Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to develop dedicated support for adults caring for or coordinating care for ageing parents, including those supporting parents with frailty and dementia; and whether such support will be incorporated into the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

The My Carer tool will give family, friends, and carers, including those looking after someone with dementia, access to the NHS App. This will ensure decisions are agreed and taken by those who best know the patient, who may not be able to make those decisions independently, whilst making it easier for unpaid carers to manage their care and access professionals whenever they need them.

We are engaging with a wide group of partners, including those with lived experience of dementia or of caring for someone living with dementia, to understand what should be included in the Modern Service Framework for Frailty and Dementia to ensure the best outcomes for people living with frailty and dementia. As part of this exercise, we will develop a list of best evidenced interventions following analysis of the evidence gathering exercise submissions and wider research.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has assessed the potential impact on UK nationals of inaccurate records being held on the EU Entry/Exit System (EES); and whether the Government has made representations to the European Commission, eu-LISA or EU Member States on ensuring that requests for the rectification of EES data are processed within applicable legal timeframes.

Answered by Alex Norris - Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

The Government recognises the importance of accurate records in the EU Entry/Exit System (EES). As EES is an EU-led scheme, and responsibility for the accuracy of data held within the system, and for the rectification of that data, rests with the EU and participating member states. The Government continues to engage with the European Commission, eu-LISA and member states on EES implementation and matters affecting UK nationals travelling to the Schengen area. Official EES guidance states that travellers have the right to request access to their personal data held within EES and, where appropriate, to request that inaccurate data is corrected or deleted. Contact details for the relevant authorities are available on the official EES website.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the inability of new suppliers to join NHS Supply Chain frameworks during their term on innovation, competition and patient access to new medical technologies.

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

The NHS Supply Chain is committed to ensuring that its procurement arrangements support competition, innovation, and value for money for the National Health Service, while remaining compliant with the Procurement Act 2023 and other applicable legislation.

The NHS Supply Chain uses a range of commercial models to support market access and publishes a forward pipeline of anticipated procurement activity covering an 18 month period, providing suppliers with early visibility of upcoming opportunities and sufficient time to prepare to compete. Decisions regarding the structure and duration of framework agreements are taken following consideration of market conditions, competition, supply resilience, operational requirements, and the needs of NHS customers. Where appropriate, the NHS Supply Chain engages with trade associations and suppliers at an early stage to ensure category strategies are informed by market capability and to identify opportunities to improve access for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Procurement Act 2023 provides a range of commercial tools, including more flexible arrangements where appropriate, and the NHS Supply Chain considers these options during sourcing strategy development. Procurement approaches are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to support innovation, effective competition, and the adoption of technologies that deliver benefits for patients and the wider NHS.

The NHS Supply Chain's engagement with health technology SMEs, including through its SME Engagement Forum and the NHS England SME Playbook, helps identify emerging innovations and informs procurement strategies so that future opportunities reflect developments in the market and evolving clinical needs. To support SME participation, the NHS Supply Chain works directly with SME suppliers through its bi-monthly SME Engagement Forum, which provides a mechanism for SMEs to raise challenges and help co-design improvements to procurement processes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider introducing annual admission windows for suppliers seeking to join NHS Supply Chain framework agreements, subject to meeting relevant qualification requirements.

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

The NHS Supply Chain is committed to ensuring that its procurement arrangements support competition, innovation, and value for money for the National Health Service, while remaining compliant with the Procurement Act 2023 and other applicable legislation.

The NHS Supply Chain uses a range of commercial models to support market access and publishes a forward pipeline of anticipated procurement activity covering an 18 month period, providing suppliers with early visibility of upcoming opportunities and sufficient time to prepare to compete. Decisions regarding the structure and duration of framework agreements are taken following consideration of market conditions, competition, supply resilience, operational requirements, and the needs of NHS customers. Where appropriate, the NHS Supply Chain engages with trade associations and suppliers at an early stage to ensure category strategies are informed by market capability and to identify opportunities to improve access for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Procurement Act 2023 provides a range of commercial tools, including more flexible arrangements where appropriate, and the NHS Supply Chain considers these options during sourcing strategy development. Procurement approaches are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to support innovation, effective competition, and the adoption of technologies that deliver benefits for patients and the wider NHS.

The NHS Supply Chain's engagement with health technology SMEs, including through its SME Engagement Forum and the NHS England SME Playbook, helps identify emerging innovations and informs procurement strategies so that future opportunities reflect developments in the market and evolving clinical needs. To support SME participation, the NHS Supply Chain works directly with SME suppliers through its bi-monthly SME Engagement Forum, which provides a mechanism for SMEs to raise challenges and help co-design improvements to procurement processes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of closed NHS Supply Chain framework agreements on opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to supply goods and services to the NHS.

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

The NHS Supply Chain is committed to ensuring that its procurement arrangements support competition, innovation, and value for money for the National Health Service, while remaining compliant with the Procurement Act 2023 and other applicable legislation.

