Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will take steps to use the UK’s role as a co-host of the Global Fund’s 8th Replenishment to encourage contributions from international partners.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is proud to be co-hosting the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment with South Africa and looks forward to working with an expanded range of partners to help end AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for good.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is working with South Africa and the Global Fund on a range of international engagements and events to help generate international support for the Replenishment. For example, Heads of Mission have recently hosted events in support of the Global Fund at our High Commission in Canberra, our Embassy in Addis Ababa and our High Commission in Pretoria, in addition to bilateral discussions in other key countries.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to have discussions with international partners at the 2025 G20 Summit on the UK and South Africa’s role as co-hosts of the Global Fund’s 8th Replenishment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is proud to be co-hosting the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment with South Africa and looks forward to working with an expanded range of partners to help end AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for good.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is working with South Africa and the Global Fund on a range of international engagements and events to help generate international support for the Replenishment. For example, Heads of Mission have recently hosted events in support of the Global Fund at our High Commission in Canberra, our Embassy in Addis Ababa and our High Commission in Pretoria, in addition to bilateral discussions in other key countries.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Heads of Mission are taking steps to generate support for the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is proud to be co-hosting the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment with South Africa and looks forward to working with an expanded range of partners to help end AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for good.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is working with South Africa and the Global Fund on a range of international engagements and events to help generate international support for the Replenishment. For example, Heads of Mission have recently hosted events in support of the Global Fund at our High Commission in Canberra, our Embassy in Addis Ababa and our High Commission in Pretoria, in addition to bilateral discussions in other key countries.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to page 270 of his Department’s report entitled FCDO annual report and accounts 2024 to 2025, published on 22 July 2025, whether the increase in spending on multilateral subscriptions to international organisations includes contributions to global health multilaterals.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
No, spending on global health multilaterals is captured within the health section of the report, alongside bilateral health programmes.
The UK is committed to our work on global health, including boosting global health security and investing in multilateral funds like Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to fight disease and help save millions of lives.
From 2026 to 2030, the UK will invest £1.25 billion in support of Gavi's mission. This will support the immunisation of 62.5m children, saving around 1.25m lives.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2025 to Question 69165 on Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria: Finance, if he will publish a timeframe for an announcement on the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund’s 8th Replenishment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's pledge to the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment will be determined later in the year following the conclusion of the process to set multi-year Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding allocations.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when he plans to take a decision on the UK’s contribution to the Global Fund’s 8th replenishment.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK's pledge to the Global Fund's Eighth Replenishment will be determined later in the year following the conclusion of the process to set multi-year Official Development Assistance (ODA) funding allocations.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to support people with musculoskeletal conditions to (a) find and (b) remain in work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched last November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. In our March Green Paper, we set out our Pathways to Work Guarantee, backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by 2030 and a total of £2.2 billion by over four years. Our £2.2bn Pathways to Work investment brings our total investment in employment support for disabled people and those with health conditions to £3.8 billion over this Parliament. We will build towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits.
Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals, including people with musculoskeletal conditions, to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems.
Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care, and WorkWell.
We also recognise that employers play an important role in addressing health and disability. To build on this, the DWP and DHSC Joint Work & Health Directorate (JWHD) is facilitating “Keep Britain Working”, an independent review of the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces. The lead reviewer, Sir Charlie Mayfield, is expected to bring forward recommendations in Autumn 2025. Additionally, the JWHD has developed a digital information service for employers, continues to oversee the Disability Confident Scheme, and continues to increase access to Occupational Health.
The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care have worked together on the 10 Year Health Plan, ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. The Plan sets out the vision for what good joined-up care looks like for people with a combination of health and care needs, including for disabled people. We will further pilot the integration of employment advisers and work coaches into the neighbourhood health service, so that working age people with long term health conditions have an integrated public service offer. A patient’s employment goals will be part of care plans, to support more joined up service provision.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate (a) training and (b) guidance for PIP assessors on (i) arthritis and (ii) other chronic, fluctuating health conditions.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment evaluates how an individual’s condition affects their ability to live independently, rather than focusing solely on the nature or severity of their condition. The assessment considers whether a person can carry out specific activities safely, reliably, repeatedly, and within a reasonable time frame. The process should not assess individuals based on their ‘best days’; instead, it is intended to consider the overall impact of a condition over time, specifically considering functional limitations that occur on more than 50% of days within a given period
All health professionals (HPs) are fully qualified in their health discipline and have passed strict recruitment and experience criteria. They are also required to be registered with the appropriate regulatory body. The department authorises HPs to conduct assessments only after suppliers demonstrate that the HP has successfully completed a department approved training and appraisal programme. This process confirms that HPs possess a sound understanding of the clinical aspects and likely functional effects of a broad range of health conditions.
As of September 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took over responsibility for the Core Training and Guidance Material (CTGM) used within the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS). This material is provided by DWP to HAAS assessment suppliers, who are required to incorporate all relevant CTGM content related to specific conditions and assessment policies into their final training products.
DWP has provided suppliers with specific CTGM on rheumatoid arthritis, alongside a broader suite of training materials covering a range of long-term, fluctuating health conditions. These contain clinical and functional information relevant to the condition and is quality assured to ensure its accuracy from both a clinical and policy perspective.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent progress his Department has made on the Small Business Command Paper.
Answered by Gareth Thomas
We launched ‘Backing Your Business – our plan for small and medium-sized enterprises’ on 31 July. It is a long-term strategy focussing on five areas:
This strategy, together with the Industrial Strategy, is just the start of our commitment to work hand-in-hand with SMEs to drive growth.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to provide support for SMEs for occupational health programmes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government is committed to supporting people with their employment journey. Expert-led impartial advice, and interventions such as occupational health, can help employers provide appropriate and timely work-based support to manage their employees’ health conditions, and also support business productivity.
The Joint Work and Health Directorate’s Occupational Health reform programme has focused on increasing access and uptake of occupational health. This has included a £1m fund for innovation that focussed on increasing access to and capacity in Occupation Health. The fund has encouraged the development of new models of Occupational Health tailored to the self-employed and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a better use of technology. Phase 1 was launched in January 2023 and projects finished January 24. Phase 2 launched in December 2023 with a further a £1.5m fund. Projects went live 1 April 2024 and completed in March 2025.
The Department for Work and Pensions additionally offers support to SMEs through a number of programmes, such as the Disability Confident Scheme, which provides employers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to employ those with a disability or health condition and a digital information service for (Support with Employee Health and Disability), which provides tailored guidance on supporting employees in common workplace scenarios involving health and disability.
Employers, including SMEs, can also refer to WorkWell pilots which went live from October 2024 in 15 areas across England. Available to people both in and out of work, it provides low intensity holistic support for health-related barriers to employment, and a single joined up gateway to existing local work and health service provision.
Upon publication of our Get Britain Working White Paper, the Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Business and Trade asked Sir Charlie Mayfield to lead an independent Keep Britain Working Review as a part of the plan to Get Britain Working again.
In recognition of the vital role of businesses of all sizes, Sir Charlie Mayfield is considering recommendations to support and enable employers to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, support more people to stay in or return to work from periods of sickness absence, and recruit and retain more disabled people and people with health conditions.