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 assessment his Department has made of trends in levels of improvements to diagnostic services for pancreatic cancer since July 2024.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will support the National Health Service to transform diagnostic services by spending £1.65 billion on additional capacity, including new surgical hubs and diagnostic scanners, to support the delivery of over 30,000 more procedures and 1.25 million diagnostic tests as they come online.
Performance against the Faster Diagnosis Standard for upper gastrointestinal cancer for the period July 2024 to February 2025 was 76.2%. This is a 3.1% increase over the same period in the previous year, from July 2023 to February 2024.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to fund the Music and Dance Scheme in 2025-26.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The department will inform Music and Dance Scheme providers about funding for the 2025/26 academic year following the conclusion of the spending review in the spring.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to provide further aid to (a) the Occupied Palestinian Territories and (b) Gaza.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Prime Minister made clear in the House on 25 February, this Government is proud of the UK's pioneering record on overseas development, and we will continue to play a key humanitarian role in Gaza. As with all Official Development Assistance (ODA) spend, any new allocations to humanitarian partners will be announced in the usual way. The UK has now announced £129 million for the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) this financial year, including £41 million for the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), providing essential services to civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Palestinian refugees across the region delivered through partner agencies.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As the Foreign Secretary said to the House on 20 March, we strongly oppose Israel's resumption of hostilities. We urgently want to see a return to a ceasefire. More bloodshed is in no-one's interest. Hamas must release all the hostages and negotiations must resume. We want Israel and Hamas to re-engage with negotiations, we continue to condemn Hamas, of course, for their actions on 7 October 2023, their refusal to release the hostages, and their ongoing threat to Israel, but we are also resolute in calling on Israel to abide by international law and to lift the unacceptable restrictions on aid and demand the protection of civilians. Since the renewed outbreak of hostilities, the Foreign Secretary has spoken to Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer on 20 March and to his Israeli counterpart Foreign Minister Sa'ar on 21 March.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what information his Department holds on the amount of UK aid that has reached Gaza since 15 January 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) does not have a breakdown of the specific amount of UK aid that has reached Gaza since 15 January 2025, but the UN reports that over 4,000 trucks of aid entered Gaza per week during the ceasefire, reaching over 2 million people. In the first days of the ceasefire, we released £17 million in additional emergency humanitarian funding for the promised surge in aid, bringing our total support this financial year for Palestinians across the region to £129 million. The UK remains strongly opposed to Israel's halt of the flow of aid into Gaza since 2 March, which risks undoing the vital progress made during the ceasefire. Since 7 October 2023, UK support has meant over half a million people have received essential healthcare, over 647,000 have received food, and over 284,000 people have improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene services.
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, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled Commonhold White Paper: The proposed new commonhold model for homeownership in England and Wales, published on 3 March 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of those proposals on commonhold on (a) existing leaseholders and (b) Right to Manage arrangements.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statements I made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244) and 3 March 2025 (HCWS488).
The government will consult this year on the best approach to banning new leasehold flats. We are also reviewing the Law Commission’s recommendations to make it easier for existing leaseholders to choose to convert to commonhold and will set out next steps in due course.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing leaseholders with greater rights, powers and protections over their homes. Alongside the extensive programme of detailed secondary legislation that we are bringing forward to implement the remaining provisions of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, we will further reform the existing leasehold system by legislating to tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents; removing the disproportionate and draconian threat of forfeiture; acting to protect leaseholders from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous managing agents; and enacting remaining Law Commission recommendations on enfranchisement and the Right to Manage.
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, whether she plans to give local authorities in London a formal decision-making role in future integrated settlements applied to the Greater London Authority.
Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. This work is currently taking place and the Government plans to announce further details following the conclusion of Phase 2 of the Spending Review 2025.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing the cap on Local Housing Allowance payable for temporary accommodation through the Housing Benefit subsidy system.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We continue to keep the rates used for Housing Benefit subsidy under review.
We are working closely with MHCLG and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to explore the impacts of subsidy rates on local authorities and develop long and short-term policy solutions for the temporary accommodation sector.
The Government will prioritise the best way to achieve its mission and goals within the current challenging fiscal situation at the appropriate fiscal event.
Asked by: Nesil Caliskan (Labour - Barking)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of additional jobs created by Heathrow expansion.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Heathrow expansion could result in billions invested into the economy to create over 100,000 jobs, and support many more jobs by boosting UK economic growth.
Our pledge to use more sustainable aviation fuel, part of our Plan for Change, will also support thousands of jobs, bring down our transport emissions, and make the UK a clean energy superpower.
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 his Department is taking to tackle shortages of medicine for people with (a) epilepsy and (b) Parkinson’s disease.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is working hard with industry to help resolve intermittent supply issues with some epilepsy medications. As a result of ongoing activity and intensive work, including directing suppliers to expedite deliveries, most issues, including with carbamazepine, lamotrigine, and oxcarbazepine presentations, have been resolved.
We are currently aware of an ongoing supply issue with all strengths of topiramate tablets from one manufacturer. This supply issue is expected to resolve by the end of May 2025. We are also aware of a shortage of phenobarbital 15 milligram tablets from one manufacturer, with the resupply date to be confirmed. In both cases, alternative suppliers are in stock with sufficient supply to support patients, and these issues have been communicated to the National Health Service.
The Department is aware of supply constraints with one supplier of amantadine 100 milligram capsules used in the management of Parkinson’s Disease, however stocks remain available from alternative suppliers to cover demand. The Department has also been notified of a discontinuation of apomorphine (APO-go PFS) 50 milligram/10millilitre pre-filled syringes from April 2025. Alternative formulations of apomorphine remain available for patients, and management guidance has been issued to the NHS.