Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 adequacy of wheelchair provision services in Derbyshire.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the provision and commissioning of local wheelchair services, and NHS England supports ICBs to commission effective, efficient, and personalised wheelchair services.
Since July 2015, NHS England has collected quarterly data from clinical commissioning groups, now ICBs, on wheelchair provision, including waiting times, to enable targeted action if improvement is required.
NHS England is taking steps to reduce regional variation in the quality and provision of NHS wheelchairs, and to support ICBs to reduce delays in people receiving timely intervention and wheelchair equipment. This includes publishing a Wheelchair Quality Framework on 9 April 2025 which sets out quality standards and statutory requirements for ICBs, such as offering personal wheelchair budgets. The framework is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/wheelchair-quality-framework/
Local authorities in England have a statutory duty under various legislations, including the Care Act 2014, and the Children and Families Act 2014, to make arrangements for the provision of disability aids and community equipment, including wheelchair provision, to meet the assessed eligible needs of individuals who are resident in their area. Some local authorities deliver this themselves, but a significant number have external contracts for an integrated community equipment service.
On 1 April 2025, the NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB appointed Blatchford Ltd to run wheelchair services.
The NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB provided additional funding to address the most clinically urgent, long-standing patients that are waiting for a wheelchair and is monitoring with Blatchford on a weekly basis. There are, however, still 1,000 long-standing patients currently waiting for a wheelchair.
The NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB has put in place a clinical priority plan developed jointly between the NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB and Blatchford Ltd to address long-standing patients. As of Mid-November 2025, with regard to long-standing patients waiting for a wheelchair, there has been a 56% deduction in adults and a 54% reduction in children and young people. The ICB continues to work through the remaining patients.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 specific challenges that face adults with learning difficulties in accessing health services; and what actions he is taking to ensure that they receive an acceptable level of service.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
A learning difficulty is a reduced ability for a specific form of learning and includes conditions such as dyslexia and dyspraxia. These are life-long conditions.
Under the Equality Act 2010, public sector organisations are required to make changes in their approach or provision to ensure that services are accessible to disabled people as well as to everybody else.
Reasonable adjustments can make a real difference to people’s care and are based on physical or mental impairment, not on diagnosis. The Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag is being rolled out across health and care services to ensure that disabled people’s reasonable adjustments are recorded and shared, enabling support to be tailored appropriately. This is supported by e-learning for all health and social care staff. All organisations that provide National Health Service care or adult social care must also follow the Accessible Information Standard.
It is the responsibility of integrated care boards to make available appropriate provision to meet the health and care needs of their local population. Further information on specific learning difficulties can be found on the NHS website.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of the potential impact to non-quota stocks of fly-seine fishing vessel operations in the English Channel.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The number of fly-seine vessels operating in English waters including the Channel increased from 29 to 54 vessels between 2019 and 2024, while landings of non-quota stocks increased by some 50% between 2018 and 2023.
Many non-quota stocks are data limited and have little management. It is for this reason Defra prioritised the development of Fisheries Management Plans for Non Quota stocks.
In 2023 Defra published the Channel Demersal Non-Quota Stock Fisheries Management Plan to protect 19 vulnerable species and improve data collection. We also introduced precautionary measures including a minimum 100mm mesh size restriction for fly-seine vessels.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
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 establish a pathway and timeframe for transition plan disclosure to become mandatory for large companies.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government ran a consultation seeking views on how to implement transition plan requirements from June to September 2025 which has now closed. The consultation included questions on the impact of transition plan disclosure, implementation options and interaction with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of transition plan disclosure on private sector investment for net zero transition.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government ran a consultation seeking views on how to implement transition plan requirements from June to September 2025 which has now closed. The consultation included questions on the impact of transition plan disclosure, implementation options and interaction with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether transition plans will be integrated within the UK’s Sustainability Reporting Standards framework.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government ran a consultation seeking views on how to implement transition plan requirements from June to September 2025 which has now closed. The consultation included questions on the impact of transition plan disclosure, implementation options and interaction with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, when he plans to publish his Department's roadmap for implementing mandatory transition plan disclosure for in-scope companies.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government ran a consultation seeking views on how to implement transition plan requirements from June to September 2025 which has now closed. The consultation included questions on the impact of transition plan disclosure, implementation options and interaction with UK Sustainability Reporting Standards. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that transition plan requirements are proportionate and flexible for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The government is clear that it wants any future requirements to be proportionate and that the focus will be on economically significant entities where there is likely a significant investor and public interest. As a result, small to medium-sized companies are not envisaged as being within the scope of any future requirements set by the government. The FCA has independent decision-making powers for companies in scope of any future transition plan requirements they set.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many fishing licenses has the Government issued to fly-seine fishing vessels registered in i) the EU and ii) England.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Marine Management Organisation does not issue specific licences for fly-seining. The MMO issues a domestic fishing vessel licence which allows English registered vessels to fishing using various stipulated gear types. A list of registered and licensed vessels can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-vessel-lists.
EU vessels are eligible to fish in UK waters under the Trade and Co-operation Agreement if they hold a UK Foreign Vessel licence. The EU notify the vessel details and proposed gear type. Currently, there are 56 EU vessels licensed to use fly-seines in UK waters. A list of EU vessels approved to fish in UK waters can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/united-kingdom-single-issuing-authority-uksia#approved-eu-vessels.
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much fishing effort, calculated in kilowatt days, has been conducted by fly-seine fishing vessels in the English Channel in each year 2015-2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Although UK and non-UK commercial fishing vessels are required to report catches in UK waters, they are not required to report whether those catches occurred in English waters or waters between six and twelve nautical miles. As such, this data is not collected. Catch statistics are regularly published by the MMO on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/quota-use-statistics