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 merits of introducing a legal requirement that vape shops cannot operate near schools.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson

The Department ran a call for evidence at the end of last year inviting feedback on the implementation of a retail licensing scheme for tobacco, vapes, and nicotine products. This included asking about the factors that should be taken into consideration when making decisions to grant a premises licence, such as the location and density of retailers.

We are carefully considering the feedback gathered and intend to consult on our proposals for the new retail licensing scheme in 2027.

More broadly, we are committed to tackling youth vaping. On 10 July, we launched a United Kingdom-wide consultation on new proposals to reduce the appeal of vaping, tobacco, and nicotine products, including proposals on product packaging, flavour descriptors, device appearance, and changing where and how vapes are displayed in shops.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to (a) introduce national guidance and (b) amend NHS dental contractual requirements to ensure that NHS dental practices make reasonable adjustments for disabled patients before deregistering them from NHS dental lists.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

Care Quality Commission regulations mandate that all registered providers of dental care must have due regard to the protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010. Under the Equality Act, health and care organisations, including providers of National Health Service dental services, have a legal duty to make reasonable adjustments to enable disabled patients to access care.

Patients in England are not registered with an NHS dental practice in the same way that they are registered with a general practice, although many NHS dental practices do tend to see patients regularly. There is no geographical restriction on which practice a patient may attend. NHS dentists may refuse to see a patient if they have reasonable grounds for doing so, for example when a patient repeatedly does not attend appointments.

We recognise that certain groups of patients may find it difficult to access dental care. Community dental services are available to people whose additional needs may mean they are not able to be treated at high street dental practices.

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 trends in the level of geographic inequalities in access to high-quality children’s palliative care.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

We recognise that there are currently inequalities in access to, and the quality of, palliative care and end-of-life care. This is one of the reasons why we are developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care.

On 4 June, we published an interim update on the MSF in the form of a Written Ministerial Statement, which is available at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-06-04/hcws88

The MSF will provide a clinically led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvement in patient and carer outcomes, including for children and young people with palliative care needs, by reducing both inequality and unwarranted variation.

The MSF will focus on reducing unwarranted variation in access, experience, and outcomes, ensuring that everyone can receive high‑quality, personalised care in the right place at the end of life. The MSF will address inequalities in access to palliative care and end-of-life care by embedding a stronger focus on identifying, measuring, and reducing health inequalities across the system.

It will support a shift towards strategic, population‑based commissioning, enabling integrated care boards to plan and deliver services based on a clear understanding of local need, including underserved and disadvantaged groups.

The MSF will also strengthen the use of data and evidence, including metrics that are under development, to help systems identify gaps in provision, track progress, and ensure funding and services are distributed more equitably.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of children’s hospices reducing services due to funding levels.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

We recognise the challenging financial situation facing many hospices due to a range of cost pressures, and we understand that some children and young people’s hospices are having to make difficult decisions about services.

However, to support the sector, the Government has provided a £125 million capital funding boost for adult and children’s hospices in England and has secured approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices over the three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, helping to provide greater financial certainty and stability.

Since the beginning of this year, NHS England has written twice to all integrated care boards (ICBs) requesting an update on the financial stability of hospices within their footprint and the steps being taken to mitigate risks as a matter of urgency. As part of the most recent request, in April, information was also gathered from Hospice UK to provide a rounded picture of the hospice sector. It is clear from all the returns received that there is a clear commitment from ICBs to work collaboratively with hospices and to understand any existing or potential impact of financial pressures, with clear steps being taken at a local level to mitigate risks to patients.

Prohibiting Members of Parliament from having paid second jobs

Autonomy’s report entitled Cleaning Up Politics

Impact of Israel’s ingress into Palestinian territory on maternal care

Strike action and industrial dispute at Tower Hamlets leisure centres

NEU dispute and strike action at St Paul’s Way Trust school

Arrest of Dr Mazen Al-Rantisi and Israeli action against Palestinian civil society

Government response to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on communication of changes to women’s state pension age

Durham Miners’ Gala 2026

Found: Practice In the Committee’s session with the EHRC’s Chair and CEO on 9th June, Nadia Whittome

Found: Quigley (Labour; Isle of Wight West) Rachel Taylor (Labour; North Warwickshire and Bedworth) Nadia Whittome

Found: Quigley (Labour; Isle of Wight West) Rachel Taylor (Labour; North Warwickshire and Bedworth) Nadia Whittome

Found: Fire Service • West Yorkshire Police • Wiltshire Police • Women In The Shade 23 June Nadia Whittome

Found: Duffield; Dame Nia Griffith; Christine Jardine; Kim Leadbeater; Kevin McKenna; Rebecca Paul; Nadia Whittome