Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will introduce a ringfenced element for (a) furniture and (b) appliances through the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

My Department has actively engaged with stakeholders on the design of the Crisis and Resilience Fund through a structured co-design process involving a representative group of local authorities, third-party organisations and academics. We are considering all feedback received through this process, and we plan to publish guidance in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of local authority housing-related debt rules on domestic abuse survivors who are placed in temporary accommodation and seeking social housing.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Local housing authorities can already take into account an applicant’s financial resources when considering their application, including debt and affordability checks.

We would expect local authorities to show consideration for the circumstances in which the debt was accrued.

Statutory guidance encourages local housing authorities to support victims of domestic abuse. The government is committed to keeping our statutory guidance under review, including how we support vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic abuse.

My Department will publish its homelessness strategy before the end of the year.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of adopting a national exemption for domestic abuse survivors from housing-related debt rules in social housing allocation policies.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

Local housing authorities can already take into account an applicant’s financial resources when considering their application, including debt and affordability checks.

We would expect local authorities to show consideration for the circumstances in which the debt was accrued.

Statutory guidance encourages local housing authorities to support victims of domestic abuse. The government is committed to keeping our statutory guidance under review, including how we support vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic abuse.

My Department will publish its homelessness strategy before the end of the year.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure landlords let accommodation is fit for human habitation as set out in the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

If rented houses or flats are not fit for human habitation, tenants can take their landlords to court under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018.

The court can make the landlord carry out repairs and put right health and safety problems. The court can also make the landlord pay compensation to the tenant.

The government is committed to ensuring that rented homes are safe, decent, warm, and free from damp and mould.

The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 will extend Awaab’s Law to the private rented sector and introduce a Decent Homes Standard for privately rented homes for the first time.

The Decent Homes Standard already applies to social housing. Enforcement in the social sector is being strengthened through the Social Housing Regulation Act, including through the implementation of Awaab’s Law, the first phase of which has already come into force.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his department's policies of trends in the number of homelessness entering accommodation without flooring, window coverings, furniture, white goods, or financial savings; and what steps is he taking to protect those who have experienced homelessness and to help ensure that they can rebuild their lives.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he had made of the role of furniture provision in increasing tenancy sustainability and reducing homelessness presentations; and if his department will encourage local authorities to use a portion of the Rough Sleeping Prevention and Recovery Grant to provide these essential items.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of children who have experienced homelessness being moved into properties with (a) unsafe or (b) no flooring; and if he will take steps to encourage the sector to provide properties with all required furnishings.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of the concerns of frontline homelessness staff who believe that moving homelessness survivors into unfurnished properties leads to tenancies failing; and what steps his department is taking to address these concerns.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his department has made of the impact of furniture poverty on homelessness prevention and recovery; and if he will explore possibilities to use furnished tenancies to reduce homelessness presentations.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to question UIN 92799 on 28 November 2025.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he made of the difference in uptake rates between maternal and infant RSV immunisations when developing the national immunisation programme.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The policy for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) programme is based on the advice of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), an independent expert advisory committee. The JCVI considered RSV modelling that included different levels of uptake for maternal or infant immunisation. The JCVI advised that either antenatal maternal vaccination or infant monoclonal antibody immunisation strategies could be suitable for a universal United Kingdom programme and did not have a preference. Maternal vaccination became the UK programme from September 2024 following a competitive tender.

The JCVI had noted that protection of preterm infants would need to be looked at if the UK adopted a maternal vaccination programme. At the October 2024 meeting the JCVI advised that a programme to extend a potential offer of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody, to very and extremely premature infants could be cost effective.

Based on JCVI’s advice, the RSV selective immunisation programme for high-risk infants switched in September 2025 from using palivizumab to using nirsevimab, and was extended to include premature babies born at less than 32 weeks gestation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed the importance of including accessible behaviour-change and drinking moderation tools, including links to digital health support, as part of the new mandatory alcohol labelling standards.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, the Government committed to strengthening and expanding existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.

