Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when she plans to make the final payment of the 20 year agreement with UNITAID.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We plan to make a £14 million contribution to Unitaid in December this year. We are proud of the UK's strong support of Unitaid for nearly 20 years and their groundbreaking achievements in promoting equitable access to life-saving health innovations. Unitaid remain a trusted and high-performing partner.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the installation of carbon monoxide alarms in (a) care homes, (b) student halls, (c) office spaces and (d) other residential settings not covered by the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms (Amendment) Regulations 2022.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The goverrnment currently has no plans to extend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, which are designed specifically to address issues associated with rented residential accommodation. Other buildings, including workplaces and care settings, are already covered by other regulations.

The Building Regulations 2010 apply to new building work, including air supply and chimney or flue requirements for combustion appliances installed in buildings, and for dwellings only the provision of warnings of a release of carbon monoxide. The Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 require owners of premises to ensure gas appliances are installed and maintained properly by a competent gas safe registered engineer, which the Health and Safety Executive advise is the most effective way to reduce the risk from carbon monoxide.

The 2015 smoke and CO alarm regulations provide important protections for renters, private and social, requiring landlords to fit smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their homes. In addition to these regulations, fire and carbon monoxide safety requirements can be found in the Housing Act 2004, the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022. The government has also introduced additional safety legislation to protect tenants from health and safety hazards through the introduction of Awaab’s Law which will come onto force for damp, mould and all emergency hazards this month.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarms (Amendment) Regulations 2022 to (a) schools, (b) office spaces and (c) other public buildings.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The goverrnment currently has no plans to extend the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, which are designed specifically to address issues associated with rented residential accommodation. Other buildings, including workplaces and care settings, are already covered by other regulations.

The Building Regulations 2010 apply to new building work, including air supply and chimney or flue requirements for combustion appliances installed in buildings, and for dwellings only the provision of warnings of a release of carbon monoxide. The Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 require owners of premises to ensure gas appliances are installed and maintained properly by a competent gas safe registered engineer, which the Health and Safety Executive advise is the most effective way to reduce the risk from carbon monoxide.

The 2015 smoke and CO alarm regulations provide important protections for renters, private and social, requiring landlords to fit smoke and carbon monoxide alarms in their homes. In addition to these regulations, fire and carbon monoxide safety requirements can be found in the Housing Act 2004, the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022. The government has also introduced additional safety legislation to protect tenants from health and safety hazards through the introduction of Awaab’s Law which will come onto force for damp, mould and all emergency hazards this month.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to RNIB's report entitled In my way: navigating pedestrian journeys with sight loss, published on 4 September 2025, whether she plans to standardise street environment regulations for (a) design, (b) maintenance and (c) enforcement.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The design and maintenance of local roads is the responsibility of local authorities who are bound by the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty. It is for them to ensure streets are designed and maintained in a way that takes account of the needs of everyone. Enforcement of matters relating to local streets is for the local authority or the police, depending on the nature of the offence.

The Department does not set design standards for local roads but provides a legislative and good practice framework. The Department has produced a range of good practice guidance to help them in this, particularly “Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure”. This is available at

www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mobility-making-transport-accessible-for-passengers-and-pedestrians

I regularly meet with accessibility stakeholders, including RNIB, to discuss a range of issues and will continue to do so.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will meet with RNIB to discuss their report entitled In my way: navigating pedestrian journeys with sight loss, published on 4 September 2025.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The design and maintenance of local roads is the responsibility of local authorities who are bound by the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty. It is for them to ensure streets are designed and maintained in a way that takes account of the needs of everyone. Enforcement of matters relating to local streets is for the local authority or the police, depending on the nature of the offence.

