Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a statutory duty for fire and rescue services in England to respond to flooding incidents.

Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Protecting communities from flooding is a key priority for this Government. Fire and Rescue Authorities already have duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 to prepare for emergencies, including major flooding. However, we recognise the interest in creating a statutory duty for flood rescue and officials are working with DEFRA, as lead government department for flooding, to consider the wider implications of this.

MHCLG supports Fire and Rescue Authorities in responding to flood incidents by providing national resilience High Volume Pump (HVP) capabilities. These are available to be used by Fire & Rescue Services across the country during major flood incidents. Additionally, DEFRA hold the Flood Rescue National Asset Register, a list of teams or assets that voluntarily join the register and maintain availability for national deployment in England.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the (a) supply and (b) availability of mefenamic acid for people in (i) the East of England and (ii) England.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department has a responsibility to work with United Kingdom medicine license holders to help ensure continuity of supply. We monitor and manage medicine supply issues at a national level so that stocks remain available to meet regional and local demand and therefore measures are not specific to the east of England.

We are aware of a supply issue with mefenamic acid 50 milligram/5 millilitre oral suspension which is expected to resolve in December 2025. Alternative formulations of mefenamic acid remain available, including capsules and tablets.

The Department will continue to work closely with the manufacturer to resolve the issue as soon as possible and to ensure patients have continuous access to medicines. Any patient who is worried about their condition should speak to their clinician in the first instance.

Found: Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat; Esher and Walton) Noah Law (Labour; St Austell and Newquay) Alice Macdonald

Found: Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat; Esher and Walton) Noah Law (Labour; St Austell and Newquay) Alice Macdonald