Katie White

The NHS Volunteer Responders programme was first established as part of the COVID-19 response and then adapted to respond to other organisational pressures. However, a model that worked well in a national crisis is no longer the most cost-effective way of facilitating the contribution of our much-valued volunteers. There are no plans to reinstate the scheme.

Whilst the NHS and Care Volunteer Responders service is ending, the NHS Volunteer recruitment portal is available, with 70 health and care organisations advertising opportunities. As the service grows, every National Health Service or voluntary organisation in health will be able to post opportunities and recruit volunteers to support their local communities, with a full launch of the service planned for later this year.

There are also over 72,000 volunteers who continue to support NHS trusts directly in over 300 different volunteer roles, which are unaffected by the closure of the NHS Volunteer Responders programme.

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards (ICBs) in England to make appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population, including providing access to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) assessment and treatment, in line with relevant National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines.

NHS England has established an ADHD taskforce which is bringing together those with lived experience with experts from the National Health Service, education, charity, and justice sectors to get a better understanding of the challenges affecting those with ADHD, including in accessing services and support, with the report expected in the summer.

For the first time, NHS England published management information on ADHD waits at a national level on 29 May 2025 as part of its ADHD data improvement plan, and has released technical guidance to ICBs to improve the recording of ADHD data, with a view to improving the quality of ADHD waits data.

The West Yorkshire ICB advises that it is taking steps to increase local capacity for ADHD assessments, including by having introduced new service standards and accreditation to ensure quality and consistency across its services. The ICB is also rolling out a new ADHD support offer, including a care navigator team working with individuals to understand their needs, suggest interventions, and connect them with appropriate services, so that people don’t need to wait for a formal diagnosis to access support and information.

The Government is committed to fostering a diverse workforce. It is vital that the National Health Service’s workforce represents the patients it serves, which is why we are actively encouraging better flexible working such as job-sharing and part-time hours.

To reform the NHS and make it fit for the future, we have launched a 10-Year Health Plan as part of Government’s five long-term missions. We are listening to and co-designing the plan with the public and health and care staff. We want patients and staff to feel the difference in their daily lives. A central part of the 10-Year Health Plan will be our workforce and how we ensure we train and provide the staff, technology, and infrastructure the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities. 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. We will ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need when they need it.

We are starting to see consistent growth in the general practice (GP) workforce. As of March 2025, there were 938 more full time equivalent doctors working in GPs compared to March 2024.

Our commitment to growing the GP workforce includes addressing the reasons why doctors leave the profession and encouraging them to return to practice. We know that high workloads can be a key driver for GPs reducing their contracted hours or leaving the profession altogether. This is why we are tackling morale through drivers such as growing the workforce and reducing bureaucracy through our Red Tape Challenge, to improve job satisfaction and reduce the risk of burnout.

My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, recognises the talented, dedicated public servants working across the country, and at every level, of NHS England and the Department.

The Government is committed to Leeds being the second headquarters for the Department and its role in supporting Leeds to be a leading centre in the United Kingdom for health technology and innovation.

The UK will continue to stand up for the rights of the people of Hong Kong, as we have demonstrated by introducing the bespoke immigration route for British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) status holders and their eligible family members.

Lenders offering high-cost credit are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This oversight ensures that lending practices are fair and that consumers are protected.

In 2013 the Government placed a duty on the FCA to implement a price cap for high-cost short-term credit products. The price cap came into force in 2015 and ensures that consumers using these products will never repay more than 100% of the principal in interest, fees, and other charges.

Lenders are also required to follow the FCA’s rules on promotions and adverts, where non-compliance could lead to fines. The FCA requires that all adverts and other promotions must be clear, fair, and not misleading.

We recognise the devastating impact theft has on victims who rely on the tools of their trade to earn a living.

We are continuing to work with the police-led National Business Crime Centre and representatives from policing to explore ways to tackle and prevent the theft of tools,including exploring the issue of unregulated tool sales at car boots sales.

We are making good progress including, following engagement with the Home Office and National Vehicle Crime Working Group, Thatcham Research agreed to add to their New Vehicle Security Assessment (NVSA), locks and alarms on the back of vans (previously NVSA only covers the cab area of vans) and a motion sensor on the load area of the van by February 2027. This is supported by crime prevention advice developed by the Police Crime Prevention Initiatives: Secured by Design - Vans & Tool Theft.

