Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to include provisions on the protection of wholesale workers in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level, up 29% on year up to June 2024, with more and more offenders using violence and abuse against shopworkers to do this. We won’t stand for this.

Everybody has a right to feel safe on the job and this government is committed to taking retail crime seriously.

As part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission, we will introduce a new specific offence for assaults on shopworkers to protect them from violence and abuse.

The scope of this new offence will be confirmed when legislation is brought forward.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to ensure that Start for Life services in Sunderland are funded beyond 1 April 2025.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Family Hubs and Start for Life programme is central to the Government’s commitments to give every baby the best start in life, and to deliver the healthiest generation ever.

The Prime Minister’s Plan for Change outlined that we will give children the best start in life by strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. There will be investment to continue to build up the Family Hub and Start for Life programme. The Autumn Budget announcement has already confirmed £69 million to continue delivery of a network of Family Hubs in 2025/26.

We are aware that local authorities such as Sunderland are undertaking financial planning for 2025/26, and have communicated with those for whom programme funding information is critical for operational business purposes.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had recent discussions with the food and drink wholesale sector on the classification of wholesale premises as online retail warehouses in the Transforming Business Rates Policy Paper; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of this classification on the sector.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HM Treasury releases a quarterly record of Ministers’ meetings with external individuals and organisations. This can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel.

The Transforming Business Rates Discussion Paper, published by the Government at the Autumn Budget, set out that we are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high-street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.

To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, with rateable values below £500,000, from 2026-27.

This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so the Government intends to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.

The rates for any new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context. The statutory definition for qualifying RHL properties will be set out in regulations ahead of implementation in the 2026-27 financial year.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 69 of the House of Lords Preterm Birth Committee report entitled Preterm Birth: reducing risks and improving lives, HL 30, published on 14 November 2024, if his Department will revise the national maternity safety ambition to reduce the (a) incidence and (b) impact of pre-term births.

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

We welcome the House of Lords’ Preterm Birth Committee’s report focused on reducing risks and improving lives. We thank all the individuals and organisations that gave evidence to the Inquiry, and the committee members for their detailed examination of the issues and evidence in drawing their conclusions. We will respond to the report and the recommendations in the new year.

The National Maternity Safety Ambition will end in 2025. We are currently looking carefully at what comes beyond this ambition, to ensure that an evidence-based approach is taken, and that all targets are woman- and baby-centred.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of cases of late diagnoses of bowel cancer in emergency NHS settings; and what steps he is taking to reduce this number.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

No recent estimate has been made. Data is only available up to 2020 from the National Disease Registration Service. The data for the year 2020 highlights that 24.4% of bowel cancer patients were diagnosed through emergency presentation.

It is a priority for the Government to support the National Health Service to diagnose cancer, including bowel cancer, as early and as quickly as possible, and to treat it faster, to improve outcomes. The Department is committing to this by improving waiting times for cancer diagnosis and treatment, starting by delivering an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, to support faster diagnosis and access to treatment.

The NHS Bowel Cancer Screening programme currently invites people aged 56 to 74 years old for screening every two years. However, this age cohort is increasing to those aged 50 to 74 years old by 2025, which may reduce the number of late diagnoses.

Furthermore, NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptom and address barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. This campaign urged people to take up the offer of bowel screening when invited.

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 access to initial diagnostic blood tests for coeliac disease in primary care settings.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has guidance on the recognition, assessment, and management of coeliac disease, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20

The guidance outlines a number of symptoms which are suggestive of coeliac disease and suggests that any person with these symptoms should be offered serological testing for coeliac disease. The guidance also states that first-degree relatives of people with coeliac disease should also be offered serological testing.

No formal assessment has been made of the impact of diagnostic delays on the long-term health of patients with undiagnosed coeliac disease, but the Government does recognise that patients, including those with coeliac disease. have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need.

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 have made a commitment that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment within our first term. This includes those waiting for treatment for coeliac disease. As a first step to achieving this, following the Budget, we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialities during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has an e-learning module on the diagnosis and management of coeliac disease and its immunological comorbidities, which is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the symptoms of coeliac disease amongst general practitioners and primary care professionals, and support early diagnosis. The e-learning module highlights that untreated coeliac disease can have important consequences, including small bowel lymphoma and osteoporosis.