The NHS Supply Chain uses a range of commercial models to support market access and publishes a forward pipeline of anticipated procurement activity covering an 18 month period, providing suppliers with early visibility of upcoming opportunities and sufficient time to prepare to compete. Decisions regarding the structure and duration of framework agreements are taken following consideration of market conditions, competition, supply resilience, operational requirements, and the needs of NHS customers. Where appropriate, the NHS Supply Chain engages with trade associations and suppliers at an early stage to ensure category strategies are informed by market capability and to identify opportunities to improve access for small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Procurement Act 2023 provides a range of commercial tools, including more flexible arrangements where appropriate, and the NHS Supply Chain considers these options during sourcing strategy development. Procurement approaches are regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to support innovation, effective competition, and the adoption of technologies that deliver benefits for patients and the wider NHS.

The NHS Supply Chain's engagement with health technology SMEs, including through its SME Engagement Forum and the NHS England SME Playbook, helps identify emerging innovations and informs procurement strategies so that future opportunities reflect developments in the market and evolving clinical needs. To support SME participation, the NHS Supply Chain works directly with SME suppliers through its bi-monthly SME Engagement Forum, which provides a mechanism for SMEs to raise challenges and help co-design improvements to procurement processes.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether her Department has assessed the potential implications of the US Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. Slaughter for (a) the enforcement of the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and (b) the continued adequacy of protections provided under the UK-US Data Bridge.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The DSIT Secretary of State is required to monitor developments in all jurisdictions with a UK adequacy decision, including the US, to ensure that UK personal data continues to be protected to the UK’s high data protection standards.

The Government has noted the developments in the recent US Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Slaughter and is exploring the potential impact, if any, on the UK’s adequacy decision for the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. We are working closely with the US Government to understand the implications of this decision.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will review the Fast Track Appeal Process used by the Planning Inspectorate to enable residents to engage with the appeal process.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The expedited written representations planning appeal procedure, first introduced in 2009, was recently expanded to a broader range of appeals so that all planning appeals against decisions on applications made on or after 1 April 2026 may be decided through the expedited appeal procedure.

This process requires that any representations submitted at the planning application stage, including by residents, will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration as part of the appeal.

If it becomes apparent during the appeal process that the expedited appeal procedure is no longer appropriate, the appeal may be transferred to an alternative appeal procedure.

My Department has no plans to review the recently expanded expedited written representations planning appeal procedure.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Planning Inspectorate email inbox is closed to responses.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Planning Inspectorate has a general customer enquiries email address that remains open for customer queries.

Where interested parties are permitted to submit representations, they may do so via the Planning Inspectorate's website, which can be found on gov.uk here, or through a case-specific email address, depending on the type of case.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment has been made of the potential impact of the Gambling Commission's proposed affordability checks for bets of more than £1,000 on the horse racing industry.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government recognises the significant contribution that racing makes to British sporting culture and its importance to the British economy. Horseracing is the only sport in receipt of a direct government-mandated levy which helps to drive improvements in the sport.

On 7 July the Gambling Commission announced that its Board has decided to implement Financial Risk Assessments (FRAs) in a careful, phased way. The Government has been supportive of the policy intent behind these assessments, and welcomes their decision to do this in a careful phased way.

The vast majority of consumers will not face any change to their customer experience. A consumer who undergoes an FRA as a result of a net deposit of £1000 or more in a 24 hour period will not automatically be subject to operator action, such as account restrictions. It will instead be for the operator to determine whether or not action is needed, based on both FRA data and the data they already have on the consumer. It is therefore right that the Commission is taking a phased approach to implementation, to ensure that operators are given as clear guidance as possible on options for responding to an FRA.

We recognise the horseracing sector has concerns about FRAs. Both the Minister for Gambling and the Gambling Commission have met the British Horseracing Authority and wider racing stakeholders to discuss these concerns. We would now encourage the sector to engage constructively with the Commission during the upcoming implementation phase.

Found: Johnson (Conservative; Sleaford and North Hykeham) Darren Paffey (Labour; Southampton Itchen) Rebecca Paul

Found: Johnson (Conservative; Sleaford and North Hykeham) Darren Paffey (Labour; Southampton Itchen) Rebecca Paul

Found: given to the Chair by Resolution of the Committee of 30 October 2024: Correspondence with Rebecca Paul

Found: the meeting Members present: Sarah Owen (Chair); Alex Brewer; Rosie Duffield; Kim Leadbeater; Rebecca Paul

Found: Edinburgh West) Kim Leadbeater (Labour; Spen Valley) Kevin McKenna (Labour; Sittingbourne and Sheppey) Rebecca Paul

Found: Edinburgh West) Kim Leadbeater (Labour; Spen Valley) Kevin McKenna (Labour; Sittingbourne and Sheppey) Rebecca Paul

Found: Sarah Owen; Alex Brewer; David Burton-Sampson; Rosie Duffield; Kirith Entwistle; Catherine Fookes; Rebecca Paul

Found: Work and Pensions Committee Members present Helen Hayes Jess Asato Mrs Sureena Brackenridge Rebecca Paul

Found: present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Sureena Brackenridge; Jodie Gosling; Darren Paffey; Rebecca Paul

Found: Brewer; Rosie Duffield; Dame Nia Griffith; Christine Jardine; Kim Leadbeater; Kevin McKenna; Rebecca Paul

Found: meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Jodie Gosling; Dr Caroline Johnson; Rebecca Paul

Found: meeting Members present: Helen Hayes (Chair); Jess Asato; Jodie Gosling; Dr Caroline Johnson; Rebecca Paul

This is a follow-up evidence session to the Committee's report on 'Cosmetic procedures' published in February 2026.