Department officials are currently working at pace to develop the policy. We are reviewing all available evidence and engaging with stakeholders to assess the potential content of the mandatory labels.

The Government currently provides drinking moderation tools like the new NHS Healthy Choices Quiz which is designed to help people to improve their health and wellbeing. It asks a range of lifestyle questions, including those about alcohol consumption, provides an overall score out of ten, and directs people to relevant National Health Service support services such as the Drink Free Days app.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed how alcohol labelling reforms could support local public-health and community-based initiatives aimed at reducing alcohol-related harm, particularly in areas with significant health inequalities.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

In Fit for the Future: 10-Year Health Plan for England, the Government committed to strengthening and expanding existing voluntary guidelines for alcohol labelling by introducing a mandatory requirement for alcoholic drinks to display consistent nutritional information and health warning messages.

Clear and consistent labelling is expected to increase awareness of the health risks and to empower consumers to make more informed choices, complementing local public health strategies and community-level interventions.

The Government also committed to supporting community level innovations where they have shown promise in reducing alcohol harm. Officials are working at pace to take forward these commitments.

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 merits of developing a Modern Service Framework for respiratory health.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Modern service frameworks will define an aspirational, long-term outcome goal for a major condition and then identify the best evidenced interventions and the support for delivery. Early priorities will include cardiovascular disease, severe mental illness, and the first ever service framework for frailty and dementia.

The Government will consider other long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks, including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future modern service frameworks will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity.

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 eye care services.

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

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet local need. We are not aware of any issues with the availability of sight testing services. The decision to commission enhanced eye care services will be determined by local ICBs following a local needs assessment.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what measures her Department is taking to ensure people admitted to hospital while rough sleeping have somewhere secure to sleep upon discharge from hospital.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

We have published A National Plan to End Homelessness, our cross-Government Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy. This commits to a target that no one eligible for homelessness assistance is discharged to the street after a hospital stay.

To help achieve this we will work with the NHS and councils to implement the guidance published in 2024, 'Discharging people at risk of or experiencing homelessness', to help staff plan safe discharges and prevent homelessness after NHS care.

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 steps taken by Integrated Care Boards to address regional inequalities in access to eye care services.

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

No assessment has been made. Integrated care boards, as commissioners of primary and secondary eye care services, are required to work with local authorities to assess the current and future health, care, and wellbeing needs of their local populations. They will then set out, in joint local health and wellbeing strategies, how they will meet those needs, and this could include addressing any identified inequalities in accessing services.

Understanding patient demographics is an essential step in identifying and tackling health inequalities. The Elective Reform Plan included a commitment to publish waiting list information broken down by demographics to allow greater visibility of potential health inequalities. The Elective Reform Plan is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/reforming-elective-care-for-patients/

This enables local health services to understand the demographics of patients on their waiting list to better tailor services to their needs. Data on demographics of the elective waiting list can be found at the following link for the week ending 26 October 2025:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/wlmds/

It shows referral to treatment waiting times from the Waiting List Minimum Data Set for Ophthalmology split by age, sex, deprivation, and ethnicity.

The Public Health Outcomes Framework Eye Health Indicator also continues to track the rate of sight loss for age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. This information is available to commissioners and can be used to drive improved local outcomes and interventions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of NHS England’s total budget has been allocated to vaccination and immunisation programmes in each of the last five years.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England is responsible for the operational delivery of vaccination and immunisation programmes, although this does not include the procurement of vaccines. The following table shows the proportion of NHS England’s total budget allocated to the operational delivery of vaccination and immunisation programmes for the last five years, where accounts have already been published:

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Layla Moran (Chair); Danny Beales; Ben Coleman; Dr Beccy Cooper;

Found: cultural legacy of Jane Austen • Richard Quigley: Protecting children from domestic abuse • Danny Beales

Found: Danny Beales: That is interesting.

Found: Q249 Danny Beales: Is there any data?

Submit Evidence (by 13 Feb 2026)

The Committee is holding an inquiry into what is needed from the NHS estate to deliver the Government’s vision of a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’ — shifting care from hospitals to integrated, preventative services in local communities.