Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) is available as part of the continuation of SEND support where a child cannot be educated in school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department’s consultation, “SEND reform: putting children and young people first”, proposes the introduction of Specialist Provision Packages for all children and young people with complex needs, including those children and young people whose needs are currently met through Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) packages of support.
After a 12-week consultation period, including over 200 engagement events, meetings and roundtables, the department’s consultation has now closed. We are carefully reviewing and taking into account all responses submitted to the consultation and continuing to engage widely on our proposals.
As part of that continued engagement, we intend to publish a consultation on the use of EOTAS provision in the coming weeks. It is crucial that we get support for EOTAS children and young people right, particularly given their often complex needs. This consultation will seek views to ensure we meet those specific needs, and that these children and young people benefit from the inclusive education we want for all.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 improve customer service standards for claimants who contact Jobcentre Plus and DWP about Jobseeker’s Allowance payments, including call handling and access to written complaints routes.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is committed to providing a high standard of customer service for claimants contacting Jobcentre Plus and DWP about all of its services, including Jobseeker’s Allowance.
We have recently relaunched our ‘Customer Support Standards’, which sets clear expectations for all customer interactions. These standards require staff to identify and respond to customers’ individual needs and vulnerabilities, record relevant information and ensure that support is consistently and fairly applied across all contacts to improve the overall customer experience.
We also undertake regular quality assurance activity to ensure that operational teams are meeting these standards, including checks on the quality of interactions, compliance with accessibility requirements, and how effectively support is provided to customers. The standards are applied across all communications to ensure no customer is left behind.
To improve call handling, the Department is analysing telephony demand and customer contact patterns. This includes identifying the causes of repeat contact, long waiting times and call abandonment, and taking action to reduce avoidable contact through clearer information, improved signposting and better handling of customer enquiries.
In addition, we are improving how customers are directed to the most appropriate channel, including promoting online guidance where queries can be resolved more quickly, helping to free up telephony capacity for those who need it most.
For complaints, the Department operates a single, consistent complaints process across all benefits, including Jobseeker’s Allowance. We have introduced a central Complaints Hub, providing staff with a single source of guidance to ensure complaints are handled promptly, consistently and to a high standard.
Customers can raise complaints through established written routes and with their Work Coaches. Staff are supported to resolve issues at the earliest opportunity and provide clear information on how to escalate concerns where necessary.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Financial Conduct Authority has made of the adequacy of its current supervisory framework for identifying Trust and Corporate Service Providers that facilitate the mass incorporation of shell companies linked to money laundering by Chinese organised crime networks.
Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes the abuse of UK corporate structures by criminal networks extremely seriously. We are strengthening supervision of Trust and Company Service Providers by transferring responsibility to the FCA, alongside Companies House reforms to improve corporate transparency, including stronger powers to query information and new identity verification requirements.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps the Financial Conduct Authority is taking to address the risk of mass incorporation of shell companies linked to money laundering by Chinese organised crime networks ahead of assuming consolidated Anti Money Laundering supervision of the Trust and Company Service Providers sector.
Answered by Rachel Blake - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government takes the abuse of UK corporate structures by criminal networks extremely seriously. We are strengthening supervision of Trust and Company Service Providers by transferring responsibility to the FCA, alongside Companies House reforms to improve corporate transparency, including stronger powers to query information and new identity verification requirements.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 ensure Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants receive (a) clear and (b) timely information on how earnings from (i) casual, (ii) agency and (iii) zero‑hours work affect weekly entitlement.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Claimants are informed at the outset of their claim, including through the Claimant Commitment, about their responsibility to report earnings and how these are taken into account. Guidance explains that where earnings exceed the applicable weekly amount (after any disregards), Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) entitlement may be reduced or cease. This applies consistently regardless of the type of employment, including casual, agency and zero-hours work.
Claimants are required to report changes in earnings and hours worked, ensuring that entitlement is adjusted promptly to reflect their circumstances. Changes in earnings are treated as a change of circumstances, with decisions applied from the relevant benefit week in line with regulations.
The Department provides training for staff which covers how different types of income, including earnings, affect JSA payments. Learning materials include worked examples and calculations to support accurate and consistent advice to claimants.
