Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to extend the right to roam.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Our countryside and green spaces are a source of great national pride, but too many across the country are left without access to the great outdoors. That is why the last Labour Government expanded public access by introducing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which provided the public a right of access to large areas of mountain, moor, heath, down, registered common land and coastal margin in England. 2024 marks 75 years since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, which secured public access and preserved natural beauty.
This Government will continue to increase access to nature for families to enjoy, boosting people’s mental and physical health and leaving a legacy for generations to come. We will create nine new National River Walks, plant three new National Forests and empower communities to create new parks and green spaces in their communities with a new Community Right to Buy. We will announce further details on our plans for improving access to nature in due course.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the GP-to-patient ratio in Broxbourne constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In July 2024, the median number of full time equivalent (FTE) doctors in general practice per 10,000 registered patients in the Broxbourne constituency was 5.5. This was more than the median in England, of 5.4.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many mental health support teams there were in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire in each year since 2014.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of mental health support teams in South Holland and the Deepings constituency and Lincolnshire, broken down by district and the year in which they became operational, or are planned to become operational, since 2014:
District | Year the team became operational | Year the team is planned to become operational | |||||
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
Lincoln and West Lindsey |
| 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
Boston and East Lindsey |
|
| 2 |
|
|
|
|
South Hollands and the Deepings |
|
|
|
| 1 |
|
|
South and North Kesteven |
|
|
|
| 2 |
|
|
Lincoln South and North Kesteven |
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
|
East Lindsey |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
Total operational mental health support teams | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
Source: NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board.
By 2025, the NHS Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board expects there will be approximately 166 education settings with a mental health support team across Lincolnshire, covering 46% of all maintained or academy settings, and over 66,000 children and young people, or 60% of the total number on roll in Lincolnshire. Since 2021, mental health support teams in Lincolnshire have supported 6,985 pupils.
In addition, the Healthy Minds Lincolnshire service has been providing support to children, young people, and their families experiencing emotional wellbeing concerns that do not require specialist intervention from children and young people’s mental health services across the county, and including South Holland and the Deepings, since 2018.
Asked by: Stuart Anderson (Conservative - South Shropshire)
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 ensure that hospices in (a) South Shropshire constituency and (b) the West Midlands receive (i) adequate and (ii) sustainable funding.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Palliative care services are included in the list of services that integrated care boards (ICBs), including those in Shropshire and the wider West Midlands, must commission. This promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.
Whilst the majority of palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, we recognise the vital part that voluntary sector organisations, including hospices, also play in providing support to people, and their loved ones, at the end of life.
Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by ICB area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth and range of palliative and end of life care provision within their ICB footprint.
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative and end of life care, including hospices, in this shift.
We will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of crime do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Kim Johnson (Labour - Liverpool Riverside)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she is taking to help ensure that victims of rape do not wait more than a year for cases to reach trial.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
We want to make sure every victim has the swift access to justice they deserve, and we are committed to reducing the Crown Court caseload and bringing waiting times down.
To ensure we are hearing as many cases as possible, we plan to sit at least 105,000 working days in the Crown Court this financial year (FY24/25). We continue to hear criminal cases at Nightingale Courts, which increase the physical capacity of the court estate. We are also considering other measures to reduce the caseload and will make further announcements in due course.
We also know that, due to the complex nature of cases, rape victims can experience disproportionately long wait times for their trial.
Addressing this issue is central to this Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. We have committed to fast-track rape cases through the courts, working with the judiciary to drive down waiting times for the victims and survivors of this abhorrent offence.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in the UK have been diagnosed with severe visual impairments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Health is a devolved matter. In England, data is not collected centrally showing the total number of people diagnosed with severe visual impairments. Data is collected annually, showing the number of people certified as sight impaired, also known as partially sighted, or severely sight impaired, also known as blind, through the Certificate of Visual Impairment (CVI). In 2022/2023, there were 23,993 CVI forms issued in England. Given certification is voluntary, this is likely to be an underestimation of those diagnosed with severe sight impairments.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help fill staff vacancies in the hospice sector.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is going to shift the focus of healthcare out of the hospital and into the community, and we recognise that it is vital to include palliative and end of life care, including hospices, in this shift.
Whilst much palliative and end of life care is provided by National Health Service staff and services, including NHS hospices and community and hospital specialist palliative care, charitable hospices also provide significant support to people, and their families, at the end of life. Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing NHS services. As independent organisations, charitable hospices are responsible for their own recruitment and employment terms.
The NHS has been facing chronic workforce shortages for years, and we have to be honest that bringing in the staff we need will take time. We understand that this will also impact the voluntary sector, including hospices. We are committed to training the staff we need to get patients seen on time. The Government will make sure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for all of us when we need it, including at the end of life. We will continue to proactively engage with our stakeholders, including the voluntary sector and independent hospices, on an ongoing basis, in order to understand the issues they face.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve mental health services in the Colne Valley constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
People with mental health issues in the Colne Valley constituency and across the country are not getting the support or care they deserve, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure that mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.
We will recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers to reduce delays and provide faster treatment, which will also help ease pressure on hospitals. By cutting mental health waiting lists and intervening earlier with more timely mental health support, we can get this country back to good health.
Asked by: Lewis Cocking (Conservative - Broxbourne)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to improve (a) resilience and (b) preparation for flooding.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra has established a ministerially led cross-Governmental Flood Resilience Taskforce to ensure that communities are better protected from flooding, with the first meeting taking place in September. The Flood Resilience Taskforce will ensure that preparedness and resilience to flooding is reviewed regularly before the start of the main flood season; and that it is continuously improved to ensure optimum protection to people, homes and businesses.
In advance of the winter, MPs will receive advice on how to access the most up to date flood information from the EA and how to raise awareness of flooding with constituents.