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 the average waiting time is for an emergency ambulance response.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises that in recent years ambulance response times have not met the high standards patients should expect.
We are determined to turn things around. Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan 2025/26 is backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, and commits to reducing category 2 ambulance response times to 30 minutes on average this year.
The latest data from December 2025 for ambulance response times in England shows progress, with category 2 incidents responded to in 32 minutes 43 seconds on average, this is 14 minutes and 43 seconds faster than the same period last year.
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 fire safety in healthcare settings.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Health Service has unique fire safety issues given the nature of its services and the patients it treats. These issues and related risks are analysed with risk reduction measures such as specific technical guidance updates and technical bulletins based on this data being developed and published where appropriate. Professional networking ensures that best practice is shared with the NHS via professional organisations such as National Fire Chiefs Council, the National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers, and the Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management.
This specific fire safety guidance is provided to the NHS in the Health Technical Memorandum 05 generally referred to as Firecode. This guidance is being revised to fully reflect recent changes in legislation, technology, and policy, and is available at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/fire-safety-in-the-nhs-health-technical-memorandum-05-03/
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 assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not made an assessment of the adequacy of the number of specialist doctors and nurses for headaches employed in the National Health Service in England.
Patients presenting with headaches may be treated through multiple points of contact across primary, urgent, and secondary care, with input from different clinical teams depending on symptoms and severity.
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 help improve respite services for carers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the vital role of unpaid carers and is committed to ensuring they have the support they need.
In England, the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to deliver a wide range of sustainable, high-quality care and support services, including support for carers. The Better Care Fund includes funding that can be used for carer support, including short breaks and respite services. Local areas determine how the money is best used to support carers, depending on local need and with reference to their statutory responsibilities.
We have raised the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit from £151 to £196 per week, the equivalent of 16 hours at the National Living Wage and representing the largest cash increase ever.
The Government is making around £4.6 billion of additional funding available for adult social care in England in 2028-29 compared to 2025/26, to support the sector in making improvements.
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 will take to increase availability of renal psychology services for kidney patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mental health and psychosocial support, such as renal psychology services, for people living with kidney disease is a key priority within NHS England’s programme to improve renal care. The Renal Service Transformation Programme, published in 2023, provides a national framework for raising standards across the renal pathway, including a strengthened focus on supporting the emotional and psychological needs of patients.
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, how much his Department spent on legal costs in the last five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the total legal fees for the core Department per the audited annual reports from 2020/21 to 2024/25, rounded to the nearest thousand:
2024/25 | 2023/24 | 2022/23 | 2021/22 | 2020/21 |
£46,087 | £37,975 | £35,799 | £37,482 | £39,694 |
The legal fees for the departmental group can be found in the Annual Report and accounts in the following links:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-to-2025#
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2022-to-2023
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2020-to-2021
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra does not currently have plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set a target for the reduction of the use of single-use plastic.
This Government is committed to moving to a circular economy and will publish a Circular Economy Growth Plan that sets out how government will deliver a more circular and more prosperous economy.
Defra will continue to review the latest evidence on problematic products and/or materials to take a systematic approach, in line with circular economy principles, to reduce the use of unnecessary single-use plastic products and encourage reuse solutions.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help tackle educational underachievement.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
All children and young people should have every opportunity to succeed, but too many face barriers holding them back, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government’s Plan for Change sets our intention to give every child the best start in life, setting a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn, backed by investment close to £1.5 billion over the next three years, subject to the spending review.
High and rising standards are the key to strengthening outcomes for every child. The department is driving standards in every school through regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, a refreshed high quality curriculum and assessment system, and recruiting an additional 6,500 additional teachers.
The Schools White Paper will build on our existing work to drive school standards and improve outcomes for all children.
This is alongside wider work to improve outcomes for all children, including tackling child poverty and our Post-16 Education and Skills Strategy.
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, how many assessments for Personal Independence Payment were carried out by Capita by telephone in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Capita delivers Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the Midlands and Wales, and on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland.
Information relating to the Midlands and Wales is not currently published by DWP; however, we intend to include this data in a future statistical release.
If your query concerns Northern Ireland, responsibility for this information rests with the DfC. This data is not held by DWP.
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, how many assessments for Personal Independence Payment were carried out by Capita in person in 2025.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Capita delivers Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in the Midlands and Wales, and on behalf of the Department for Communities (DfC) in Northern Ireland.
Information relating to the Midlands and Wales is not currently published by DWP; however, we intend to include this data in a future statistical release.
If your query concerns Northern Ireland, responsibility for this information rests with the DfC. This data is not held by DWP.