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 implement a heart disease action plan.

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

We are committed to ensuring that fewer lives are lost to the biggest killers, such as heart disease, which includes cardiovascular disease (CVD), and stroke. That is why in our Health Mission to build a National Health Service fit for the future, we have committed to reducing deaths from heart disease and strokes by a quarter within ten years.

We are taking steps to reduce heart disease. The NHS Long Term Plan set an aim to prevent up to 150,000 heart attacks, strokes, and dementia cases by 2029, and activity is underway. The NHS Health Check programme, England’s CVD prevention programme, engages over 1.3 million people a year and prevents approximately 500 heart attacks or strokes each year. To improve access and engagement with the NHS Health Check, we are developing a new digital service which people can use at home to understand and act on their CVD risk, providing people with a more flexible, accessible, and convenient service. We are also piloting a new programme to deliver more than 130,000 lifesaving heart health checks in the workplace. These checks can be completed quickly and easily by people at work across 48 local authorities until 31 March 2025.

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 number of GP appointments.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We know that patients are finding it harder than ever to see a general practitioner (GP) and we are committed to fixing the crisis in GPs. Our plan will require both investment and reform. Firstly, we will increase the proportion of funding for GPs, starting with a commitment to recruit over 1,000 newly qualified GPs through an £82 million boost to the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. This will increase the number of appointments delivered in general practice, secure the future pipeline of GPs, and take pressure off those currently working in the system. Additionally, we will deliver a modern booking system to end the 8:00am scramble for GP appointments and bring back the family doctor by incentivising GPs to see the same patient.

We have committed to develop a 10-Year Health Plan, to deliver a National Health Service fit for the future, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders as we develop the plan. More information is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/

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 reduce ambulance waiting times.

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

The Government has committed to supporting the National Health Service to improve performance and achieve the standards set out in the NHS Constitution, including for ambulance response times.

As a first step, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, appointed Professor Lord Darzi to lead an independent investigation of the NHS’ performance. The investigation’s findings were published on 12 September and will feed into the Government’s work on a 10-Year Health Plan to radically reform the NHS and build a health service that is fit for the future.

Ahead of this winter, NHS England has set out the priorities for the NHS to maintain and improve patient safety and experience, including actions to support patient flow and ensure ambulances are released in a timely way. NHS England’s winter letter is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/winter-and-h2-priorities

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any of the increased funding for the NHS, as announced in the Autumn Budget 2024, is ring-fenced for ambulance services.

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

The National Health Service’s funding increases have not been ring-fenced in that way. Ring-fencing funding restricts the freedom of integrated care boards to take decisions based on the specific circumstances of their local populations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department provides to the educating organisation as an annual per pupil rate for an A Level student studying at (a) school, (b) sixth form college and (c) further education college.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department calculates the basic funding for institutions for students aged 16 to 19 or students up to the age of 25 when they have an education, health and care (EHC) plan using funding rates, which depend on the size of the student’s study programme.

All students are funded at the same national funding rates per student, per year, regardless of which type of institution they study at. However, the department then applies the other elements of the 16 to 19 funding formula, such as programme cost weights, support for disadvantage and area costs, meaning average per student funding levels do differ between schools, sixth form colleges and further education colleges. Because the funding reflects the mix of programmes provided at each institution, the department does not have data on the rates of funding purely for A level students at these different organisations.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the requirement for students studying Level 2 FE college courses to also study Maths and English GCSE if they have not already achieved that standard prior to enrolling on that course.

Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

The department considers level 2 English and mathematics to be essential for enabling students to achieve and to seize opportunities in life, learning and work.

The Curriculum and Assessment Review is looking at how best to support 16 to 19-year-olds who currently do not achieve level 2 in English and mathematics by the age of 16.

The department is already strengthening the support offered to students under the mathematics and English condition of funding for students on 16-19 study programmes and T Levels who have not yet attained level 2 English and mathematics. This includes requiring providers to offer minimum hours of in-person, whole class, stand-alone teaching in English and mathematics, and for more students to be offered this.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) petrol, (b) diesel, (c) hybrid and (d) electric (i) cars, (ii) vans and (iii) other vehicles his Department hired in each of the last five years.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The data for Defra has been provided by our supplier of hire cars “Enterprise”.

Data from Enterprise shows the following:

Hires:

Due to time constraints, we have only engaged with our main vehicle hire suppliers and not where vehicle hire will be supplied as a supplementary service on other contracts, i.e. Welfare Vans through the Plant Hire framework.

Found: HM Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Mr Toby Perkins MP Chair, Environmental

Found: +44 (0) 3459 335577 E: correspondence .section @defra.gov.uk W: gov.uk/defra Mr Toby Perkins

Found: State Department for Energy Security & Net Zero 55 Whitehall London SW1A 2HP Toby Perkins

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Mr Toby Perkins (Chair); Olivia Blake; Julia Buckley; Ellie Chowns

Found: Carla Denyer ( Green Party) criticised the grant -based nature of the finance.54 Similarly, Toby Perkins

The Environmental Audit Committee is seeking views on how the Government’s proposed reforms to national planning policy and housebuilding targets might affect environmental protections and current approaches to sustainable development.Read the terms of reference and find out how to submit written evidence through the Committee's evidence portal here.

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The Environmental Audit Committee in the 2024 Parliament has revived the predecessor Environmental Audit Sub-Committee on Polar Research’s inquiry into The UK and the Antarctic Environment.

Submit Evidence (by 13 Jan 2025)

The Environmental Audit Committee is undertaking an inquiry on flood resilience in England, focusing on how flood resilience can be strengthened in response to increasing risks from extreme weather, rising sea levels, and evolving flood hazards.

Submit Evidence (by 17 Jan 2025)

The Environmental Audit Committee is undertaking an inquiry on governing the marine environment, which will focus on the UK's environmental obligations under marine treaties and how the UK is delivering on them, as well as the Government's strategy for marine planning and protection in its domestic waters.