Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to assure the safety of people working in the prison education service.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice and HMPPS has zero tolerance for violence against prison officers and prison staff, including those who work in prison education.
The Education Provider is required to abide by all prison risk assessments and safe systems of work put in place by the Governor to ensure appropriate staff safety. Education Providers have a further responsibility to ensure that all staff are properly trained and carry out their duties in line with Health and Safety Policies, and are required to work with the Governor, including participating in Risk Assessment processes where necessary. There are established routes for escalation of any Safety issues for resolution.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
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 the time taken for leukaemia diagnosis; and whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential implications for its policies of the findings of Leukaemia UK’s Count Us In campaign.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan will seek to improve outcomes for all cancers, including non-stageable cancers such as leukaemia. The Department remains committed to the early diagnosis of cancer and to improving outcomes for patients. However, we recognise that there is more to be done to ensure that patients with harder to stage cancers, such as blood cancer, receive fast and early diagnoses.
The National Health Service is implementing non-specific symptom pathways for patients who present with symptoms such as weight loss and fatigue, which do not clearly align to a tumour type. Blood cancers are one of the most common cancer types diagnosed through these pathways.
We have engaged extensively with Cancer 52 and other cancer charities, including Leukaemia UK to inform development of the National Cancer Plan, which will be published shortly. We have listened to concerns about existing early diagnosis targets and considered the feasibility of adopting new metrics to track progress, including suggestions from stakeholders that we track emergency presentation. Further details on our approach to early diagnosis, including how we can improve outcomes for rarer cancers, will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat - Eastleigh)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure continuity of (a) assessments and (b) support across local authorities for children of service personnel with special educational needs and disabilities when families relocate.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
All those with statutory responsibilities towards children of service personnel with special education needs and disability (SEND), should ensure that the impact of their policies, administrative processes and patterns of provision do not disadvantage such children when families relocate.
Statutory guidance is clear that when a child moves home across local authority boundaries, the education, health and care plan must be transferred from the ‘old’ local authority to the ‘new’ local authority on the day of the move or within 15 working days from when the old local authority first becomes aware of the move. Upon receiving the plan, the new local authority must arrange the special educational provision set out in it, although a child may have to be placed in a school other than the one named on the plan if the distance of the move makes it impractical to send the child to the named school.
Asked by: Pippa Heylings (Liberal Democrat - South Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential (a) implications for her policies of routine use of fungicides in the seed supply chain and (b) impact of their use on (i) integrated pest management, (ii) soil health restoration and (iii) pesticide use..
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Plant protection products (PPPs – also known as pesticides) may only be placed on the market in Great Britain (GB) if they have been authorised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), GB’s pesticide regulator. This only happens following a thorough scientific risk assessment that concludes all safety standards are met. Pesticides that pose unacceptable risks are not authorised.
Our strict, science-based regulation is supplemented with policies to encourage safe and minimal use. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) lies at the heart of the government’s approach to minimise the environmental impact of PPPs, including fungicides. IPM practices can reduce the risks associated with pesticide use, helping to protect wildlife, and enhance soil and water quality.
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, what steps he is taking to improve allergy care.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Expert Advisory Group on Allergy (EAGA), co-chaired by the Department and the National Allergy Strategy Group, meets regularly to bring together stakeholders across the Government, the National Health Service, voluntary organisations, professional bodies, and patient representative groups, to consider how allergy care and support could be improved. The purpose of the EAGA is to inform policymaking, and to identify priorities in relation to the holistic care of people with allergies. The EAGA last met on 3 December2025.
In July 2025, the Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency licensed a new adrenaline nasal spray, EURneffy, for use in the emergency treatment of anaphylaxis. The Government welcomes the approval of needle free delivery methods of adrenaline, recognising the potential to benefit to those who suffer from allergies.
More widely, there are a number of policies outlined in the 10-Year Health Plan which should have a positive impact on care for patients with allergy. More tests and scans delivered in the community, better joint working between services, and greater use of technology will all support people to manage allergies closer to home.
