Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessments has the department made of the potential benefits of extending the meningitis B vaccination programme to teenagers.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Meningococcal disease is an uncommon but serious disease caused by meningococcal bacteria. The MenACWY vaccine offers good protection against several strains of meningococcal disease and is routinely offered to teenagers in school years 9 and 10. However, it does not protect against all strains. Other strains, such as Meningitis B (MenB), can circulate among young adults. From 2015, the MenB vaccine has been available on the National Health Service as part of routine childhood immunisations, but most students would not be vaccinated.
Decisions on vaccination programmes follow independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The JCVI does not currently recommend a routine MenB booster vaccination for adolescents and young adults, however the JCVI routinely reviews new evidence as it emerges and my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will ask them to reexamine eligibility for meningitis vaccines.
The importance of raising awareness in parents, teenagers and other adults about the signs and symptoms of meningitis remains key. There are a range of resources developed by the UK Health Security Agency, co-branded with the National Health Service, that set out these key messages and their importance, such as the teenage guide to immunisation.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps her Department is taking to help support businesses experiencing financial stress that are awaiting a non‑domestic rates revaluation; and what the average time frame is for rates revaluations on non-domestic rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Every three years the Valuation Office Agency carries out a revaluation of non-domestic properties. The 2026 revaluation is due to come into effect on 1 April 2026, based on values from 1 April 2024.
In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect ratepayers seeing their bills increase. The Government is introducing new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and will benefit over 750,000 properties.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much and what proportion of funding for low-income oil heating households through the Community Recovery Fund will be allocated to North East Hampshire constituency.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Support for households dependent on heating oil is being delivered through the Crisis and Resilience Fund.
The Community Recovery Fund launched in September 2024 to support those communities impacted by the public disorder that took place between July and August 2024. The Community Recovery Fund will not be used support low-income oil heating households’.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what methodology will be used to determine the distribution of funding through the Crisis and Resilience Fund for low-income oil heating households; and whether households in North East Hampshire constituency will be eligible.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In England, £27 million of funding will be delivered via the Crisis and Resilience Fund to support low-income households reliant on oil for heating. £842 million a year was already committed through the Crisis and Resilience Fund at Spending Review 2025, which all unitary and upper tier authorities in England will already receive funding from to support vulnerable and low-income households with financial shocks, including increases to essential costs such as energy.
Funding has been allocated to local authorities in a way that accounts for deprivation levels as measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation and the number of households using heating oil according to census data. To ensure the funding is targeted where it is most needed, only local authorities where more than 1% of the population use heating oil for central heating will receive the additional funding.
Hampshire has been allocated £586,569 to distribute to households the local authority considers most in need. Figures will also be published on gov.uk in due course and we have shared this information with all councils that will receive funding.