Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote literacy enrichment in the criminal justice system as part of the National Year of Reading.

Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)

I refer the noble Lord to the answer I gave to question PQ HL 14560 to Lord Weir on 23 February 2026.

The National Year of Reading is a welcome opportunity to promote a wide range of activity to improve literacy and engagement with reading for people in custody and on probation.

As part of this work we have appointed the first ever Prison Reading Laureate, the author Lee Child. He will champion the transformative power of reading across the criminal justice system, continue expansion of his successful literacy pilot programme which has been running in a number of prisons since 2025 and will bring in more authors to work with prisons across the country, promoting the benefits of reading to rehabilitation.

Reading is a priority for HMPPS who work with many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations such as the Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. A programme of work is planned throughout this year to improve national access to books and facilitate workshops with authors. The Youth Custody Service is also launching its first ever Literacy Festival to inspire reading amongst some of the most complex children in our society.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address variation in access to diagnosis and treatment for heart valve disease across England.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is strengthening consistency in the diagnosis and treatment of heart valve disease, building on the clear progress already being made.

While variation still exists, national initiatives are expanding diagnostic capacity and improving detection, including rapid access community clinics such as the 2026 South London pilot, which has already boosted early diagnosis in underserved groups.

At the treatment stage, rising national transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) activity and strengthened Get It Right First Time pathways and single point of access multidisciplinary team models are collectively helping to reduce inequalities and support more timely, equitable care across all regions.

There has also been a strengthening of audit and data infrastructure, including the UK TAVI Registry and National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit, helping to ensure that variation is now more visible, enabling targeted action to improve equity in treatment access.

While evidence shows that outcomes for patients with heart valve disease still vary across England, national action is driving improvement to reduce inequalities and support more consistent, equitable outcomes across all regions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of regional variation in outcomes for patients with heart valve disease in England.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is strengthening consistency in the diagnosis and treatment of heart valve disease, building on the clear progress already being made.

While variation still exists, national initiatives are expanding diagnostic capacity and improving detection, including rapid access community clinics such as the 2026 South London pilot, which has already boosted early diagnosis in underserved groups.

At the treatment stage, rising national transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) activity and strengthened Get It Right First Time pathways and single point of access multidisciplinary team models are collectively helping to reduce inequalities and support more timely, equitable care across all regions.

There has also been a strengthening of audit and data infrastructure, including the UK TAVI Registry and National Adult Cardiac Surgery Audit, helping to ensure that variation is now more visible, enabling targeted action to improve equity in treatment access.

While evidence shows that outcomes for patients with heart valve disease still vary across England, national action is driving improvement to reduce inequalities and support more consistent, equitable outcomes across all regions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that NHS staff who are subjected to violence in the workplace are offered support in the aftermath, including counselling and group debriefing.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work without fear of violence or abuse.

In 2024 NHS England updated the Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard, which is available on the NHS England website, to support organisations to take action to prevent and reduce violence and abuse against NHS staff, including by empowering staff to take appropriate action to keep themselves and others safe. This has been made mandatory as part of the 2026/27 NHS Standard Contract.

The Department and NHS England are working with NHS Employers and trade unions to strengthen support for staff in the NHS workplace by improving security, ensuring cases are reported and investigated, providing better training for staff on de-escalating and dealing with incidents, as well as enhancing post-incident support for staff.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that advice is published in NHS settings about the protocols in place for when alarms are activated due to patient violence.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work without fear of violence or abuse.

In 2024, NHS England updated the Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard, which is available on the NHS England website, to support organisations to take action to prevent and reduce violence and abuse against NHS staff, including by empowering staff to take appropriate action to keep themselves and others safe. This has been made mandatory as part of the 2026/27 NHS Standard Contract.

Additionally, NHS staff have access to educational pathways to support them to take appropriate steps to prevent and reduce violence. This includes an e-learning course as well as training on handling difficult situations with compassion.

The Health and Safety Executive also provide advice for both workers and employers on violence in the workplace.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to provide advisory articles and other literature to NHS staff about how to handle threats of violence in workplace settings.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Everyone working in the National Health Service has a fundamental right to be safe at work without fear of violence or abuse.

In 2024, NHS England updated the Violence Prevention and Reduction Standard, which is available on the NHS England website, to support organisations to take action to prevent and reduce violence and abuse against NHS staff, including by empowering staff to take appropriate action to keep themselves and others safe. This has been made mandatory as part of the 2026/27 NHS Standard Contract.

Additionally, NHS staff have access to educational pathways to support them to take appropriate steps to prevent and reduce violence. This includes an e-learning course as well as training on handling difficult situations with compassion.

The Health and Safety Executive also provide advice for both workers and employers on violence in the workplace.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to provide consistent pathways and ensure collaboration in tackling cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CVD-risk conditions throughout the NHS.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, to accelerate progress on the ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart disease and stroke by 25% within a decade, we will publish a new Cardiovascular Disease Modern Service Framework (CVD MSF) later this year.

The Department and NHS England are working together to deliver the CVD MSF and are engaging widely with stakeholders and communities throughout its development to ensure that we prioritise ambitious, evidence-led, consistent, high quality and clinically informed approaches to prevention, treatment, and care. We have a dedicated task and finish group with representation from over 30 stakeholders representing a wide range of organisations, including patient experience groups, charities, think tanks, and professional bodies related to CVD and associated conditions, and have held workshops with royal colleges, patient and public voice partners, and NHS system leaders.

Alongside this, work is underway to improve the impact of the NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s CVD prevention programme which prevents around 500 heart attacks and strokes a year. To improve access engagement, the Department and NHS England are developing an NHS Health Check Online service, which is being piloted in 11 local authorities across England, and insights from stakeholders will inform decisions on future development needs and rollout plans.

NHS England continues to work with regional and local teams to support Cardiac Networks and Integrated Stroke Delivery Networks, targeting improvement to the entire CVD pathway from prevention to end of life care.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to allow a victim of financial coercive control to reset their credit score to its value before the abusive relationship began.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Last year, the Government published a Financial Inclusion Strategy which includes economic abuse as a key theme across its areas of focus, in recognition of the particular challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services.

The Strategy seeks to support victim-survivors to regain financial independence. This includes an intervention to improve the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors’ credit scores and, through this, their ability to access products going forward. This work will develop appropriate options lenders should take when reporting data to Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs), depending on the victim-survivor’s circumstances, to minimise the negative impact on their credit files. The Government is continuing to work closely with CRAs, lenders, and consumer organisations as this work develops.

The Economic Secretary was also pleased to recently welcome Sam Smethers, CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, a leading economic abuse charity, to the Financial Inclusion Committee. This Committee helped develop the Strategy and will support its delivery moving forward.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken with credit reference agencies, lenders and the third sector towards improving how coerced debt is reflected.

Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

Last year, the Government published a Financial Inclusion Strategy which includes economic abuse as a key theme across its areas of focus, in recognition of the particular challenges victim-survivors can face in accessing financial products and services.

The Strategy seeks to support victim-survivors to regain financial independence. This includes an intervention to improve the impact of economic abuse on victim-survivors’ credit scores and, through this, their ability to access products going forward. This work will develop appropriate options lenders should take when reporting data to Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs), depending on the victim-survivor’s circumstances, to minimise the negative impact on their credit files. The Government is continuing to work closely with CRAs, lenders, and consumer organisations as this work develops.

The Economic Secretary was also pleased to recently welcome Sam Smethers, CEO of Surviving Economic Abuse, a leading economic abuse charity, to the Financial Inclusion Committee. This Committee helped develop the Strategy and will support its delivery moving forward.