Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department is taking steps to help reduce the impact of uninsured drivers on car insurance premiums.

Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Government takes uninsured driving seriously. Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) has enabled action to be taken against those who keep a vehicle without insurance. The scheme allows uninsured vehicles to be identified from a comparison of the DVLA’s vehicle register and the Motor Insurance Database of insurance policies managed by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. Under CIE keepers of vehicles which appear to be uninsured are sent reminder letters. Those who take no action receive a fixed penalty of £100, followed by enforcement action including prosecution. CIE supplements enforcement action taken by the police on the road.

Since 2005 the police have had the power to seize vehicles that are being driven without insurance. In addition to a £300 fixed penalty and 6 penalty points on their licence for the offence, those whose vehicles have been seized face a cost to recover the vehicle and must provide proof that it has been insured. Seized vehicles that are not claimed within 14 days can be sold or crushed.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the evidential basis is for age-based exclusion criteria in cancer clinical trials; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure that young people have equitable access to participation in such trials.

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

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including teenagers and young adults with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The eligibility of patients for a clinical trial is determined by a set of criteria designed to ensure the safety of participants and the scientific validity of the study. These criteria are decided by each study's sponsors and researchers, based on scientific evidence, study goals, and safety considerations.

The Department is working closely with the National Health Service, industry, academia, research regulators, and charities to make clinical research in the UK more efficient, more competitive, and more accessible. We expect these efforts to attract more commercial investment in clinical research and yield a broad and diverse portfolio of clinical trials in the UK, including clinical trials for teenagers and young adults with cancer.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical trial participation for young people with cancer.

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 impact of age-related eligibility criteria on the inclusion of teenagers and young adults in cancer clinical trials.

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

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including teenagers and young adults with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The eligibility of patients for a clinical trial is determined by a set of criteria designed to ensure the safety of participants and the scientific validity of the study. These criteria are decided by each study's sponsors and researchers, based on scientific evidence, study goals, and safety considerations.

The Department is working closely with the National Health Service, industry, academia, research regulators, and charities to make clinical research in the UK more efficient, more competitive, and more accessible. We expect these efforts to attract more commercial investment in clinical research and yield a broad and diverse portfolio of clinical trials in the UK, including clinical trials for teenagers and young adults with cancer.

The Department funded National Institute for Health and Care Research funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical trial participation for young people with cancer.

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 improve the collection and reporting of age-disaggregated data on participation in cancer clinical trials, in addition to collecting participation data through NIHR.

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

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), funded by the Department, funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including cancer clinical trials.

The NIHR Research Delivery Network collects age-disaggregated data on participation in cancer clinical trials across all age groups, for studies supported by NIHR infrastructure, and reports on this data where appropriate.

The Department is working with NHS England and other partners to develop a new data collection approach which will include the age of people participating in NIHR funded studies, including for cancer clinical trials. Once established, this could be expanded to include age data from studies supported by other funders.

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including those with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to ensure the gonorrhoea vaccination programme reaches (a) young people aged 15-24 (b) women, (c) gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men and (d) other communities most at risk.

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

In November 2023, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) issued advice on standing up a targeted, routine vaccination programme for protection against gonorrhoea.

Officials across the Department, the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England have been developing options based on the JCVI advice, assessing all the relevant factors to ensure that the United Kingdom’s high standards for world-leading vaccination programmes are maintained, and the best value for money for taxpayers is delivered. A decision on a vaccination programme for the prevention of gonorrhoea is expected shortly, following the outcome of this process.

NHS England will work with partners across national, regional, and local levels to ensure that plans for any new vaccination programme will meet local need, ensure equity of access and support a high level of uptake of the vaccination offer by those who are eligible.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to implement the targeted roll-out of the Gonorrhoea vaccine.

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

In November 2023, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) issued advice on standing up a targeted, routine vaccination programme for protection against gonorrhoea.

Officials across the Department, the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England have been developing options based on the JCVI advice, assessing all the relevant factors to ensure that the United Kingdom’s high standards for world-leading vaccination programmes are maintained, and the best value for money for taxpayers is delivered. A decision on a vaccination programme for the prevention of gonorrhoea is expected shortly, following the outcome of this process.

NHS England will work with partners across national, regional, and local levels to ensure that plans for any new vaccination programme will meet local need, ensure equity of access and support a high level of uptake of the vaccination offer by those who are eligible.

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 the geographical spread of cancer clinical trial sites to enable equitable access for teenagers and young adults.

