Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) review and (b) update the NHS Continuing Healthcare guidance to ensure that mobility assessments fully consider the impact of severe dementia and other cognitive impairments on an person's care needs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

There are no plans to update NHS Continuing Healthcare (CHC) guidance regarding mobility assessments or specialist assessments by dementia nurses. The CHC assessment process is supported by the Decision Support Tool. This provides practitioners with a way to bring together and record an individual’s needs in the twelve ‘care domains’, including mobility. The assessment should consider the ways in which an individual’s needs interact with one another, for example how cognition impacts on mobility.

Eligibility for CHC is not determined by diagnosis or condition but is assessed on a case-by-case basis considering the totality of an individual’s needs, ensuring a person-centred approach. Someone with specialist knowledge of an individual’s condition, for example dementia, should be involved in the process. Assessments should take into account evidence from a comprehensive range of assessments relating to the individual. For individuals with dementia, this could include specialist assessments by dementia nurses.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) legislation and (b) policy relating to technology is informed by experts with technical knowledge.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The internal policies associated with technology (such as the AI Playbook) used within government, are directly informed by industry leading technical experts, which include digital and data civil servants, specialist third parties and expert non-exec board level advisors with extensive experience.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will take steps to help ensure that transgender people giving evidence in court proceedings can access facilities without being required to disclose their gender identity.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

HM Courts & Tribunals Service is waiting for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to publish their updated statutory Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations to support service providers. This follows the UK Supreme Court Ruling on definition of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance has been provided to court staff on the treatment of (a) trans and (b) non-binary people, following the update to the Equal Treatment Bench Book.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

No guidance has been provided to court staff on the treatment of (a) trans and (b) non-binary people, following the update to the Equal Treatment Bench Book. HMCTS is waiting for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to publish their updated statutory Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations to support service providers. This follows the UK Supreme Court Ruling on definition of ‘sex’ in the Equality Act 2010.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to protect the (a) safety, (b) dignity and (c) privacy of transgender people participating in the criminal justice process.

Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

Agencies across the criminal justice system are governed by the provisions of the Equality Act (2010), so must ensure that transgender people’s rights under the Act are protected. The Victims’ Code (2020) sets out the minimum level of service that all victims of crime should receive from criminal justice agencies, including the right to be treated with respect, dignity, sensitivity, compassion and courtesy and to have their privacy respected in accordance with the relevant privacy and data protection laws. This sits alongside a robust risk assessment framework to ensure the safety and security of all remanded defendants and prisoners.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with industry stakeholders on reducing water consumption in data centre operations.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Environment Agency (EA) is engaging with the data centre sector to gain a better understanding of current and future water needs. In August, techUK published a white paper to summarise the results of a survey carried out in collaboration with the EA.

When data centres are planned and designed, consideration should be given to the types of cooling technology being selected and the corresponding water needs. An assessment of the options should be made, including closed-loop water cooling which uses much less water, and air cooling where feasible. Consideration must also be given to where the data centre is going to be located to ensure that any water needs can be met. The EA encourage data centre developers to consider use of non-potable water, to embed water efficiency or water reuse in their design and contact their proposed water and wastewater supplier early in the planning process.

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 ensure full interoperability between NHS IT systems.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Health and Social Care Act 2022, the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 and the Health and Social Care Information Standards (Procedure) Regulations 2025, establish a new legislative framework for setting mandatory information standards for public and private health and adult social care providers and IT suppliers in the health and care system. This will provide the basis for ensuring interoperability between IT systems.

Mandatory information standards will be introduced in a staged process, allowing for different systems to communicate and share data more effectively.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of repeated or unnecessary appointments resulting from poor communication between departments and trusts.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has not estimated the cost to the NHS of any repeated or unnecessary appointments which might conceivably have resulted from poor communication between departments and trusts.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) Pakistani and (b) Bangladeshi counterpart on (i) the provision of support following recent floods and (ii) strengthening resilience to future climate-related flooding.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The UK was among the first to respond to the floods in Pakistan, approving £2.13 million in emergency funding across seven most affected districts reaching nearly 223,000 people with search and rescue, emergency medical care, food, water, hygiene, and household items. His Majesty the King, the Prime Minister, the former Foreign Secretary and I have shared messages of condolence and support with the Pakistani government.

In Bangladesh, we have supported over 150,000 climate-vulnerable people since 2023. We provided £1.6 million for cyclone and flood response and recovery between May 2024 and March 2025. We are working with the Government of Bangladesh to strengthen flood forecasting and early warning systems in partnership with the UK Met Office. In March 2025, the Bangladesh Adviser for Environment, Forests and Climate Change discussed disaster preparedness with the UK Special Representative for Climate.

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 impact of fragmented care pathways on (a) patient outcomes and (b) NHS resource use; and what steps he is taking to improve care coordination for patients with long-term conditions.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Neighbourhood Health Service will embody our new preventative principle that care should happen as locally as it can: digitally by default, in a patient’s home, if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, and only in a hospital if necessary. Through this model, we will rebalance our health and care system so that it fits around people’s lives, not the other way round. This approach will mean patients are not sent from pillar to post, improving outcomes and making better use of resources.

In the meantime, we have launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) to support systems across the country by driving innovation and integration at a local level, to accelerate improvements in patient outcomes and patient satisfaction and ensure that care is more joined-up, accessible, and responsive to community needs. The initial focus for all the first places in the NNHIP will be adults with multiple long-term conditions and rising risk, before progressing to other places and populations. There will be a rigorous monitoring of outcomes and metrics for the NNHIP.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she will undertake a review of the timeline to bring the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 into force to allow an earlier rollout of proven supervised systems (a) to support older drivers seeking safe mobility and (b) in general.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Automated Vehicles (AV) Act 2024 implementation timeline is designed to prioritise the development and implementation of a regulatory framework that maximises innovation, public safety, and public confidence by the second half of 2027. By incorporating opportunity for extensive consultation, the timeline will help facilitate the realisation of AV benefits to specific demographics and more broadly.

In June 2025, the Government announced an acceleration of the Automated Passenger Services (APS) permitting scheme to spring 2026, subject to consultation. In deciding whether to grant a permit, the Secretary of State must have regard to whether, and to what extent, the granting of the permit is likely to lead to an improvement in the understanding of how automated passenger services should best be designed for, and provided to, older or disabled passengers. A consultation on the scheme is open until 28th September.

Alongside developing our domestic regulations, we are playing a leading role in work to harmonise international rules on self-driving; this work is anticipated to complete in early 2027.

Loan Charge and settlement terms offered to large companies and individuals

Sanctions on Israel and International Court of Justice findings