Claire Hazelgrove

The UK already has laws in place to protect air passengers during disruption, including refunds or re-routing for cancellations due to geopolitical instability. Air passenger rights is a priority for the Department for Transport, and we continue to look for opportunities to ensure air passengers have the best possible protections.

Consumers who have purchased a package holiday have additional protections, including assistance and refunds in specified circumstances.

Passengers should have insurance that is suitable for their plans and needs. Travel insurance coverage will vary between polices and the level of cover taken out by the individual. Passengers should contact their policy provider for confirmation of what is and is not covered.

The Government has committed to pursuing legislative reform for micromobility vehicles, including e-scooters, by creating the Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicles category when parliamentary time allows.

This will create safe, legal routes for people to use new transport technology, and help the police to crack down on those who use them in an irresponsible or anti-social way.

E-bikes are already regulated, and when an e-bike does not fully comply with the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycle requirements, it is treated as a motor vehicle in law under the Road Traffic Act 1988, making most of them effectively illegal to use on the road. There are no plans to change this, though we will continue to ensure the police have the powers they need to enforce the law.

There is existing legislation in place to ensure consumers are protected when air travel is disrupted

Where UK law applies, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (“Regulation 261”) sets out the rights of air passengers in the event of flight disruptions, such as cancellations, long delays and denied boarding, including circumstances where travel is disrupted by wider events beyond the airline’s control.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the UK’s independent aviation regulator, is responsible for monitoring industry compliance with this legislation.

It is important that passengers are aware of their rights during any disruption and that is why the Government provides guidance through its Air Passenger Travel Guide. In addition to this general guidance, the Government and the Civil Aviation Authority have published targeted information, including the “Jet fuel and travel plans: what you need to know” page and the CAA’s summer travel advice.

The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme (ENCTS) provides free off-peak bus travel to those with eligible disabilities and those of state pension age, currently sixty-six. The ENCTS costs around £700 million annually, and any changes to the statutory obligations, such as expanding eligibility, would need careful consideration for the scheme’s financial sustainability

Local authorities in England have the power to use local resources to fund further concessions in addition to their statutory obligations, for example, offering companion passes or lowering the age of eligibility.

The government has confirmed over £1 billion for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. This includes £243 million for bus operators and £712 million allocated to local authorities across the country, of which Gloucestershire County Council has been allocated £8 million. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services for passengers can be used in whichever way they wish, including enhancing the concessionary travel offering in the local area.

There are no plans to amend section 170 of the Road Traffic Act to make it mandatory for drivers to report road collisions involving cats.

Although there is no obligation to report all animal deaths on roads, drivers should, if possible, make enquiries to ascertain the owner of domestic animals, such as cats, and advise them of the situation.

Since June 2024, all cats in England over 20 weeks of age must be microchipped and registered on a compliant database, unless exempt or free-living. This will make it easier for National Highways and local authorities to reunite cats and dogs with their keeper.

The department is taking a number of steps to support the training and upskilling of staff involved in Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments, while ensuring that all clinical training materials are of the highest quality, evidence-based, and free from bias.

Since September 2024, following the commencement of the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS) contracts, the DWP Clinical Team has taken ownership of all clinical core training and guidance materials (CTGM). These materials are now developed and assured independently of charities and other stakeholder organisations to ensure consistency, impartiality and alignment with best clinical practice. The CTGM is aligned with national guidance, including that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which draws on the best available evidence and incorporates input from clinical experts, people with lived experience, carers and the public.

Senior clinicians from charities and stakeholder groups are invited to contribute to a monthly education programme delivered to DWP-employed clinicians. All contributions are subject to prior review to ensure they are evidence-based, clinically focused and free from bias.

In addition, the department facilitates ongoing engagement through quarterly stakeholder information sessions. These provide an opportunity for charities and other organisations to raise questions, offer feedback, and highlight concerns regarding clinical training materials. Feedback can also be submitted in advance of these sessions for discussion.

Through this approach, the department ensures that training remains robust, evidence-based and informed by wider expertise, while maintaining appropriate independence and clinical integrity in the development of guidance for PIP assessments.

On 9 September 2024, DWP assumed responsibility for the Core Training and Guidance Materials (CTGM) used within the Health Assessment Advisory Service (HAAS), provided by DWP to the HAAS assessment suppliers. Following the transfer of responsibilities to DWP, all training and guidance materials are currently being comprehensively reviewed and updated. A newly established team is leading this work, ensuring that all materials are aligned with national best practice standards. To support this, independent clinical experts are being engaged to provide external quality assurance, helping to ensure the accuracy, relevance, and consistency of the content. Once the review and update is complete, external organisations, including charities representing people with specific health conditions such as Parkinson’s, will be invited to comment.

Legislation was amended in 2022 to widen the list of professionals eligible to issue a fit note to include pharmacists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and registered nurses, alongside doctors.

The changes were made following extensive consultation with a wide range of healthcare professionals and their professional bodies. The aim of the changes was to ease the burden on GPs, streamline the interface between primary and secondary care, and enable fit notes to be issued by the clinician closest to the patient at the time they needed a fit note.

While paramedics are not able to issue fit notes, they and other Allied Health Professionals can contribute to decisions on sickness certification through completion of an AHP Work and Health Report. This may be considered by eligible professionals when issuing a fit note.

In May, the government launched pilot programmes across 4 Integrated Care Board areas in England to reform the fit note process. The pilots will test a fundamentally different approach, exploring replacing the traditional GP-led fit note process with newly designed plans that provide better support to people who fall ill at work. The long-term aim is for fundamental reform of the fit note process, and the pilots are not intended to revisit or reopen questions around paramedics issuing fit notes.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is committed to making Child Maintenance Service (CMS) decisions clear, accessible and transparent.

