Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when local elections will be held for (a) areas submitting reorganisation proposals by May 2025, (b) Devolution Priority Programme areas (DPP) submitting proposals by September 2025, (c) postponed shadow unitary elections and (d) postponed mayoral elections.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

For both (a) and (b) the postponed May 2025 elections will take place in May 2026 alongside the scheduled district councils in the area.

In addition, (a) For areas submitting reorganisation proposals by May 2025, the most ambitious timeline is likely to lead to shadow elections in 2026; (b) for Devolution Priority Programme areas (DPP) submitting proposals by September 2025, we anticipate mayoral elections in 2026.

(c) no shadow unitary elections have yet been scheduled;

(d) no mayoral elections have been postponed.

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 merits of making people with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome automatically eligible for IVF treatment.

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

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) fertility guidelines set out the best practice for the National Health Service to follow for those suffering from clinical infertility. It is for integrated care boards to make local decisions about the services for their local population, taking account of NICE guidelines.

Individuals with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome do not have wombs but can form their families through surrogacy arrangements, which are not currently included in NICE fertility guidelines. The collection and storage of eggs is covered by NICE fertility guidelines but currently only for those being treated for cancer. The guidelines are currently under review and expected to be published later in 2025.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of pausing the current government subsidies for Drax’s power generation until the Public Accounts Committee reports on its inquiry on Government support for biomass.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Government has agreed new Heads of Terms with Drax for short term support from 2027 to 2031. It halves the subsidy paid to Drax, strengthens the sustainability arrangements to require 100% sustainable biomass, and reduces Drax’s generation so that it only operates when absolutely necessary on the system.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the Official Development Assistance budget is spent overseas.

Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The Home Secretary is committed to ensuring asylum costs fall and has already acted. This includes taking measures to reduce the asylum backlog and end the use of expensive hotel accommodation.

As the Prime Minister said in the House, as we clear the asylum backlog there are efficiencies that will be made that will mean more of that money is spent overseas.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to accelerate the NHS employment at appropriate grades of doctors trained in (a) Australia and (b) New Zealand.

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

National Health Service employers work at a local level to ensure they have the workforce they need, which includes making decisions about recruiting internationally educated doctors.

The Health and Care Worker visa offers a reduced visa fee, faster processing times, and an exemption from the Immigration Health Surcharge to eligible overseas health and social care workers who wish to work in the United Kingdom, including doctors.

All doctors wishing to practise in the UK must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and hold a licence to practise. The GMC is statutorily independent of the Government and sets the standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to its register. This ensures that registrants are safe to practise and that patients receive a high standard of care. Information on the process for joining the GMC’s register and tailored support for international applicants can be found on the GMC’s website.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of recommendations of the National Audit Office's report entitled Local Government Financial Sustainability, published on 28 February 2025.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government recognises many of the themes identified by the National Audit Office in their recently published report entitled Local Government Financial Sustainability.

I refer the hon. Member to the written statement made by my rt. hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyne on 3 February 2025 (HCWS413), which sets out the action the government is taking through the 2025-26 Local Government Finance Settlement to bring long-term stability and certainty to the local government sector.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate she has made of the number of people made bankrupt by the Loan Charge.

Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC will only ever consider initiating bankruptcy as a last resort, where they have been unable to work with the customer to agree a manageable payment plan. HMRC will also not force anyone to sell their main home or access their pension funds early to pay their Loan Charge or disguised remuneration debts.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she is taking steps to implement the recommendations of the report by the Electoral Commission entitled Voter ID at the 2024 UK general election, published on 10 September 2024, prior to the May 2025 local elections.

Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government has recently published our response to the Electoral Commission’s reports on the 2024 General Election, and this is available here: Electoral Commission’s reports on the 2024 elections: government response - GOV.UK.

As set out in that response, we will not be making any further changes to the voter identification policy ahead of the May 2025 local elections.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to create effective information sharing processes with the Department for Health and Social Care so that people with a permanent disability are no longer required to repeatedly prove the existence of their disability for receipt of disability benefit.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Personal Independence Payment, the main disability benefit, is based on an assessment of the customer’s needs and not whether they have a particular condition or not. Award reviews are a key feature of these benefits to ensure that the level of benefit matches the customer’s current needs.

The Health Transformation Programme is modernising health and disability benefit services to improve efficiency and customer experience. By improving how we gather evidence and by enabling the re-use of information, the new service will provide DWP agents and Healthcare Professionals with easier access to relevant information. This will reduce the burden on customers to provide complex information and reduce the need for them to provide it more than once. As part of this, we are exploring the potential for data sharing between the Department for Health and Social Care and DWP.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking with HMRC to establish data-sharing processes to enable the auto-enrolment for Pension Credit for individuals on very low incomes.

Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)

HMRC and DWP already have well established data-sharing processes and procedures, which are governed by the rules on how data can be accessed, shared and used whilst safeguarding individuals’ data and privacy. DWP officials are currently considering options of using government data, including HMRC data, more effectively to help identify households eligible for Pension Credit. However, a person’s eligibility for Pension Credit and the amount they may get depends on their particular financial and personal circumstances and not all of these can be accurately determined from Government data alone.

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 recruit NHS staff from UK citizens who obtained their medical qualification outside of the UK.

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

There is no central programme to recruit United Kingdom citizens who have obtained their medical qualification outside the UK into the National Health Service. NHS employers work at a local level to ensure they have the workforce they need, which includes making decisions about recruiting internationally educated doctors and determining the support they may require.

All medical practitioners wishing to practise in the UK must be registered with the General Medical Council (GMC) and hold a licence to practise. The GMC is statutorily independent of Government and sets the standards that must be met by domestic and international applicants wishing to be added to its register. This ensures registrants are safe to practise and that patients receive a high standard of care. Information on the process for joining the GMC’s register and tailored support for international applicants can be found on its website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of enabling the use of electronic signatures, matched to the DVLA database, for admissions of vehicular offences on S172 forms.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)

Whilst the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 does not explicitly require wet signatures, the Penalty Notice System for Policing does not currently have the capability to match signatures between DVLA and s.172 forms.

A number of forces have additional software that in some cases allow for online admissions via a public access portal.

Homelessness

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance 25th anniversary

Wellbeing benefits of outdoor education to young people

Building consensus on a pathway to spending 3% of GDP on defence

Minister for Coastal Communities

Future of the adoption and special guardianship support fund

Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

Illegal modification of e-bikes and e-scooters

Convoy of Hope partnership for Ukraine

Covid-19 Day of Reflection 2025

Injury on Duty Award Scheme

West Bank

Community pharmacies

Air Gunner Jim Squires

Citizenship for refugees

Postural Tachycardia Syndrome

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