Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate has been made of the long-term cost to the NHS of (a) delayed and (b) disrupted access to specialist cancer treatment.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that a particular treatment may not be available at local hospitals, which would mean that travel to a specialist centre would be required, in order to receive the best possible care. The Department also knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for patients, including their unpaid carers.
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met.
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to access specialist cancer treatments on patient outcomes and long-term National Health Service costs, the potential impact of prolonged or distant cancer treatment on the personal finances of patients and unpaid carers, and the potential impact of travel distance and associated costs on access to specialist cancer treatment. In addition, the Department has not made a formal estimate of the long-term cost to the NHS of delayed and disrupted access to specialist cancer treatment.
The NHS in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital, or other NHS premises, for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 prolonged or distant cancer treatment on the personal finances of (a) patients and (b) unpaid carers.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that a particular treatment may not be available at local hospitals, which would mean that travel to a specialist centre would be required, in order to receive the best possible care. The Department also knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for patients, including their unpaid carers.
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met.
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to access specialist cancer treatments on patient outcomes and long-term National Health Service costs, the potential impact of prolonged or distant cancer treatment on the personal finances of patients and unpaid carers, and the potential impact of travel distance and associated costs on access to specialist cancer treatment. In addition, the Department has not made a formal estimate of the long-term cost to the NHS of delayed and disrupted access to specialist cancer treatment.
The NHS in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital, or other NHS premises, for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 the time taken to access specialist cancer treatments on patient outcomes and long term NHS costs.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that a particular treatment may not be available at local hospitals, which would mean that travel to a specialist centre would be required, in order to receive the best possible care. The Department also knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for patients, including their unpaid carers.
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met.
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to access specialist cancer treatments on patient outcomes and long-term National Health Service costs, the potential impact of prolonged or distant cancer treatment on the personal finances of patients and unpaid carers, and the potential impact of travel distance and associated costs on access to specialist cancer treatment. In addition, the Department has not made a formal estimate of the long-term cost to the NHS of delayed and disrupted access to specialist cancer treatment.
The NHS in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital, or other NHS premises, for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
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 travel distance and associated costs on access to specialist cancer treatment.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department recognises that a particular treatment may not be available at local hospitals, which would mean that travel to a specialist centre would be required, in order to receive the best possible care. The Department also knows that the cost of travel is an important issue for patients, including their unpaid carers.
NHS England and the integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities in England are met.
The Department has not made a formal assessment of the potential impact of the time taken to access specialist cancer treatments on patient outcomes and long-term National Health Service costs, the potential impact of prolonged or distant cancer treatment on the personal finances of patients and unpaid carers, and the potential impact of travel distance and associated costs on access to specialist cancer treatment. In addition, the Department has not made a formal estimate of the long-term cost to the NHS of delayed and disrupted access to specialist cancer treatment.
The NHS in England runs schemes to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital, or other NHS premises, for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostics tests, when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. This includes the NHS Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme (HTCS), which provides financial assistance to patients who do not have a medical need for transport, but who require assistance with the costs of travelling to receive certain NHS services. Patients who do not qualify for the HTCS and who are on a low income may be able to claim the costs from the Department for Work and Pensions through Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Ian Lavery (Labour - Blyth and Ashington)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the (a) average and (b) total out of pocket costs incurred by patients and families accessing proton beam therapy, including travel, accommodation and subsistence, in each of the last five years.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not collect data on patients eligible for this treatment, associated out-of-pocket costs, and the number of individuals who have self-funded their therapy. However, NHS England and integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning and ensuring the healthcare needs of local communities are met, including providing support for travel.
The National Health Service in England runs the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme to provide financial assistance for travel to a hospital or other NHS premises for specialist NHS treatment or diagnostic tests when referred by a doctor or other primary healthcare professional. Patients who do not qualify for the Healthcare Travel Costs Scheme and who are on a low income may be able to claim travel costs through the Department for Work and Pensions via Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payment.
Asked by: Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru - Caerfyrddin)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department plans to introduce alternative methods of calculating the minimum income floor for self-employed people.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government has committed to reviewing Universal Credit. I have spoken to many stakeholders on many different parts of UC, including how the system supports self-employed customers. We have engaged extensively with stakeholders, frontline staff and customers, including a large-scale survey of nearly 10,000 Universal Credit customers.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what consideration his Department makes of trends in the costs of essential goods and services when setting the basic rate of Universal Credit during the uprating process.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) estimates how the prices of goods and services bought by households rise or fall and is used as an indication of inflation in Universal Credit uprating. Last year, The Secretary of State increased most working age benefits across Great Britain for 2026/27 by 3.8% in line with CPI in the year to September 2025.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that the interaction between Universal Credit and student finance results in appropriate support for eligible students.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Students are generally expected to access support for tuition fees and living costs through the student support system. This means most full‑time students are not usually eligible for Universal Credit, unless they fall into specified exception groups (e.g. disabled students, students with children, some young people without parental support).
Students who are eligible for Universal Credit have their maintenance loans treated as income for the purpose of Universal Credit. The student support system is designed to meet their living cost needs during study.
Tuition fee loans are disregarded in the calculation of a Universal Credit award, along with grants such as those recognising a disability or for childcare costs. Any Special Support Loan/Grant is also disregarded in these calculations.
Asked by: Adam Dance (Liberal Democrat - Yeovil)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to improve his Department's response times to correspondence.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department is clear that timely responses to correspondence are important. Recent delays have arisen from increased volumes and complexity of cases, including as customers move onto Universal Credit as part of our planned migration from legacy benefits.
We are taking active steps to improve performance, including recruiting and training additional staff to handle correspondence and complaints. These measures are already helping to reduce backlogs and will continue to improve response times as capacity builds.
Asked by: Bayo Alaba (Labour - Southend East and Rochford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support young people into employment, education or training.
Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Too many young people are not in employment, education or training, something we are addressing and which the previous Government did nothing about.
We are investing £2.5 billion into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to support nearly one million 16–24-year-olds into work, education or training.
Over the next three years, this investment will unlock up to 300,000 opportunities for workplace experience and training, along with 200,000 jobs through the £3,000 Youth Jobs Grant, the £2,000 apprenticeship incentive, and guaranteeing jobs for long-term unemployed young people on Universal Credit.