Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will publish the average time taken for cladding remediation to be completed following its identification for government remediation programmes.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The department publishes a range of data about remediation progress via the monthly Building Safety Data Release, including the proportion of buildings identified with unsafe cladding that are expected to be remediated as part of MHCLG's remediation programmes as well as the progress on the number of buildings that have started or completed remediation works.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to improve access to GP appointments in Barking and Dagenham.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are expanding capacity in general practices (GPs) which will help deliver more appointments to patients across England, including in Barking and Dagenham.
Since October 2024, we have funded primary care networks with an additional £160 million to recruit GPs through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Additionally, the new Practice Level GP Reimbursement Scheme, backed by £292 million of ringfenced funding, will help practices hire additional GPs or fund additional sessions with existing GPs to strengthen capacity, access, and improve patient satisfaction, whilst also addressing GP unemployment and underemployment.
We now have the highest number of GPs since 2015. As of July 2024, there were 27,735 fully qualified full-time equivalent GPs, and now there are 30,552, which is an extra 2,800 GPs. We delivered 15.8 million more appointments over the past year than in the previous year and we have asked practices to ensure that they see those who need a clinically urgent appointment on the same day.
As a result, patient experience is also improving, with nearly 77% of patients reporting ease of contact, up 16% since July 2024, and overall satisfaction is improving as well. Specific, integrated care board information on GP appointments is available at the following link:
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Building Safety Regulator.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Building Safety Regulator (BSR) has made significant progress over the last year following substantial reform of its leadership and operations. Under new leadership, it has strengthened capability, improved engagement with industry, streamlined processes and driven a wide-ranging programme of operational improvement.
These changes are delivering results, with faster decisions, increased Gateway 2 approvals and more developments progressing through the system while maintaining robust safety standards.
The BSR is now focused on extending this progress across remediation and the wider building safety regime, supporting both safer buildings and housing delivery.
MHCLG continues to work closely with the BSR to improve performance, proportionality and consistency, while supporting its development towards the future Single Construction Regulator.