Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will amend the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 to include public health medicine.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act 2026 implements the Government’s commitment in the 10-Year Health Plan to prioritise United Kingdom medical graduates for foundation training places, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors with significant National Health Service experience for specialty training places.
The act excludes from prioritisation any specialty programmes wholly in the field of public health. This is because, unlike any other postgraduate medical specialty training programme, public health allows medical graduates and eligible graduates with backgrounds other than medicine to apply for and undertake the training.
There are no current plans to amend the act to change this position. The system of prioritisation introduced by the act applies to medical graduates. Including programmes wholly in the area of public health within this system would result in unduly prioritising medical graduates over other, non-medical applicants and would undermine the multi-disciplinary public health workforce.
The Government will, as for all legislation, keep the act under review to ensure that it delivers its policy intent.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on the potential merits of introducing a maximum temperature to be allowed in the workplace.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has engaged with other departments across government in the development of the proposals for workplace temperature as part of the review of the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992.
HSE will be consulting on the review of the ACOP, and there will be an opportunity to respond to the consultation.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase revenue funding for youth services.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2025, DCMS published “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. It is backed by over £500 million of new money from DCMS.This is complemented by extensive investment from other Government Departments, such as the Youth Guarantee.
The funding set out in Youth Matters forms a three year programme of implementation. Our early delivery focus is on the Enrichment Expansion Programme and establishing the Young Futures Hubs, with other programmes currently being designed with input from a wide range of stakeholders. We are making progress on these programmes with the £22 million Enrichment Expansion Programme on track to start working with schools from the Autumn term and, as of 1 April, all eight early adopter Young Futures Hubs are operational.
This ten year, cross-Government strategy will ensure every young person has somewhere to go, something to do and a community they feel part of. These steps are just the beginning. The Government will empower young people, putting them in the driving seat. We will ensure that they can hold us to account on what we are doing through regular online updates and a youth-led national hearing every year to discuss progress and priorities. We will also publish an interim delivery report in 2027.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent progress her Department has made on implementing the National Youth Strategy.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
In December 2025, DCMS published “Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy”. It is backed by over £500 million of new money from DCMS.This is complemented by extensive investment from other Government Departments, such as the Youth Guarantee.
The funding set out in Youth Matters forms a three year programme of implementation. Our early delivery focus is on the Enrichment Expansion Programme and establishing the Young Futures Hubs, with other programmes currently being designed with input from a wide range of stakeholders. We are making progress on these programmes with the £22 million Enrichment Expansion Programme on track to start working with schools from the Autumn term and, as of 1 April, all eight early adopter Young Futures Hubs are operational.
This ten year, cross-Government strategy will ensure every young person has somewhere to go, something to do and a community they feel part of. These steps are just the beginning. The Government will empower young people, putting them in the driving seat. We will ensure that they can hold us to account on what we are doing through regular online updates and a youth-led national hearing every year to discuss progress and priorities. We will also publish an interim delivery report in 2027.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the updated Renal Service Specification is expected to be published.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The specification is being worked on by NHS England in line with their national service specification methods process, which is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-service-specifications/
Stakeholder testing was recently undertaken. The timing of full publication has yet to be decided upon as the feedback from stakeholders is being considered, alongside any changes required. NHS England will set out the expected date of publication as soon as this is available.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider commissioning a standalone Modern Service Framework for chronic kidney disease, including dialysis, transplantation, paediatrics, frailty, rare kidney disease and genetic kidney conditions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs). The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in the quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for any new MSFs as part of its work programme.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 the role of home dialysis in supporting the shift from hospital to community care set out in the NHS 10-Year Health Plan.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease, through its renal services transformation programme. This includes a specification for renal services which sets out the scope for the work of the renal clinical networks commissioned across England, with further information available at the following link:
The goals of the specification include reducing variation across the renal care pathway by developing, agreeing, and implementing standardised pathways of care, including dialysis and home therapy services for adult and paediatric services. The eight regional kidney networks in England, working with providers, are implementing this toolkit with a clear focus on improving early diagnosis, slowing disease progression, and reducing the number of patients reaching advanced stages of kidney disease. This work is supported nationally by the Renal Clinical Reference Group.
NHS England is also supporting the Department and key kidney organisations to identify further opportunities to enhance prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long‑term outcomes for people living with kidney disease, including improved access to home dialysis.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
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 access to home dialysis for patients with kidney failure.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is delivering a comprehensive programme to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes of people with kidney disease, through its renal services transformation programme. This includes a specification for renal services which sets out the scope for the work of the renal clinical networks commissioned across England, with further information available at the following link:
The goals of the specification include reducing variation across the renal care pathway by developing, agreeing, and implementing standardised pathways of care, including dialysis and home therapy services for adult and paediatric services. The eight regional kidney networks in England, working with providers, are implementing this toolkit with a clear focus on improving early diagnosis, slowing disease progression, and reducing the number of patients reaching advanced stages of kidney disease. This work is supported nationally by the Renal Clinical Reference Group.
NHS England is also supporting the Department and key kidney organisations to identify further opportunities to enhance prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and long‑term outcomes for people living with kidney disease, including improved access to home dialysis.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he intends to take steps through the fair pay agreement process for the adult social care sector to reduce the take-home pay gap between social care support workers and equivalent NHS Band 3 roles.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million of funding to improve pay and conditions for the adult social care workforce.
The Fair Pay Agreement process will see a new body formed to negotiate changes to pay and terms and conditions for care workers, improving recruitment and retention, and giving staff better recognition for their vital work. Both employers and trade unions will sit on the body, and this initial investment will mean that by 2028, care workers will expect to see a boost in their yearly wages.
The details of individual Fair Pay Agreements for the care sector, including who it applies to, and the resultant impacts on an individual’s pay in a given social care role, will be subject to this negotiation process, and is for the negotiating body to decide.
Asked by: Paula Barker (Labour - Liverpool Wavertree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to his Department's document entitled Summary of the local government reorganisation process, published on 25 July 2025, if he will help support incoming shadow authorities to ensure that contracts that have been novated are fiscally deliverable for providers.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Government continues to provide guidance and support to councils throughout the reorganisation process. We have issued explanatory guidance to councils undergoing local government reorganisation on Financial decisions before local government reorganisations and further guidance on decision making. We are working with the Local Government Association and other sector organisations to ensure appropriate support is provided at all stages.
Local authorities are independent financial bodies, and their assets and liabilities, including contracts, will move to new councils. Decisions on service delivery, contracts and if there is any renegotiation of terms with providers, will be a matter for individual local authorities as needed.