Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what role she plans for policing to play in achieving the objective of halving violence against women and girls in a decade.

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

This Government has been clear that the level of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in our country is intolerable, and we are treating it as the national emergency that it is. Victims must feel confident in the police’s ability to handle their case and we are committed to playing a more active role in policing to ensure officers have the right support, to significantly improve standards across the board and to ensure justice is delivered.

The Home Office has invested £13.1 million funding to launch a new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) to improve the policing response to VAWG and child sexual abuse and exploitation. Launched in April 2025, the NCVPP provides coordinated leadership within policing to drive up operational standards and skills across all 43 forces in their response to VAWG crimes. Through the NCVPP, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop strengthened, specialist training for officers across all operational levels - frontline, specialist, and leadership.

The new VAWG Strategy will set the direction for the next decade, driving forward the Government’s bold ambition to halve VAWG within ten years. We are working tirelessly across government to deliver a Strategy that will set out bold, concrete actions to prevent violence and abuse, pursue perpetrators and bring them to justice, and protect victims and survivors. It’s vital we get it right. We're working towards publication of the Strategy as soon as possible.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to improve data collection on occupational diseases linked to silica exposure.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Clinical assessments of silicosis are being reported on the Surveillance of Work-related and Occupational Respiratory Disease (SWORD) database, which collects voluntary information from around 350 physicians of respiratory disease, including silicosis.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) intends to consult on potential changes to the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) including consideration of changing the definitions of occupational diseases that employers would be required to report. HSE is intending to launch a public consultation on these options in 2026, which will be subject to Ministerial review.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if it remains her policy to move to a multi-year police settlement model.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government recognises the importance of funding certainty to enable policing to deliver for their communities and is committed to giving police the resources they need to tackle crime. That is why the Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years.

As with previous years, more detail on force funding allocations for 2026-27 will be set out at the forthcoming police funding settlement.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress has been made regarding on the manifesto commitment to roll out a direct entry scheme for detectives to boost investigation skills.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

It is essential that police forces recruit the best and most able people to meet the evolving demands of policing and deliver the best possible service to the public.

There are existing opportunities to join policing directly into detective roles, including through the Police Now programme, which enables graduates who may not have previously considered a career in policing to join in specialist roles.

We are committed to ensuring a wide choice of entry routes available into policing to help to attract a diverse range of people, skills, experience and are considering this as part of wider police reform. In addition, we are funding a Leadership Commission, set up by the College of Policing and led by Lord Blunkett and Lord Herbert, which is examining the current entry routes into policing and potential alternative models to attract and develop talent.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness among (a) employers and (b) workers of the risks of silica exposure.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Great Britain has a well-established regulatory framework under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH), which requires employers to protect workers’ health by preventing exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS).

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), as the regulator for workplace health and safety, is carrying out a range of activities to tackle the risks of silicosis from work that can generate RCS. HSE has delivered several national inspection campaigns and has engaged with trade associations, material suppliers and manufacturers of products about legal responsibilities for ensuring adequate controls are in place when processing stone products.

Guidance for employers, workers, managers and supervisors is available on HSE’s website and the Government’s Workright website setting out how workers can be protected from exposure to RCS. In response to specific concerns about risks of working with engineered stone an information leaflet, launched jointly with the Worktop Fabricators Federation (WFF) and the Stone Federation, targets those in control of such work promoting risk awareness, required control measures and sources of further information. HSE also worked with the British Occupational Hygiene Society, the WFF and Safety Remotely to launch a free online training tool to help anyone working in the kitchen worktop industry.

An information leaflet was launched on HSE’s website in October 2025 specifically to raise awareness amongst workers, including translations in Polish, Punjabi and Arabic.

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 reduce elective care waiting times (a) in general and (b) for joint replacement surgery.

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

The Government is committed to putting patients first and tackling waiting lists as part of our Health Mission. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of Government, delivering 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This marks a vital first step to delivering on our commitment to return to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029.

The Department is taking a range of steps to reduce waiting times for surgery, including joint replacement surgery. There are currently 123 surgical hubs operational across England, and we are committed to expanding the number of hubs over the next three years to increase surgical capacity and deliver faster access to common procedures. Surgical hubs have been shown to deliver approximately 20% increased productivity in the hubs compared to trusts without a dedicated elective hub on site.

The Getting it Right First time (GIRFT) programme published detailed guidance for hip and knee replacements in July 2023 and has been supporting trusts through a multidisciplinary team made up of anaesthetic, surgical, and allied health professional colleagues. Additionally, GIRFT is leading a community musculoskeletal programme, supporting improvements in the early stages of the pathway, to ensure that only those patients who require surgery are referred into secondary care, and that their condition is optimised for surgery as far as possible at the point of referral. Further information on the GIRFT programme is available at the following link:

https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to improve (a) early diagnosis and (b) treatment of silicosis in the NHS.

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

The Government is committed to increasing the capacity of respiratory services and is improving access to these services through new community diagnostic centres (CDCs). All standard and large CDCs are required to offer diagnostic respiratory tests which can diagnose silicosis, such as spirometry and full lung function tests as part of their core testing offer.

The National Health Service has specialist centres for diagnosing and managing lung diseases that cause scarring, such as silicosis. NHS Interstitial Lung Disease clinics offer expert care from specialist respiratory doctors and nurses, often with access to additional services like lung function testing and research facilities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the risks of silicosis among workers in the construction and engineered stone industries.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Great Britain has a well-established regulatory framework under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) (COSHH) that requires employers to control exposure to substances that can cause ill health, such as respirable crystalline silica (RCS) that can cause silicosis. The risk of exposure to RCS in workers in the construction and engineered stone industries can be managed using suitable control measures meeting well established standards.

Suitable control measures include the use of water suppression of dust containing RCS generated in construction and manufacturing processes, control of any mist generated and use of personal protective equipment such as respirators (masks). The effectiveness of controls must be maintained and workers must be trained to use such controls. Employers must also ensure that employees who are, or are liable to be, exposed to RCS are under suitable health surveillance.

68 Is Too Late report by the Prison Officers' Association

Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week 2025

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Karen Bradley (Chair); Lewis Atkinson; Margaret Mullane; Chris