Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of introducing a presumption against building onshore wind developments on deep peat on the Government’s (a) biodiversity and (b) peatland restoration targets.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has considered the impact of planning regulation around wind farm development on peatland restoration and biodiversity.
The Government recognises the importance of England’s peatlands for biodiversity, water, and carbon storage. That’s why we are investing significantly in protecting and restoring nature, including peatlands.
There are existing protections for peatland habitats within the National Policy Planning Framework. In addition, this Government recently consulted on updated National Policy Statements for renewable energy development, which included updated guidance around peatland and onshore wind developments.
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 doctors accused of sexual misconduct were placed under interim suspension by the GMC between 2018 and 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants, and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is independent of the Government, being directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’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, whether any doctors were erased or struck off due to sexual misconduct between 2018 and 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold this information centrally.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of all medical doctors, physician assistants, and physician assistants in anaesthesia, still legally known as anaesthesia associates and physician associates, practising in the United Kingdom. The GMC is independent of the Government, being directly accountable to Parliament, and is responsible for operational matters concerning the discharge of its statutory duties. The United Kingdom’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 recent discussions his Department has had with the (a) General Medical Council and (b) Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on the implementation of the new Guidance for MPTS Tribunals, published in October 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Discussions have taken place between the Department and both the General Medical Council and the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service to understand how the updated guidance will influence tribunal decision making and whether the new sanction bandings in the guidance, which set out recommended sanction levels based on the type and severity of the case, will lead to more consistent outcomes.
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 steps her Department is taking to support innovation in novel diagnostic technologies through the Life Sciences Sector Plan, published on 16 July 2025.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Life Sciences Sector Plan focuses on enabling world-class R&D, making the UK an outstanding place to start, scale and invest in life sciences, and driving healthcare innovation and reform.
To ensure the NHS is equipped to adopt innovation at pace and scale, we must futureproof our regulatory landscape, streamline procurement and accelerate adoption and spread.
Targeted policies will drive this agenda forward, including the Regional Health Innovation Zones, which will be empowered to experiment, test and generate evidence on implementing innovation. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will accelerate the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic products and provide wraparound support to connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.
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 steps her Department is taking to support research and development projects using novel diagnostic technologies.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Life Sciences Sector Plan commits to enabling world class research & development (R&D) within the UK, with specific actions to support Medtech and Biotech companies including those focused on diagnostics. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) will deliver on this in parallel, accelerating the transition from ideation to commercialisation for novel diagnostic productions and providing wraparound support that will connect innovators to testbeds, regulators, and procurement processes. We will also further expand our significant investments in UK health data and genomics capabilities.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of people who (a) have indefinite leave to remain status and (b) are employed in the (i) NHS and (ii) social care sector.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information requested is not centrally held.
The Home Office publishes quarterly statistics relating to decisions on applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and those made through the EU Settlement Scheme, in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK publication, both of which provide an overview of those persons with indefinite leave to remain in the UK. However, we do not link indefinite leave to remain grants to current occupation.
Asked by: Josh Fenton-Glynn (Labour - Calder Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to expand defence procurement processes to enable greater participation by (a) advanced manufacturers in the Calder Valley valve industry and (b) other small and medium sized businesses.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold a crucial place in UK defence. They are the backbone of the UK economy and are vital to delivering the innovation, expertise and agility that we need now and in the future. This is recognised in the Defence Industrial Strategy, as well as the Department’s Social Value policy.
We work with our largest suppliers through a network of their SME Champions, trade associations and SME representatives to ensure that smaller companies have access to opportunities in our supply chain and that our prime contractors are adopting policies, such as fair payment practices, that support small businesses working in defence. We are also introducing a new SME Commercial Pathway as part of our broader acquisition transformation. Through this pathway, Defence will increase the number of opportunities for SMEs, and make our contracting processes simpler, less onerous and faster.
This Government has already announced an ambitious but achievable target to spend £7.5 billion with SMEs by 2028 which will see direct spend increase by approximately £700 million during the next three years, and we will launch a new Office For Small Business Growth to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, ensuring that thousands of small businesses in the UK, including those in the Calder Valley, continue to lead the way in developing the world-beating technologies and services that we will need.
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, if he will make an estimate of the average time between the (a) onset of symptoms and (b) formal diagnosis for patients with (i) lung, (ii) pancreatic, (iii) liver, (iv) brain, (v) oesophageal and (vi) stomach cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.
To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.
Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.
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 help reduce the time taken to diagnose (a) lung, (b) pancreatic, (c) liver, (d) brain, (e) oesophageal and (f) stomach cancer.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is supporting the National Health Service to meet the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS), for 75% of patients to be diagnosed or have cancer ruled out within 28 days of being referred urgently by their general practitioner (GP) for suspected cancer. NHS England collects and publishes monthly FDS performance data nationally and for individual cancer groups. Data is not available from the time of the onset of symptoms, but from referral.
To achieve the FDS, NHS England rolled out public awareness campaigns of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlined referral routes for different cancer types, and is increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres.
NHS England has also achieved full roll out of non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with vague and non-site-specific symptoms which do not clearly align to a tumour type.
The NHS is also taking crucial steps to improve lung cancer outcomes for patients across England, including the roll out of the Lung Cancer Screening Programme, designed to identify cancer at an earlier stage, and which is aimed at high-risk individuals or people with a history of smoking between the ages of 55 and 74 years old.
Additionally, we set out expectations for renewed focus on cancer targets in the Elective Reform plan, published on 6 January 2025. We asked systems and providers to identify local opportunities in both community diagnostic centres and hospital based diagnostic services to improve performance against the FDS, to reduce the number of patients waiting too long for a confirmed diagnosis of cancer.
As part of developing the forthcoming National Cancer Plan for England, the Department has been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce to identify how to improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers, which includes lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal, and stomach cancer.