Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2024 to Question 11001 on Animal Experiments: Public Consultation, what progress his Department has made on consulting with civil society and animal protection organisations.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal. The government has been consulting civil society as this process unfolds. This includes attending meetings with animal protection organisations and considering documentation sent by such organisations to the Government. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 1 November 2024 to Question 11001 on Animal Experiments: Public Consultation, whether his Department plans to publish the names of the organisations it consults with.

Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

As part of the Labour Manifesto’s commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, the government has been consulting civil society as this process unfolds. This includes attending meetings with and considering documentation sent by animal protection organisations. The government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year which will consider these discussions. However, the strategy will not be publishing the specific names of the organisations it consults with.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a legal definition of child-to-parent abuse.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and our mission is to halve VAWG within a decade. To achieve this ambitious aim, it is essential that we tackle domestic abuse and all forms of interpersonal abuse. The Home Office is working closely with other Government departments to develop plans to deliver on this ambition and deliver a transformative change to society, and will publish a cross-government VAWG Strategy later this year.

This Government will only succeed if we continue to ensure children and young people are also at the heart of prevention and intervention programmes and policies. Progressing work around child-to-parent abuse is an important part of this. A consultation into the definition of child-to-parent abuse closed in February 2024. The responses are currently being considered and will inform the detail of future work, but child-to-parent abuse does fall under the domestic abuse definition.

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 waiting times for children’s mental health services, between the point of initial assessment and starting treatment.

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

No such assessment has been made, as the Mental Health Services Data Set does not collect data from ‘initial assessment to starting treatment’.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of continuing the bus fare cap.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Delivering reliable and affordable public transport services is one of the government’s top priorities and we know how important this is for passengers and for local growth. The government is investing over £150 million to deliver a new £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January until 31 December 2025 to help millions access better opportunities and promote greater bus use by passengers.

If we had not taken action in the Budget, the bus fare cap would have ended and fares would have jumped back up to their previous levels on 31 December 2024. This would have meant some fares soared above £10 on the most expensive routes, as the last government had not funded the fare cap beyond the end of the year. Instead, we chose to fund an additional year of the fare cap but with the maximum price now set at £3. This does not mean, however, that all fares will rise to £3 as we will require operators to demonstrate that they have not raised fares any higher than inflation.

This government is committed to improving bus services across the country, which is why the Budget allocated more than £1 billion to local bus services. This will be used to expand services and improve reliability, which are currently massive obstacles for too many people.

Moving forward, the government is exploring more targeted options that deliver value for money to the taxpayer, to ensure affordable bus travel is always available for the groups who need it the most – such as young people.

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 adequacy of access to shared care arrangements for adults diagnosed with ADHD.

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

We are supporting a cross-sector taskforce that NHS England has established to look at attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) service provision and support across sectors, and their impact on patient experience. The taskforce is bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the National Health Service, education and justice, to better understand the challenges affecting people with ADHD including timely access to services and support.

General practitioners (GPs) are independent contractors that provide services for the National Health Service. The General Medical Council has published guidance on “Good practice in proposing, prescribing, providing and managing medicines and devices content”. This includes guidance on shared care arrangements between a specialist service and the patient’s GP to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities for any condition. The guidance is available at the following link:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/professional-standards/the-professional-standards/good-practice-in-prescribing-and-managing-medicines-and-devices/shared-care

NHS clinicians need to be content that any prescriptions, or referrals for treatment, are clinically appropriate. All shared care arrangements are voluntary, so even where agreements are in place, practices can decline shared care requests on clinical and capacity grounds.

If a shared care arrangement cannot be put in place after the treatment has been initiated, the responsibility for continued prescribing falls upon the specialist clinician; this applies to both NHS and private medical care.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will amend the key performance indicator for waiting times for children’s mental health services to include the length of time between referral and the start of treatment.

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

NHS England is working towards implementing the clinical review of standards and as a first step have started publishing data on waits from referral to start of treatment.

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 improve waiting times for children’s mental health services.

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

Too many children and young people are not receiving the mental health care they need, and we know that waits for mental health services are too long. As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, we will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to cut waiting times and ensure that people can access treatment and support earlier.

We will also provide access to a specialist mental health professional in every school in England and introduce open access Young Futures hubs in every community.

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 ensure local authorities complete timely financial audits of social care providers.

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

Adult social care services are provided through a largely outsourced market of commercial organisations and charities. Local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations, and to develop and build local market capacity.

That is why, under the Care Act 2014, local authorities are required to shape their local markets, and ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support options available to them, and that they can access the services that best meet their needs.

Local authorities also have a duty under the Care Act 2014 to ensure continuity of care in the event of business failure. This means that people continue to receive the care and support they need if their adult social care provider is no longer able to carry on delivering services.

Humanitarian situation in Sudan (No. 2)

Humanitarian situation in Sudan

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Anna Gelderd; Martin Rhodes

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Julia Buckley; Anna Gelderd; Martin Rhodes

Found: Q53 Julia Buckley: We are moving on now to the policy statement and the legal duty.

Found: Russell Brian Leishman Louise Haigh Andrew Cooper Dr Beccy Cooper Dame Siobhain McDonagh Julia Buckley

Found: Russell Brian Leishman Louise Haigh Andrew Cooper Dr Beccy Cooper Dame Siobhain McDonagh Julia Buckley