currently considering Tourette’s and tic disorders as a possible topic for guideline development, however no final prioritisation decisions have been made yet.

The NICE has produced guidance on suspected neurological conditions, which includes recommendations on treatment for tics and involuntary movements in adults and children. The guidance can be found at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng127/

The NICE is also developing an Early Value Assessment on digital therapy for chronic tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, and currently expects to publish final guidance in May 2025.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support independent cinemas to access funding for (a) infrastructure and (b) urgent works.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The government recognises the importance of cinemas as part of the UK’s film industry and as community assets, and we continue to work closely with the British Film Institute (BFI) and the cinema sector. The Government’s tax incentives, including the new Independent Film Tax Credit, are bolstering the slate of films available to be shown in British cinemas.

The BFI’s Film Audience Network (BFI FAN) is a collaboration of 8 film hubs, managed by leading film organisations and venues around the UK which provides support to cinemas on a local level. Film hubs are centres of expertise and support that connect cinemas, festivals and creative practitioners. Further information on BFI FAN can be found at: https://www.bfi.org.uk/get-funding-support/bring-film-wider-uk-audience.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to help increase dementia diagnosis rates to pre-Covid-19 levels in Leigh and Atherton constituency.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to recovering the dementia diagnosis rate (DDR) to the national ambition of 66.7%, which in England, at the end of February 2025, was 65.4%.

To support recovery of the DDR and implementation of the Dementia Care Pathway, we have developed a dashboard to provide appropriate data and enable targeted support where needed.

To reduce variation in diagnosis rates, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities’ Dementia Intelligence Network has developed a tool for local systems, which includes an assessment of population characteristics such as rurality and socio-economic deprivation. This enables systems to investigate local variation in diagnosis and take informed action to enhance their diagnosis rates. The tool has been released and is available via the NHS Futures Collaboration platform.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on (a) diagnostics and (b) treatment pathways for people with long covid.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no diagnostic tests for long COVID currently approved for use in the United Kingdom, and clinicians must rule out other conditions which present with similar symptoms to diagnose long COVID. Researchers are also working to identify blood-based biomarkers as the basis for diagnostic tests and targets for treatments.

Over the last five years, the Government, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the Medical Research Council, has invested over £57 million in long COVID research, with almost £40 million of this through two specific research calls on long COVID.

This includes clinical trials to test and compare different treatments, and to improve our understanding of long COVID and how health professionals can accurately diagnose the condition. This research has improved the evidence base for clinicians in testing for and treating long COVID.

To support clinical leadership in this area, NHS England has worked in partnership with the British Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine to develop a new Clinical Post-COVID Society to facilitate the ongoing sharing of best practice and to support people affected by long COVID. Further information about the society is available at the following link:

https://www.clinicalpcs.org.uk

Coalfields Regeneration Trust funding

Found: present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr James Frith; Damian Hinds; Dr Rupa Huq; Liz Jarvis; Jo Platt

Found: present: Dame Caroline Dinenage (Chair); Mr James Frith; Damian Hinds; Dr Rupa Huq; Liz Jarvis; Jo Platt