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

The Department is committed to maximising the United Kingdom’s potential to lead the world in clinical research, with the aim of ensuring that all patients, including teenagers and young adults with cancer, have access to cutting-edge clinical trials and innovative, lifesaving treatments.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), funded by the Department, funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical research for teenagers and young adults with cancer.

This research infrastructure includes a network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, co-funded by the NIHR, Cancer Research UK, and the Little Princess Trust, which work across the whole of the UK, bringing together world-leading laboratory and clinical researchers to test new treatments for adults and children with cancer.

The NIHR Research Delivery Network (RDN) supports patients, the public, and health and care organisations across England to participate in high-quality research. The RDN consists of 12 regional RDNs, which support sites across England to deliver clinical research, including clinical research for teenagers and young adults with cancer.

The newly designated Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDCs) will build further capacity in delivering commercial clinical research. There are 21 CRDCs spread across the UK, and one of the CRDCs, based at the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, is dedicated to the delivery of commercial clinical trials for treating children and young people.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to ensure autism is considered in the Youth Employment Strategy.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As a Government, we want to support all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace, and we are looking to build on the findings of the Buckland Review of Autism Employment by gathering expert evidence in line with this expanded focus.

As part of plan to Get Britain Working, we will launch a Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work.

Our Youth Guarantee will meet the needs of those facing disadvantages relating to mental or physical health. Collaborating closely with stakeholders from a range of sectors will be integral to improving opportunities for young people. And that is why we have launched eight Youth Guarantee Trailblazers to test and learn before further roll out of the Youth Guarantee. These Trailblazers are testing joining-up locally and nationally delivered work, health and skills approach.

Autism creates employment barriers that can affect young people's daily lives and mental health. As outlined in the Pathways to Work Green Paper, we have ambitious plans to better support our young people to lead fulfilling lives and careers.

Jobcentre Plus already offers extensive assistance to young disabled people and those with health conditions, focusing on individual needs and collaborating with local partners for appropriate support. In addition, work coaches in Youth Hubs and Youth Employability Coaches, provide targeted interventions to build skills, confidence, and employment opportunities.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she plans to take to ensure that pensioners who are earning below £11,400 are able to obtain winter fuel allowance.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

Pension Credit provides extra money to help with living costs for people over State Pension age and on a low income. The Guarantee Credit part of Pension Credit tops up a person’s other income and also prompts recipients to receive a Winter Fuel Payment to a minimum of £227.10 per week for a single person and £346.60 per week for couples with extra amounts paid in respect of severe disability, caring responsibilities and certain housing costs. We want to ensure as many people as possible who are entitled to this support receive it, which is why the Government has taken action to maximise the take-up of Pension Credit by undertaking the biggest ever awareness campaign. This has included promoting Pension Credit on television, radio, social media as well as directly contacting pensioners who we think could be eligible alongside working with stakeholders and partners.

The latest Pension Credit applications and awards statistics were published on 27 February. Details can be found at: Pension Credit applications and awards: February 2025 - GOV.UK.

The statistics show that the Department received 235,000 Pension Credit applications in the 30 weeks since the Winter Fuel Payment announcement – an 81% increase on the comparable period in 2023/24 and made 117,800 new Pension Credit awards – a 64% increase or 45,800 extra awards on the comparable period in 2023/24.

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has consulted with independent retailers on the development of the new Business Growth service.

Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)

My department is working closely with independent retailers and the wider business community on the design of the Business Growth Service. We’ve held roundtables and consultation events across the country, in partnership with local organisations, to hear directly from entrepreneurs and small business owners about the support they need to grow.

My department continues to engage regularly with retailers through key trade associations, and feedback will remain central to how the service evolves. Our goal is to build a service shaped by business, for business.

Trans+ History Week

Found: Paul Davies 6 Page 28, after line 29, insert a new section— ‘[ ] Post-legislative scrutiny After section

Found: Paul Davies 6 Page 28, after line 29, insert a new section— ‘[ ] Post-legislative scrutiny After section

<p>Thank you very much, Paul Davies, for raising this and the very regrettable reports from your constituents. I'm sure that you have followed those up with the Welsh ambulance trust directly. I can't recall whether it was raised last week, when the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care had his oral Senedd questions, but clearly this is a matter that is now on record and will be drawn to the attention of the Cabinet Secretary.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Welcome to this afternoon's Plenary meeting. The first item on our agenda today will be questions to the First Minister, and the first question is from Paul Davies.&nbsp;</p>