Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the English national concessionary travel scheme, if she will extend (a) free bus travel to before 9.30am and (b) eligibility for free buss travel to (i) companions and (ii) carers of disabled people who are unable to travel alone.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually and any changes to the statutory obligations would therefore need to be carefully considered for its impact on the scheme’s financial sustainability.
However, local authorities in England do have the power to offer concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, for example, by extending the times passes can be used or offering companion passes for those travelling with someone eligible for the ENCTS. The decision on whether to offer discretionary concessions is for the local authority to make depending on their needs and circumstances.
The Government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country. Lancashire County Council has been allocated £27.1 million of this funding. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish. This could include extending the discretionary concessions available.
The Government recently conducted a review of the ENCTS, which included considering travel times for disabled passholders and is currently considering next steps.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking to (a) encourage the installation of heat pumps and (b) ensure that homes are properly insulated to support the effective operation of those heat pumps.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is making is easier for households to install heat pumps. This includes increasing the budget for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and amending Permitted Development Rights in England to give households greater flexibility to install a heat pump.
Our schemes such as the Warm Homes: Local Grant, Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Energy Company Obligation provide support for energy efficiency measures and low carbon technologies like heat pumps.
The Warm Homes Plan (WHP) will focus on ensuring homes are more comfortable to live in and cheaper to heat. In many cases, that will mean improvements to the fabric of the building in order to maximise the bill savings and thermal comfort, alongside switching to low carbon heat. Further detail on the WHP will be announced by October.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convictions for manslaughter there have been in (a) Lancashire, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Liverpool in cases involving suicide where domestic abuse was a contributing factor.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on convictions for manslaughter by Police Force Area in England and Wales in the Outcomes by Offences data tool. The latest data is available up to December 2024. This can be downloaded at the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page: Criminal justice statistics quarterly - GOV.UK.
However, it is not possible to provide the number of convictions for manslaughter involving suicide where domestic abuse was a contributing factor, as this information is not held centrally in the Court Proceedings Database.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to increase the number of electric vehicle charging stations in (a) Preston, (b) Lancashire and (c) the North West.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to accelerating the roll-out of affordable and accessible charging infrastructure so that everyone, no matter where they live or work, can make the transition to an electric vehicle (EV). As of 1 June 2025, the Government and industry have supported the installation of 80,552 publicly available charging devices, up 29% on this time last year.
Lancashire County Council, which includes Preston, was allocated over £10.8 million capital and resource funding through the Government’s Local EV Infrastructure (LEVI) Fund to leverage additional private investment and increase the number of local public chargepoints across the area. More broadly, the North West Region has been allocated almost £56.6m capital and resource funding through the LEVI Fund. In total, the £381m LEVI Fund will support the installation of at least 100,000 local chargepoints across England.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average processing time was for asylum applications in the latest period for which data is available; and what steps her Department plans to take to reduce the time taken to process asylum applications.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Available data on processing of asylum claims is published in table ASY_01 of the ‘Immigration and Protection data’. The latest data is as of 31 March 2025.
The Home Office continues to invest in a programme of transformation and business improvement, to speed up decision making and improve the quality and consistency of our work.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
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 help ensure that patients seeking fertility treatment are protected from unregulated concierge IVF clinics that fall outside the remit of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Digital clinics do not currently fall within the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act and therefore are out outside of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) remit at present.
The HFEA published Modernising Fertility Law in November 2023, which made a number of recommendations for legislative change, including around its regulatory powers.
Ministers have met with the HFEA Chair and discussed the emerging regulatory challenges. The Government is considering the HFEA’s priorities for changing the law and will decide how to take this forward at the earliest opportunity.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 60420 on Health Services: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cancelled appointments (a) at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and (b) in England; and what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of missed appointments at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in the last three years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Plan for Change, we will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. The Government is clear that to help achieve this target we must reduce the cancellation of procedures wherever possible.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, states that systems and providers will be expected to consistently focus on the smaller aspects of service delivery that can make a big difference in reducing cancellations, including embedding theatre scheduling for elective surgery, and reviewing list allocation for past and upcoming theatre lists.
At the Lancashire Teaching Hospital, a number of initiatives are in place to reduce the number of cancelled appointments, including theatre efficiency and utilisation programmes, focused on the reduction of late starts, improved turnaround times, and reduced overruns. The opening of the new elective admissions unit, the Lancashire Elective Surgery Unit, at the Royal Preston Hospital supports improved admission processes and theatre efficiency. Investment in the Hospital Sterilisation and Decontamination Unit workforce and tracking systems within theatres helps reduce the number of cancellations due to equipment issues. This is in addition to improved administrative processes to ensure care is delivered in the most productive way.
No specific assessment has been made of the cost of cancelled appointments at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 60419 on Surgery: Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cancellations of elective operations for non-clinical reasons at (a) Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and (b) hospitals in England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the Plan for Change, we will ensure that 92% of patients return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral to treatment by March 2029, a standard which has not been met consistently since September 2015. The Government is clear that to help achieve this target we must reduce the cancellation of procedures wherever possible.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, states that systems and providers will be expected to consistently focus on the smaller aspects of service delivery that can make a big difference in reducing cancellations, including embedding theatre scheduling for elective surgery, and reviewing list allocation for past and upcoming theatre lists.
At the Lancashire Teaching Hospital, a number of initiatives are in place to reduce the number of cancelled appointments, including theatre efficiency and utilisation programmes, focused on the reduction of late starts, improved turnaround times, and reduced overruns. The opening of the new elective admissions unit, the Lancashire Elective Surgery Unit, at the Royal Preston Hospital supports improved admission processes and theatre efficiency. Investment in the Hospital Sterilisation and Decontamination Unit workforce and tracking systems within theatres helps reduce the number of cancellations due to equipment issues. This is in addition to improved administrative processes to ensure care is delivered in the most productive way.
No specific assessment has been made of the cost of cancelled appointments at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what funding her Department has allocated to local authorities to provide youth services in (a) Preston and (b) Lancashire over the next three years.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Local authorities hold the statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. Local Authorities fund youth services from their Local Government Finance Settlement in line with local need.
This Spending Review provides over £5 billion of new grant funding over the next three years for local services that communities rely on. This includes £3.4 billion of new grant funding which will be delivered through the Local Government Finance Settlement within financial years 2026-27 to 2028-29.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to have further phases of civil service relocation; and whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of relocating civil servants to (a) Preston and (b) other host cities.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The next phase of Places for Growth will move thousands more roles out of London to bring the Civil Service closer to the communities it serves. Preston will continue to have a thriving Civil Service community as part of the North West Digital and Cyber Security corridor. Government departments can also continue to build on the existing Civil Service presence there if it aligns with their business needs.