Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to ensure a multi-year funding agreement for social care to cover the full cost of care and enable care providers to plan long term.

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

From 2026/27, we want to fundamentally improve the way we fund councils and direct funding to where it is most needed through the first multi-year settlement in 10 years. This will provide greater long-term certainty for local authorities and will enable local government to focus on its priorities, delivering for residents and providing vital front-line services that people rely on every day.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to support early years providers with increases in employer National Insurance contributions.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

This government has had to take some tough decisions to get public finances back on track, but we are continuing to invest in the early years sector, supporting the delivery of expanded childcare entitlements and recognising the vital role the sector plays in giving children the best start in life.

In the 2025/26 financial year alone, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, with an additional £75 million provided in an expansion grant to ensure there are sufficient places and staff for eligible working families to access their 30 hours entitlement from September 2025. Further, we announced the largest ever uplift to the early years pupil premium, increasing the rate by over 45% compared to 2024/25 financial year, which is equivalent to up to £570 per eligible child per year. On top of this, we are providing £25 million through the forthcoming National Insurance Contributions grant for public sector employers in early years.

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 ensure the availability of (a) Levetiracetam and (b) other medications in the supply chain.

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

The Department is aware that some manufacturers of levetiracetam tablets are facing supply issues. However, alternative suppliers can fully support the market during this time.

Medicine supply chains are complex, global, and highly regulated, and there are a number of reasons why supply can be disrupted, many of which are not specific to the United Kingdom and outside of Government control, including manufacturing difficulties, access to raw materials, sudden demand spikes or distribution issues, and regulatory issues. There are approximately 14,000 licensed medicines, and the overwhelming majority are in good supply.

While we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a range of well-established processes and tools to manage them when they arise, to mitigate risks to patients. These include close and regular engagement with suppliers, use of alternative strengths or forms of a medicine to allow patients to remain on the same product, expediting regulatory procedures, sourcing unlicensed imports from abroad, adding products to the restricted exports and hoarding list, use of Serious Shortage Protocols, and issuing National Health Service communications to provide management advice and information on issues to healthcare professionals including pharmacists, so they can advise and support their patients.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2025 to Question 40872 on Epilepsy: Drugs, what steps he is taking to support patients whose neurologist has specified that Levetiracetam must come from Millfarm.

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

The Department is not aware of any supply issues with levetiracetam tablets from the manufacturer, Milpharm. Pharmacies can obtain stocks from their usual wholesalers.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that purchasers are not financially disadvantaged by incorrect EPC certificates.

Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012 place a duty on accreditation schemes to ensure that Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are produced in a consistent and accurate manner and the energy assessors are suitably qualified and experienced to carry out their duties. Government regularly audits accreditation scheme to assess whether they are fulfilling their duties and takes action to address any issues found.

We have recently consulted on EPC Reforms including proposals to improve the accuracy and reliability of Energy Performance Certificates. This includes reviewing the training standards of energy assessors and strengthening auditing processes to more effectively capture and correct errors. We have also proposed that additional metrics be added to EPCs to provide a broader perspective on building performance, alongside measures to make the underlying data used to calculate these metrics more transparent. This increased transparency will allow any errors to be identified sooner and corrected.

Found: Samantha Niblett: …the top three results for “deepfake porn” on Microsoft Bing are deepfake porn websites

Found: David Burton-Sampson; Kirith Entwistle; Natalie Fleet; Catherine Fookes; Christine Jardine; Samantha Niblett

Found: Chair); Alex Brewer; David Burton-Sampson; Rosie Duffield; Kirith Entwistle; Catherine Fookes; Samantha Niblett

Found: ; Alex Brewer; David Burton-Sampson; Kirith Entwistle; Catherine Fookes; Christine Jardine; Samantha Niblett

Found: ; Alex Brewer; David Burton-Sampson; Kirith Entwistle; Catherine Fookes; Christine Jardine; Samantha Niblett

Found: Ms Stella Creasy Adrian Ramsay Liz Jarvis Wera Hobhouse Alison Hume Kirith Entwistle Samantha Niblett

The Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) will hold a session in Parliament on Wednesday, 5 March to look at the prevalence and impact of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK and to examine the work of the UK Government to prevent FGM and to address the health consequences of survivors of FGM.