Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to her Department's answer of 20 October 2025 to Written Question 80401: Pet Travel Scheme, what recent steps she has taken to negotiate a pet passport scheme.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We have begun negotiations with the EU on the SPS agreement.
As announced at the UK-EU Leaders' Summit on 19 May 2025, the UK and EU have agreed to work towards a common Sanitary and Phytosanitary Area, which will mean taking pets on holiday into the EU will become easier and cheaper.
Instead of getting an animal health certificate each time you travel, owners will be able to get a multiuse pet passport valid for travel to the EU. In the meantime, owners will still need an Animal Health Certificate for their dog, cat or ferret if they are travelling from Great Britain to an EU country.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
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 improve the quality and availability of prostate cancer support and treatment.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
To improve the quality and availability of prostate cancer support, NHS England has committed to ensuring that every person diagnosed with cancer has access to personalised care. This includes needs assessments, a care plan, and health and wellbeing information and support. Through the provision of information, personalised care empowers people to manage their care and the impact of their cancer. This approach ensures that each person’s care is planned holistically, covering mental and physical health, as well as any practical or financial concerns.
NHS England has funded an audit of prostate cancer to improve treatment quality and availability. Using routine data collected on patients diagnosed in a National Health Service setting, the audit brings together information to look at what is being done well, where it’s being done well, and what needs to be done better. On 9 October 2025, the latest national prostate cancer audits were published alongside patient summaries. The Government and the NHS are now considering the reports and acting on the findings where appropriate.
The National Cancer Plan will aim to improve how the physical and psychosocial needs of people with cancer can be met, including for prostate cancer, with a focus on personalised care to improve quality of life. It will address how the experience of care can be improved for those diagnosed, treated, and living with and beyond prostate cancer.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Scotland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he has had discussions with the Scottish Government on support for mountain rescue services.
Answered by Kirsty McNeill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Scotland Office)
I want to pay a warm tribute to the extraordinary commitment and bravery of all mountain rescue teams, particularly volunteers across Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Responsibility for mountain rescue is devolved to the Scottish Government, who have been provided with the largest settlement in the history of devolution. They must answer to the Scottish people on how they are using this record funding.
While Police Scotland holds the statutory responsibility for search and rescue on land, one of the three RAF mountain rescue teams is based at RAF Lossiemouth. This crucial reserved military asset, under the UK Ministry of Defence, regularly works alongside civilian teams to save lives on Scotland’s mountains. It is crucial that the two Governments continue to work together saving lives on Scotland's mountains.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her department has to support wards receiving funding through the Pride in Place programme in a) Telford, b) West Midlands and c) England.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Pride in Place Programme is being led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and is the government’s flagship communities programme, which empowers local people to shape the future of their neighbourhood. Supported by up to £5 billion in funding over ten years, this programme represents a long-term strategy to fix the foundations in hundreds of communities across the country.
The department’s contributions to educational improvements in Telford and Wrekin include:
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to strengthen protections for nature through the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 94311 on 4 December 2025.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Welltower on ensuring that its acquisition of HC-One, Barchester and Care UK does not have adverse impacts on a) care staff and b) care home residents.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any discussions with Welltower about their recent investment in the acquisitions of care homes.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of Welltower’s acquisition of Barchester Healthcare on the market concentration in London and the South East. Merger investigations on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently of Government. The CMA determines which transactions to review based on statutory thresholds and whether there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. The Government keeps the merger control regime under regular review to ensure it remains fit for purpose and works effectively within the current regulatory environment.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people, and to develop and build local market capacity. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.
Whilst fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
Private providers also hold much of the responsibility for recruitment and retention as adult social care employers. However, English local authorities do also have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
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 potential impact of Welltower's acquisition of HC-One, Barchester and Care UK on the quality and affordability of care in the UK.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not had any discussions with Welltower about their recent investment in the acquisitions of care homes.
The Government has not made a specific assessment of the impact of Welltower’s acquisition of Barchester Healthcare on the market concentration in London and the South East. Merger investigations on competition grounds are a matter for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which operates independently of Government. The CMA determines which transactions to review based on statutory thresholds and whether there is a realistic prospect of a substantial lessening of competition. The Government keeps the merger control regime under regular review to ensure it remains fit for purpose and works effectively within the current regulatory environment.
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to shape their care market to meet the diverse needs of all people, and to develop and build local market capacity. This includes commissioning a variety of different providers and specialist services that provide genuine choice to meet the needs of local people and that offer quality and value for money.
Whilst fee rates are set by providers of adult social care, all businesses are required to comply with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 by ensuring that they use fair and clear terms in their standard agreements with customers.
Private providers also hold much of the responsibility for recruitment and retention as adult social care employers. However, English local authorities do also have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on the a) gender and b) demographic breakdown of people aged 16-24 not in education, employment and training.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Education (DfE) publishes statistics on those aged 16-24 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the Labour Force Survey (LFS): NEET age 16 to 24 . In this release, estimates of the number and proportion of young people who are NEET by sex and age group are available and can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/f4e23f94-bfd1-4bcc-49c0-08de398c3998
This release also provides information on young people aged 16-24 who are NEET by health characteristics using the annual population survey (APS). The following link provides the latest data on the proportions of NEET young people aged 16-24 who have recorded a specific health condition, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/2d152296-fc61-4e6c-b1be-08de39895a0e
The Office for National Statistics publish NEET estimates from the LFS for the UK broken down by age group and sex, and can be found here: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK - Office for National Statistics
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of her Department's progress towards its target of recruiting 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers over the course of this Parliament.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
£200 million has been made available in 2025-26 to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.
The Government has committed to publishing neighbourhood policing numbers every six months, to align with the official police workforce statistics. The next update is due at the end of January 2026, which will set out the numbers in neighbourhood policing roles as at the end of September 2025.
Asked by: Shaun Davies (Labour - Telford)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of his Department's progress towards its target of delivering 1,500,000 new homes over the course of this Parliament.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Progress toward the government’s Plan for Change milestone of building 1.5 million safe and decent homes in England in this Parliament will be measured through the number of net additional dwellings, the latest data on which can be found on gov.uk here.