Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it policy to extend funding for Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating pilot programmes to ensure (a) they do not collapse and (b) a national network of specialist treatment centres can be established.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding for the Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots was time-limited with the expectation that once the national funding expires, responsibility for considering the future provision of T1DE services would sit with the relevant integrated care board (ICB) who are responsible for planning and commissioning diabetes treatment and care.
NHS England has previously extended the initial two-year funding term, which has enabled the sites to run for much longer than initially expected. NHS England is providing evaluation data to the ICBs to support local decision making. The pilot sites will receive confirmation in relation to any future national funding shortly.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing Access to Work support worker hours at renewal for blind and partially sighted customers on (a) job retention and (b) workplace safety.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to help ensure that Access to Work awards for blind and partially sighted customers are not reduced at renewal where there has been no change in job role or level of sight loss.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Access to Work provides support for individual needs within the workplace, above and beyond the employer’s reasonable adjustments.
When an award is renewed, Access to Work case managers consider all relevant evidence and current guidance to ensure that the support offered continues to be appropriate for the customer to carry out their job.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan will include measures to (a) increase the clinical academic workforce and (b) ensure that all regions have access to a strong clinical academic base.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.
The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of clinical academic training. The NIHR delivers a comprehensive research career pathway, from internships and predoctoral fellowships through to research professorships, for the full range of clinicians working across England, providing the skilled research workforce in universities and NHS trusts to lead research and help train future generations of clinicians. The NIHR invests over £220 million each year in research training programmes.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
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 targeted oncology training places announced in the National Cancer Plan for areas with higher vacancy rates on the expansion of the clinical academic workforce.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The recently published National Cancer Plan sets out that the National Health Service will use training places more directly as a lever to support improvements in operational performance. This includes prioritising training places in trusts, including in rural and coastal areas, where vacancy rates are higher and performance is lower.
The Department and NHS England will work with the royal colleges to encourage resident doctors and internal medicine trainees to specialise in clinical and medical oncology, where possible, to address vacancy and performance pressures.
In 2025, there were 157% more medical oncology training places than in 2015. Medical oncologists are a core component of the clinical academic workforce, contributing both to frontline patient care and to the development and delivery of cancer research.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether in person support will also be provided where necessary in addition to the digital first prehabilitation offer for people with cancer set out in the National Cancer Plan.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan sets out that we will deliver new quality standards for prehabilitation across the country in 2028 to help patients get healthier before treatment. The new standards will ensure access to prehabilitation services and that they fit around patients’ lives. This will include in person support where that is more appropriate for the patient and bringing services into the community and closer to patients’ homes.
Part of that will include the roll out a national digital first prehabilitation offer through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will help support patients closer to home, where that is their preference.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan will be published.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to respond to the letters of 7 October 2025 and 8 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough with case reference TG09539.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
The Department apologises for the significant delay in responding. We regret that this falls short of expected standards. A response was sent on 10 February.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when he intends to respond to the emails of 7 October 2025 and 5 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG10331, on a constituent's issue with their Bounce Back Loan.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade aims to respond to correspondence within 15 working days, but in some instances it can take longer. A response to the correspondence of 5 January has now been sent to Tom Gordon MP. The department apologises for not responding to the original correspondence of 7 October.
Asked by: Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat - Harrogate and Knaresborough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to ensure newly retired civil servants receive their pension on time.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The previous government awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023.
The administration transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025 and the first payroll ran successfully in the same month.
We recognise that a number of pension scheme members have experienced delays in receiving their pension payments. The Cabinet Office is meeting regularly with Capita to review their performance, identify priorities, and agree actions to improve the overall processing and service. We continue to work with our administrator, Capita, to increase the processing of retirement quotes. Alongside this, Capita is increasing staffing in key areas, such as the contact centre, to increase the level of support for members.