Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of levels of prevalence of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) in the NHS estate.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service in England has been surveying sites and undertaking Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) mitigation work since 2019. Once the presence of RAAC is confirmed at a hospital site, it joins NHS England’s national RAAC programme, which is backed by £954 million. This programme has delivered mitigation, safety, and eradication works across all NHS sites in England with confirmed RAAC, to keep facilities safe and open and, over time, remove RAAC fully from the NHS estate. The Department has published a full list of hospitals with confirmed RAAC, which will be updated periodically and is available at the following link:
As of 29 February 2024, there were 54 NHS hospital sites with confirmed RAAC, and RAAC had been eradicated at four sites. Further eradication work has taken place since this date.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many businesses have been found criminally liable for failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the number of convictions for criminal offences, however, offences specifically relating to ‘failing to prevent the facilitation of tax evasion’ are not separately identifiable from information held centrally. This information may be held on court records, but to examine individual court records would be of disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-opening the public enquiry office at Horwich police station.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Decisions relating to the police estate, including the availability of public enquiry counters, are decisions for Chief Constables and democratically elected Police and Crime Commissioners, as they are best placed to make decisions about frontline policing and how resources are best deployed at a local level.
I will write to the Hon Gentlemen with details of how he can make representations to the local police authorities about the facilities of Horwich police station.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the suspicious activity report programme.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)
Intelligence from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) enable law enforcement to identify, disrupt, and recover hundreds of millions of pounds which underpin serious and organised crime in the UK and disrupt criminals. The SARs Reform Programme was established to make several improvements, which have been delivered. These are:
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of sewage discharges into watercourses in Bolton West constituency in the last 12 months.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Environment Agency will publish the 2024 Event Duration Monitoring data, showing how long and how often storm overflows have been used, in March 2025. The data for previous years is available here.
I would also refer the hon. Member to the Written Statement made by the Secretary of State on 18 July: Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of expanding the right to roam.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government does not believe the Scottish or Scandinavian models are the right approach in England. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides the public a right of access to areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. We will be considering whether any changes are required to the current right to roam regime in due course.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time was for patients at the Royal Bolton Hospital Emergency Department in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not available in the format requested. The latest published National Health Service data, from June 2024, shows that 61.8% of patients were admitted, transferred, or discharged within four hours at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust.
The Government is committed to supporting the NHS in reducing accident and emergency waiting times, and returning to the standards patients should expect as set out in the NHS Constitution.