Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much has been spent on flood prevention works to protect the village of Croston in South Ribble constituency in the last five years; and what funds are allocated for future improvements.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Protecting communities around the country from flooding is one of the Secretary of State’s five core priorities.

To ensure we protect the country from the devastating impacts of flooding, the Government will invest £2.4 billion in 2024/25 and 2025/26 to improve flood resilience by maintaining, repairing and building flood defences.

In South Ribble, the £7.3 million Croston Flood Scheme was completed in 2017 - protecting 438 properties. In the last 5 years (2019 -2024) there has been a further investment of around £500,000 for reconditioning projects, electricity running costs and repair works for the scheme and flood defence in Croston Village. An additional £42,000 is planned for 2024/25.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of pensioners receive Pension Credit in South Ribble constituency; and how many of these are new recipients since 31 July 2024.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

The latest available data shows that in Winter 2023 to 2024, there were 14,717 pensioner households living in the South Ribble constituency. This is based on winter-fuel-payments-household-2023-to-2024.ods.

At that point in time, 1,528 pensioner households received Pension Credit in the South Ribble constituency. This is based on February 2024 Pension Credit statistics which are available via DWP Stat-Xplore.

Based on these figures, 10.4% of pensioner households in the South Ribble constituency received Pension Credit in February 2024.

The latest Pension Credit statistics were published in November 2024 and cover the period up to May 2024. The next iteration of Pension Credit caseload statistics will be released on 18^th February, as part of the DWP Benefits Statistics quarterly release. This will contain data for the period from June 2024 to the end of August 2024. Following release, the data can also be accessed at Stat-Xplore - Home.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which hospices (a) have all medication supplied (i) for free and (ii) at a discounted rate and (b) do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

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

Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs). Consequently, neither the Department nor NHS England hold data centrally on which hospices have all medication supplied for free or at a discounted rate by the National Health Service or which hospices do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

There are no plans currently to make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices, because medication supply to charitable hospices is dependent on local arrangements with ICBs. Hospices are advised to reach individual agreements with their ICBs, which have a broader picture of local arrangements on medication prescribing and provision within their areas.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices.

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

Palliative and end of life care is commissioned at a local level by integrated care boards (ICBs). Consequently, neither the Department nor NHS England hold data centrally on which hospices have all medication supplied for free or at a discounted rate by the National Health Service or which hospices do not have medication supplied by the NHS.

There are no plans currently to make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring the NHS to pay for all medications supplied to hospices, because medication supply to charitable hospices is dependent on local arrangements with ICBs. Hospices are advised to reach individual agreements with their ICBs, which have a broader picture of local arrangements on medication prescribing and provision within their areas.