A key part of making acquisitive crime less attractive to criminals is making stolen goods harder to sell on. That is why we are working closely with policing and academic leads to examine what more can be done to tackle the disposal markets for stolen goods and reduce the ability to profit from this criminality.

The relevant statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023), is clear that children at risk of harm outside the home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response. The guidance also makes clear that all practitioners working with children and families need to understand their role in identifying emerging problems and need appropriate training so that they are able to identify and recognise all forms of abuse, neglect, and exploitation and remain aware of new and emerging threats.

A robust safeguarding framework is in place that schools and colleges must have regard to in the form of the statutory guidance ‘Keeping children safe in education’ (KCSIE). The guidance is clear that every school must have a designated safeguarding lead (DSL) who should take lead responsibility for safeguarding and child protection. DSLs are required to undergo the training needed to provide them with the knowledge and skills required to carry out their role effectively within their school and community context, including how to identify, and respond to both vulnerabilities and specific harms that put children at risk, including serious violence and the risk of criminal exploitation.

In addition, the Government is committed to tackling the gangs that lure children and young people into criminality and exploitation which is why through our Crime and Policing Bill, we are introducing a new offence of child criminal exploitation. Through the County Lines Programme, we are targeting exploitative drug dealing gangs and providing specialist support for children and young people to escape county lines and child criminal exploitation. To increase awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it, frontline professionals can access guidance on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes: Criminal exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: county lines - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) actively supports and promotes membership of the Cadet Forces, and we are keen to attract more cadets. The MOD sponsors five Cadet Forces which offer young people fantastic opportunities to develop key skills which independent research has found can literally be life changing.

The Cadet Forces are active on social media with regular posts often generated at local level by individual units. These can be accessed on a range of popular platforms including Facebook and Instagram and further information about local units and how to join is also available on the Cadet Forces’ websites.

In addition, the Cadet Force headquarters run national or regional marketing campaigns to encourage young people to join the Cadets by showcasing the benefits for personal development, adventure, friendship and fun. A recent example of this is the ‘Be More with the Army Cadets!’ national recruitment campaign which was launched in August 2024.

Beyond national and local level recruitment and awareness campaigns and activities, the MOD publicises Cadets through specific events – for example the cadet engagement event held at Frimley Cadet Training Centre in April.

We continue to invest significantly in the Cadet Forces with independent research showing that the cost of Cadets is fully covered if the life outcomes of just 1% of cadets change each year so that they are in education, training, or employment.

We want more young people to benefit from the Cadet experience, and we are currently undertaking a review – closely aligned with the wider Strategic Defence Review – to determine how we can grow the size and the offer of the Cadet Forces.

The additional investment in defence announced by the Prime Minister on 25 February 2025 and by the Chancellor in the 2025 Spring Statement will both protect UK citizens from threats and create a secure and stable environment in which businesses can thrive, supporting the Government’s number one mission to deliver economic growth. This includes maximising jobs, growth, skills and innovation in the UK.

This Government is bringing forward a Defence Industrial Strategy that will ensure a strong Defence sector and resilient supply chains across the whole of the UK. The Statement of Intent for the Defence Industrial Strategy, published in December 2024, set out a commitment to prioritising UK businesses for investment and boosting sovereign capacity.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is working closely with other Government Departments to align strategic objectives in key sectors, for example through the wider cross-Government Industrial Strategy. The Strategic Defence Review will also determine the roles and capabilities required by UK Defence to meet the challenges and threats of the twenty-first century.

The MOD is already actively improving the capabilities of the UK’s Defence sector and supply chains through initiatives such as the Defence Supplier Capability Development Programme and the new support hub for small and medium enterprises that the Prime Minister announced on 3 March 2025.

In a competitive age, our advantage derives from the talent and skills of our people. Attracting, recruiting, and retaining the best people drawn from the broadest diversity of thought, skills and background is mission critical to our operational effectiveness. It ensures we continue to meet the threats we face and safeguard the security, stability and prosperity of our nation. Diversity drives performance, innovation, increases creative thinking and reduces the risks of group think and lack of challenge, as highlighted in the Chilcot Review.

