Marsha De Cordova

The Government recognises that consumer energy debt is a large and increasing issue, and it expects energy suppliers to do everything they can to support customers who are struggling with bills, especially vulnerable customers. It is important that anyone who is struggling to pay their energy bills contact their supplier.

In August, I met with suppliers and encouraged them to build on the Voluntary Debt Commitment from last year and go further in supporting vulnerable customers this winter.

The Warm Home Discount Scheme is currently focused to support those on lowest incomes who receive means-tested benefits and are living in a property we have estimated to be relatively high cost to heat. This winter’s scheme has been launched today, 14 October, and we expect it to support over three million households. We are exploring options to improve the design of the scheme beyond the current regulations which expire in 2026.

The Government has no plans to introduce an energy social tariff this winter. However, we are committed to ensuring vulnerable households are supported with their energy bills and we are looking at all options on how to support these households.

The Government is continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 rebate off energy bills to over 3 million eligible low-income households. We are also working with energy suppliers to ensure they are providing additional support to vulnerable customers.

The Government has also extended the Household Support Fund for an additional 6 months until 31 March 2025 with an extra £500 million in funding, and I encourage any individual who is struggling to pay their bills contacts their local authority to see if they are eligible for this support.

The Government believes that the only way to permanently protect billpayers, including disabled households, is to speed up the transition towards homegrown clean energy and reduce our reliance on volatile international fossil fuel markets.

Whilst we make this transition, the Government is committed to ensuring vulnerable households are supported with their energy bills and we are looking at all options on how to support these households.

In the short-term, we are continuing to deliver the Warm Home Discount which provides a £150 annual rebate on energy bills for eligible low-income households. We are also working with energy suppliers to ensure they are providing additional support to vulnerable customers that are struggling with bills.

The Department continues to monitor the Listed Places of Worship grant scheme through the regular reporting of the grant administrator, EMB. Since 2010, the Government has returned over £350 million to listed churches, synagogues, mosques and temples through the grant scheme continuing their work as centres of worship and community assets, in places all over the country, including areas of low economic activity.

The Government is committed to improving access to sports and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people, older people and women and girls. Sport and physical activity is central to achieving our health and opportunity manifesto missions, with the biggest gains coming from supporting those who are inactive to move more.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in sport and to boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all.

Sport England provides long term investment to The Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people.

Decisions with regards to future departmental budgets will be made as part of the spending review process.

The Government is committed to improving access to sports and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people, older people and women and girls. Sport and physical activity is central to achieving our health and opportunity manifesto missions, with the biggest gains coming from supporting those who are inactive to move more.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in sport and to boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all.

Sport England provides long term investment to The Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people.

Decisions with regards to future departmental budgets will be made as part of the spending review process.

The Government is committed to improving access to sports and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people, older people and women and girls. Sport and physical activity is central to achieving our health and opportunity manifesto missions, with the biggest gains coming from supporting those who are inactive to move more.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in sport and to boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all.

Sport England provides long term investment to The Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people.

Decisions with regards to future departmental budgets will be made as part of the spending review process.

The Government is committed to improving access to sports and physical activity for everyone, including disabled people, older people and women and girls. Sport and physical activity is central to achieving our health and opportunity manifesto missions, with the biggest gains coming from supporting those who are inactive to move more.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England - which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Sport England’s work focuses on increasing participation in sport and to boost diversity at a grassroots level to give more and better opportunities to all.

Sport England provides long term investment to The Lawn Tennis Association, which receives up to £10.2 million for 5 years from 2022 to invest in community tennis initiatives that will benefit everyone, including disabled people.

Decisions with regards to future departmental budgets will be made as part of the spending review process.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 23 July 2024 to the Rt Hon Member for Islington North, PQ 592.

We are firmly committed to maintaining and improving animal welfare and want to work closely with the farming sector to deliver high standards.

The use of farrowing crates for pigs is an issue we will want to fully consider in due course.

Government remains committed to supporting London and the transport network on which it depends. We recently provided £485m in funding to support Transport for London’s (TfL) capital programme for 2025/26 and will continue to work with TfL to understand its capital funding needs, which will be considered at Phase 2 of the Spending Review. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor of London and TfL and it is for the Mayor to assess the merits of capital projects and make decisions on investment.

Ensuring accessibility for all passengers is at the heart of the Government’s passenger-focussed approach. We know that the experience for disabled people when traveling on rail too often falls short of what is expected and what passengers deserve. We are committed to improving the experience for disabled passengers and have committed to publishing an accessibility roadmap to explain the actions we are taking to improve accessibility ahead of GBR.

We are working to define the approach to development of the roadmap, but I confirm we will engage with disabled people and key organisations, in line with our commitment in the House of Lords as part of the debate on the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, in order to ensure that it addresses the issues and needs of passengers who require assistance.

Southeastern ticket office changes were agreed under the previous Government. The Department is now examining these plans to ensure passengers remain supported.

We recognise the vital role ticket offices play in the journeys of people with disabilities, and ensuring accessibility for all passengers is at the heart of our passenger-focused approach.

