Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she plans to improve employer compliance with statutory sick pay obligations.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Government believes that enforcement of Statutory Sick Pay is vital in ensuring that employees receive the correct amount of Statutory Sick Pay they are due. Guidance to both employers and employees is provided on Gov.uk. HMRC also operates a dispute resolution process through its Statutory Payments Dispute Team for individuals who believe they have been wrongly denied Statutory Sick Pay.

However, the Government wants to go further in supporting employers and improving compliance with Statutory Sick Pay obligations. That is why it will be included in the Fair Work Agency which will bring together existing state enforcement functions into one place, so employment rights, including Statutory Sick Pay, are enforced more effectively and efficiently. The Fair Work Agency will provide better support to businesses to comply with the law and will also work closely with the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) which already provides guidance for employers and workers.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to support the installation of solar energy projects on local government buildings.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is working closely with Great British Energy (GBE), the Department for Health and Social Care, and the Department for Education to install rooftop solar panels on schools and hospitals.

In England £180 million in funding will support around 200 schools and 200 hospitals. This could lead to lifetime savings of up to £400 million over approximately thirty years.

Additionally, more than £1 billion is also being invested between now and 2028 through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and the Integrated Settlements with Greater Manchester and West Midlands Mayoral Combined Authorities, which supports the installation of solar on public sector buildings across England.

The government has also published Solar on the Government Estate: A senior Leader’s handbook. This sets out the guidance available to senior leaders in the public sector regarding solar on their estates.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to improve workplace health and safety protections for farm and agricultural workers.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

In line with its published Strategy 2022 to 2032, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) focuses on the most effective and efficient ways to improve the health and safety performance of all industries in Great Britain, including farming.

Between 2018 and 2024, in partnership with the industry, HSE ran a campaign to offer farmers free health and safety training which was then followed up by an inspection to a selection of those farms invited to take the training.

HSE will continue to visit farms where they have intelligence to suggest risk is not being managed adequately and investigate incidents in line with their published selection criteria.

As well as appropriate site visits, HSE continues to engage with farming through a variety of other methods including delivering industry talks; webinars and presentations; engaging with the media and publishing targeted articles for farmers; producing industry notifications which include safety messaging; and producing awareness raising campaigns. It also produces a range of freely available guidance to enable farmers to comply with health and safety law and keep themselves and others safe.

HSE’s commitment to working with the agricultural industry through stakeholders such as Britain’s Farm Safety Partnerships (FSPs) remains strong. The most recent activity includes supporting the FSPs with a campaign on safe use of quad bikes.

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 NHS dentists in rural areas.

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

This Government is determined to improve access to NHS dentistry.

We are targeting areas most in need, including in rural areas, by delivering 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments and recruiting dentists under the Golden Hellos scheme.

We will reform the dental contract, with a consultation underway on measures to improve access. More fundamental reforms will follow before the end of this Parliament.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to introduce requirements for car parking companies to install solar canopies on large parking lots.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

Outdoor car parks provide potential to deploy solar canopies providing clean electricity, potential for electric vehicle charging and shelter for cars. As such, the government published a Call for Evidence, which closed on the 18^th June, to gather robust evidence from stakeholders across industry, local authorities and other relevant sectors to inform a carefully designed, evidence-based approach to increasing uptake. A Government Response will be published this year.

Found: Alison Taylor (Labour; Paisley and Renfrewshire North) Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat; Tewkesbury) John Whitby

Found: Blake; Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; John Whitby

Found: ; Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Anna Gelderd; Pippa Heylings; Martin Rhodes; Blake Stephenson; John Whitby

Found: Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Blake Stephenson; John Whitby

Found: Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns; Barry Gardiner; Chris Hinchliff; Martin Rhodes; Blake Stephenson; John Whitby

Found: Gardiner; Alison Griffiths; Chris Hinchliff; Blake Stephenson; Alison Taylor; Cameron Thomas; John Whitby

Found: Gardiner; Alison Griffiths; Chris Hinchliff; Blake Stephenson; Alison Taylor; Cameron Thomas; John Whitby

Found: Richard Burgon Kate Osborne Marsha De Cordova Sorcha Eastwood Carla Denyer Paula Barker John Whitby

Found: substantially altered. 7 REPORT STAGE Tuesday 8 July 2025 Not called_NC13 Chris Evans Debbie Abrahams John Whitby