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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the impact of implementing the Fingleton Nuclear Regulatory Review on existing environmental protections.

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

Defra worked closely with DESNZ and other government departments to consider how to implement the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review, whilst taking account of our international obligations and our important environmental protections.

Our approach to achieve this is set out in the implementation plan published on 13 March 2026. The implementation plan sets out how we can simplify regulations and processes for new nuclear projects whilst continuing to protect the environment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to appoint the independent co‑chair of the National Cancer Plan implementation board, and what criteria will be used to ensure that the role is independent of government.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Cancer Plan, published on 4 February 2026, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The role of the reformed National Cancer Board will be to support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and to provide regular updates to ministers. The board will be co-chaired by the Director General for Planned Care in the Department, as well as an independent representative.

It is important to choose the most suitable appointment process for selecting an independent representative to co-chair the board. To ensure that the co-chair of the board is independent of the Government, officials from NHS England and the Department are carefully following the required appointments procedures. An appointment will be made following all required ministerial approvals. The position of co-chair is presently being advertised on the GOV.UK website, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health-and-social-care/about/recruitment

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Cancer Plan for England, when his Department plans to publish an implementation plan and timeline for its delivery.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Cancer Plan, published on the 4 February, sets out several commitments and ambitions, to be delivered within the next 10 years. The plan sets out in tables at the end of each chapter what actions we will take and when we will implement them. There is no plan to publish an additional implementation plan, for this reason.

A reformed National Cancer Board will support and monitor the delivery of the commitments and ambitions and will be the forum for updating on progress, exposing issues, and for injecting scrutiny. The board will provide regular updates to ministers and support development of an annual progress report.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether ICBs that are clustered have developed individual 5-year plans as set out in the medium term planning framework or if these have been developed jointly across cluster arrangements.

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

Most integrated care boards (ICBs) who are clustering have provided combined plans. Where ICBs have provided individual plans, they have referenced their clustering arrangements to ensure that the strategies are aligned.

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 (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in Putney constituency compared with national averages during the last five years.

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

Data is available for emergency Finished Admission Episodes (FAEs) where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. The following table shows the number of FAEs where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’ for Putney and England, for activity in English National Health Service hospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector, for 2024/25 and provisionally for 2025/26:

Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department’s Fingertips dataset. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency. Data is available at regional, county, unitary authority, and integrated care board level. Information for Wandsworth can be found at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/par/E92000001/ati/502/are/E09000032/iid/90933/age/314/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered integrating Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD) and overlapping conditions such as PoTS, Mast Cell Activation, ME/CFS and Long Covid into NHS service specifications and clinical frameworks to improve outcomes for people with EDS, HSD and related conditions.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises that people with Ehlers‑Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and related conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, mast cell activation disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and Long Covid often experience complex, multisystem symptoms that require joined‑up care.

There is currently no single National Health Service service specification covering all these conditions collectively. However, care for people with EDS, HSD, and overlapping conditions is supported through a range of existing NHS service specifications, clinical guidelines, and frameworks. NHS England continues to keep service specifications and clinical frameworks under review to ensure they reflect emerging evidence and patient need.

The Department also recognises the concerns raised by patients and clinicians about craniocervical instability (CCI), particularly where it is suspected in people with EDS, HSD, and related conditions.

At present, the Department has not established a national multi‑disciplinary neurosurgical service for CCI. Neurosurgical services in England are commissioned by NHS England and are provided through established regional neuroscience centres, which already operate within multidisciplinary team arrangements to support complex spinal and neurological cases.

The evidence base for the diagnosis and surgical management of CCI remains limited and is an area of ongoing clinical debate. Decisions about service configuration, including whether to develop new national service models, must be informed by robust clinical evidence on effectiveness, safety, and patient outcomes, as well as by advice from NHS England and relevant clinical experts.

NHS England continues to keep specialised neurosurgical service arrangements under review, and patients with complex or rare presentations can be considered for assessment and management through existing specialist pathways. The Department will continue to work with NHS England and others to ensure that services for people with rare and complex conditions are safe, evidence‑based, and focused on improving patient outcomes.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has considered establishing a national multi‑disciplinary team for neurosurgery for craniocervical instability (CCI) to improve outcomes for people with EDS, HSD and related conditions.

Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department recognises that people with Ehlers‑Danlos syndromes (EDS), hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), and related conditions such as postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, mast cell activation disorders, myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, and Long Covid often experience complex, multisystem symptoms that require joined‑up care.

There is currently no single National Health Service service specification covering all these conditions collectively. However, care for people with EDS, HSD, and overlapping conditions is supported through a range of existing NHS service specifications, clinical guidelines, and frameworks. NHS England continues to keep service specifications and clinical frameworks under review to ensure they reflect emerging evidence and patient need.

The Department also recognises the concerns raised by patients and clinicians about craniocervical instability (CCI), particularly where it is suspected in people with EDS, HSD, and related conditions.

At present, the Department has not established a national multi‑disciplinary neurosurgical service for CCI. Neurosurgical services in England are commissioned by NHS England and are provided through established regional neuroscience centres, which already operate within multidisciplinary team arrangements to support complex spinal and neurological cases.

The evidence base for the diagnosis and surgical management of CCI remains limited and is an area of ongoing clinical debate. Decisions about service configuration, including whether to develop new national service models, must be informed by robust clinical evidence on effectiveness, safety, and patient outcomes, as well as by advice from NHS England and relevant clinical experts.

NHS England continues to keep specialised neurosurgical service arrangements under review, and patients with complex or rare presentations can be considered for assessment and management through existing specialist pathways. The Department will continue to work with NHS England and others to ensure that services for people with rare and complex conditions are safe, evidence‑based, and focused on improving patient outcomes.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to her Oral Statement of 5 February 2026 on Sudan, Official Report, column 438, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen closer work through local partners in Sudan.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon Member to the comments made by the Foreign Secretary in her article for the Daily Telegraph on 15 April marking the third anniversary of the war in Sudan, where she said:

Amid all this horror, another Sudan endures, defined not by violence, but by courage. Across the country, civilians continue to step forward where the state has collapsed, working to keep their communities alive.

Local emergency responders travel neighbourhood by neighbourhood, providing food, water and medicine in conditions of danger and deprivation that few could imagine. They are unpaid, unaligned, and often targeted by the warring parties precisely because of the alternative model of life they represent.

They are not simply delivering aid. They are preserving the social fabric of their country and showing that Sudan's future does not belong to armed men battling for power, but to citizens committed to dignity and coexistence. They must be recognised as the rightful architects of Sudan's future.

That is why we are protecting the UK's humanitarian support to Sudan and doubling our funding to these local responders, helping them to reach nearly two million people. Our aid will support that local leadership, not overshadow it. That is not only more effective; it is how a peaceful Sudan will be rebuilt.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to extend business rates relief to independent gyms and fitness centres.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Pubs rents in business rates valuations are analysed differently to some other sectors. While most hospitality and leisure properties are valued by comparing the size of the property, pubs are valued by comparing their turnover potential. Industry bodies have highlighted concerns with how costs are accounted for in this methodology, particularly during periods of high inflation. The Government agrees this needs to be looked at and is therefore launching a review which will explore how pubs are valued for business rates. In the meantime, pubs are being provided with additional support.

Independent gyms and fitness centres will continue to benefit from the wider £4.3 billion support package announced at Budget, which protects against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.

The Government has also introduced new permanently lower multipliers for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties. These new multipliers are worth nearly £1 billion per year and benefit over 750,000 properties, including gyms and fitness centres.

As a result, over half of ratepayers see no bill increases this year, including 23 per cent whose bills go down. Most properties seeing increases have them capped at 15 per cent or less this year, or £800 for the smallest properties.

Found: Q368 Fleur Anderson: Who did you write the email to?

Found: Q368 Fleur Anderson: Who did you write the email to?

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Alex Ballinger; Aphra Brandreth

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Alex Ballinger; Alan Gemmell

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Alex Ballinger; Alan Gemmell

Found: In March 2025, the submitter wrote to his Member of Parliament, Fleur Anderson MP, advocating for the

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Emily Thornberry (Chair); Fleur Anderson; Aphra Brandreth; Richard

Found: Thornberry (Labour, Islington South and Finsbury) (Chair) (added 11 Sep 2024) 60 of 66 (90.9%) Fleur Anderson