We are carefully considering the best approach to the Access for All programme. This Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.

The Government is committed to working in partnership with disabled people and the organisations that represent them.

Following on from the publication of the Get Britain Working White Paper, we will establish a disability panel to ensure that disabled people’s views and voices are at the heart of the design and delivery of our employment reforms. We will carry out in-depth consultations to seek input and expertise from a wide range of stakeholders including disabled people, community groups and employers.

As part of the get Britain working plan, more disabled people and those with health conditions will be supported to enter and stay in work, by devolving more power to local areas so they can shape a joined-up work, health, and skills offer that suits the needs of the people they serve. Forthcoming White Papers will develop policy in this area.

Good quality work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. We want people to avoid poverty, and for this to happen we must ensure that disabled people and people with health conditions have the opportunity to work and save for as long as they wish and are able to.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group who need access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time. We have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including disabled Universal Credit claimants. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres, Access to Work grants and the Work and Health Programme, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care.

Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.

No such assessment has been made. We are committed to reviewing Universal Credit, to ensure it is doing the job we need it to.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution to the extra costs that may arise from a disability or health condition. There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of PIP should be, as everyone has different requirements reflecting their own circumstances and priorities.

DWP pays close attention to the evidence base on the extra costs faced by disabled people; including academic research, analysis by Scope, and DWP’s own commissioned research on the Uses of Health and Disability Benefits from 2019. In order to understand more, DWP is now undertaking a new a survey of Personal Independence Payment customers to understand more about their disability related needs. This project has an advisory group of experts including representatives of the disability charity Scope and academic experts.

PIP is a non-contributory, non-means-tested, additional cost benefit and can be worth over £9,500 a year, tax free. Individuals can choose how to use the benefit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences. The benefit can also be paid in addition to any other financial or practical support someone may be entitled to such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, NHS services, free prescriptions, help with travel costs to appointments or the Blue Badge scheme. The benefits have been consistently uprated in line with inflation since they were introduced and were, like other benefits, increased by 6.7% from 8 April 2024.

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) provides a contribution to the extra costs that may arise from a disability or health condition. There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of PIP should be, as everyone has different requirements reflecting their own circumstances and priorities.

PIP is a non-contributory, non-means-tested, additional cost benefit and can be worth over £9,500 a year, tax free. Individuals can choose how to use the benefit, in the light of their individual needs and preferences. The benefit can also be paid in addition to any other financial or practical support someone may be entitled to such as Universal Credit, Employment and Support Allowance, NHS services, free prescriptions, help with travel costs to appointments or the Blue Badge scheme. The benefits have been consistently uprated in line with inflation since they were introduced and were, like other benefits, increased by 6.7% from 8 April 2024.

DWP pays close attention to the evidence base on the extra costs faced by disabled people; including academic research, analysis by Scope, and DWP’s own commissioned research on the Uses of Health and Disability Benefits from 2019. In order to understand more, DWP is now undertaking a new a survey of Personal Independence Payment customers to understand more about their disability related needs. This project has an advisory group of experts including representatives of the disability charity Scope, academic experts, and Disability Rights UK.

Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.

The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.

Patients awaiting outpatient care make up over 85% of the elective waiting list, which includes children. Minimising missed appointments will help us to make sure we maximise the use of clinical time and ensure that all patients can be seen sooner. This is part of delivering on our commitment that 92% of patients, including children awaiting hospital-based eyecare, return to waiting no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment.

The following table shows the recorded outcomes of outpatient paediatric ophthalmology appointments in 2023/24, for children aged zero to 18 years old:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

No estimate has been made of the cost of missed appointments to outpatient paediatric ophthalmology because the Department does not hold information centrally on the extent to which outpatient clinics are overbooked based on the expectation that some appointments will be cancelled or marked as did not attend, and that clinicians may undertake other clinical work during these missed clinic appointments.

There are no current plans to require NHS England to publish Referral to Treatment waiting times for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other irreversible sight loss conditions separately from minor and reversible eye condition waiting times.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025. Delivery partners have committed to reviewing the effectiveness of treatment access pathways like the Early Access to Medicines Scheme (EAMs), the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), and the Innovative Medicines Fund for rare disease therapies.

NHS England commissions over 80 highly specialised services provided to small numbers of patients, which includes services for rare diseases. The services are delivered and co-ordinated nationally through a limited number of expert centres, to develop appropriate clinical quality, expertise, and experience.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency supports development and access to treatments for rare diseases through regulating the medicines supplied in the United Kingdom. These include the Orphan Medicinal Products Regulation, and Marketing Authorisations under Exceptional Circumstances for treatments where there is limited data, such as rare diseases. Additionally, initiatives like Project Orbis, the ILAP, the EAMS, and the Regulatory Advice Service for Regenerative Medicines accelerate access to treatments.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS, based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by the NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as rare inherited retinal diseases. The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community, including improving access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs. We remain committed to delivering under the framework, and will publish an England action plan in 2025.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether all licensed new medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS based on an assessment of their costs and benefits, and NHS England ensures that funding is available for any licensed new medicines recommended by the NICE. The NICE aims to issue guidance on new medicines, including for rare diseases, as close to the time of licensing as possible. The NICE operates a separate Highly Specialised Technologies (HST) programme for very rare diseases, with significantly higher cost-effectiveness thresholds than those evaluated under the NICE’s standard technology appraisal processes. Decisions on whether new medicines should be evaluated through the HST programme are taken by the NICE against published routing criteria.

