Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in what circumstances benefits are paid to foreign nationals.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
It is the expectation of the Government that, in general, migrants coming to the UK should be able to maintain and accommodate themselves without recourse to ‘public funds’ (such as Universal Credit). Access to benefits flows from an individual’s immigration status, which the Home Office grants.
If an individual holds a valid immigration status that also allows them to access public funds benefits (i.e., they do not have a “No Recourse to Public Funds” condition), then they are subject to the same eligibility criteria as any other customer. This usually includes meeting the requirements of the Habitual Residence Test (for income-related benefits), the Past Presence Test (for disability benefits), and / or necessary National Insurance contributions (for contributions-based benefits).
People who are in the UK illegally (i.e. those without immigration status) cannot access DWP public funds benefits. Asylum seekers also cannot access DWP public funds benefits whilst their application is being processed and decided by the Home Office.
People the UK has welcomed as refugees or under special Afghan and Ukraine visa schemes can access benefits as soon as they have been granted their immigration status (provided they meet the other relevant eligibility criteria). This ensures that can access the support they need quickly, given the unusual and difficult circumstances of their arrival.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support is available to patients where tapering off of Mirtazapine has been unsuccessful and subsequently they find themselves taking a drug that they know is causing them harm.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England encourages integrated care boards (ICBs) to address inappropriate antidepressant prescribing and to consider commissioning services for patients wishing to reduce or stop prescribed medicines that can cause dependence and withdrawal.
In March 2023, NHS England published Optimising personalised care for adults prescribed medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: Framework for action for ICBs and primary care. The framework includes actions, resources and case studies to help systems develop plans that can support people who are taking medicines associated with dependence and withdrawal symptoms. The framework is available at the following link:
ICBs are responsible for planning health services for their local population. This includes consideration of services for patients taking medicines associated with dependence and withdrawal symptoms based on local population needs.
An increasing number of non-pharmacological alternatives have become available on the National Health Service, including significant investment in NHS Talking Therapies for common conditions like anxiety and depression, with 1.26 million referrals starting a course of treatment in 2023/24. There has also been considerable investment in social prescribing, which can help people with mental health problems, and there are now over 3700 full-time equivalent trained social prescribing link workers, and over 2.5 million people have been referred to a social prescribing link worker.
Additionally, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidelines, Medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms: safe prescribing and withdrawal management for adults, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG215
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently leading a project to improve the information supplied with dependency-forming medicines. The project aims to improve risk minimisation measures and better inform and educate healthcare professionals and patients about the risk of dependence, addiction, tolerance and withdrawal related to a wide range of medicines including antidepressants in the United Kingdom.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on the The Getting It Right First Time programme.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme is a national NHS England programme designed to improve treatment and care by reviewing health services in England.
The GIRFT team is working with systems and regions to help the National Health Service embed best practice in elective care, to reduce waiting times, improve patient outcomes and, ultimately, to support delivery of the commitment to return to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of all patients will wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral-to-treatment, by March 2029.
Surgical hubs are part of the GIRFT High Volume Low Complexity programme and mainly focus on driving improvement in six high volume specialties. With GIRFT support, there are currently 114 elective surgical hubs that are operational across England as of March 2025. These surgical hubs help separate elective care facilities from urgent and emergency care, improving outcomes for patients and reducing pressures on hospitals. GIRFT’s role also includes delivering an accreditation scheme for surgical hubs. To date, 44 surgical hubs have been accredited for clinical and operational excellence.
Within the Elective Reform Plan, the Government has committed to providing quicker access for patients to common surgical hub procedures by opening 17 new and expanded surgical hubs by June 2025 and ramping up the number of hubs over the next three years, so more operations can be carried out.
Through the GIRFT Further Faster programme, a cohort of 20 trusts, and their integrated care systems (ICS), chosen in areas of the greatest economic inactivity, are being given support to improve and streamline pathways for patients and spread good practice in areas with high levels of economic inactivity. All 20 trusts are working to deliver ‘High Flow Theatre’ lists and super clinics, not only to deliver rapid impact, but also to build into ‘business as usual’ pathways.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
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 encourage Integrated Care Boards to commission Referral Management Systems to reduce the significant time taken by primary care in chasing secondary care referrals and appointments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to cutting waiting times for secondary care appointments, which in turn should minimise the time that general practitioners spend chasing referrals. As a first step, we have seen the waiting list reduce by over 190,000 and have provided 2.5 million extra appointments since July 2024.
The Government is also committed to optimising referrals through more effective models of triage which allow patients with the most urgent health needs to be prioritised and can be used to redirect referrals to an alternative service better suited to the patient’s needs (including in primary or community services where that is best for the patient). Referral management systems are one model of triage. The Elective Reform Plan (ERP), published in January 2025, commits to developing an implementation toolkit for triage services, by March 2026, and to working with integrated care boards to put in place clinical triage standard operating procedures for high-volume specialties.
The NHS Electronic Referral System (e-RS) is a national digital platform for referring patients from primary care into elective secondary care service. The ERP commits to improving e-RS throughout 2025/26 and beyond, to enhance information sharing between primary and secondary care and will help referrers in general practice know sooner what care their patient will receive and where, including whether their referral has been accepted in hospital.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to enter a reciprocal agreement with the EU to enable visa-free travel entry for six months to EU Member States for UK citizens.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
Article 492 of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement already provides for the UK and the EU provide for visa-free travel for short-term visits in respect of their nationals in accordance with their domestic law.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to support the technology industry in adopting data-led practices to improve diversity in the sector; and whether the Department plans to support an industry diversity accreditation scheme.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Government is committed to promoting diversity in the tech sector and is doing so in a number of ways. DSIT is supporting the Tech Future Taskforce on Social Mobility, which includes helping companies to collect and act upon data to promote tech workforce diversity. As committed in the AI Opportunities Action Plan, DfE and DSIT will collaborate with industry to publish a plan to improve the diversity of the AI talent pool.
More widely, the Employment Rights Bill and Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will strengthen reporting and action on gender, race and disability by large companies, which includes tech companies.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to allow payments for farmers to grow home grown (a) pulses and (b) legumes as protein sources as SFI.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) pays farmers and land managers to carry out actions that support the sustainable production of food and boost farm productivity and resilience, while protecting and enhancing the environment. Within SFI there are existing actions which can support pulses and legumes. On improved grassland there is an action to add legumes to the grass. On arable land there is a companion cropping action to grow two or more crops together which can include pulses or legumes as a companion.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme Consultation removes the right to choose for families with ADHD.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The proposed 2025/26 NHS Payment Scheme does not remove a patient’s right to choose. The Government is committed to patients having the right to choose their provider when referred to consultant-led treatment, or to a mental health professional, for their first appointment as an outpatient.
Asked by: Samantha Niblett (Labour - South Derbyshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of existing drink driving laws in ensuring that repeat offenders cannot reoffend.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is a High-Risk Offender (HRO) scheme for those who have been disqualified by a Court for 2 or more drink driving offences within a 10 year period.
Currently, the practical consequence of becoming a drink drive HRO is that the driver’s licence is not automatically re-issued once the period of disqualification has ended. Instead, the HRO must apply for a new licence and the DVLA will only issue a licence after the HRO has proved their medical fitness to drive. The HRO scheme has thus served an important role in helping to keep unsafe drivers off the roads.
The Drink Drive Rehabilitation (DDR) scheme has been found to be effective in preventing offenders committing repeat drink driving offences. Successful completion of the approved course can see a reduction of not less than 3 months or 25% of the disqualification period imposed by the Court. This gives the offender an incentive to participate in the scheme, with beneficial outcomes to society by reduced re-offending.