Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of implementing additional safeguards to protect victims of rape, including the bail conditions of those charged with rape.

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

We recognise the devastating impact sexual violence can have and are absolutely committed to tackling rape and sexual offences and achieving the best possible outcome for victims.

We are providing £13.1m to the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP), which is driving forward Operation Soteria, ensuring police forces better support and safeguard victims of rape and use every tool at their disposal to disrupt perpetrators and bring them to justice. Tools including imposing appropriate bail conditions and applying for protective orders, such as Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and Sexual Risk Orders at the earliest opportunity.

We know there is further to go to ensure people have the confidence to report these offences and trust they will be taken seriously when they do. We will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the right powers are available to tackle sexual crimes.

This includes ensuring there are specialist rape and sexual offence teams in every police force and introducing independent legal advice for victims of adult rape, to help them to uphold their legal rights.

We are going further than before to deliver a cross-government transformative approach to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG), underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published as soon as possible.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of CAFCASS in supporting children during family court proceedings who have (a) experienced or (b) witnessed domestic abuse.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

As a Non-Departmental Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, the oversight and assurance arrangements for Cafcass are carried out in accordance with the Arms-Length Body Code of Practice. Specific areas of oversight are also covered in the Framework Document between the Ministry of Justice and Cafcass. Cafcass is subject to regular inspection by Ofsted; at the most recent inspection conducted in January 2024 Cafcass was rated as “outstanding”. The key findings of the Ofsted report are available here. Ofsted also carried out a ‘focused visit’ between 21 and 23 October 2025, which considered Cafcass’s work in relation to private law proceedings where domestic abuse is a factor. Ofsted’s findings are available here.

Cafcass Family Court Advisers complete mandatory domestic abuse training, including on using Cafcass’ Child Impact Assessment Framework which has guidance and tools for assessing when domestic abuse is a feature of the child’s case. Family Court Advisers are also trained to follow Cafcass’ Domestic Abuse Practice Policy which sets out the actions they must undertake when working with children and adults who have experienced domestic abuse.

This Government is determined to take action to improve the experience of those involved in family law children proceedings, including both adults and children who are victims of domestic abuse and other serious offences. With our partners across the family justice system, we are committed to long-term reform of the family courts and recognise the wide-ranging issues that can make the experience of private law proceedings difficult for vulnerable court users.

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 the palliative care workforce is able to cope with growing demand for end of life care.

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

The Government is committed to publishing a 10-Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10-Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it, including in palliative care and end of life care.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

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 reduce emergency hospital admissions involving people who are in the last 12 months of life.

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

Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan sets out that community-based advice and support will help more people die in their home rather than in hospital, while community teams will work closely with care homes and paramedics to share care plans to avoid people being taken to accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. Teams can include hospice outreach staff and palliative care professionals. Additionally, rapid response teams will help symptom management, including pain.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

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 reduce the number of deaths in hospital.

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

Our recently published 10-Year Health Plan sets out that community-based advice and support will help more people die in their home rather than in hospital, while community teams will work closely with care homes and paramedics to share care plans to avoid people being taken to accident and emergency unless absolutely necessary. Teams can include hospice outreach staff and palliative care professionals. Additionally, rapid response teams will help symptom management, including pain.

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

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 increase the early identification of palliative care needs.

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

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework for England. I refer the Hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave to the House on 24 November 2025.

The early identification of someone who has palliative and end of life care needs is vital. There are tools to aid clinicians in identifying those approaching the end of life, for example the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit. Further information on the Supportive and Palliative Care Indicators Tool and the EARLY toolkit is available, respectively, at the following two links:

https://www.spict.org.uk/the-spict/

https://www.england.nhs.uk/north-west/north-west-coast-strategic-clinical-networks/our-networks/palliative-and-end-of-life-care/for-professionals/early-toolkit-for-primary-care/

NHS England has published universal principles for advance care planning (ACP). These principles facilitate a consistent national approach to ACP in England. The principles focus on the importance of providing opportunities for a person and their family or carers to engage in meaningful discussions, led by the person concerned, which consider that person’s priorities and preferences, including place of care, when they are nearing the end of life. The universal principles for ACP are available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/universal-principles-for-advance-care-planning/

Decarbonising refrigerated transport

Armed Forces Training Contract and Elbit Systems

Local Housing Allowance

Leasehold reform (No. 2)

Tackling van and tool theft

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Found: Q45 Luke Taylor: Again you have said it is not typical.

Found: Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee), Chris Philp, Matt Vickers, Max Wilkinson and Luke Taylor

The report from the Infected Blood Inquiry includes recommendations for Parliament on two key areas: how to respond to calls for public inquiries and how to scrutinise the implementation of recommendations resulting from future inquiries.