This Government has already begun to modernise and refine our policies and processes to attract, and then retain the best possible talent in our Armed Forces. Defence is committed to a diverse workforce, including in neurodiversity. The Defence Secretary has undertaken to review the current recruitment policies and has already announced several changes to prior outdated approaches, including medical entry standards relating to neurodiverse conditions. For example, candidates with Autism Spectrum Disorder can now join the Armed Forces, providing their symptoms have no significant impact and do not require ongoing specialist support.

The government recognises the high rental costs experienced by many students living in the private rented sector in Leeds North West and across the country.

The Renters’ Rights Bill will take practical steps to empower tenants to challenge unreasonable rent increases, with all rent increases taking place via an existing statutory process. Tenants who receive a rent increase that they feel is not representative of the market value will be able to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal. This will prevent unscrupulous landlords using rent increases as a backdoor means of eviction, while ensuring rents can be increased to reflect market rates.

The Bill will prohibit a landlord or letting agents from inviting, encouraging or any payment of rent before a tenancy has been entered into. In addition, a landlord will only be able to require up to one month's rent in the window between a tenancy agreement being signed and that tenancy beginning. Once the tenancy starts, landlords will be unable to enforce any terms in a tenancy agreement that require rent to be paid in advance of agreed due dates.

The Bill will also prohibit rental bidding practices.

The proposed new ground for possession (Ground 4A) in the Bill is intended to facilitate the maintenance of the annual cycle of student letting for most typical students, namely groups of full-time students living together in Houses in Multiple Occupancy.

Less typical students who may require greater security of tenure, for example postgraduate couples who have put down roots in their area, will be able to enjoy the benefits of the new tenancy system the Bill introduces.

The Renters’ Rights Bill Impact Assessment looked across the package of reforms and received a ‘green’ rating from the Regulatory Policy Committee, meaning it is ‘fit for purpose’.

The government does not expect the Bill to have a destabilising effect on the robust student rental market. We will continue to work with good landlords and their representative associations throughout implementation.

The government is committed to delivering the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 30393 on 24 February 2025 for more detail on the steps we have already taken to increase social and affordable housebuilding.

We will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme at the Spending Review. This new investment will deliver a mix of homes for sub-market rent and homeownership, with a particular focus on delivering homes for Social Rent.

This government is committed to rejuvenating our town centres. On 4 March, we launched the Plan for Neighbourhoods, the government's flagship programme, a £1.5 billion investment to help revitalise local areas and fight deprivation in 75 places across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. We have also launched High Street Rental Auctions; powers which allow local authorities in England to auction the lease of persistently vacant commercial properties. On 6 March we announced the names of a further 8 early adopter councils, 11 in total, which will champion the new powers to give others confidence to revive their high streets.

The Government inherited a justice system in crisis. If our prisons run out of space, we would risk the safety of thousands of victims and the wider public. The measure being introduced excludes anyone sentenced to more than 4 years, anyone who has committed a serious further offence and anyone subject to Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) levels 2 and 3. These multi agency arrangements will apply to certain sexual and violent offenders, including many domestic abusers. This will ensure these types of offenders can continue to receive longer recall periods where appropriate. We will be setting out further details of exemptions and safeguards when we put the Statutory Instrument before parliament. However, without this measure, we would run out of prison places by November 2025.

All offenders are subject to robust licence conditions on release, such as tagging, curfew, protective orders and exclusion zones. They may be recalled again for breach of those conditions.

Delays in the court process can have a significant impact on children and families. HM Courts & Tribunals Service is committed to improving timeliness of cases and reducing the outstanding caseload.

The Family Justice Board agreed system-wide national targets for reducing delay in 2024/25. These are focused on closing the longest running cases in private and public law, resulting in a reduction of the private law cases by 10% and increasing the proportion of public law cases concluded within the statutory 26-week timeframe.

The HMCTS Reform Programme has introduced several new digital services within the Family Courts, enhancing and automating the administration of family court orders. These services encompass Divorce, Financial Remedy, and Public Law Proceedings. Currently, HMCTS is piloting a new digital service for private law proceedings, aiming to replicate the administrative improvements seen in other family services. This service is scheduled to be implemented across England and Wales by the end of 2025.