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 recent steps he has taken to provide a 24/7 thrombectomy service.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is working to increase the size of the workforce trained to deliver thrombectomy so that 24/7 access is available across England by April 2026.
To achieve this NHS England is working with the General Medical Council in approving a credential to support neuroradiologists to conduct thrombectomy and increase the number of thrombectomies that can be delivered.
In addition, NHS England’s National Medical Director and National Clinical Director for Stroke has supported comprehensive stroke centers in England to improve quality and reduce variation in thrombectomy delivery.
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 increase the number of blood donations.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) is responsible for blood services in England and is delivering initiatives to increase blood donations. These include:
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 recent steps he has taken to digitise patients’ medical records.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
£1.9 billion has been invested to ensure all National Health Service trusts achieve baseline digital capability, and 95% of trusts will have implemented or upgraded their Electronic Patient Record system (EPR) by March 2026, with the remainder planning to implement after this.
Recent areas for focus have been EPR optimisation, working to improve functionality, efficiency and usability, and a new tiger team service in the Frontline Digitisation Support offer for 2025/26, which is available to provide trusts with rapid on-site support at critical points of their EPR journey. The team’s work will also inform practical guidance to help other trusts deploy successfully and realise the benefits of digitisation.
NHS England is continuing to conduct digital maturity assessments to support local systems and trusts to prioritise and plan local digital investment.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions her Department has had with EU counterparts on EU regulations preventing the use of red diesel to power private leisure boats in the context of the maritime tourism industry.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Officials in my department regularly speak to EU counterparts on a range of issues.
Private Pleasure Craft (PPC)) across the UK incur the full duty rate on fuel used for propulsion (52.95 pence per litre (ppl)) and the rebated rate (10.18 ppl) for non-propulsion use.
PPC that refuel in Great Britain can use red diesel provided they pay a top up to reflect the difference in duty between the red diesel rate and the full duty rate to cover their propulsion use. PPC in Northern Ireland are not permitted to refuel with red diesel, but a relief scheme is in place to cover diesel used for non-propulsion purposes (e.g. heating and lighting the boat).
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
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 levels of employment for people with disabilities.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity. The Northern Ireland Executive received consequential funding in the usual way.
Disabled people and people with health conditions can face a wide range of unique, yet intersecting barriers, relating to not just their health, but their employment and circumstance (Work aspirations and support needs of health and disability customers: Final findings report - GOV.UK). We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, and has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.
We set out our plan for the Pathways to Work Guarantee in our Pathways to Work Green Paper and we are building towards our guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. The guarantee is backed by £1 billion a year of new, additional funding by the end of the decade. We anticipate the guarantee, once fully rolled out, will include: a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement, and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.
The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.
In Northern Ireland, health, skills, careers and employment support are transferred matters. My officials work closely with those in the Northern Ireland Executive, sharing best practice on providing employment support to disabled people.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what progress she has made on the digitalisation of Government services.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In January, we published A roadmap for modern digital government, which brings together many of the most important digitisation initiatives across the public sector, including work to digitise key health services through the NHS App, expand Making Tax Digital, and develop a streamlined digital border and immigration system. Joining up public services is at the heart of this roadmap, which aims to make interactions with government simpler, faster, and more personal.
However, we have already made significant progress in expanding digital pathways and transforming public services.
Since its launch in July 2025, the GOV.UK app has been downloaded 360,000 times. Additionally, GOV.UK One Login is steadily growing: 15 million people have verified their identity, allowing them to access 122 government services, with more being added regularly. Through the GOV.UK Wallet, we’ve rolled out Digital Veteran Cards, providing nearly two million veterans with phone-based proof of status, and mobile driving licences are currently in development.
The government is also exploring ways to transform delivery with AI, such as through the Prime Minister’s AI Exemplars, a suite of AI-enabled tools used to save time and increase productivity by digitising processes across education, health, probation, and planning services.
Alongside the roadmap, we launched CustomerFirst, a new unit designed to drive end-to-end service transformation and improve the customer offering across government. It is already partnering with the DVLA, helping them to radically rethink how they handle millions of customer interactions each year across motoring services.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress she has made to help support the end to violence against women and girls, including what steps she took during the 6 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in 2025.
Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
On 18th December 2025, this government published the ‘Freedom from Violence and Abuse; a cross-cutting strategy’, setting out our whole-system approach to halve violence against women and girls in a decade.
We have already begun implementing measures, such as rolling out Domestic Abuse Protection Orders, embedding domestic abuse specialists in police control rooms through Raneem’s Law, establishing a new National Policing Centre for VAWG and Public Protection with £13.1 million of funding, and appointing Richard Wright KC to lead the Stalking Legislation Review ensuring the criminal law on stalking is fit for purpose. This is alongside the work done by Ministers during the Sixteen Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, from 25th November to 10th December 2025, to meet with and support a range of stakeholders and events.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had any discussions with relevant stakeholders on lowering the VAT rate on hot takeaway foods.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Ministers and officials receive representations on a variety of VAT issues. The Government engages regularly with a wide range of stakeholders, including businesses and representative bodies, to inform the policy development process.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the standard rate of 20 per cent applies to most goods and services. VAT is forecast to raise around £180 billion in 2025-26.
Tax breaks reduce the revenue available for vital public services and must represent value for money for the taxpayer. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations. The Government keeps all taxes under review, and decisions on VAT rates are taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take legislative steps through the Sentencing Bill to toughen fines and sentences for people convicted of the assault of retail workers.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Sentencing Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 22 January 2026 and is therefore not open to further amendment. However, the Government is taking additional steps to strengthen protections for retail workers through the Crime and Policing Bill. It is unacceptable that violence and abuse towards retail workers continues to rise. That is why, through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. This bespoke offence will send a clear signal to perpetrators that assaults on retail workers are unacceptable and won’t go unpunished.
The Crime and Policing Bill also ensures that all shop theft is treated with the seriousness it deserves by repealing section 22A of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, so low value shop theft (of £200 or less) is no longer treated separately as a summary-only offence, but can instead be prosecuted as general theft, which carries a higher maximum penalty. Together, these measures further reinforce the Government’s commitment to tackling violence, abuse and criminality affecting retail staff.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to ensure that employers provide supportive, flexible environments, including temperature control, modified duties, and open dialogue to prevent talent loss due to employees' menopausal and peri-menopausal symptoms.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As part of Employment Rights Act 2025, we took the first step towards requiring large employers from the private and voluntary sectors in England, Wales and Scotland and the public sector in England to publish an action plan detailing what they are doing to support employees through the menopause. In order to support employers to produce their plans, we will provide guidance on the actions we recommend they take, drawn from existing evidence. This is likely to include elements around workplace flexibility and training for line managers and will be publicly available for all employers.
In addition, the Department for Work and Pensions has already published guidance for small employers on measures to consider relating to uniform and temperature, flexible working and recording menopause-related leave and absence. This is available on the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service website.
Furthermore, broader measures introduced as part of the Employment Rights Act 2025 will encourage more supportive workplaces. With elements around access to flexible working and changes to Statutory Sick Pay helping employees managing menopause symptoms.