The NICE is currently appraising one treatment for treating visual impairment caused by a rare inherited retinal disease, and final guidance is expected to be published in April 2025.

The UK Government remains committed to securing the release of Alaa Abd El-Fattah. We continue to raise Mr El-Fattah's case at the highest levels with the Egyptian Government. The Prime Minister wrote to President Sisi on the case on 26 December. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Abdelatty most recently on 20 December 2024. The National Security Advisor, Jonathan Powell raised this with the Foreign Minister on 2 January 2025. I raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Foreign Minister Abdelatty on 15 October 2024.

The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Cell undertakes regular assessments of Israel's commitment and capability to comply with International Humanitarian Law in order to meet our legal obligations under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC). On 2 September, following a conclusion that there is a clear risk that items might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of IHL, we suspended relevant export licences to Israel for use in military operations in Gaza. This is subject to the specific measures set out to Parliament excluding exports to the global F-35 programme from the scope of the suspension. We continue to keep all export licences under careful review and licences may be suspended, amended or revoked.

We continue to press Israel to do more to protect civilians, aid and health workers in Gaza. Israel must comply with international law. We call on Israel to co-operate fully with humanitarian agencies, to make provisions for humanitarians to carry out their work safely and effectively. Restricting their work is unacceptable. The Minister for the Middle East raised concerns about hospitals and healthcare workers coming under fire with the Israeli Ambassador on 5 November.

HMG Ministers and officials at the British Embassy in Cairo continue to raise Mr Alaa Abd El-Fattah's case with the Egyptian government at the highest levels. They have been consistently clear in calling for his release and continue to press for urgent consular access. The Foreign Secretary raised Mr El-Fattah's case with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on 7 August and the Prime Minister raised Mr El-Fattah's case with President Sisi on 8 August.

Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police. Its use must be fair, respectful, without unlawful discrimination, and transparent. The Government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip searching children.

As part of the Home Office’s Annual Data Requirement, data on strip searches which take place in custody is collected and published on an annual basis online at gov.uk:

Other PACE powers, year ending March 2023 (second edition) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This custody data includes the number of strip searches carried out, as well as the age, sex and ethnicity of persons searched. For the 2024/25 custody data collection, forces will be required to record the reasonable grounds for search during a strip search. However, the data does not currently include data on the outcome of the search, and this is something the Home Office will consider collecting in future years.

Since April 2023, the Home Office has also collected data on the extent of clothing removal in stop and searches, allowing analysis of strip searches under stop and search powers. This includes publishing for the first time in September 2024 a breakdown by the sex, age and ethnicity of the person strip searched following the stop and search encounter. Home Office statistics on stop and search includes data on the outcome of the search, including the grounds for the search and whether the outcome of the search was linked to the grounds, which allows analysis of items found.

Information on the levels of stop and search is available at gov.uk:

Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Data on the level of clothing removal during stop and search is labelled as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote its collection on a voluntary basis and ongoing quality improvements to the data.

Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use must be fair, respectful and without unlawful discrimination. No one should be subject to the use of any police power based on their race or ethnicity. That is why the Government’s manifesto committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip-searching children and young people.

This Government welcomes the recent reduction in the disproportionate use of stop and search powers, but there is more work to do. We are also increasing transparency in the use of these powers. Figures published in September, covering the 12 months to March 2024 includes, for the first time, data on whether the stop and search included a strip search.

The Government is determined to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and rapidly increase aid, ensuring humanitarian support is reaching people there.

The government is keeping existing visa pathways under review in response to events. Palestinian nationals who wish to come to the UK can do so via the existing range of routes available. Immediate family members of British citizens and those settled in the UK who wish to come and live in the UK can apply under one of the existing family visa routes.

The FCDO is also providing consular assistance to those with British nationality, or dual nationality including British, who are in Gaza or who have left Gaza to a third country.

Any application for a UK visa will be assessed against the requirements of the Immigration Rules.

Biometrics, in the form of fingerprints and facial images, underpin the UK immigration system and are integral to national security. We recently published updated guidance on Gov.UK that sets out the circumstances where we may predetermine an application before a person attends a visa application centre to enrol their biometric information or when we may excuse the person from having to enrol their biometrics before they travel to the UK.

Where a relevant application is made, consideration will be given to compelling compassionate factors that are raised.

I understand that accessibility in new homes, and accessibility standards for buildings in general, are an important concern. Housing is one of this Government’s top priorities, everyone deserves to live in a decent home in which they feel safe. We will set out our policies on accessible new build housing shortly.