Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of disregarding the Pension Scheme and Armed Forces Compensation Scheme for the purpose of calculating entitlement to Pension Credit.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

No formal assessment has been made.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when the Places of Worship Renewal Fund will be open for applications.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Further details regarding the eligibility criteria and application process for the new Places of Worship Renewal Fund will be published in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school-based nurseries were created under the school-based nursery capital grant for 2024-25 that replaced an existing private nursery in the same location.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

High-quality early years education is central to our mission to break down barriers to opportunity, give every child the best possible start in life, and is essential to our Plan for Change. This government is boosting availability and access through the school-based nurseries programme, supporting school led-provision and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers and childminders operating from school sites. There is no available data on any replacement of provision.

27 of the 300 successful schools in Phase 1 are working in partnership with a private, voluntary or independent provider, and schools can continue to partner with them and childminders for future phases. For Phase 1 of the programme, local authorities had to confirm childcare need for the proposed projects. In further phases, we have strengthened their role, asking them to confirm that any new nursery will enhance the local offer and not displace quality provision already in place.

We have already made a real impact, delivering a reported 5,000 new nursery places through Phase 1, and are due to announce successful projects for Phase 2 soon.

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 help reduce colonoscopy waiting times in East Sussex.

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

The Government is aware of the impact that waiting for diagnostic tests, like colonoscopies, has on patients and is committed to reducing waiting times through transforming diagnostic services in acute hospitals and community diagnostic centres (CDCs). Earlier access to diagnostic tests is key to supporting earlier diagnosis and earlier treatment if needed.

A colonoscopy is a type of an endoscopic procedure. The strategy for endoscopy across Sussex is for new treatments, such as cyto-sponge and colon capsule endoscopy, to be developed and delivered through its CDCs in 2026/27, offering less invasive alternatives to endoscopy for the many patients for whom they are suitable. This will reduce the demand on endoscopy services in hospitals which will be able to be more effectively used for those patients who require them.

We are pleased to say that a new endoscopy centre on the Eastbourne Hospital site is due to start taking patients in March 2026, which will further improve the capacity and environment for patients.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities have paid back their full Exceptional Financial Support.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The recent Local Government Finance Settlement is our most significant step yet to make English local government more sustainable. Our reforms are delivering a fairer Settlement which puts funding where it is needed most. Before our reforms, only around a third of councils were given the funding that broadly matched their assessed need. Our reforms bring that up to nine in ten councils by 2028-29.

However, delivering reform will take time, and the government recognises the challenging financial context for local authorities as they continue to deal with the legacy of the previous flawed system. On 23 February government published details of Exceptional Financial Support provided to a number of councils to help them set balanced budgets for 2026-27. In line with approaches taken by previous governments, this support is provided through in-principle agreement to capitalisation directions. These provide councils with flexibility to manage some budgetary pressures either using capital receipts or using contributions from the revenue budget over time, supported by borrowing where necessary.

Councils are responsible for their own financial management, including funding any expenditure under the Exceptional Financial Support framework. When agreeing support, government has been clear that councils should aim to avoid or minimise additional borrowing by looking to use capital receipts to fund capitalised expenditure where possible, subject to appropriate value for money considerations and protection of community and heritage assets.

Government has also been clear that any support provided should be a time-limited and temporary measure, and local authorities should have clear plans to deliver the improvements and service transformation required to help them to return to financial stability over the multi-year Settlement.

Covid Day of Reflection 2026