Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 prepare for the expiry of NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust contracts, including the continuity of (a) primary care and (b) community health services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 2029, the leases on 308 NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings will begin to expire. The Department has initiated a national programme, Securing the Future, to manage these lease expiries through a structured, phased approach, and has determine which buildings should be retained to meet future health requirements.
Securing the Future will be led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a Department owned company that manages the LIFT estate. A business case is being developed to determine how best to secure the required estate after LIFT contract expiry, and this will assess the financial impact of different commercial approaches.
The Securing the Future programme will be informed by CHP’s expertise in managing Public Private Partnership assets. The business case will ensure that commercial arrangements to manage LIFT expiry are robust, and that any wider lessons from managing private finance initiatives are taken on board.
The number of NHS LIFT buildings in each region of England and the percentage of those contracts due to expire before the end of the 2029/30 financial year are as follows:
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the expiry of NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust contracts on the finances of Integrated Care Boards over the next 10 years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 2029, the leases on 308 NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings will begin to expire. The Department has initiated a national programme, Securing the Future, to manage these lease expiries through a structured, phased approach, and has determine which buildings should be retained to meet future health requirements.
Securing the Future will be led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a Department owned company that manages the LIFT estate. A business case is being developed to determine how best to secure the required estate after LIFT contract expiry, and this will assess the financial impact of different commercial approaches.
The Securing the Future programme will be informed by CHP’s expertise in managing Public Private Partnership assets. The business case will ensure that commercial arrangements to manage LIFT expiry are robust, and that any wider lessons from managing private finance initiatives are taken on board.
The number of NHS LIFT buildings in each region of England and the percentage of those contracts due to expire before the end of the 2029/30 financial year are as follows:
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is applying lessons learned from the expiry of hospital Private Finance Initiative contracts to the management of NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust contract expiries.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 2029, the leases on 308 NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings will begin to expire. The Department has initiated a national programme, Securing the Future, to manage these lease expiries through a structured, phased approach, and has determine which buildings should be retained to meet future health requirements.
Securing the Future will be led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a Department owned company that manages the LIFT estate. A business case is being developed to determine how best to secure the required estate after LIFT contract expiry, and this will assess the financial impact of different commercial approaches.
The Securing the Future programme will be informed by CHP’s expertise in managing Public Private Partnership assets. The business case will ensure that commercial arrangements to manage LIFT expiry are robust, and that any wider lessons from managing private finance initiatives are taken on board.
The number of NHS LIFT buildings in each region of England and the percentage of those contracts due to expire before the end of the 2029/30 financial year are as follows:
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust facilities there are in each region of England; and what proportion of those contracts are due to expire before 2030.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
From 2029, the leases on 308 NHS Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) buildings will begin to expire. The Department has initiated a national programme, Securing the Future, to manage these lease expiries through a structured, phased approach, and has determine which buildings should be retained to meet future health requirements.
Securing the Future will be led by Community Health Partnerships (CHP), a Department owned company that manages the LIFT estate. A business case is being developed to determine how best to secure the required estate after LIFT contract expiry, and this will assess the financial impact of different commercial approaches.
The Securing the Future programme will be informed by CHP’s expertise in managing Public Private Partnership assets. The business case will ensure that commercial arrangements to manage LIFT expiry are robust, and that any wider lessons from managing private finance initiatives are taken on board.
The number of NHS LIFT buildings in each region of England and the percentage of those contracts due to expire before the end of the 2029/30 financial year are as follows:
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
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 protect natural carbon sinks.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Nature-based solutions are fundamental to achieving net zero and biodiversity recovery. We are investing £7 billion in nature’s recovery, including £816 million for tree planting and £85 million on improving and restoring our peat, in order to protect and enhance natural carbon sinks.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the resilience of mobile networks in rural areas; and whether her Department plans to review (a) planning and (b) infrastructure requirements to prevent prolonged outages.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Senior officials within the department have been in regular contact with Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) about the coverage issue in Calder Valley constituency that impacted both O2 and Vodafone customers, along with customers of Mobile Virtual Network Operators using their networks. VMO2 have confirmed that a temporary fix has been put in place to restore mobile connectivity to the Hebden Bridge community. This was implemented on 7 November. VMO2 have told us the solution put in place will ensure that the coverage in Hebden Bridge is equivalent to the level of coverage experienced prior to the outage.
While we will be launching a call for evidence as soon as possible to assess the merits of further planning reform to support the deployment of mobile networks, VMO2 has indicated that obtaining planning permission was not a barrier to restoring coverage in the area.
Communications providers are legally required to ensure appropriate network availability, mitigate risks, and report significant incidents to Ofcom, which can investigate and enforce compliance. In December 2023, Ofcom launched a Call for Input on power back-up at mobile access sites. An update in February 2025 confirmed further analysis is underway to determine proportionate measures for operators. The Department supports this work and looks forward to its conclusions.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with mobile network operators on the timetable for restoring mobile coverage in Calder Valley constituency; and what steps she is taking to help expedite that process.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Senior officials within the department have been in regular contact with Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) about the coverage issue in Calder Valley constituency that impacted both O2 and Vodafone customers, along with customers of Mobile Virtual Network Operators using their networks. VMO2 have confirmed that a temporary fix has been put in place to restore mobile connectivity to the Hebden Bridge community. This was implemented on 7 November. VMO2 have told us the solution put in place will ensure that the coverage in Hebden Bridge is equivalent to the level of coverage experienced prior to the outage.
While we will be launching a call for evidence as soon as possible to assess the merits of further planning reform to support the deployment of mobile networks, VMO2 has indicated that obtaining planning permission was not a barrier to restoring coverage in the area.
Communications providers are legally required to ensure appropriate network availability, mitigate risks, and report significant incidents to Ofcom, which can investigate and enforce compliance. In December 2023, Ofcom launched a Call for Input on power back-up at mobile access sites. An update in February 2025 confirmed further analysis is underway to determine proportionate measures for operators. The Department supports this work and looks forward to its conclusions.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of consumer protections for mobile phone users impacted by long term service outages; and whether she plans to introduce additional regulation to increase those protections.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Telecoms consumers should rightly expect to have access to reliable and affordable connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel.
We have engaged with providers to ensure customers are eligible for compensation and are assessing options to proactively engage affected customers. While we have no current plans to extend regulatory requirements to include service outages, we and Ofcom keep the regulatory framework under review.
Ofcom is responsible for the Automatic Compensation Scheme and so any decision to extend the scheme would be for them. Ofcom also monitors trends in complaints. Operators are required to report significant incidents to Ofcom, who have powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties to ensure their network and services remain available.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she plans to extend Ofcom’s Automatic Compensation Scheme to cover prolonged mobile network outages.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Telecoms consumers should rightly expect to have access to reliable and affordable connectivity no matter where they live, work or travel.
We have engaged with providers to ensure customers are eligible for compensation and are assessing options to proactively engage affected customers. While we have no current plans to extend regulatory requirements to include service outages, we and Ofcom keep the regulatory framework under review.
Ofcom is responsible for the Automatic Compensation Scheme and so any decision to extend the scheme would be for them. Ofcom also monitors trends in complaints. Operators are required to report significant incidents to Ofcom, who have powers to investigate, rectify and penalise communications providers for any infringement of their duties to ensure their network and services remain available.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of nurses and midwives accused of sexual misconduct were placed under interim suspension by the NMC between 2019 and 2024.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information centrally. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom, and nursing associates in England. The NMC is independent of the Government, directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The UK's model of healthcare professional regulation is founded on the principle of regulators operating independently from the Government.