The Department does not set design standards for local roads but provides a legislative and good practice framework. The Department has produced a range of good practice guidance to help them in this, particularly “Inclusive Mobility: A Guide to Best Practice on Access to Pedestrian and Transport Infrastructure”. This is available at

www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-mobility-making-transport-accessible-for-passengers-and-pedestrians

I regularly meet with accessibility stakeholders, including RNIB, to discuss a range of issues and will continue to do so.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to support community centres with the cost of energy bills.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

In the short-term, the Government wants to provide businesses with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers.

The consultation has now closed, and a Government response will follow in due course once all feedback has been reviewed.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps he plans to take to support nurseries with energy bills.

Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently. The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy with less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.

In the short-term, the Government wants to provide businesses with better protection from being locked into unfair and expensive energy contracts, and more redress when they have a complaint. Last year, the Government launched a consultation on introducing regulation of Third-Party Intermediaries (TPIs), such as energy brokers. This is aimed at enhancing consumer protections, particularly for non-domestic consumers.

The consultation has now closed, and a Government response will follow in due course once all feedback has been reviewed.

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 ensure equality of access to palliative care across England.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  The statutory guidance states that ICBs must work to ensure that there is sufficient provision of care services to meet the needs of their local populations.

NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population, enabling ICBs to put plans in place to address and track the improvement of health inequalities, and ensure that funding is distributed fairly, based on prevalence.

The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.

Additionally, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Department is investing £3 million in a Policy Research Unit in Palliative and End of Life Care. This unit, launched in January 2024, is building the evidence base on palliative care and end of life care, with a specific focus on inequalities.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part charitable hospices play as well. This is why we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I am pleased to confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26.  This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

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 ensure that hospice contracts reflect the (a) cost of the services they provide and (b) needs of their local populations.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.  NHS England has also developed a palliative care and end of life care dashboard, which brings together all relevant local data in one place. The dashboard helps commissioners understand the palliative care and end of life care needs of their local population.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people at the end of life, and their loved ones.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding each charitable hospice receives varies both within and between ICB areas. This will vary depending on demand in that ICB area but will also be dependent on the totality and type of palliative and end of life care provision from both NHS and non-NHS services, including charitable hospices, within each ICB area.

The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10- Year Health Plan. We will closely monitor the shift towards the strategic commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services to ensure that services reduce variation in access and quality, although some variation may be appropriate to reflect both innovation and the needs of local populations.

Additionally, we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26.  I am pleased to confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26.  This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

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 ensure the accessibility of cervical screening in the context of the proposed merging of Integrated Care Boards.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The merging of smaller integrated care boards will help to ensure that they have the capacity and capability to be effective strategic commissioners for all the services for the local population for which they are responsible, including elements of cervical screening.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the roll out of HPV vaccination through community pharmacies for people who missed out at school.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is committed to improving vaccine uptake and access across all immunisation programmes by exploring new and innovative delivery models, including expanding routes such as community pharmacies, as set out in the NHS Vaccination Strategy and the 10-Year Health Plan for England.

The Department is working with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England to develop options for delivering human papilloma virus catch-up vaccination through community pharmacies from 2026, with the ambition to increase uptake among younger adults who have left school, supporting our aim to eliminate cervical cancer by 2040.

No description available

Found: [Online] Paul Davies, President and Managing Director, Alexander Dennis [in-person] Debbie McCreath

Found: [Online] Paul Davies, President and Managing Director, Alexander Dennis [in-person] Debbie McCreath

