Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to support the expansion of (a) safe, (b) accessible and (c) integrated (i) cycling and (ii) walking infrastructure.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Chancellor has recently announced £616 million for Active Travel England up to 2029-30 to support local authorities to build and maintain walking and cycling infrastructure. In addition, this Government will provide nearly £18 billion to local authorities through the Transport for City Region settlements and the Local Transport Grant, supporting them to invest in their local transport priorities, including walking and cycling.
Active Travel England works with local authorities to help design and deliver high-quality networks. The forthcoming Integrated National Transport Strategy we will help to ensure that active travel is safe, accessible and integrated with other modes to encourage more people to cycle, walk and wheel.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen the (a) legal rights and (b) financial protections of (i) survivors of domestic abuse and (ii) cohabiting partners; and when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for reform in this area.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The financial difficulties that cohabitants, including survivors of domestic abuse, can face when their cohabiting relationships come to an end is a matter of concern. That is why the Government committed in its manifesto to strengthening the rights and protections for women in cohabiting couples. We will launch a public consultation later this year to build public consensus on what form those cohabitation protections should take.
The Government is also carefully considering the findings of the Law Commission’s scoping report on financial provision on divorce, including in relation to issues raised about domestic abuse. The Government will provide a response to this report in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to take steps to reduce the volume of substandard goods entering the UK market from (a) Temu and (b) other cheap import companies.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
UK product safety law requires all products to be safe before being placed on the market. The Office for Product Safety and Standards coordinates targeted and intelligence-led interventions at our ports and borders with Local Authority Trading Standards, HMRC, and Border Force to prevent unsafe products entering the UK. In 2023-2024, this resulted in more than 2.4m goods being blocked from entry.
Government has introduced the Product Regulation and Metrology Bill to update our product safety framework. Following Royal Assent, we intend to consult on the duties of e-commerce businesses, so that consumers and compliant businesses are even better protected.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve (a) waiting times and (b) access to phlebotomy services.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring that people have the best possible experience during their care.
We also recognise that care, including phlebotomy, should be more easily accessible, and located in the community where possible, which is more convenient for patients than going to hospital.
The Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out the productivity and reform efforts needed to return to the 18-week constitutional standard by the end of this parliament. The plan commits to transform and expand diagnostic services and speed up waiting times for tests, a crucial part of reducing overall waiting times and returning to the RTT 18-week standard.
Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are supporting one of the Government’s top priorities for health, to shift care from the hospital to the community. CDCs offer local populations a wide range of diagnostic tests, including phlebotomy, closer to home and greater choice on where and how they are undertaken whilst also reducing pressure on hospitals. Latest management information data shows that CDCs have delivered over 3.7 million phlebotomy tests since July 2021.
Healthcare services provided by general practice, including phlebotomy are commissioned locally by integrated care boards based on population need.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) effectiveness and (b) value for money of modular hospital construction methods in delivering additional NHS capacity; and whether he has plans to increase the use of (i) modular and (ii) prefabricated buildings across the hospital estate.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We recognise the benefits and opportunities of modern methods of construction (MMC), including modular construction, faster construction times, cost savings, minimised disruption, higher quality and safety standards, and the use of sustainable materials and methods.
A toolkit has been developed to support MMC opportunities in healthcare and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/nhs-modern-methods-of-construction-assessment-tool-user-guide/
The NHS MMC assessment tool is recommended for use on all projects to inform the use of MMC of opportunities and is mandated for projects over £25 million to meet business case requirements of 70% new build and 50% refurbishment using MMC.
The New Hospital Programme is already transforming the way that hospital infrastructure is constructed by using a national standardised approach, called Hospital 2.0. Hospital 2.0 uses a standardised ‘kit of parts’ for hospital components, ranging from doors to full bathroom pods, that can be assembled into different size hospitals in an optimised, consistent, and repeatable way and with off-site manufacturing and assembly, reducing costs and accelerating construction. Taken together, MMC and Hospital 2.0 will accelerate the building process, improving productivity and maximising value for money.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy that all eligible patients with SOD1-related Motor Neurone Disease can access Tofersen.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance.
NICE has selected tofersen for treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis caused by SOD1 gene mutations as a topic for guidance development through its Highly Specialised Technology (HST) programme. The HST programme appraises medicines for the treatment of very rare, and often very severe diseases, and evaluates whether they can be considered a clinically and cost-effective use of NHS resources.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to support fan ownership in sports.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Fan ownership can be a model of success for many sporting clubs and organisations, as can other models incorporating appropriate fan engagement.
The Government is committed to supporting investment into sports clubs and organisations, whether that is fan ownership, private ownership or some combination of the two.
Many fan owned clubs and organisations are operated by co-operative or community benefit societies). Charitable community benefit societies do not have to pay certain taxes as they have to meet certain requirements about how they operate as a society. These are tax measures aimed to support societies to support their local communities, including fan owned or community owned sports clubs.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to support the introduction of safe standing to professional football grounds.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
‘Safe standing’ has been a licensing option for all professional football grounds currently subject to the all-seater policy since July 2022.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the branded school uniform cap on families from less affluent backgrounds.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
For too many families, the cost of school uniform remains a financial burden. This is why the department has introduced legislation to limit the number of branded items of uniform and PE kit that schools can require, to bring down costs for parents and remove barriers from children accessing sport and other school activities. This will give parents more choice in where to purchase uniform and allow them greater flexibility to make the spending decisions that suit their circumstances.
Departmental research has found the average expenditure on uniform reduced as the range of outlets from which parents could purchase items increased. Average spend was significantly lower where all items could be purchased from anywhere (£227.29), than where all had to be purchased from a designated shop or from a school (£283.90).
For some items, the survey found that parents buying from a designated shop or from school had paid twice that of parents able to buy from anywhere. The data also show that 8% of parents had, at some point in the past, been discouraged from applying to enter their child into a particular school due to the cost of uniform, rising to 26% among parents who had experienced financial hardship as a result of purchasing school uniform items. This research is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-school-uniforms-survey-2023.
Whilst savings to families from less affluent backgrounds will vary depending on schools' current practices, we estimate that requiring fewer branded items from designated suppliers could save some parents over £50 per child during the back-to-school shop from September 2026.
Asked by: Sarah Hall (Labour (Co-op) - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what her planned timetable is for when Northern Powerhouse Rail will be complete.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As announced in the Autumn 2024 Budget, which can be accessed on the following webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024, the Government is maintaining momentum on Northern Powerhouse Rail by progressing planning and design works to support future delivery, building upon the Transpennine Route Upgrade. The Government will set out further details of its plans in due course.