Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have (a) applied for and (b) been awarded Pension Credit in Ribble Valley constituency since 10 July 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department is not currently able to provide constituency data on Pension Credit applications and awards.
Statistics on Pension Credit application volumes, for Great Britain only, were published on 29th May 2025. This includes numbers of applications that were received, awarded and not awarded, and outstanding, from week commencing 3rd April 2023 up to week commencing 19th May 2025: Pension Credit applications and awards: May 2025. The next quarterly release of Pension Credit applications and awards statistics for Great Britian has been announced for late-August 2025: Pension Credit Applications and Awards Statistics: August 2025 - Official statistics announcement - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of mandating sustainable urban drainage systems in future planning developments to tackle (a) climate challenges, (b) water availability and (c) flood resilience.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 44742 on 22 April 2025.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Care Quality Commission on whether the increase in the level of NHS-funded nursing care has increased the quality of care provided in care homes.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
There have been no discussions between the department and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on NHS-funded nursing care (FNC).
The department is responsible for FNC policy and for setting the FNC rate each year. NHSE and integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the implementation of FNC, including paying the FNC rate direct to care homes with nursing.
The FNC rate for 2025/26 increased by 7.7% from the 2024/25 rate. From the 1 April 2025, this increases the standard weekly rate per eligible individual from £235.88 to £254.06 and from £324.50 to £349.50 for the higher rate payment. FNC contributes to the provision of nursing care by a registered nurse and does not cover the costs of wider non-nursing care or accommodation. The rate increase accounts for the increase in the cost of providing nursing care.
Providers registered with CQC are expected to comply with the fundamental standards under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. CQC monitor and assess services and publish their findings, and can take regulatory and enforcement action if services are not providing people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were recruited into National Institute for Health and Care Research supported phase 3 trials for (a) dementia, (b) cancer, (c) stroke and (d) coronary heart disease in the last five years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A table showing the number of participants recruited into phase three trials in England, supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research, for dementia, cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease in the last five years is attached. It should be noted that this includes studies on atherothrombosis and the prevention of coronary artery disease.
The numbers of participants declined between the years 2020/21 and 2021/22. While it is not possible to confirm the exact reasons for this decline, this is likely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the focus on recruiting participants to urgent COVID-19 studies over these years. Other fluctuations are likely due to large sample size studies within the dataset, which have since opened or closed recruitment.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of exempting parents from fines for school absences caused by their child's (a) neuro diverse needs and (b) pathological demand avoidance.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Tackling absence is at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Thanks to the efforts of the sector, overall absence is moving in the right direction, with children attending over 3.1 million more days this year compared to last, and over 100,000 fewer children persistently absent.
Some children face complex barriers to attendance, such as pupils who have special educational needs and disabilities. Whatever the cause of absence, school staff should always first work with families and pupils to understand the barriers to attendance and provide support where possible. This might include providing pastoral support or making reasonable adjustments where a pupil has a disability. Our statutory guidance expects this ‘support first’ approach from all types of school. The guidance can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-improve-school-attendance.
The law does not exempt parents from receiving penalty notices for absence based solely on their child’s characteristics. It is up to the school and the local authority to decide whether to issue a penalty notice for unauthorised absence or not. They retain discretion about whether to issue a penalty notice because only they know the specific facts of the particular case.
The decision to issue a penalty notice must be made on an individual case by case basis and should only be used in cases where it is deemed likely to change parental behaviour and improve attendance, and in cases where support has already been provided and has not worked or not been engaged with or is not appropriate. For example, in cases of holidays taken in term-time.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that male members of staff are available if requested by callers to the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support line.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Supporting victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse is a priority for this Government.
The MOJ-commissioned 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line grant, delivered by Rape Crisis England and Wales, provides free and confidential emotional and listening support to all victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse aged 16 and over, regardless of gender. Where appropriate, the service will signpost victims to longer-term support services, including therapeutic support.
Whilst it is not possible for callers to request the gender of their call handler, the service receives a high level of positive feedback from survivors of all genders, and call handlers receive extensive training to equip them to support all victims and survivors of sexual violence, regardless of any protected characteristics. The Department works closely with the provider to ensure the service remains responsive, inclusive and trauma-informed so that it can continue to provide high quality support.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
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 increase the availability of beds in psychiatric intensive care units in (a) Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust and (b) other NHS trusts.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The number of mental health inpatient beds required to support a local population is dependent on both local mental health need and the effectiveness of the whole local mental health system in providing timely access to care and supporting people to stay well in the community, therefore reducing the likelihood of an inpatient admission being necessary.
The Department expects individual trusts and local health systems to effectively assess and manage bed capacity and the ‘flow’ of patients being discharged or moving to another setting.
Over the past few years, the National Health Service has been developing the community mental health framework to improve community support for people with severe mental illness, thus avoiding the need for an inpatient admission where possible, and freeing up more beds.
The 2025/26 NHS Planning Guidance sets out the expectation that ICBs should work with providers to improve patient flow through mental health crisis and acute pathways, reducing the average length of stay in adult acute beds, and improving access to children and young people’s mental health services.
As part of our mission to build an NHS fit for the future, we will make sure more mental health care is delivered in the community, close to people’s homes, through new models of care and support, so that fewer people need to go into hospital.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of changes to employer National Insurance contributions on care home providers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government did consider the cost pressures facing adult social care as part of the wider consideration of local government spending within the Spending Review process in 2024.
To enable local authorities to deliver key services such as adult social care, the Government has made available up to £3.7 billion of additional funding for social care authorities in 2025/26, which includes an £880 million increase in the Social Care Grant.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding her Department has allocated for special educational needs provision to Lancashire County Council since the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to over £12 billion. Of that total, Lancashire County Council is being allocated over £219 million through the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG), an increase of £18 million on this year’s DSG high needs block, calculated using the high needs national funding formula (NFF). This NFF allocation is an 8.8% increase per head of their 2-18 year old population, on their equivalent 2024/25 NFF allocation.
In addition, local authorities will receive a separate core schools budget grant for high needs in the 2025/26 financial year. We plan to publish individual local authorities’ allocations later in May 2025.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support innovation in areas without mayoral devolution agreements.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
We want to support local leaders to unlock their regions’ innovation potential – ensuring everyone benefits from innovation-led growth. Regardless of whether they have a Mayor or are a local authority. That’s why UK Research and Innovation invests in innovation across the UK, including through the £316 million Strength in Places Fund and £80 million Launchpads programmes. These are bolstering clusters in areas with and without devolution agreements. UKRI has awarded £85,000 to Ultraframe UK in the Ribble Valley, to develop high quality retrofit solutions.