Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure clinical leadership and advice is available within his Department for (a) Musculoskeletal conditions, (b) stroke, (c) neurological conditions, (d) cardiovascular disease, (e) continence care, (f) cancer, (g) respiratory illnesses, (h) rehabilitation, (i) frailty, (j) pediatrics, (k) women's health and (l) allergies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National clinical directors and national specialty advisers are practising clinicians from across England who work part-time at NHS England, providing clinical leadership, advice, input, and support across distinct areas of National Health Service conditions and services, ranging from cancer and cardiovascular disease to urgent and emergency care and major trauma, in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
NHS England’s Specialised Commissioning Programme also employs clinical directors who provide clinical leadership across national programmes of care and clinical reference groups.
Whilst transformation for NHS England and the Department takes place, we will continue to ensure the clinical voice remains at the core of our work.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered including supported internship provision in Skills England.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity, so that every young person can follow the pathway that is right for them. The department recognises that high-quality supported internships are an important pathway to improve the life chances of young people with special educational needs and disabilities by supporting them into sustained, paid employment. As an executive agency of the Department for Education, Skills England will work across government to ensure that there are clear education and training pathways. It will do this by engaging employers and other partners to identify skills gaps in key sectors and using this insight to drive improvements in the skills offer to boost economic growth.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of additional physiotherapists required to support people (a) with long-term health conditions and (b) who are disabled get back to work.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific assessment of the additional need for physiotherapists and rehabilitation support workers in the National Health Service and independent sectors.
The Department will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people are in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
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 level of need for additional (a) physiotherapists and (b) rehabilitation support workers in (i) the NHS and (ii) independent sectors.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has made no specific assessment of the additional need for physiotherapists and rehabilitation support workers in the National Health Service and independent sectors.
The Department will publish a 10 Year Workforce Plan to create a workforce ready to deliver a transformed service. They will be more empowered, more flexible, and more fulfilled. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people are in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding available to schools to purchase Adrenaline Autoinjector Pens for pupils with allergies.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - 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. The accompanying statutory guidance ‘Supporting pupils with medical conditions at school’ makes clear to schools what is expected of them in taking reasonable steps to fulfil their legal obligations and to meet the individual needs of pupils with medical conditions, including allergies. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supporting-pupils-at-school-with-medical-conditions--3.
Overall schools funding will total £65.3 billion in 2025/26 compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25. This represents an increase of £3.7 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs in 2025/26 compared to 2024/25.
The Spending Review reaffirmed the government’s commitment to children and young people. It announced that core schools funding, including investment in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), will rise to £69.5 billion by 2028/29.
Our overall investment in schools funding is a critical step forward in our mission to support all children and young people to achieve and thrive and will support teachers and leaders to deliver high and rising standards across every school and for every pupil, including those with SEND.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help ensure that councils are accountable to their constituents during complaints processes.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils should follow the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, which sets out how complaints should be considered fairly and effectively.
Residents dissatisfied with their complaint outcome can refer their complaint to the Ombudsman who will independently look at whether public services are being delivered properly.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to tackle retail crime.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling retail crime, in partnership with police and retailers, is a top priority for this government.
In the last year of the previous government, shop theft reached a record high, and violence and abuse towards retail workers increased at an unacceptable level.
This Government will not tolerate these crimes. Through our Crime and Policing Bill, we have introduced a new offence of assaulting a retail worker and we will end the effective immunity for shop theft of goods under £200.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the practice of gazumping; and whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of voluntary reservation agreements in residential sales.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government recognise that the home buying and selling process in England and Wales is inefficient and costly for consumers and professionals. We continue to review evidence from other jurisdictions, including on reservation agreements, as we consider next steps.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that apprenticeship opportunities are made more widely available for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. As part of this, we want to ensure that more people from disadvantaged backgrounds can undertake apprenticeships.
The department continues to pay additional funding to employers and training providers to support them to take on young apprentices, apprentices with learning difficulties and disabilities, and care leavers.
The department has begun work to develop new foundation apprenticeships, providing high quality entry pathways for young people. We will engage with relevant stakeholders to inform our thinking to maximise the positive impact on young people, including those in disadvantaged areas. More detail on foundation apprenticeships will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Department is taking to support (a) parents and (b) carers facing domestic (i) abuse and (ii) violence from (A) children and (B) wards.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The scale of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable and this Government will treat it as the national emergency that it is. Tackling VAWG is a top priority and our mission is to halve VAWG within a decade. To achieve this ambitious aim, it is essential that we tackle domestic abuse and all forms of interpersonal abuse.
This Government’s target to halve VAWG within the next decade will only succeed if we continue to ensure children and young people are also at the heart of prevention and intervention programmes and policies. Progressing work around child to parent abuse is an important part of this and we will consider the responses to the consultation on the definition of child to parent abuse as part of our approach to addressing this issue.