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.
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 whether the absence of mandatory strike‑off in the new MPTS guidance for proven sexual misconduct by doctors adequately protects patients.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The new guidance for Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service tribunals includes more detail about assessing the seriousness of an allegation and the features that may increase the seriousness. The guidance now also includes sanction bandings. These indicate the range of outcomes that can be expected in different case types, once a tribunal has decided whether a doctor poses a low, medium, or high level of risk to the public.
In cases relating to sexual misconduct, because the level of current and ongoing risk to public protection will generally be considered medium or high, tribunals should consider suspension or erasure. The guidance sets out that in cases where misconduct is found to be sexually motivated, the inherent seriousness is likely to be high, and that makes any outcome short of erasure from the register inappropriate.
The Department monitors how regulators perform their duties and will continue to engage with the General Medical Council, including assessing how the new guidance impacts the outcomes of tribunal findings in cases of sexual misconduct.
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 his Department has made of the effectiveness of (a) (i) communications and (ii) public advertising on NHS dentistry and (b) oral health initiatives to improve patient access to NHS dental services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There are currently no national communication campaigns on National Health Service dentistry and oral health initiatives to improve patient access and therefore no assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the communications and public advertising on NHS dentistry and oral health initiatives aimed at improving patient access to NHS dental services.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment. They are also responsible for deciding how best to communicate about their services for patients.
NHS England is responsible for maintaining and updating the NHS.uk website for England, which provides information and services to help patients manage their health including on dentistry.
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 much NHS England spent on (a) communications and (b) public advertising relating to NHS (i) dentistry and (ii) oral health initiatives in each of the last five years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England has spent no money on communications or advertising relating to National Health Service dentistry or oral health initiatives in the last five years.
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations and to determine the priorities for investment. They are also responsible for deciding how best to communicate about their services for patients.
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, with reference to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee’s Second Report of Session 2024–25, Gridlock or growth? Avoiding energy planning chaos, published on 7 July 2025, when he plans to publish the Government’s response.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government is grateful to the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee for its scrutiny of the draft updated National Policy Statements. The Committee’s conclusions and recommendations have been carefully considered and the Government response will be published once the final updated National Policy Statements are laid in Parliament later this year.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of introducing a presumption against building onshore wind developments on deep peat on the UK’s ability to meet its carbon emissions reduction targets.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government has considered the impact of planning regulation around wind farm development on peatland, including on deep peat, recognising the importance of England’s peatlands for biodiversity, water, and carbon storage.
There are existing protections for peatland habitats and deep peat within the National Policy Planning Framework. The Government also recently consulted on updated National Policy Statements for renewable energy development, including guidance around peatland and onshore wind.
This will ensure a balanced approach to onshore wind development and peatland protection, where Government can enable nature’s recovery while not impeding our commitments to Net Zero and Clean Power 2030.