The National Health Service website is also a key awareness tool and contains useful information for the public about coeliac disease, its symptoms, and how it is diagnosed and treated.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/

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 raise awareness of the average waiting time of 13 years for a diagnosis of coeliac disease.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has guidance on the recognition, assessment, and management of coeliac disease, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20

The guidance outlines a number of symptoms which are suggestive of coeliac disease and suggests that any person with these symptoms should be offered serological testing for coeliac disease. The guidance also states that first-degree relatives of people with coeliac disease should also be offered serological testing.

No formal assessment has been made of the impact of diagnostic delays on the long-term health of patients with undiagnosed coeliac disease, but the Government does recognise that patients, including those with coeliac disease. have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need.

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 have made a commitment that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment within our first term. This includes those waiting for treatment for coeliac disease. As a first step to achieving this, following the Budget, we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialities during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has an e-learning module on the diagnosis and management of coeliac disease and its immunological comorbidities, which is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the symptoms of coeliac disease amongst general practitioners and primary care professionals, and support early diagnosis. The e-learning module highlights that untreated coeliac disease can have important consequences, including small bowel lymphoma and osteoporosis.

The National Health Service website is also a key awareness tool and contains useful information for the public about coeliac disease, its symptoms, and how it is diagnosed and treated.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/

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 impact of diagnostic delays on the long-term health of patients with undiagnosed coeliac disease; and what steps he is taking to reduce those delays.

Answered by Andrew Gwynne - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has guidance on the recognition, assessment, and management of coeliac disease, which is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20

The guidance outlines a number of symptoms which are suggestive of coeliac disease and suggests that any person with these symptoms should be offered serological testing for coeliac disease. The guidance also states that first-degree relatives of people with coeliac disease should also be offered serological testing.

No formal assessment has been made of the impact of diagnostic delays on the long-term health of patients with undiagnosed coeliac disease, but the Government does recognise that patients, including those with coeliac disease. have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need.

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 have made a commitment that 92% of patients should wait no longer than 18 weeks from Referral to Treatment within our first term. This includes those waiting for treatment for coeliac disease. As a first step to achieving this, following the Budget, we will deliver an additional 2 million operations, scans, and appointments across all specialities during our first year in Government, which is equivalent to 40,000 per week.

The Royal College of General Practitioners has an e-learning module on the diagnosis and management of coeliac disease and its immunological comorbidities, which is designed to raise awareness and understanding of the symptoms of coeliac disease amongst general practitioners and primary care professionals, and support early diagnosis. The e-learning module highlights that untreated coeliac disease can have important consequences, including small bowel lymphoma and osteoporosis.

The National Health Service website is also a key awareness tool and contains useful information for the public about coeliac disease, its symptoms, and how it is diagnosed and treated.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coeliac-disease/

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects the retrospective audit of all pelvic floor surgery completed between 2006 and 2011 to be published by NHS England.

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

The Department accepted the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review’s recommendation to undertake a selective retrospective audit of a defined cohort of women who have undergone mesh procedures. NHS Digital, now NHS England, has audited all pelvic floor surgeries completed between 2006 and 2011 to generate a historical baseline of outcomes by procedure type, and to support further research and analysis. This audit was conducted using initial procedures, and re-operations and follow up procedures recorded within Hospital Episode Statistics data. The results are currently undergoing peer review and will be published by NHS England at the earliest opportunity.

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 resolve the data challenges encountered in the NHS audit from 2006-2011 of the retrospective audit of pelvic mesh.

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

The Department accepted the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review’s recommendation to undertake a selective retrospective audit of a defined cohort of women who have undergone mesh procedures. NHS Digital, now NHS England, has audited all pelvic floor surgeries completed between 2006 and 2011 to generate a historical baseline of outcomes by procedure type, and to support further research and analysis. This audit was conducted using initial procedures, and re-operations and follow up procedures recorded within Hospital Episode Statistics data.

The results are currently undergoing peer review and will be published by NHS England at the earliest opportunity. NHS England expects to be able to notify users of a date for the publication via their publications calendar. Subject to peer review, the publication is expected to include information around data quality.

UK support for the global effort to feed children at school