<p>Thank you. Paul Davies.</p>

<p>I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in this petitions debate. We've heard quite eloquently from Members from across the Chamber and across the political divide the real issue that is at stake here, and they've put together a compelling argument as to why stroke services need to remain at Bronglais, and I wholeheartedly concur with them and agree.</p>
<p>But, I want to look at this from a wider perspective. My constituency, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, is sandwiched between where services could be moving to in Withybush, at Paul Davies's constituency, and Llanelli, in Lee Waters's constituency. Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire was the location of the proposed new west Wales hospital. That was earmarked for a number of years, and communities marched up the hill of a new hospital in west Wales only to be marched back down it again when funding was never available, because it was the wrong thing to do.</p>
<p>I could stand as a constituency MS and say, 'Look, what a great idea it is to have a brand new hospital in my constituency', saying I'm delivering for my constituents. That's the easy political thing to do. The right thing to do is advocate for the health services that currently exist and the reasons why they must remain in those locations. Because the geography, as Paul Davies mentioned, is not changing. Aberystwyth is where Aberystwyth is on a map. Withybush is where Withybush is on a map. They aren't moving.</p>
<p>So, let's talk about the fundamental issues that are at stake. When we spoke at the open meeting that Lisa Francis and those campaigners who have worked tirelessly on this organised in Aberystwyth, the points that I made there are still pertinent now, I believe. The health board is split in two, because we have the west constituent part of the health board of Hywel Dda, and we have the east constituent part of the health board. Those constituents of mine in Carmarthenshire and those that live in Carmarthenshire can access health services in Swansea, the Swansea Bay University Health Board area, far quicker than they can get to Withybush in Pembrokeshire. So, for the health board to not reference the need to look at Swansea Bay for pertinent services, I think, is a failure in the way that this consultation has been brought forward. It is absolutely necessary to understand the geography of the Hywel Dda area.</p>
<p>More broadly then, the west, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, why is it always the west that loses its services? Why is it always the west part of Wales has to see its services move eastwards? When was the last time services have moved eastwards into Withybush or up to Bronglais? When was the last time our communities that we represent, the Llywydd represents, Paul represents, could say, 'Do you know what? Services have come back to us, after years of services being salami-sliced away and centralised into one location.' I think that is a disservice to the constituents that we represent, because they pay their taxes like everybody else, they deserve equity of services like everybody else, and they're not receiving that. I think that is unfair. That is the pertinent point of this debate: fairness. Fairness to access to this.</p>
<p>The point around transport has been well made this afternoon as well. I've raised on the floor of this Chamber before issues around the non-emergency patient transport services, NEPTS, where constituents are relying on NHS transport to get to just a routine appointment. But, when that routine appointment has to be cancelled because that transport link has been bumped because they have to take someone else who became more important, that's a huge loss of efficiency within the system. I think that's really wrong. That's something that we can look to improve.</p>
<p>The geography isn't changing. The transport isn't changing. This is the reality of the situation we are in. So, the reasons for Bronglais Hospital being in Aberystwyth, <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the reasons for the stroke services</span></p>

<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;">to visit a loved one in hospital.</span> Is that acceptable? No, it's not acceptable at all. Hywel Dda and the Welsh Government need to recognise that delivering stroke services in rural Wales is very, very different to delivering stroke services in urban Wales. For solutions, the health Secretary and Hywel Dda, as Paul Davies has mentioned, just need to look again at the Longley report, the solutions are in there. Importantly, the Stroke Association,&nbsp;they are the voice on behalf of stroke, have urged Hywel Dda to reconsider the proposals and work to deliver safe, effective, patient-centred stroke services. I would urge this Senedd today and the Welsh Government, listen to the petitioners, listen to the full cross-party support in this Chamber today, recognise common sense, and I would urge the health Secretary to intervene and step in accordingly. Diolch, Llywydd.</p>

<p>Trefnydd, yesterday, I joined Paul Davies in visiting the Samaritans branch in Haverfordwest and speaking to volunteers. This is the only branch south of Aberystwyth and west of Swansea. What was striking, in talking to them about possible changes to the Samaritans, was one statistic, which was that, in 2024, of the 436 suicides that took place in Wales, 77.2 per cent of those were men. And you spoke last week, Trefnydd, at the Centre for Social Justice event, kindly sponsored by my colleague Sam Rowlands, entitled 'Lost Boys: State of the Nation', and it was a really telling evening that brought forward some of the real challenges facing men, and young men in particular, in Wales at this moment. So, could I please call for a statement on support for men, men's health and men's mental health, please?</p>