Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria will be used to select areas for the Community Power Pilots.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
We will publish more information on Community Power Pilots, including the places we will be working with and the criteria that will be used, in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what measures will be used to assess the effectiveness of the Community Right to Buy Fund in sustaining community assets at risk of closure; and whether the Department will publish regular data on the number and location of assets acquired through the Fund.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
The newly announced Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, backed by £61 million, will help communities buy and run the buildings and spaces they value most, including pubs, shops, community centres, sports facilities and cultural venues.
The Fund will be a targeted and strategic offer, designed to support the new Community Right to Buy and focusing on communities in the most deprived areas. The funding is part of the £301m earmarked to support our high streets and community spaces, and builds on our wider package of investment in communities including the £5.8 billion Pride in Place Programme.
The details of this Fund, including timelines, eligibility criteria and monitoring and evaluation will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how the Community Right to Buy Fund will interact with the wider Pride in Place programme and associated high street funding streams.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
The newly announced Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, backed by £61 million, will help communities buy and run the buildings and spaces they value most, including pubs, shops, community centres, sports facilities and cultural venues.
The Fund will be a targeted and strategic offer, designed to support the new Community Right to Buy and focusing on communities in the most deprived areas. The funding is part of the £301m earmarked to support our high streets and community spaces, and builds on our wider package of investment in communities including the £5.8 billion Pride in Place Programme.
The details of this Fund, including timelines, eligibility criteria and monitoring and evaluation will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what criteria will be used to identify areas with historically low levels of investment for the purposes of allocating Community Right to Buy Fund support.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
The newly announced Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, backed by £61 million, will help communities buy and run the buildings and spaces they value most, including pubs, shops, community centres, sports facilities and cultural venues.
The Fund will be a targeted and strategic offer, designed to support the new Community Right to Buy and focusing on communities in the most deprived areas. The funding is part of the £301m earmarked to support our high streets and community spaces, and builds on our wider package of investment in communities including the £5.8 billion Pride in Place Programme.
The details of this Fund, including timelines, eligibility criteria and monitoring and evaluation will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when the Community Right to Buy Fund will open for applications; and what the timetable is for allocating the £61 million announced on 16 June 2026.
Answered by Nesil Caliskan
The newly announced Pride in Place Community Right to Buy Fund, backed by £61 million, will help communities buy and run the buildings and spaces they value most, including pubs, shops, community centres, sports facilities and cultural venues.
The Fund will be a targeted and strategic offer, designed to support the new Community Right to Buy and focusing on communities in the most deprived areas. The funding is part of the £301m earmarked to support our high streets and community spaces, and builds on our wider package of investment in communities including the £5.8 billion Pride in Place Programme.
The details of this Fund, including timelines, eligibility criteria and monitoring and evaluation will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress her Department has made towards launching the proposed consultation on the licensing of animal rescue and sanctuary organisations; and what the expected timeframe is for that consultation.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government committed in the Animal Welfare Strategy to launch a consultation on the potential licensing of domestic rescue and rehoming organisations. This will seek views from all those with an interest in this important sector. This Government is already engaging with stakeholders to inform future rescue and rehoming policy and the consultation will follow in due course.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency expects Barrow driving test centre to reach its full staffing capacity; and when that centre was last operating at full capacity.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Following the recent qualification of a new driving examiner (DE), there are now three full time equivalent DEs conducting tests at Barrow-in- Furness driving test centre (DTC).
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is satisfied that the current number of DEs at Barrow-in-Furness DTC is sufficient to service demand. A full-time DE can be expected to add approximately 1,200 tests per year to the booking system.
There are currently no further plans to recruit additional DEs at this centre. However, DVSA continually reviews its recruitment needs to ensure the agency maintains the right level of resource to meet customer demand.
The average waiting time (based on the national average waiting time metric of when a minimum of 10% of test slots are available) for Barrow-In-Furness, in May 2026, was 12 weeks. The national average was 21.8 weeks
As of 15 June 2026, there are 522 car practical driving tests booked and 389 available at Barrow-In-Furness.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
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 establish national accountability for improving brain cancer outcomes, including the development of a time sensitive clinical trials pipeline; and whether he plans to introduce ring fenced funding to support delivery in that area.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and provide regular updates to ministers.
To hold us accountable across these commitments, and to drive forward progress for rare cancer patients, we will appoint a National Clinical Lead for Rare Cancers, who will bring accountability, to oversee performance against the rare cancers commitments in the plan, including for brain cancer. They will sit on the reformed National Cancer Board and will play an important advisory role in supporting and monitoring delivery of the commitments set out in the National Cancer Plan. This role is separate to the National Specialty Lead for Rare Cancers appointed under the Rare Cancers Act 2026, which will be based in the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Research Delivery Network and will support research delivery for rare cancers.
The Department invests over £1.8 billion each year on research through the NIHR. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spending at £141.6 million in 2024/25, reflecting its high priority.
We are committed to furthering our investment in brain cancer research and have already taken steps to stimulate scientific progress and build scientific capacity to do research on brain cancer. For example, in December 2025 an initial NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium award of £13.7 million was confirmed. In January 2026, the NIHR announced further investment of a minimum of £11.7 million in the Consortium through the funding of work packages. This brings the Consortium funding to over £25 million over its lifespan.
It is not the usual process of the NIHR to ringfence funds for research into specific conditions. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain cancer. Our approach to funding research is through open and fair competition and peer review to ensure that the highest-quality proposals, most likely to deliver real impact for patients, are funded without imposing financial targets or limits.
The Department is committed to ensuring that all patients, including those with brain cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials, and innovative, lifesaving treatments through the NIHR.
As set out in the Life Sciences Sector Plan and reinforced in the 10-Year Health Plan for England, the Department is committed to cutting the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up, to under 150 days, with the aim of increasing access to patients and making the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical trials. The Life Sciences Sector Plan and the 10-Year Health Plan for England are available at the following two links respectively:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/life-sciences-sector-plan
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/10-year-health-plan-for-england-fit-for-the-future
Data published in April 2026 shows that the median average set-up time for commercial interventional trials in the first six months of 2025/26 was 122 days, down from 169 days in the same period last year.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued on how care leavers aged up to 25 should evidence their entitlement to free NHS prescriptions, dental treatment and eye care.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Department of Health is progressing work to operationalise the extension of free National Health Service prescriptions, dental treatment and eye care services for care leavers up to 25 years old. We will ensure that clear information is provided on the arrangements, including the process for validating care leaver status.
Asked by: Michelle Scrogham (Labour - Barrow and Furness)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to introduce an essential user rebate on fuel costs for haulage, van and coach operators, in addition to the recent extension of the fuel duty freeze and the 12‑month Vehicle Excise Duty holiday.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The Government keeps all taxes under review and will continue to monitor the situation and make the necessary decisions to help protect households and businesses from price increases from the conflict in the Middle East. The Government’s priorities will continue to be helping families with the cost of living, including through protecting the public finances to support the Bank of England with its role in keeping inflation as low as possible
In addition to the recent extension of the fuel duty freeze and the 12-month Vehicle Excise Duty holiday for HGV's, the Government also announced the first uprating of mileage rates for employees using their own vehicle for work and the self-employed who use the simplified expenses rates, back-dated to April, recognising pressures facing these drivers. Mileage rates for cars and vans will increase for2026/27 from 45p to 55p for the first 10,000 miles, and 25p thereafter, with effect from 6 April 2026. Looking ahead and beyond 2026/27, the Government has already committed to a review of these rates and will set this out at the Budget.