Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
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 increase the detection and diagnosis of cancer in children and young people.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Children and young people with cancer face unique challenges. Our National Cancer Plan is the first to contain a specific section on children and young people. Its 17 actions include better access to diagnostic services, and evidence-based support tools for GPs. Alongside this, young patients and their families will face less stress as a result of our free travel scheme.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (a) what support her Department is providing for grassroots theatre and community production groups; and (b) what assessment she has made of the potential impact of participation in grassroots theatre and community productions on the mental health and wellbeing of participants.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the vital role that the performing arts, including grassroots and community theatre, play in the lives of people and communities across the country, which the government supports primarily through funding via Arts Council England (ACE).
Through the National Portfolio Investment Programme, between 2024/25 and 2026/27, ACE will provide almost £100 million to theatre per year. This supports the work of a number of grassroots organisations, including Unanima, a theatre company based in Mansfield that receives £232,000 per year to help provide creative opportunities for learning disabled and autistic people. Similarly, ACE invests almost £45 million each year in theatre via National Lottery Project Grants, an open-access fund supporting projects at all levels. In February 2026, Julie Bagshaw received a £35,400 project grant for development costs for a community theatre project in Mansfield.
Community and grassroots theatre organisations also benefit from government support through Theatre Tax Relief; and in January, the Secretary of State announced the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund, to support venues that provide creative and welcoming spaces for communities to come together and celebrate what makes their area special.
In 2024, DCMS research showed that active arts engagement has a positive impact on health and wellbeing. Mental health benefits of attending cultural venues, including the theatre, was shown to have saved the NHS £260 million per year for adults over 50, delivering a total benefit of over £3 billion. Engagement in the arts was similarly shown to have had significant benefits on young people’s mental health, delivering a total benefit of around £800 million for young adults (aged 18-29) each year.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that primary school children are educated about the Holocaust.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Government is deeply committed to ensuring pupils receive Holocaust education. It is the only compulsory topic in Key Stage 3 History. Primary schools learn about the Holocaust in events such as Holocaust Memorial Day.
Alongside this, the Government is investing significantly in support for schools and teachers. We fund programmes to strengthen teaching quality, including the University College London Centre for Holocaust Education’s professional development work and the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Lessons from Auschwitz programme.
In the Autumn Budget on 30 October 2024, we also committed a further £2 million for Holocaust remembrance and education to help ensure that every young person can access recorded survivor testimony. This sits alongside £4.8 million of wider departmental funding between 2024 and 2027, including £2.3 million for Lessons from Auschwitz, £500,000 for the Centre for Holocaust Education, and £2 million for our Supporting Holocaust Survivor Testimony in Teaching programme across 2025-26 and 2026-27.
Together, this ensures that pupils develop a meaningful and age-appropriate understanding of the Holocaust, supported by high-quality teaching and powerful survivor testimony.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the transformation of liver services programme led by the NHS England Hepatobiliary and Pancreas Clinical Reference Group will include a specific workstream to help address the unmet clinical need in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
The transformation of liver services programme includes a number of workstreams including patient pathways relating to metabolic associated steatotic liver disease and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
NHS England is actively preparing to support the potential introduction of new treatments for MASH, including fatty liver disease with fibrosis, alongside the ongoing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence appraisal process.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, further to the meeting Ministers in his Department had with the Trustees of the Mineworkers Pension Scheme on Thursday 30th April 2026, if he will provide an update on progress to resolve the outstanding issues within the scheme.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is keen to reach agreement with the MPS Trustees on changes to the arrangements to benefit scheme members. The meeting on 30 April involved a constructive discussion of the proposals and how they might be taken forward. The government is mindful of the need to resolve this issue as swiftly as possible, and will make an announcement once agreement has been reached.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the liver transformation programme led by the Hepatobiliary and Pancreas Clinical Reference Group will include a specific work stream to help address the unmet clinical need in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will take steps to include air ambulance charities within national fuel resilience and prioritisation planning, including consideration alongside Category 1 responders.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The UK benefits from a diverse and resilient fuel supply chain and remains well supplied across all fuel types. The Government regularly reviews which organisations provide essential services within the context of the National Emergency Plan for Fuel. This includes consideration of air ambulance charities, recognising the vital role they play in emergency response and patient care.
A summary of the National Emergency Plan for Fuel is published on gov.uk and sets out measures to respond to fuel supply and distribution disruption. In the unlikely event of a sustained disruption, these arrangements enable fuel to be prioritised for essential services and critical supply chains.
The Government does not assess that the current situation warrants, or is approaching, the threshold for the use of emergency powers.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle domestic abuse.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We have introduced a range of measures to tackle domestic abuse, including a £53 million investment in rolling out The Drive Project across England and Wales over the next four years to target serial perpetrators of domestic abuse, embedding domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms in five forces, and launching new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on proposed capital funding for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust to support SME industrial development.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I refer the Hon.Member to Question UIN 114606 answered on 9 March.
Asked by: Steve Yemm (Labour - Mansfield)
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 ensure that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease receive community-based care with specialist input; and what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of that approach.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
NHS England is investing £3.61 million of funding to expand an approach that allows more people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at rising risk of admission to be proactively identified and supported during winter 2025/26. A nationally coordinated evaluation is planned to take place, providing a consistent evidence base, sharing learning, and informing future investment in interventions to reduce COPD emergency admissions.
As part of the implementation of the 10-Year Health Plan, we are expanding neighbourhood teams and exploring how new roles such as the community health worker model can be tailored to support Core20PLUS5 populations including those with COPD.