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 current EPC rating assessment criteria on landlords' ability to meet those criteria.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government is reforming Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), including the current EPC rating assessment criteria and the methodology that underpins this, with new and amended metrics due to be introduced for domestic buildings under the Home Energy Model (HEM). More information, including the consultation stage impact assessment, can be found in the consultation ‘Reforms to the Energy Performance of Buildings regime’ on gov.uk.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the length of time a driving theory test is valid for to tackle the backlog for practical tests.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The maximum duration of two years between passing the theory test and a subsequent practical test is in place to ensure a customer’s road safety knowledge and ability to identify developing hazards is current. This validity period is set in legislation, and the Government has no current plans to lay further legislation to extend it. It is important road safety knowledge and hazard perception skills are up to date at the critical point a person drives unsupervised for the first time.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the eligibility of the long course loan to (a) estranged and (b) care experienced students.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Full-time undergraduate students who are estranged from their parents or who are care leavers qualify for a long courses loan in the same way as other full-time undergraduate students.

Full-time students who attend their courses for more than 30 weeks and three days in an academic year qualify for additional means-tested long courses loan to help them with their living costs. This is paid for each week or part-week from 30 weeks and three days up to 45 weeks’ attendance. Students attending their courses for 45 weeks or more in any 52 week period are paid as if they are studying for the full 52 weeks, meaning that they qualify for 22 weeks additional living costs support. The weekly rates of long courses loan vary depending on where a student is living and studying during an academic year.

The government has increased maximum loans for living costs, including long courses loans, by forecast inflation (3.1%), for the 2025/26 academic year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure workforce planning aligns with the availability of trained candidates.

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

We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.

We will publish a 10-Year Health Plan to reform the National Health Service. The plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed to move healthcare from hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. Ensuring we have the right people, in the right places, with the right skills will be central to this vision. Later this year, we will publish a refreshed workforce plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the review of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan; and whether his Department has a planned timetable for publication.

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

The new workforce plan, to be published later this year, will be influenced by the 10-Year Health Plan and the Spending Review.

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 support parents looking after ill children (a) in the long-term and (b) immediately after diagnosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are committed to supporting people with long term conditions and to ensuring that they receive the support they need, including referral to specialist services as appropriate. We want a society where every person, including those with a long-term condition, and their families and carers, receive high-quality, compassionate continuity of care.

The Department is taking a range of practical steps to support parents caring for ill children. Immediately after diagnosis and in the longer term, parents may be eligible for travel cost support through the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme. In cases where a child has complex health needs, they can be assessed under the Children’s Continuing Care framework to determine appropriate ongoing support. Wider work is underway, such as the development of initiatives to support parents in hospital settings. Counselling and mental health support are typically provided through local services, and peer support is often offered by voluntary organisations.

As per Section 97 (3b) of the Children’s and Families Act 2014, parent carers have the right to request an assessment of their need for support from the local authority. Having been assessed, Section 17 (10b) of the Children’s Acts 1989 makes provision for a child whose physical or mental health is impaired, as well as his or her family, to receive the appropriate support services from the local authority.

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 provide final year medical students assigned placeholder jobs with clarity on where they will begin working as doctors in August 2025.

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

We are aware that there is a delay in NHS England allocating some foundation year one doctors their programme details and work schedules. We have asked NHS England to urgently tackle this issue. We know there is more to do and NHS England is working to ensure that all posts are confirmed as soon as possible, while keeping applicants informed throughout the process, including through webinars.

NHS England is due to review the foundation programme allocation process to make sure it works well for applicants. The review is scheduled for after the 2025/26 allocations and is aiming to commence in 2026. NHS England will advise stakeholders on how they can input in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practices (a) opened and (b) closed in (i) Broxtowe constituency, (ii) Nottinghamshire, (iii) the East Midlands and (iv) England between May 2010 and June 2024.

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

The table attached shows the number of general practices which have opened and closed between January 2014 and May 2024 in the Broxtowe constituency, Nottinghamshire, the East Midlands, and England. This is as far back as the data goes, up to the most recently published data.

This analysis only considers head practices and ignores branch practices. If a practice ceases to be a main practice and becomes a branch practice of another, this will count as a “closure” in this data, while in reality general practice provision at the site may well have continued under the new head practice.

Practices close for a variety of reasons, including mergers or retirement, and so this data does not necessarily indicate a reduction in the quality of care. When a practice does close, patients are informed of the closure and advised to register at another local practice of their choice within their area.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a distinct British identity status for children born to holders of British National (Overseas) visas.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Children who came to the UK with parents who are British National (Overseas) visa holders may apply for settlement after 5 years’ qualifying residence, followed by citizenship after a further twelve months.

Children born in the UK to a BN(O) visa holder will be able to apply for British citizenship immediately once the parent becomes settled in the UK. Children born in the UK to BN(O)s who have already become settled will become British citizens automatically.

BN(O)s also have an entitlement to register as British citizens if they meet the requirements. This is a simpler process for becoming a citizen than naturalisation.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of simplifying the registration process for British National (Overseas) visa holders to register as British citizens.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

Children who came to the UK with parents who are British National (Overseas) visa holders may apply for settlement after 5 years’ qualifying residence, followed by citizenship after a further twelve months.