Neighbourhood Health Services will be organised around the needs of their patients. The plan will create joined-up working across hospitals and into community settings with multi-disciplinary teams who can provide wrap-around support services to people with allergies or other long-term conditions.
Asked by: Simon Opher (Labour - Stroud)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Association of Colleges' report entitled From treatment to prevention: how colleges can build a healthier society, published in December 2025, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on supporting further education colleges to deliver programmes for young people not in education, employment or training due to health reasons.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department consults with Cabinet colleagues on a range of policies, and we are determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all young people, including those with specific needs.
We have introduced the Youth Guarantee to tackle the number of those who are not in education, employment or training and improve access to opportunities.
Colleges are responsible for ensuring that their provision is designed, delivered, and continuously improved to meet the needs of all students and are subject to statutory duties and responsibilities in the area of special educational needs and disabilities. This underpins our commitment to providing all young people with learning difficulties and disabilities with the opportunities they need.
The department also continues to work closely with the further education (FE) sector to promote and support providers to develop mental health and wellbeing approaches. This is supported by the FE student support champion, Polly Harrow, who is improving colleges' ability to give learners the full opportunity to succeed and progress.
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 assessment he has made of the potential impact of NHS digital-first services on access to care for older people who are not confident using online tools.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations must ensure that all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate.
This means that although we promote digital first services to those who choose to use them, a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally to ensure continued, equitable access to care.
These non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
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 cost of (a) implementation for GP practices and (b) operation of the online appointment booking system introduced for GP practices in October 2025.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practices (GPs) have been required to offer and promote an online consultation tool to their registered patients since 2021.
The change introduced in October 2025 regarding online access will mean explicitly requiring that all modes of contacting the practice are available at least during core hours, from 08:00 to 18:30. This means parity for walk-in, phone, and online access. This requirement builds on policies that have been in place for several years to encourage the shift to modern GPs. Practices that consistently use online access have reported improvements in services for both patients and staff, support timely access to care, and enhance productivity for patients.
The National Health Service provided extensive support to practices in the lead up to the introduction of these requirements and continues to do so. This includes reaching out to any practices that are struggling to help them to prepare, including providing guidance, webinars, case studies, and bringing in GP practitioners and practice staff who are experts in service redesign and improvement in GPs.
NHS England has provided a total of £71 million in funding for practices to procure high-quality online consultation, messaging, and appointment booking tools. An additional £88 million over 2023/24 and 2024/25 was provided for transition cover and transformation support for practices to implement these new systems.
We are also investing an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the NHS, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.4 billion in 2025/26, this is the biggest cash increase in over a decade.
The percentage of patients who said that it was easy to contact their GP increased from 61% in August 2024, to 74% in October 2025 according to the Office for National Statistics Health Insight Survey.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to reduce reliance on digital consultations and ensure equitable access to in-person appointments, particularly for those with mental health conditions or language barriers.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service organisations must ensure that all patients have equitable access to care, and that decisions or policies do not unfairly disadvantage people or lead to an increase in inequalities. All NHS organisations are legally obliged to not discriminate against patients or staff.
This means that a non-digital solution should be available for those patients who cannot or do not wish to engage digitally, including those with mental health conditions or language barriers. These non-digital routes must be available for all services provided by NHS organisations.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
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 ensure local health services are prepared to respond to incidents of mass carbon monoxide exposure in (a) Surrey and (b) Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
All National Health Service organisations, including in Surrey, are required to prepare for, and respond to, a wide range of incidents or emergencies that could adversely affect the health of the population.
In the event of an incident of mass carbon monoxide exposure, ambulance services can dispatch a Hazardous Area Response Team. This provides the initial NHS response with trained and equipped paramedics who can safely enter a contaminated area to support casualties and provide clinical care.
As an integrated care board, NHS Surrey Heartlands has policies for emergency preparedness, resilience, and response, in order to support local resilience partners and maintain critical services in the event of an incident.