Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to support Natural England in their responsibilities in wildfire prevention, including in agreeing land management plans.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is the lead Government department for wildfire. Defra works closely with MHCLG and supports Natural England (NE) to deliver its responsibilities.

This includes the recently published Environmental Improvement Plan commitment that by 2030 NE will conduct research on increasing the natural resilience of habitats to wildfires, such as through re-wetting or restoring hydrological function, including case studies of success. An initial scoping review will be reported on in the annual progress report in 2027. This will develop our understanding of actions we can take to naturally reduce the risk of wildfires.

Alongside this, Defra supports NE in:

• Working with partners to improve systems to alert land managers about fire risk and management techniques to improve resilience. This includes through support and membership of the UK Fire Danger Rating System Steering Group.
• Being represented on a number of local and regional wildfire groups in England which help address wildfire issues.
• Encouraging landowners/managers to maintain good relations with their local Fire and Rescue Service, including through joint visits to identify risks and familiarise all involved with sites that may be susceptible to wildfire.
• Advising that landowners complete a wildfire checklist (which can be funded through Countryside Stewardship). Where high vulnerability is identified it is the landowners’ responsibility to consider fire risk assessments and fire response plans.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Emergency Services Network will be fully operational, including phone-based location tracking capabilities for emergency responders.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The programme’s priority is to achieve the right balance between credible plans that have user confidence and the need to deliver ESN as quickly and safely as possible to enable the shutdown of Airwave.

The Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme (ESMCP) has successfully concluded two major re-procurements. In November 2024, the Mobile Services contract was awarded to BT/EE, followed by the award of the User Services contract to IBM in December 2024. With these committed delivery partners firmly on board, ESMCP has made excellent progress into full delivery mode.

The programme has finalised a revised Programme Business Case, which has been endorsed by the Senior Users of the three Emergency Services and representatives from the devolved nations. The Business Case is expected to complete departmental and HM Treasury approvals in early 2026. Our user community remains actively engaged in planning the deployment and rollout of the Emergency Services Network (ESN) and ensuring a safe transition from Airwave. Early adoption of a service-ready solution is on track for early 2028, with full transition from Airwave targeted for completion by the end of 2029.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to support NHS trusts in managing and removing reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) from hospital buildings; and how this work is prioritised within the New Hospital Programme.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 20 January 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a new, realistic plan to deliver the New Hospital Programme (NHP) and we continue to work to these timelines. As set out in the Plan for Implementation, delivery expectations may be subject to change depending on local and national factors and the programme reserves the right to adjust the delivery plan as schemes develop in the future.

We are prioritising the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), as part of Wave 1, with ongoing mitigations in place to ensure patient and staff safety. Priority will be given to the most affected buildings and services.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive site-by-site report into these seven hospitals, which will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace.

£1.6 billion will be provided to continue supporting NHS England’s national RAAC programme across the 2025 Spending Review period. The seven NHP RAAC replacement hospitals continue to receive funding and support from NHS England’s national RAAC programme ahead of the delivery of replacement hospitals.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS trusts can take to accelerate their eligibility for prioritisation within the New Hospital Programme queue.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 20 January 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a new, realistic plan to deliver the New Hospital Programme (NHP) and we continue to work to these timelines. As set out in the Plan for Implementation, delivery expectations may be subject to change depending on local and national factors and the programme reserves the right to adjust the delivery plan as schemes develop in the future.

We are prioritising the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), as part of Wave 1, with ongoing mitigations in place to ensure patient and staff safety. Priority will be given to the most affected buildings and services.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive site-by-site report into these seven hospitals, which will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace.

£1.6 billion will be provided to continue supporting NHS England’s national RAAC programme across the 2025 Spending Review period. The seven NHP RAAC replacement hospitals continue to receive funding and support from NHS England’s national RAAC programme ahead of the delivery of replacement hospitals.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether processes are in place to ensure (a) that hospitals within the New Hospital Programme are continually assessed and (B) that the prioritisation queue can be adjusted if circumstances change, such as structural safety concerns or urgent capacity needs.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

On 20 January 2025, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced a new, realistic plan to deliver the New Hospital Programme (NHP) and we continue to work to these timelines. As set out in the Plan for Implementation, delivery expectations may be subject to change depending on local and national factors and the programme reserves the right to adjust the delivery plan as schemes develop in the future.

We are prioritising the seven hospitals built wholly or primarily from reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC), as part of Wave 1, with ongoing mitigations in place to ensure patient and staff safety. Priority will be given to the most affected buildings and services.

My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has commissioned a comprehensive site-by-site report into these seven hospitals, which will help inform individual development plans, which continue to progress at pace.

£1.6 billion will be provided to continue supporting NHS England’s national RAAC programme across the 2025 Spending Review period. The seven NHP RAAC replacement hospitals continue to receive funding and support from NHS England’s national RAAC programme ahead of the delivery of replacement hospitals.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to implement the Law Commission’s July 2022 recommendations for reforming weddings law in England and Wales.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government announced on 2 October that we intend to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows. The reforms reflect a commitment to making marriage law fairer, simpler and more modern, whilst also protecting the solemnity and dignity of marriage. We want to create a level playing field for all groups, including allowing humanist weddings to be legally recognised for the first time. We will be consulting on the details early next year.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government has taken to review the provisions of the Marriage Act 1949.

Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)

The Government announced on 2 October that we intend to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows. The reforms reflect a commitment to making marriage law fairer, simpler and more modern, whilst also protecting the solemnity and dignity of marriage. We want to create a level playing field for all groups, including allowing humanist weddings to be legally recognised for the first time. We will be consulting on the details early next year.

Winter NHS corridor care

Horton Cemetery

Chinese Embassy

Chalk streams and salmon in Hampshire

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Sarah Owens (Chair); Alex Brewer; Christine Jardine; Kim Leadbeater

Found: Current membership Sarah Owen (Labour; Luton North) (Chair) Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat; North East