Whenever a decision is made that affects a child maintenance calculation or payment arrangements, DWP issues notifications to customers explaining the outcome. Where the maintenance calculation changes, customers are provided with information setting out how the new calculation has been reached.

DWP is taking steps to improve communications with parents by simplifying content and retiring outdated letters. In addition, the online My Child Maintenance Case service enables parents to view their case details, track changes, check their current position and view digital copies of notifications at any time. DWP continues to develop this service to provide even more information to customers.

The department regularly reviews the apprenticeship funding rules, often in consultation with others, including the Home Office and the Department for Education.

This includes the requirements for ordinary residency. This three-year residency requirement is longstanding within the apprenticeship programme. It applies to both UK and non-UK nationals. It is applied consistently to ensure that the individuals have a connection to the UK and are committed to living in the country before they are eligible for training funded by the taxpayer.

Where a paying parent is the Director of their limited liability company, they are legally an employee of that company for child maintenance purposes. They are also legally required to provide details of unearned income such as dividends in their Self-Assessment Tax Return.

Real time income information direct from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is key to the child maintenance calculation which also includes a wide range of income types, including income from property, savings and investments (including dividends) and other miscellaneous income. This makes it difficult for most parents to misstate their income.

People working in certain positions can influence how they are paid and the amount of pay they get. These people are known as ‘complex earners’ and include company directors who can affect their level of pay or dividends they receive.

Where it is reported there is additional unearned income that has not been captured in the maintenance calculation either parent can apply to the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) for an ‘additional income variation.’

The CMS has robust processes in place to investigate any misrepresentation of income and where there is credible information that fraud has been committed, or incorrect income declared the case is referred to the Financial Investigation Unit (FIU). This specialist team request and validate information from financial institutions (such as banks, investment and mortgage companies) to check the accuracy of the information used in the maintenance calculation to ensure financial correctness and can make assessment changes if they discover undeclared income that is effectively being used as income.

In line with independent expert advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), year-round respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes were introduced in England in September 2024 to protect infants, via maternal vaccination, and older adults aged 75 to 79 years old and those subsequently turning 75 years old.

When advising on the introduction of the RSV programmes, the JCVI said that an extension to the initial programmes would be considered when there was more certainty about protection for patients at higher risk of severe illness from RSV. Following further JCVI advice in June 2025, the older adult programme was expanded to also include those aged 80 years old and over and all residents in a care home for older adults from 1 April 2026.

At its main committee meeting of 2 February 2026, the JCVI reviewed the latest data on RSV vaccination in those with underlying health conditions. The committee advised that adults aged 65 to 74 years old with chronic respiratory disease or immunosuppression due to disease or treatment should also be offered RSV vaccination. A link to the full JCVI statement of 18 March 2026 is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rsv-immunisation-programme-jcvi-advice-18-march-2026/vaccination-in-adults-at-higher-risk-of-respiratory-syncytial-virus-rsv-disease-jcvi-advice-18-march-2026#advice

On 1 July 2026, the Department accepted the latest JCVI advice and confirmed that these groups will be eligible for RSV vaccination in England from 1 September 2026. This includes people aged 65 to 74 years old with pulmonary fibrosis, which falls under the chronic respiratory disease group. The Written Ministerial Statement announcing this change is available at the following link:

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-07-01/hcws170

This is a fast-moving area with new data emerging on a frequent basis, and so the JCVI will continue to keep evidence under review. The Department will consider any further JCVI advice on who should be offered an RSV immunisation in due course.

The Government will respond to the Law Commission’s legislative proposals on surrogacy as time allows.

The commission’s report and recommendations cover issues around legal parenthood and parental responsibility in surrogacy. These will be considered carefully as part of the Government response.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Wokingham on 22 May 2026 to Question 2576.

We are committed to returning to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029, including for gynaecology which covers endometriosis treatment. As of April 2026, 60.2% of patient pathways were waiting within 18 weeks for gynaecology, an improvement of 5.1 percentage points over the past year. The gynaecology waiting list stands at 571,944, down by 24,021 since the government came to office.

Our Elective Reform Plan, published in January 2025, sets out reforms we are making to improve gynaecology waiting times across England. This includes utilising dedicated and protected surgical hubs which transform the way the NHS provides elective care by focusing on providing high volume low complexity surgery, as recommended by the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Surgical hubs are helping endometriosis patients get quicker access to surgical treatment. There are currently 125 operational elective surgical hubs in England, around half of which provide gynaecology services, with laparoscopies, which are used to diagnose and treat endometriosis, a key part of this offering. The Department is committed to ramping up the number of hubs over the next 2 years, so more operations can be carried out.

Whilst progress has been made, we know there is more to do in improving access to treatment for endometriosis. That is why the renewed Women’s Health Strategy, published in April this year, identifies endometriosis as a priority condition and commits to ensuring that women get the care they need sooner.

We are introducing an “online hospital”, NHS Online. From 2027, people on certain pathways, including menstrual problems that may be a sign of endometriosis, will have the choice of getting the specialist care they need from their home. NHS Online will help to reduce patient waiting times, delivering the equivalent of up to 8.5 million appointments and assessments in its first three years across all specialities, supporting patients to get access to the care they need quickly, including access to surgical treatment.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole on 1 June 2026 to Question 2931.

I refer the Hon Member to the statement made to the House by the Foreign Secretary on 9 June.