Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 implications for his policies of the recommendations of the Kingdon review of children's hearing services; and if he will set out a timetable for the implementation of (a) actions and (b) additional funding and resources required.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are grateful to Dr Kingdon for the review into children’s hearing services published on 4 December 2025. No assessment has yet been made of the potential implications on policies. We are progressing an early analysis of implementation requirements for each of the 12 recommendations made by Dr. Kingdon. We will provide further updates once this initial assessment has been completed and a detailed timetable has been established.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what employment protections and transition arrangements are in place for long-serving NHS clinical staff being moved into civil service contracts through the NHS England restructuring process.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Employment protections and transition arrangements will form part of consultation under a legal transfer mechanism. Detail on this will be provided to recognised trade unions and staff when consultation commences.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
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 the NHS England restructure on equalities, particularly on disabled, neurodiverse, female and non-British staff members.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is actively monitoring the impact of transition through multiple feedback channels, including the annual staff survey, engagement forums, its Health and Safety Committee, staff networks, and recognised trade union forums, as well as through sickness absence and direct feedback mechanisms. This approach is underpinned by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion framework, which proved effective in assessing the potential impact of restructuring on staff with protected characteristics.
NHS England has designed and implemented an enhanced support package for its staff during transition which has been shaped and informed with its staff networks who are representative of the diversity of its workforce, trade unions, and health and safety representatives to meet the diverse needs of colleagues in the organisation. The support includes:
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to monitor and mitigate the mental health impact of changes being made during the NHS England restructuring process on affected staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Safeguarding the mental health and wellbeing of colleagues while delivering the changes needed for the future of NHS England is a key priority for NHS England. NHS England has designed and implemented an equity-focused support package which has been shaped and informed jointly with staff networks, representative of the diversity of the organisation, trade unions, and health and safety representatives to meet the diverse needs of colleagues in the organisation. The support includes:
NHS England is actively monitoring the impact of change through multiple feedback channels, including the annual staff survey, engagement forums, Health and Safety Committee staff network, and recognised trade union forums.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of job vacancies in key professions within her Department’s responsibilities, including contractor organisations.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The independent Office for National Statistics publish monthly estimates of online job adverts by occupation Labour demand volumes by Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2020), UK - Office for National Statistics(opens in a new tab) and vacancies across each industrial sector VACS02: Vacancies by industry - Office for National Statistics(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she plans to reduce the cost to (a) the public purse, and (b) farepayers of the cost of maintaining payments to the current Rolling Stock companies (ROSCOs).
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
We expect that, once established, Great British Railways (GBR) will continue to lease rolling stock where this offers value for money. The private-sector rolling stock market has brought significant benefits to passengers and taxpayers, with private investment worth over £20 billion since 1995. However, we are determined to work with the market to ensure it delivers best value for passengers and taxpayers in the future. That is why, even before establishing GBR, we are now developing a comprehensive long-term strategy for rolling stock and associated infrastructure – the first in more than thirty years. We intend to publish this next summer.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how she is engaging with aviation workers and their unions about increasing the sustainability of aviation policy, including through the the Airports National Policy Statement review (ANPS) and its review of the Jet Zero strategy; and will she consider deliberative and participatory consultation methods such as a Workers' or Citizens' Assembly.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The government is committed to delivering greener transport and we are making significant progress in supporting aviation to become more sustainable. The government engages with the aviation sector and trade unions on aviation decarbonisation, including via the Jet Zero Taskforce. The Taskforce aims to identify, and advise on, unblocking key barriers to delivering greener aviation.
On 4 December 2025, I met the aviation sector Trade Unions and made clear my support for decarbonisation and addressing the skills gap.
Any proposed changes to policy in the Airports National Policy Statement as a result of the ongoing review will be subject to public consultation in summer 2026, providing the opportunity for aviation workers and their unions to respond. We have also recently published our approach to stakeholder engagement which sets out how we intend to gather a broad range of views as part of the review, which can be found here: Engagement during the Airports National Policy Statement review - GOV.UK
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how he will make sure those on heat networks with no direct relationship with their energy supplier will benefit the reductions in energy bills announced in the budget.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Budget took action to reduce energy bills for households. This will be delivered through the government funding 75% of the domestic cost of the legacy Renewables Obligation for the rest of this spending review period from 2026-27 to 2028-29 and ending the Energy Company Obligation.
Both these measures reduce electricity costs, and therefore benefit all households that have a domestic electricity account, regardless of their heating type. This will include the vast majority of heat network customers.
The government will consider how to further target the savings announced in the Budget towards electricity bills. The government will set out how it intends to deliver this through the Warm Homes Plan.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) households, and (b) children, will not receive the full potential increase in benefit support they would be entitled to from the abolition of the two-child benefit cap from April 2026 due to being subject to the overall benefit cap after any increase provided through the abolition of the cap (i) across England, (ii) in Sussex, and (iii) in Brighton Pavilion constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not available.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) households, and (b) children, will not receive an overall increase in benefit support from the abolition of the two-child benefit cap from April 2026 due to being subject to the overall benefit cap (i) across England, (ii) in Sussex, and (iii) in Brighton Pavilion constituency.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The requested information is not available.