Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the proposed transfer of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) to the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, whether current staff will retain (a) access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and (b) access to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
For those connected to the transition of the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to a new body, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) understands this represents a significant change. The Department is committed to ensuring a smooth transition for all as valued colleagues.
The Transfer of Undertaking Protections of Employment (TUPE) and Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSOP) provides protections to employee rights when they transfer. MHCLG is committed to protecting existing terms and conditions wherever we can and will continue to engage staff and Trade Unions ahead of the consultation process. We have heard what is important to colleagues and will prioritise, namely the Civil Service Pension Scheme and access to internal Civil Service jobs.
The consultation process with trade unions will cover the full range of measures affected by the transfer. We expect this consolation to start in early January as agreed with HSE Trade Unions but are awaiting confirmation. Both HSE and the Department have extensive experience in managing transitions of this nature and will work closely together to ensure that all affected colleagues are fully supported throughout the process.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether changes to immigration rules will apply retrospectively to BNO visa holders in the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Government remains steadfast in its support for members of the Hong Kong community in the UK.
BN(O) visa holders will attract a 5-year reduction in the qualifying period for settlement, meaning they will continue to be able to settle in the UK after 5 years’ residence, subject to meeting the mandatory requirements.
We are seeking views on earned settlement through the public consultation A Fairer Pathway to Settlement and will continue to listen to the views of Hong Kongers. Details of the earned settlement model will be finalised following that consultation, including when the Rules will apply from and any transitional arrangements that will apply.
In the meantime, the current rules for settlement under the BN(O) route will continue to apply.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women in Liverpool Walton have been referred to NHS services in connection with PIP implants since 2011.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what specialist support is available to adoptive parents of children with experience of trauma.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This financial year, the department has invested £50 million in the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, giving adopted and kinship children access to therapeutic services that stabilise placements and offer specialist support to both adoptive children and parents.
The department has approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April, for both therapy and specialist assessments.
In addition, the department is providing £3 million this year to Adoption England to develop more multidisciplinary teams in Regional Adoption Agencies. These joint teams, working with local health partners, enable families to receive holistic and high quality support.
Adoption England is also working with Adoption Support and Local Authority Children’s ‘front door services’ to develop a much more joined-up approach to how services engage with families. The aim is to agree a protocol on collaboration so that families receive a far stronger range of support.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the decision to reduce the therapy limit for the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund on children using that fund.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government made the difficult decision to cut the fair access limit in April to ensure that the fund remained financially sustainable and available to help as many children and their families as possible. As a result, this year the department has helped 14,000 children. This financial year we have invested £50 million into the adoption and special guardianship support fund. We have approved applications for nearly 14,000 children since April, for both therapy and specialist assessments. We continue to review the impact of the changes to funding made in April 2025.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of changes to the cash ISA limit on savers nearing retirement.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) incentivise saving and investment for future goals by providing tax advantages to individual taxpayers. At Autumn Budget 2025, the government announced that from 6 April 2027, the annual Cash ISA limit will be set at £12,000 within the overall ISA limit of £20,000. Those aged 65 and over will continue to be able to put up to £20,000k in a cash ISA each year as we recognise they might need more flexibility to manage their savings as they approach retirement.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions her Department has had with the Civil Aviation Authority on safety incidents involving lithium batteries on commercial flights.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Department for Transport (DfT) officials work closely with and regularly meet the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to monitor and discuss the risk of lithium batteries incidents, alongside other safety risks. The Dangerous Goods Governance Board meets quarterly to manage the joint DfT/CAA Lithium Batteries project which aims to reduce the risk posed by the carriage of undeclared lithium batteries aboard commercial aircraft to a level as low as reasonably practicable. In addition to the reduction of risk, the project provides assurance to the State Safety Board, which meets every 6 months, that the UK’s exposure to this safety risk is monitored, prioritised, responded to and effectively mitigated. There are also multiple other forums where DfT officials and the CAA discuss safety risks formally and informally, including lithium batteries.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to increase funding for research into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As set out in the final delivery plan, the Department has taken actions to strengthen research capacity and capability in relation to myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The level of research funding is determined by the quantity and quality of proposals that are recommended for support through the competitive process through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding committees.
The actions announced in the final delivery plan include a research showcase event, a new funding opportunity for a development award focussed on evaluating repurposed pharmaceutical interventions, and the announcement of new funded studies in health and care services, research infrastructure, and capacity-building.
We are determined to accelerate progress in the treatment and management of ME/CFS and will continue working with the ME/CFS community to identify and address barriers to research. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including ME/CFS. Research funding is available, and applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mechanisms exist to support waste-reduction trials with NHS trusts.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are always looking at ways of reducing waste and increasing efficiency. NHS England has had many discussions with National Health Service trusts on the reduction, elimination, and reuse of single-use polypropylene curtains, and have published best practice with regards to safe and sustainable management of healthcare waste.
In addition, the Department has published the Design for Life Roadmap, a new strategy to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (medtech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045. This means designing, procuring, and processing medtech products in a way that maximises reuse, remanufacture, and recycling, thus preserving their value for as long as possible. The document sets out a plan of 30 actions to deliver the 2045 vision, which involve:
The Design for Life Roadmap is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/design-for-life-roadmap
As part of its work, the Design for Life programme maintains a list of products where circular alternatives are already available, and, for those with the highest potential benefits, explores means to accelerate adoption across the NHS. Ward curtains are on this product list, where a dedicated group, including procurement and clinical experts, are working to explore how the adoption of reusable versions can be supported.
With regards to trials, the Design for Life programme has commissioned several pilots within NHS trusts to explore safe transitions from single-use to reusables, where the results have been published and cascaded among the NHS community. Furthermore, NHS England has developed and deployed an Innovation Portal to help document, evaluate, test, and deploy innovations in waste management across the NHS in England.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool Walton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has had discussions with NHS trusts on the potential reuse of polypropylene ward curtains.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and NHS England are always looking at ways of reducing waste and increasing efficiency. NHS England has had many discussions with National Health Service trusts on the reduction, elimination, and reuse of single-use polypropylene curtains, and have published best practice with regards to safe and sustainable management of healthcare waste.
In addition, the Department has published the Design for Life Roadmap, a new strategy to transition away from all avoidable single-use medical technology (medtech) products towards a functioning circular system by 2045. This means designing, procuring, and processing medtech products in a way that maximises reuse, remanufacture, and recycling, thus preserving their value for as long as possible. The document sets out a plan of 30 actions to deliver the 2045 vision, which involve:
The Design for Life Roadmap is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/design-for-life-roadmap
As part of its work, the Design for Life programme maintains a list of products where circular alternatives are already available, and, for those with the highest potential benefits, explores means to accelerate adoption across the NHS. Ward curtains are on this product list, where a dedicated group, including procurement and clinical experts, are working to explore how the adoption of reusable versions can be supported.
With regards to trials, the Design for Life programme has commissioned several pilots within NHS trusts to explore safe transitions from single-use to reusables, where the results have been published and cascaded among the NHS community. Furthermore, NHS England has developed and deployed an Innovation Portal to help document, evaluate, test, and deploy innovations in waste management across the NHS in England.