Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the effectiveness of the monitoring of early foetal development in patients by trusts and (b) trends in the level of variations in that monitoring by those trusts.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that any proposals to amend the Access to Work scheme are subject to consultation with disabled people and piloted before implementation.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

This Government values the input of disabled people and people with health conditions, their representative organisations and people that support them. That is why we brought forward the Green Paper and opened a public consultation. We are now carefully reviewing responses to the Green Paper.

We have recently concluded the Access to Work Collaboration Committees, in which we engaged with a range of stakeholders, including disabled people’s organisation representatives and lived experience users, to provide discussion, experience, and challenge to the design of the future Access to Work Scheme.

We are continuing to work closely with stakeholders, and in particular disabled people and their representatives.

Found: Current membership Alberto Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool

Found: Current membership Alberto Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool

Found: Charlie Maynard MP, HC 1570 Tuesday 18 November 2025 Members present: Alberto Costa (Chair); Paula Barker

Found: Standards, HC 1569 Private sitting Tuesday 18 November 2025 Members present: Alberto Costa (Chair); Paula Barker

Found: Current membership Alberto Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77537 on Hotels: Taxation, and with reference to the written statement of 25 November 2025 on Devolution and Growth, HCWS1097, on what basis this change in policy was made.

Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government keeps all tax policy under review. The government’s number one mission is to kickstart economic growth, and devolving fiscal powers is critical to achieving this.

Introducing a visitor levy provides Mayors with a new lever to both raise and reinvest revenue locally. English Mayors have come together to ask for an overnight stay levy through the “right to request”. The government has considered these representations from Mayors and the three amendments proposed by Wera Hobhouse MP, Paula Barker MP and Alex Mayer MP, to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill in reaching this position. A Written Ministerial Statement setting out this position was published on 25 November.

A visitor levy also responds to the call from Mayors for further fiscal devolution.

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