Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of long A&E wait times on older patients.

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

We recognise that emergency departments face sustained demand and that prolonged waits can affect patient experience, clinical outcomes, and the timely delivery of care, particularly for older people and those with complex health needs. To improve capacity and patient flow, through delivering the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, the Government has invested over £450 million in urgent and emergency care services, including Same Day Emergency Care, urgent treatment centres, mental health crisis assessment centres, and ambulance capacity.

Our actions are having an impact, as four-hour and 12-hour performance was better over the winter of 2025/26 compared to the winter of 2024/25, despite rising attendances at emergency departments. Through the Medium Term Planning Framework, we have set out a clear three-year trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year, and at the Spending Review we announced up to £1.9 billion of capital investment to further improve urgent and emergency care infrastructure and patient flow.

In Nottinghamshire, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, working with local National Health Service trusts, is responsible for planning and delivering urgent and emergency care services for its local population.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of A&E capacities in England.

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

We recognise that emergency departments face sustained demand and that prolonged waits can affect patient experience, clinical outcomes, and the timely delivery of care, particularly for older people and those with complex health needs. To improve capacity and patient flow, through delivering the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, the Government has invested over £450 million in urgent and emergency care services, including Same Day Emergency Care, urgent treatment centres, mental health crisis assessment centres, and ambulance capacity.

Our actions are having an impact, as four-hour and 12-hour performance was better over the winter of 2025/26 compared to the winter of 2024/25, despite rising attendances at emergency departments. Through the Medium Term Planning Framework, we have set out a clear three-year trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year, and at the Spending Review we announced up to £1.9 billion of capital investment to further improve urgent and emergency care infrastructure and patient flow.

In Nottinghamshire, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, working with local National Health Service trusts, is responsible for planning and delivering urgent and emergency care services for its local population.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department is taking to reduce A&E wait times in (a) Nottinghamshire and (b) England.

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

We recognise that emergency departments face sustained demand and that prolonged waits can affect patient experience, clinical outcomes, and the timely delivery of care, particularly for older people and those with complex health needs. To improve capacity and patient flow, through delivering the Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, the Government has invested over £450 million in urgent and emergency care services, including Same Day Emergency Care, urgent treatment centres, mental health crisis assessment centres, and ambulance capacity.

Our actions are having an impact, as four-hour and 12-hour performance was better over the winter of 2025/26 compared to the winter of 2024/25, despite rising attendances at emergency departments. Through the Medium Term Planning Framework, we have set out a clear three-year trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year, and at the Spending Review we announced up to £1.9 billion of capital investment to further improve urgent and emergency care infrastructure and patient flow.

In Nottinghamshire, the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, working with local National Health Service trusts, is responsible for planning and delivering urgent and emergency care services for its local population.

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 have entered Britain illegally in the last three years that have previously been convicted of a crime in another country.

Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of people who are detected arriving in the UK via illegal entry routes in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release. The published statistics do not show whether those arriving have previously been convicted of a crime.

Information on the number of people in the immigration system who may have foreign convictions would involve collating and verifying information from multiple systems owned by various teams across the Home Office and, therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve support available to children in kinship care.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 now requires local authorities to publish a Kinship Local Offer, setting out available support and consulting relevant stakeholders before publication

In February 2026, the department launched seven Kinship Zones which will test the impact of providing kinship carers a weekly financial allowance. The pilot will run for three and a half years, with £126 million confirmed for the first two years

Family Network Support Packages will provide financial help to family members who support children remaining with their birth parents. These initiatives form part of a coherent support pathway from early family help to long-term kinship care.

Peer support for carers is expanding through the charity Kinship, which has supported over 180 groups across England.

Further reforms will extend Virtual School Head support to all children in kinship care from September 2027, while continued investment in the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund will help children access therapeutic support.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps her Department has taken to support local authorities with the cost of maintaining leisure centres.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.

The ongoing responsibility for providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve.

In addition to this the Government has committed another £400 million to transform sports facilities, including public leisure, across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government are taking to increase the number of leisure centres in Britain.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to leisure facilities which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities.

The ongoing responsibility for providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, with funding levels set as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve.

In addition to this the Government has committed another £400 million to transform sports facilities, including public leisure, across the whole of the UK over the next four years. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated.

Found: There was a Westminster Hall debate, I think led by Lee Anderson, two years ago, in autumn 2024, which

Found: QEII (Executive Agency / Trading Fund) Valuation Tribunal for England (Executive NDPB) Lee Anderson

Found: Golocal and Shireoaks post Office Shireoaks Worker (A rating) Skilled Worker MS WENDY PRINCE-BROWN, LEE ANDERSON

Found: Golocal and Shireoaks post Office Shireoaks Worker (A rating) Skilled Worker MS WENDY PRINCE-BROWN, LEE ANDERSON

Found: Golocal and Shireoaks post Office Shireoaks Worker (A rating) Skilled Worker MS WENDY PRINCE-BROWN, LEE ANDERSON