Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the Government’s commission on adult social care will consider reform to the means test of the Disabled Facilities Grant.

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

In England, we continue to fund the locally administered Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG), which helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes.

We have provided an additional £172 million across this and the last financial year to uplift the DFG, which could provide around 15,600 home adaptations to give older and disabled people more independence in their homes. This brings the total funding for the DFG to £711 million across 2024/25 and 2025/26.

We continue to keep all aspects of the DFG under consideration. Recently, we carried out a review of the upper limit for the DFG and are currently considering the findings.

We have launched an independent commission into adult social care as part of our first steps towards delivering a National Care Service. The Terms of Reference for the commission are sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future, including aspects of the DFG if she sees fit.

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 17 July 2025 to Question 67788 on Prescriptions: Terminal Illnesses, how many of the people who received one of the 50,330 Penalty Charge Notices issued for incorrectly claiming medical exemption from NHS prescription charges have never been in possession of a medical exemption certificate.

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

The information requested is not held in the format requested, as it could only be obtained at disproportionate cost through manual matching of data from multiple unlinked data sources.

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 17 July 2025 to Question 67788 on Prescriptions: Terminal Illnesses, how many of the 50,330 Penalty Charge Notices issued for incorrectly claiming medical exemption from NHS prescription charges were paid.

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

Overall, 55,347 Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) were issued to 50,330 individuals for incorrectly claiming a medical exemption from NHS prescription charges in the period 1 June 2024 to 1 July 2025. 32,724 PCNs have had a payment made against them.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 56079 on Agriculture: Land Use, what proportion of the 50% of land with solar panels that is still being used for agricultural production is being used for livestock grazing.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The statistics are based on results from the annual Defra June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. The specific survey category was “Area of solar panels on land also used for grazing or agricultural production” but no breakdowns of the type of production were collected and are therefore not available.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2025 to Question 56079 on Agriculture: Land Use, what the breakdown in the type of agricultural production on the 50% of land with solar panels which is used for agricultural production is.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The statistics are based on results from the annual Defra June Survey of Agriculture and Horticulture. The specific survey category was “Area of solar panels on land also used for grazing or agricultural production” but no breakdowns of the type of production were collected and are therefore not available.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many appointments to ministerial private offices since July 2024 have been made by civil service recruitment principles exceptions including the transfer of civil servants from other departments who were appointed by exceptions without open and fair competition.

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

The Department has made one appointment to ministerial private offices since July 2024 to 4 September 2025 by exception to the Civil Service recruitment principles.

Found: Current membership Mr Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat; Orkney and Shetland) (Chair) Sarah Bool

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Alistair Carmichael (Chair); Sarah Bool; Charlie Dewhirst; Helena

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Alistair Carmichael (Chair); Sarah Bool; Charlie Dewhirst; Helena

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Alistair Carmichael (Chair); Sarah Bool; Charlie Dewhirst; Helena

No description available