Claimants can access additional information through guidance materials and discussions with Work Coaches, who provide tailored advice based on individual circumstances. These measures ensure that claimants receive consistent, accessible and timely information on how earnings from all forms of work affect their JSA entitlement.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of accessibility to NHS mental health services for residents in Leeds South West and Morley, including average waiting times for assessment and treatment.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS North East and Yorkshire have stated that for NHS Talking Therapies services, the current waiting time from referral to assessment is approximately six weeks, with faster access available where clinically necessary. For children and young people’s mental health services (CAMHS), access has improved significantly, with the combined waiting list reducing from 1,795 in April 2025 to 914 in March 2026. Overall, 82.68% of children and young people are waiting less than 18 weeks for care.
Performance across specific pathways has also strengthened. For example, 94% of children and young people are seen within 18 weeks in medication clinics, with most seen in under 10 weeks, neurodevelopmental diagnostic assessments are typically completed within 12 to 16 weeks, and over 94% of those accessing therapies and eating disorder services are seen within zero to 12 weeks. In addition, core, crisis, and specialist teams have achieved 100% compliance with the 18‑week standard, reflecting sustained improvements in accessibility.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish (a) criteria and (b) performance metrics that will inform a decision on exercising the break clause in the Federated Data Platform contract before that decision is taken.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS Federated Data Platform (NHS FDP) safely connects information from different systems across the National Health Service into a single, secure environment. This allows staff to co-ordinate care to improve outcomes for patients.
The NHS FDP is delivering for the NHS, helping people get the care they need quicker and more efficiently. Since March 2024, more than a 100,000 additional patients have been supported to undergo procedures in theatres partly by increasing theatre utilisation, nearly 94,000 people have been supported on their cancer journey, with 7% seeing a reduction in the time it took to diagnose their cancer, and there has been a 14% decrease in delays discharging patients staying in hospital for more than seven days, freeing up beds for those who need.
To date, 24 integrated care board clusters and 168 NHS trusts have signed up to the NHS FDP, including the Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust, and the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
We will be reviewing the NHS FDP contract in line with standard contract management processes and will make a decision this year on its extension. Further information will be provided in due course.
NHS England continually assesses performance against the contract, and performance of the programme as a whole, and publishes data on uptake and benefits each quarter at the following link:
The programme is also subject to extensive internal management, and supplier performance against the contract’s key performance indicators is assessed regularly in line with the contract terms.
Progress and performance of the NHS FDP programme is assessed regularly by the Government’s National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority, on behalf of HM Treasury. The NHS FDP is one of only 14% of Government major programmes to receive a ‘Green’ rating in July 2025, indicating that the NHS FDP is on track.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance will be issued to Integrated Care Boards and local authorities on how to deliver independent and inclusive engagement with local communities.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
On behalf of my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Department will set the direction, issuing clear guidance to integrated care boards and local authorities on obtaining and actioning the views of local people on health and care services.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a standardised Parkinson’s Passport to support people with Parkinson’s in (a) NHS hospital settings and (b) workplace settings.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to improving health outcomes for people with neurological conditions, including Parkinsons disease. The Parky Charter, supported by the three big Parkinson’s charities, includes a call for Parkinson’s passports. These passports would grant automatic entitlement to certain benefits.
The Department for Work and Pensions offers Personal Independence Payments (PIP) to individuals with health conditions or disabilities. However, there is currently no automatic entitlement to PIP in relation to a specific health condition, except in cases of people nearing the end of life.
The Government recently brought forward a Green Paper on the health and disability benefits system and the support we offer, entitled Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working. Within that, we consider how to improve the system for those with very severe health conditions and disabilities. This includes exploring ways to reduce the need for some people with very severe health conditions to undergo a full PIP functional assessment.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of abolishing local Healthwatch on public trust in providing feedback on health and care services.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
An impact assessment has been undertaken and published alongside the introduction of the Health Bill 2026. It outlines the non-monetised benefits, including the streamlining of the landscape and legislation, avoiding duplication of activity, and increased accountability for listening to the patient and user voice in the commissioning and delivery of services.
Integrated care boards will have a statutory obligation to obtain the views of people who use health services, and their carers and representatives. Local authorities will have the same responsibility in respect of care services and their public health services. If an organisation is failing to carry out their statutory functions, there will be a power for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to issue directions.
Patients will still be able to raise issues through patient participation groups where they exist, as well as through National Health Service and local authority complaints processes, the NHS Friends and Family Test, and national surveys.
The existing complaints regulations allow people to make a formal complaint to a provider or commissioner of services, and, ultimately, the appropriate ombudsman. Healthwatch had no legal responsibility for complaints and, therefore, the abolition of Healthwatch services will not affect the complaints process.