Asked by: Anna Gelderd (Labour - South East Cornwall)
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 (a) travel distances and (b) levels of public transport in (i) site planning and (ii) service design for neighbourhood health centres in rural areas; and what his timeline is for the rollout of those centres.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government aims to establish a Neighbourhood Health Centre in every community by 2035. Neighbourhood Health Centres will provide easier, more convenient access to a full range of healthcare services.
Nationwide coverage will take time, but we will start in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest, including rural towns and communities with higher deprivation levels, using public capital to update and refurbish existing, under-used buildings.
We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, services will look different in rural communities, coastal towns, and deprived inner cities, to reflect local needs.
On 21 July 2025, I wrote to Members of Parliament highlighting that the Department and NHS England have written to integrated care boards and local authorities to invite applications to participate in the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme, to establish a Neighbourhood Health Centre delivery pipeline.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Supreme Court ruling published on April 16, what plans her Department has to amend its policy on the use of women-only spaces in its buildings by transgender women.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, is developing updated guidance to support service providers. Ministers will consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it following further work in light of this ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether their Department plans to amend its policies on access to (a) toilets, (b) changing facilities and (c) other single-sex spaces in (i) Departmental buildings and (ii) other buildings within their Department’s remit following the Supreme Court judgement in the case of For Women Scotland v The Scottish Ministers of 16 April 2025.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Supreme Court ruling made it clear that the provision of single-sex spaces is on the basis of biological sex. Providers should note and follow the ruling.
It is important that we ensure dignity and respect for all. Trans people should have access to services they need but in keeping with the ruling.
The Equality & Human Rights Commission, as Britain’s Equalities watchdog, is developing updated guidance to support service providers. Ministers will consider the EHRC’s updated draft once they have submitted it following further work in light of this ruling.
The Government is considering the implications of the Court’s judgment, including what this means for Government buildings.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure sufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure for all cars parked off-street in privately owned car parks.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All new residential and non-residential buildings with off-street parking are required to install chargepoints. Elsewhere, the Government continues to offer grant funding for the purchase and installation of charging infrastructure. This includes flats, rented accommodation, domestic and commercial landlords, workplaces, charities, schools, and public sector organisations.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure sufficient electric vehicle charging infrastructure for all cars parked off-street in privately owned car parks.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
All new residential and non-residential buildings with off-street parking are required to install chargepoints. Elsewhere, the Government continues to offer grant funding for the purchase and installation of charging infrastructure. This includes flats, rented accommodation, domestic and commercial landlords, workplaces, charities, schools, and public sector organisations.
Asked by: Joe Robertson (Conservative - Isle of Wight East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to (a) review and (b) adjust the national funding formula to reflect additional (i) staffing, (ii) maintenance, (iii) transport and (iv) other costs for small rural schools.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The 2025/26 schools national funding formula (NFF) uses the same factors as the 2024/25 NFF. This continuity from the previous year minimises disruption to local authorities and schools.
The government is undertaking a review of the schools NFF to consider potential changes for 2026/27 and future years, recognising the importance of a fair funding system that directs funding where it is needed. The department will consider the operation of the ‘sparsity’ factor, which targets revenue funding for small and rural schools, as part of that review.
Funding for capital expenditure sits outside of the NFF. The department expects responsible bodies, such as local authorities, multi-academy trusts, and dioceses, to ensure that their schools are well maintained. In addition to the schools NFF, responsible bodies, such as local authorities and academy trusts, have access to capital funding each year to improve the condition of their buildings through either a school condition allocation or the Condition Improvement Fund. Schools are also directly allocated devolved formula capital funding which allows schools to invest in small-scale capital projects. Capital funding to improve the condition of the school estate is increasing to £2.1 billion for the2025/26 financial year, up from £1.8 billion in the 2024/25 financial year.
Funding for pupils’ home to school transport is also outside of the schools NFF, which is funded through the local government finance settlement, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s allocations to local authorities.
Asked by: Ellie Chowns (Green Party - North Herefordshire)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Committees and Local Government on requiring all new community buildings to have storage space for outdoor clothing and equipment.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Active Travel England (ATE) is an executive agency of the Department and a statutory planning consultee for new housing developments comprising at least 150 homes or 5 hectares in site size. In discharging this function, ATE makes recommendations to improve infrastructure and measures that will support active travel journeys.
Where there are no locally set standards for cycle parking, ATE’s planning team recommends that the standards in Table 11-1 of LTN 1/20: Cycle Infrastructure Design are applied to new dwellings. This seeks the provision of one secure and ideally covered cycle storage space per bedroom.
Criterion 9 of ATE’s planning application assessment toolkit – which helps to gather evidence and assess the active travel merits of new developments – promotes the provision of high-quality facilities including showers, lockers, changing rooms and drying areas for cyclists in non-residential settings.
It is for the relevant local planning authority’s enforcement team to address instances where a developer does not comply with active travel provisions secured through a planning application.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether she is taking steps to implement a (a) long term and (b) devolved approach to funding for (i) local and (ii) regional transport services in the West Midlands.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The department is working with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to implement an “Integrated Settlement” for the West Midlands Combined Authority from April 2025. This will give the Mayor and Combined Authority a consolidated budget across local transport, housing, regeneration, local growth, skills, buildings retrofit, and employment support, with much greater freedom and funding flexibility to drive forward the local economy and deliver growth.
The department is also looking to simplify the current funding arrangements for all other Local Transport Authorities so that they can spend funding according to their local priorities and avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy. Multi-year funding will be confirmed at the upcoming spending review.
Asked by: Ashley Fox (Conservative - Bridgwater)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether there are any requirements for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend the office in person in each of (a) their Department's office workplaces and (b) the arm’s length bodies of their Department.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no requirement for civil servants to book a desk in advance in order to attend a Department for Transport workplace, including the executive agencies (Active Travel England, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Vehicle Certification Agency). A desk booking application is available for staff attending the DfT offices in Birmingham, Hastings, Leeds, London and Swansea, as well as some of the workplaces operated by agencies and Arms Length Bodies, but employees are not required to use them. Touch-down desks and other working spaces are available for staff who attend these locations without booking a desk.
The Arms Length Bodies sponsored by DfT do not employ civil servants and DfT places no requirement on their staff to book desks to attend workplaces.
Asked by: Steve Witherden (Labour - Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to end fossil fuel (a) extraction, (b) exports and (c) imports.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government will consult on the implementation of its commitment to not issue new oil and gas licences to explore new fields in due course. It does not intend to revoke existing licences.
The Government has announced it will introduce new legislation to restrict the future licensing of new coal mines in Great Britain. The last coal fired power station closed in October 2024.
The Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan paves the way to decarbonising the wider economy by 2050 as it pursues the electrification of heat in buildings, transport, and industry.