Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of existing planning regulations for considering the views of local residents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning regulations require local planning authorities to publish all planning applications for a minimum of 21 days to allow communities to provide their comments. Where relevant planning considerations are raised by local residents within this period these must be taken into account by the local planning authority. The weight attached to a particular consideration is a matter of judgement for the local authority as the decision-maker in the first instance.
The government considers that the existing statutory publicity and consultation requirements for planning applications strikes an appropriate balance between ensuring sufficient consultation with communities and an efficient determination period for the applicant.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has a target for the proportion of domestic energy produced by land based solar farms.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our pathway to clean power was set out in the Clean Power Action Plan, published in December 2024. It made clear that solar power, across rooftop and ground-mounted solar farms, will be crucial to achieving our mission.
The plan calls for the rapid acceleration of solar deployment, from around 21.5GW at present, to 45–47GW by 2030, with scope to exceed this, subject to system need.
We do not hold specific targets for the proportion of this capacity that should be split between ground-mounted solar farms and other types of solar.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how long the average wait time is in England for a patient to have a GP appointment GP a) by telephone and b) face to face.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England publishes monthly data on general practice appointments. In November 2025, 33.5% of appointments delivered on the same day were conducted face to face, while 52.5% took place by telephone. In terms of the proportion of appointments delivered within two weeks, 58.5% were face to face and 26% were conducted by telephone.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to require Environmental Impact Assessments to be carried out for all rural solar farm developments with a generating capacity below 50 megawatts.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Projects with a generating capacity of 100MW and less are considered under the provision of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is required only for certain types of development.
An EIA may be necessary where the local planning authority determines that the development is likely to give rise to significant environmental effects, having regard to matters such as scale, location, and environmental sensitivity.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to amend planning regulations for solar farm applications to require greater consideration of local residents’ views.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning regulations require local planning authorities to publish all planning applications for a minimum of 21 days to allow communities to provide their comments. Where relevant planning considerations are raised by local residents within this period these must be taken into account by the local planning authority. The weight attached to a particular consideration is a matter of judgement for the local authority as the decision-maker in the first instance. The government has no plans to amend this procedure specifically for solar farm applications.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve treatment options for glioblastoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Brain tumours, including glioblastoma, remain one of the hardest to treat cancers. The Government is taking action to improve treatment options and outcomes.
Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In October 2025, a new nationwide trial exploring whether surgery can improve quality of life for patients when glioblastoma comes back after treatment commenced, backed by £1.98 million of NIHR funding.
Further to this, in September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, including glioblastoma, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation.
The Government supports Scott Arthur’s Private Members Bill on rare cancers which will make it easier for clinical trials into rare cancers, such as glioblastomas, to take place in England by ensuring the patient population can be easily contacted by researchers. This will ensure that the National Health Service will remain at the forefront of medical innovation and is able to provide patients with the newest, most effective treatment options and ultimately boost survival rates.
Early next year, the Government will publish a National Cancer Plan which will set out targeted actions to reduce lives lost to cancers, including rarer cancers such as glioblastoma.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GPs have left NHS practice since July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Overall, between July 2024 and October 2025, the number of fully qualified, full-time equivalent (FTE) general practitioners (GPs) increased by 1,687.
In the period covering September 2024 to September 2025, the latest period for which the data is available, 2,825 fully qualified, FTE GPs left general practice, a loss of 1,817. The leaver rate for fully qualified GPs in headcount terms was 7.5%, which is the fourth lowest rate observed since this data began to be collected in September 2015 to September 2016.
The figure does not capture GP migration between practices during this period. Due to data quality issues, a GP recorded as a leaver in these figures may have left one practice and joined another practice with poor data completion. In instances such as this, a GP will be incorrectly recorded as a leaver due to the identifying information no longer being present in the dataset. The figure does not contain estimates for practices that did not provide fully valid records.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he will launch a consultation into giving employment protection and financial assistance to the parents of critically or terminally ill children.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade recognises the heartbreaking situation faced by parents of seriously ill children. We will consult on a leave and pay entitlement for parents in this situation in 2026. Further detail is included in the terms of reference for the review of employment rights for unpaid carers, which was published on 19 November 2025.
There are no plans to extend existing Neonatal Care Leave and Pay legislation to the parents of older children. This would be unsuitable, as it would require altering core principles of an act specifically designed around neonatal care and would risk impacting on the Act’s policy aims.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending neonatal care pay and leave to parents of all critically ill children under 16.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade recognises the heartbreaking situation faced by parents of seriously ill children. We will consult on a leave and pay entitlement for parents in this situation in 2026. Further detail is included in the terms of reference for the review of employment rights for unpaid carers, which was published on 19 November 2025.
There are no plans to extend existing Neonatal Care Leave and Pay legislation to the parents of older children. This would be unsuitable, as it would require altering core principles of an act specifically designed around neonatal care and would risk impacting on the Act’s policy aims.
Asked by: Patrick Spencer (Independent - Central Suffolk and North Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the adequacy of financial support for parents of critically and terminally ill children.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State regularly meets with colleagues across Government to discuss a range of issues.
Many parents caring for children and young people with serious illnesses are likely to need additional support through social security. Financial support is available through Universal Credit (UC), a means tested benefit, which if needed, can offer support available on day one through a UC advance. There is also Disability Living Allowance (DLA) for children aged under 16 and Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for those over 16. They are available if a child or young person’s condition or illness is of a long-term nature and gives rise to care, daily living or mobility needs. These are not means-tested.
For claimants at the end of life, the Government’s priority is to provide financial support quickly and compassionately through special benefit rules – called the Special Rules for End of Life (SREL). For parents with children nearing the end of life these enable families to get faster, and guaranteed, access to the care component of DLA or the daily living components of PIP, without having to undergo a functional assessment or serve a qualifying period.
People caring for a child in these circumstances can use an independent, free and anonymous benefits calculator to check what they could be entitled to. These are available on Gov.uk and provide estimates of the benefits someone could get, how these payments are affected by re-starting work or by a change in circumstances change.