Children born in the UK to a BN(O) visa holder will be able to apply for British citizenship immediately once the parent becomes settled in the UK. Children born in the UK to BN(O)s who have already become settled will become British citizens automatically.

BN(O)s also have an entitlement to register as British citizens if they meet the requirements. This is a simpler process for becoming a citizen than naturalisation.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress her Department has made on the full electrification of the Midland Main Line; and whether her Department has a planned timetable for its completion.

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

Electrification of the Midland Main Line (MML) between Kettering and Wigston is now complete and enhancements south of Bedford, are due to complete in August. Following the Spending Review, we will now be working to confirm our wider portfolio of rail enhancements, including the MML, which will be published as part of the government’s commitment to set out its overall infrastructure pipeline in the coming weeks.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the GP-to-patient ratio was in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire, (c) the East Midlands and (d) England in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.

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

As of December 2024, the number of full time equivalent doctors in general practice (GP) per 10,000 registered patients was:

- 6.9 in the Broxtowe constituency;

- 6.5 in Nottinghamshire;

- 5.9 in the East Midlands; and

- 5.6 in England.

Data from before September 2015 is not comparable. Each GP is required to provide services to meet the reasonable needs of their patients. There is no NHS England recommendation for how many patients a GP should have assigned, or the ratio of GPs or other practice staff to patients. The demands each patient places on their GP are different and can be affected by many different factors, including rurality and patient demographics. It is necessary to consider the workforce for each practice as a whole, not only GPs but also the range of health professionals available who are able to respond to the needs of their patients.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether her Department is taking steps to simplify the planning permission process for pubs.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The National Planning Policy Framework is clear that planning policies and decisions should plan positively for the provision and use of community facilities, such as pubs.

On 28 May 2025, the government published the Planning Reform Working Paper: Reforming Site Thresholds (which can be found on gov.uk here) which seeks views on taking a gradated approach to the system as a whole – removing and streamlining disproportionate requirements on small and medium sites, while maintaining and strengthening requirements on major development.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS dentists were employed in (a) Broxtowe constituency, (b) Nottinghamshire and (c) the East Midlands in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2024.

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

The following table shows how many National Health Service dentists were employed in 2011/12 and 2023/24 in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB), which includes the Broxtowe constituency, as well as regional figures for the Midlands:

Notes:

1. we do not hold data on how many NHS dentists are employed at constituency level as well as the East Midlands region; and
2. we have given 2011/12 data as we do not hold data for 2010/11.

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 support people with Multiple Sclerosis.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services for their local population, including for multiple sclerosis (MS). The Government expects ICBs to assess the demand for service provision when designing their local services.

There are initiatives to support better care for patients with neurological conditions like MS, across England. These include the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology, which aims to improve MS care by supporting the National Health Service to address variations in care and by promoting best practice.

The Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit, published by NHS England’s RightCare Programme, supports healthcare systems in improving the care of individuals living with progressive neurological conditions, including MS. It aims to enhance local services and reduce hospital admissions by focusing on preventative care and by optimising the delivery of services.

NHS England’s Neurology Transformation Programme (NTP) is a multi-year programme to develop a new model of integrated care for neurology services. The NTP has collaborated with clinicians and patient groups to create specific pathways for MS, aiming to improve the quality and coordination of care.

NHS England is also updating its Specialised Neurology service specification, which includes MS. Service specifications define the standards of care expected from organisations funded by NHS England to provide specialised care.

Our 10-Year Health Plan will set out a bold agenda to deliver on the three big shifts needed, to move healthcare from the hospital to the community, from analogue to digital, and from treatment to prevention. We also plan to publish our refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver a transformed health service over the next decade and to treat patients wherever they live in England, including those with MS, on time again.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of transport infrastructure in the rural parts of the Broxtowe constituency.

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

This Government is committed to restoring pride and trust in a transport system that works – day in, day out – for the people who rely on it.

That is why we have allocated very substantial funding to the East Midlands Combined County Authority, to enable it to make the best decisions about how to maintain and improve its local transport network, including in Broxtowe.

This funding includes over £2 billion until 2031/32 from the Transport for City Regions settlements, as well as £75 million in 2025/26 for local highway maintenance and £40 million in 2025/26 in Local Authority Bus Grant.

Found: Committee on Tuesday 10 June 2025 Members present: Baroness Butler-Sloss (Chair) Catherine Atkinson Juliet Campbell

Found: Not called_20 Kirith Entwistle Charlotte Nichols Juliet Campbell Anna Dixon Jess Asato Kim Johnson

Found: Not called_20 Kirith Entwistle Charlotte Nichols Juliet Campbell Anna Dixon Jess Asato Kim Johnson

Out of nearly 12 million children living in England, over 400,000 are in the social care system at any one time.[1] Out of these, nearly 84,000 children in England are” in care” (i.e. being looked after by local authorities).[2] Across the UK, it is estimated that 107,000 children are in care.[3]