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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to take steps to increase firefighter remuneration in line with inflation.

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

Setting firefighter pay is the responsibility of local employers, working through the National Joint Council. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government plays no role in the negotiation or funding of firefighter pay.

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 potential impact on of not offering prescriptions longer than the standard 28-day cycle to patients with long-term, stable conditions on both GP practices and patients of GPs; and whether he plans to amend the NHS standard prescription cycle guidance for GPs.

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

Prescribing durations are typically 28, 56, or 84 day intervals. There are no current national contract requirements, standards, criteria or guidance as to optimal prescription length from NHS England. Currently, prescription duration is guided by local prescribing policies, guidance from professional regulators, the General Medical Council, and professional bodies, including the British Medical Association. These indicate that determining the optimal prescription duration in any individual case requires consideration of many factors including clinical appropriateness, patient safety, patient compliance, types of medicines, and required monitoring frequency.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps the department is taking with Ofcom to help ensure that telegraph poles are not being overwhelmed by an excess of new wiring resulting from the coexistence of coaxial cable systems and phone line-based networks.

Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

The government supports sharing of poles between network operators as it reduces costs and disruption to residents and supports competition in the market. The Access to Infrastructure (ATI) Regulations 2016 are designed to facilitate sharing of physical infrastructure between operators, and Ofcom’s Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA) product mandates Openreach to provide access to their poles to other operators.

The PIA Working Group, chaired by the Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator, monitors and provides guidance on appropriate number of lines and weight bearing per pole to prevent them being overwhelmed.

As the independent regulator for telecommunications, Ofcom is responsible for making regulatory decisions in the fixed telecoms sector, including decisions regarding enforcement of the ATI Regulations and PIA.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of a 5 pence per litre rise in fuel duty on (a) GDP and (b) levels of employment in the logistics sector.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At Budget 2025, the Government announced continued support for people and businesses by extending the temporary 5p fuel duty cut until the end of August 2026. Rates will then gradually return to previous levels. The planned increase in line with inflation for 2026-27 will not take place, with the government increasing fuel duty rates in line with RPI from April 2027. This will save the average van driver £100 next year compared to previous plans, and the average HGV driver more than £800.

The Government considers the impact of fuel duty on the economy, including households and businesses, with decisions on rates made at fiscal events.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of HGV Skills Bootcamps in increasing (a) completion rates and (b) job placements compared with the apprenticeship route.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

The government offers a range of skills training which can support the HGV sector, including apprenticeships and Skills Bootcamps.

Apprenticeships combine practical training in a job with study and have a minimum duration of eight months. Skills Bootcamps are available to both employed and unemployed learners and training takes up to 16 weeks to complete. It is therefore not possible to directly compare the two programmes.

The government publishes starts, completion and outcome figures for HGV Skills Bootcamps. The latest data is published here; Skills bootcamps starts, completions and outcomes, Financial year 2023-24 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.

The latest published apprenticeship data can be found here; Apprenticeships, Academic year 2024/25 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people who die each year from wildfire smoke.

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

Whilst Defra considers smoke from wildfires to be important the department has not, to date, made an estimate of the number of people who die each year from wildfire smoke.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department taking to expand funding for adult hospices, in the context of the NHS Ten-Year Plan’s commitment to shift more care provision away from hospitals into community healthcare.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. The MSF will drive improvements in the services that patients and their families receive at the end of life and enable integrated care boards (ICBs) to address challenges in access, quality, and sustainability through the delivery of high-quality, personalised care. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.

We will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements as part of our MSF. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.

The MSF will address the drivers and incentives that are required in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.  Further information about the MSF is set out in the Written Ministerial Statement HCWS1087, which I gave on 24 November 2025.