Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what lessons have been learned from Storm Austen regarding digital landlines in (a) Hampshire and (b) England.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
Telecoms networks are designed with high levels of resilience, but certain events, such as storms and associated power cuts can still cause disruption for all networks, including digital lines. There are statutory obligations on communications providers to ensure their networks and services remain available, and Ofcom have published Network and Service Resilience Guidance that sets out expectations on how providers can meet statutory obligations.
DCMS works with industry and Ofcom to ensure learning from significant outages is captured and assessed in terms of specific actions that would apply in Hampshire and across the UK. Whilst no specific additional lessons were identified from Storm Austen the department can offer advice on this area.
For example, Ofcom has issued guidance to ensure that vulnerable people can contact the emergency services during power cuts. Providers of fixed lines must offer at least one solution that enables access to emergency services for a minimum of one hour during a power outage in the premises. These solutions must meet customers’ needs and be provided free of charge to those who are at risk. These are minimum requirements, and many providers exceed them. For instance, in March 2025, providers including BT, Vodafone, KCOM and Zen Internet announced the availability of battery back‑up units capable of powering routers for between four and seven hours. Customers who are not classed as vulnerable may purchase these from their provider. These measures are intended to prevent disconnection and ensure that people can contact the emergency services during shorter power interruptions and should be considered where appropriate.
Also, the Government has asked the electricity and telecoms sectors to intensify their collaboration through a number of initiatives to reduce the likelihood of power outages affecting telecoms services, and to reduce the impacts where that does occur. We will continue to closely support and oversee this cross-sector work to ensure that the intended benefits are fully realised for citizens across the country.
Looking ahead, resilience will continue to improve through ongoing investment and innovation, including new satellite capabilities and technologies that allow devices to connect across multiple networks. We will continue to monitor these developments to ensure the UK’s communications networks remain resilient in the face of future challenges.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans any mitigating support for (a) community pharmacies and (b) other Health and Social Care providers in response to the changes to wage minima set out in Budget 2026.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
As is always the case, any cost pressures affecting community pharmacies and other health and social care providers will be considered through the relevant funding and contractual consultations and negotiations with each sector.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what projection she has made of the potential impact of each 0.1% point increase in Agenda for Change pay over and above 2.4% in 2027/8.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) were given additional funding to cover the Agenda for Change pay award for 2026/27 confirmed in February, and as such, the delivery of NHS ICB and provider plans has been unaffected.
The Government’s written evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) for 2027/28, including assessments of the impact of different potential pay increases, is available at the following link:
All decisions on the scale and funding of future pay awards will be announced to Parliament in the normal way in due course once we receive recommendations back from the independent NHSPRB.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the 2026/7 Agenda for Change pay award on other NHS spending.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards (ICBs) were given additional funding to cover the Agenda for Change pay award for 2026/27 confirmed in February, and as such, the delivery of NHS ICB and provider plans has been unaffected.
The Government’s written evidence to the NHS Pay Review Body (NHSPRB) for 2027/28, including assessments of the impact of different potential pay increases, is available at the following link:
All decisions on the scale and funding of future pay awards will be announced to Parliament in the normal way in due course once we receive recommendations back from the independent NHSPRB.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of capital spending assumptions for Health and Social Care projects set out in the Budget 2026 on (a) the New Hospitals Programme and (b) other capital projects in her Department.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member and the Rt Hon. Member to the answer provided on 3 November in response to Question 39071.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer to Question 35076, what measures will be taken at the national level this winter to improve discharge, and what support will be made available to support adult social care.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NHS England Model Discharge Pathway, published in July, sets out good practice to support timely, safe discharge from hospital and reduce unwarranted variation in discharge processes across wards and organisations. Areas experiencing the most significant challenges with discharge delays and urgent and emergency care performance are receiving targeted support to drive improvements.
NHS England’s winter planning expectations require systems to have tested, board-assured plans, including escalation arrangements and implementation of the Model Discharge Pathway. A national Winter Cell will support oversight, coordination and intervention where required.
We are strengthening join-up between health and social care services, by developing neighbourhood health services. Through the Better Care Fund, integrated care boards and local authorities are required to pool over £9 billion in 2026/27 to join up health and social care services, including agreeing local goals to prevent avoidable hospital admissions and reduce delayed discharges.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the May 2025 update from NHS England that her department would be working with the Office for National Statistics on a discovery phase to explore the feasibility of delivering a new Mental Health of Children and Young People Prevalence Survey, what the outcome of this work was.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2026, the Office for National Statistics completed a review process commissioned by the Department to explore future delivery options for the Mental Health of Children and Young People survey, involving both a literature review and stakeholder engagement, and concluding that the next survey should produce robust prevalence estimates, comparable to those produced in the 2017 survey.
Consistent with that work, one of the recommendations of the Independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, published on 9 October, is to improve data collection for these conditions, including through regular population prevalence studies.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the May 2025 update from NHS England that her department would be working with the Office for National Statistics on a discovery phase to explore the feasibility of delivering a new Mental Health of Children and Young People Prevalence Survey, if in any new survey she will take steps to ensure time-series comparability with the earlier surveys.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In March 2026, the Office for National Statistics completed a review process commissioned by the Department to explore future delivery options for the Mental Health of Children and Young People survey, involving both a literature review and stakeholder engagement, and concluding that the next survey should produce robust prevalence estimates, comparable to those produced in the 2017 survey.
Consistent with that work, one of the recommendations of the Independent review into the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, published on 9 October, is to improve data collection for these conditions, including through regular population prevalence studies.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to meet 100% uptake for eligible groups of the NHS seasonal flu vaccination programme in England in 2026-27.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across England, we are taking action to encourage eligible people to come forward for their free flu vaccine. This includes the ‘Stay Strong, Get Vaccinated’ campaign supported by TV, radio and digital advertising. For children, we are also making vaccination easier to access, including through digital consent for school vaccinations, the continued community pharmacy offer for two- and three-year-olds, and catch-up vaccination for children who missed the offer at school. Weekly and monthly data on uptake is published by the UK Health Security Agency and the NHS and is available at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/flu-vaccinations/
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of recent trends in the level of uptake among eligible groups of seasonal viruses vaccinations in England.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Across England, we are taking action to encourage eligible people to come forward for their free flu vaccine. This includes the ‘Stay Strong, Get Vaccinated’ campaign supported by TV, radio and digital advertising. For children, we are also making vaccination easier to access, including through digital consent for school vaccinations, the continued community pharmacy offer for two- and three-year-olds, and catch-up vaccination for children who missed the offer at school. Weekly and monthly data on uptake is published by the UK Health Security Agency and the NHS and is available at the following links:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/flu-vaccinations/
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/vaccine-uptake