Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on issuing payments under the LGBT Veterans Financial Recognition Scheme.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme launched on 13 December 2024. As of 31 March 2025, 917 applications had been received. Fighting With Pride, the Royal British Legion and Veterans UK are providing ongoing support to veterans with their applications.
The process of gathering evidence and records for the creation of casefiles is underway for these applications. This is the largest part of the process as this requires the collation of information from a variety of sources, including historical records.
Terminally ill veterans are being prioritised and we expect payments to begin for these veterans by the end of April 2025.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
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 merits of providing free covid vaccinations to unpaid carers.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of severe illness, involving hospitalisation and/or death, arising from COVID-19.
The JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024 noted that in the era of high population immunity to COVID-19, and with all cases due to highly transmissible omicron sub-variants, any protection offered by the vaccine against the transmission of infection from one person to another was expected to be extremely limited. On this basis, the JCVI did not advise offering vaccination to unpaid carers. The Government accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2024, with both the advice and the Government’s response available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-accepts-advice-on-2024-autumn-covid-vaccine-programme
On 13 November 2024, the JCVI published advice on the COVID-19 vaccination programme covering vaccination in 2025 and spring 2026. In line with its advice for the autumn 2024 campaign, the JCVI does not advise COVID-19 vaccination for unpaid carers. This advice is available at the following link:
The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice on eligibility for the spring 2025 COVID-19 vaccination programme. The Government is considering the advice for autumn 2025 and spring 2026 carefully, and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that veterans who participated in lawful military operations during the Northern Ireland Troubles are treated fairly in relation to investigations or judicial proceedings; and if he will increase (a) legal protections and (b) welfare support for those veterans.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Government recognises the important service of Armed Forces personnel and the sacrifices they made to keep us all safe in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. We are exploring measures to ensure that the legacy of the past is addressed sensitively, efficiently, and lawfully, including with veterans’ groups. When a veteran faces judicial proceedings in relation to their duties, we offer, at public expense, legal support and representation as appropriate. Veterans are also offered welfare support tailored to their individual needs and circumstances.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an assessment of the cost effectiveness of the outsourcing the (a) assessment and (b) administration of welfare.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
We do not outsource the assessment or administration of social security in any wholesale manner, although some elements of these services are outsourced to third parties.
Where these services have been outsourced, each arrangement is subject to individual scrutiny both at the planning and commissioning stages, where a number of steps are conducted:
When we do decide to outsource, at the end of the commercial process a contract will be executed, which will capture the key requirements for provision of the service and the service levels expected of the provider to enable the anticipated value for money to be delivered. This will be managed closely by contract management practitioners accredited to, or studying towards accreditation, at Expert or Practitioner level (depending on the complexity of the contract) of the Contract Management Capability Programme managed by Cabinet Office. This enables and ensures that the department realises the best value for money possible from the third party services and the optimum cost effectiveness.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that people with care needs can continue to pay for carers following changes to eligibility for Personal Independence Payments.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
We have committed to introduce a new requirement that, in addition to the existing eligibility criteria, claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of Personal Independence Payment. Our intention is that – subject to parliamentary approval – the changes will apply to new claims and award reviews from November 2026.
The changes will focus PIP more on those with the greatest needs, ensuring those who are unable to complete activities at all, or who require more help from others to complete them, still get support.
Through the Green Paper we are consulting on the support needed for those who may lose any entitlements as a result of receiving PIP daily living and what this support could look like.
We will also work closely with the DHSC and others on how the health and eligible care needs of those who would lose entitlement to PIP could be met outside the benefits system. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has regular discussions with Cabinet members, including in relation to benefit reform.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what fiscal measures her Department has considered to help facilitate the renovation of existing residential sites.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The government is committed to supporting estate regeneration schemes to transform neighbourhoods by delivering well designed housing and public space, a better quality of life and new opportunities for tenants.
As of June 2023, grant funding provided through the government’s Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 can be used to fund replacement homes alongside new affordable homes, as part of wider estate regeneration plans.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to (a) support the development of battery-electrified trains and (b) ensure that those trains are made using British critical minerals.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is supporting the development of battery-electric trains as they are an integral part of the plan to decarbonise the railway network by 2050. This includes innovative projects such as the Greenford fast-charge battery train trial, a recent battery trial on a TransPennine Express unit, as well as the full deployment of multi-mode trains with batteries by Transport for Wales and Merseyrail. We are progressing work on a whole systems approach to decarbonisation, ensuring both track and train are considered.
The Government published a Critical Minerals Strategy in 2022, which sets out its approach for ensuring the secure supply of critical minerals for key technologies including batteries.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the Office for Budget Responsibility's methodology for understanding fiscal multipliers.
Answered by Emma Reynolds - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for preparing forecasts for the UK economy and public finances. This includes an assessment of the impact of government policies, where the OBR regularly reviews and publish papers on its approach.
The OBR assesses the demand side impacts of policy using multipliers – these estimate the impact on real GDP from government policy. The OBR’s multiplier framework is described in Dynamic scoring of policy measures in OBR forecasts.
The OBR also takes account of how specific policies affect the supply side of the economy. This approach is set out in Forecasting potential output - the supply side of the economy.
The OBR have also recently published a new framework for assessing public investment which can be found in the OBR’s Discussion Paper No. 5: Public investment and potential output. This framework was used in the Autumn Budget 2024, where the OBR judged the increase in departmental capital spending would directly raise potential output by 1.1 percent by 2073-74.
The Chancellor and OBR Budget Responsibility Committee speak regularly, and there is an ongoing dialogue at official level on a range of issues. This includes the OBR’s approach to preparing forecasts for the UK economy and public finances.
The OBR committed to reviewing their demand multipliers in their most recent forecast, published on Wednesday 26th March 2025.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will have discussions with Cabinet colleagues on reforming student loan repayment rules to exempt nurses from repaying those loans while they are employed within the NHS.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government currently has no plans to exempt nurses from repaying student loans. The Government keeps the funding arrangements for all healthcare students under close review in order to balance the use of finite financial resources with the level of support students require.
Asked by: Noah Law (Labour - St Austell and Newquay)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to expand the number of organisations under the Right to Choose pathway that are able to have their ADHD prescriptions fulfilled by the NHS.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Shared care within the National Health Service refers to an arrangement whereby a specialist doctor formally transfers responsibility for all or some aspects of their patient’s care, such as the prescription of medication, over to the patient’s general practitioner (GP).
The General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates and sets standards for doctors in the United Kingdom, has made it clear that GPs cannot be compelled to enter into a shared care agreement. Shared care is not part of the GP Contract and as such, participation is voluntary. GPs may decline such requests on clinical or capacity grounds. A GP who has previously agreed to a shared care agreement but who can no longer support it must provide a clear rationale for their decision. Both the GP and the specialist clinician share responsibility for ensuring continuity of care for the patient.
The GMC has also issued guidance to help GPs decide whether to accept shared care responsibilities. In deciding whether to enter into a shared care agreement, a GP will need to consider a number of factors to determine whether it is within their sphere of competence, and therefore safe and suitable for their patient’s needs. This includes being satisfied that any prescriptions or referrals for treatment are clinically appropriate.
If a shared care agreement is not in place, the responsibility for ongoing prescribing remains with the specialist clinician, which applies to both NHS and private medical care.