Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to help improve the inheritance rights of unmarried couples in cases were the couple where cohabiters for an extended period.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The current law allows people to make a will to set out their wishes on who should inherit their assets after their death, including cohabitees.

At present, unmarried cohabiting partners have no automatic inheritance rights under the current intestacy rules (which apply if an individual dies without a valid will). However, cohabitees may apply for family provision claims from the estate of the deceased if they cohabited with the deceased for a continuous period of at least two years, ending immediately before the death of the deceased.

The Government shares concerns about these limited existing protections for cohabiting couples. It is particularly concerning that the weakness of these protections disproportionately affects the vulnerable, including survivors of domestic and economic abuse, and women, who are often the more financially vulnerable party in a relationship.

For these reasons, the Government made a 2024 manifesto commitment to “strengthen the rights and protections available to women in cohabiting couples”. The Government is working to deliver this manifesto commitment and plans to issue a formal consultation as a next step later this year to build public consensus on what cohabitation reform should look like.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of abolishing NHS England on the NHS’s statutory duty to safeguarding.

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

It is only right that with such significant reform, we commit to carefully assessing and understanding the potential impacts. Evidence from these ongoing assessments will inform our programme as appropriate.

NHS England will continue to carry out its statutory duties until Parliamentary time allows for legislation to be brought forward to amend the Department’s responsibilities.

We will ensure our decisions are guided by evidence, and above all, focused on improving outcomes for people.

Legal protection of the nurse job title

Found: through “a closer economic relationship between the UK and the EU”.1 The former City minister, Tulip Siddiq