Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 28 May 2026 from the hon. Member for Henley and Thame on the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act.

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

We received the Hon. Member’s correspondence of 28 May 2026 and will reply in due course.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2026 to UIN 10802, what criteria her Department uses to make decisions on publishing such information.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government judged that publication of the information requested would not be appropriate as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the Disabled Facilities Grant system delivery model, involving upper-tier authorities, district councils and housing providers, on the time taken to to provide home adaptations for people with progressive or terminal conditions; and whether he will bring forward proposals to simplify the process.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The government recognises the importance of timely home adaptations for people with progressive or terminal conditions. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations within set timescales for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test. Local authorities can also agree a more generous local housing assistance policy.

In June, my colleague the Minister of State for Care at the Department for Health and Social Care wrote to all council leaders in England strongly encouraging them to review and update their housing assistance policies to enable fast tracking of support, and to consider waiving the means test, for those with Motor Neurone Disease and other rapidly progressing conditions.

To speed up delivery and simplify decision making across all local government services, including the Disabled Facilities Grant, this government has brought forward proposals to end the two-tier system and establish new single-tier unitary councils.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of newly qualified midwives in England in 2026 unable to secure employment within NHS maternity services; and whether he plans to introduce a nationally funded employment pathway, including guaranteed entry-level posts, to ensure adequate recruitment to meet workforce demand.

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

We are aware of the difficulties newly qualified midwives are experiencing in securing employment in the National Health Service. NHS England actively monitors future nursing and midwifery student numbers, current vacancies, and staff turnover and is taking action to support newly qualified midwives into NHS employment.

We are investing £10.6 million to fund an additional 1,000 temporary roles to help newly qualified midwives join the NHS. The new roles for graduates will help build on the success of the 2025 Graduate Guarantee that means every newly qualified midwife in England will have the opportunity to apply to join the NHS.

The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which is comprised of family representatives, clinicians, and other experts, and chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will oversee the development of a new national action plan to drive systemic and sustained improvement across maternity and neonatal care. This will include how to support the maternity and neonatal workforce. This is in addition to a new 10 Year Workforce Plan, due to be published soon, to ensure we have the right people, in the right places, with the rights skills to deliver care to patients when they need it.

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 impact of maternity services not recruiting newly qualified midwives on patient safety, continuity of care and overall costs.

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

We are aware of the difficulties newly qualified midwives are experiencing in securing employment in the National Health Service. NHS England actively monitors future nursing and midwifery student numbers, current vacancies, and staff turnover and is taking action to support newly qualified midwives into NHS employment.

We are investing £10.6 million to fund an additional 1,000 temporary roles to help newly qualified midwives join the NHS. The new roles for graduates will help build on the success of the 2025 Graduate Guarantee that means every newly qualified midwife in England will have the opportunity to apply to join the NHS.

The National Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce, which is comprised of family representatives, clinicians, and other experts, and chaired by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, will oversee the development of a new national action plan to drive systemic and sustained improvement across maternity and neonatal care. This will include how to support the maternity and neonatal workforce. This is in addition to a new 10 Year Workforce Plan, due to be published soon, to ensure we have the right people, in the right places, with the rights skills to deliver care to patients when they need it.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the availability of local in-person support services for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, particularly within the Henley and Thame constituency.

Answered by Preet Kaur Gill

The Government is committed to ensuring that people experiencing a mental health crisis can access timely, high-quality support close to home.

Significant progress has also been made in strengthening the mental health crisis care pathway. This includes the NHS 111 mental health option, the expansion of crisis cafés, sanctuaries and crisis houses, the rollout of crisis text services across England, the delivery of 88 Mental Health Response Vehicles across local systems, and full national coverage of 24/7 liaison mental health teams in acute hospitals.

In addition, £473 million of capital funding over four years is supporting the development of new models of care, including community-based mental health centres and mental health emergency departments, helping to shift care closer to home and improve access to timely support.

Decisions about the configuration and delivery of local mental health services, including crisis support available to people in the Henley and Thame constituency, are the responsibility of the local integrated care board, which is best placed to assess the needs of its local population and commission services accordingly.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate opportunities for under 16s to engage in sport and cultural activities.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone, including children and young people, have access to and benefit from quality sport and cultural opportunities.

Our arm’s length body Sport England works to increase participation in grassroots sport, including providing more opportunities for children and young people from all backgrounds to be active.

The Government is committed to revitalising arts education through a reformed curriculum and support for teachers, including via the new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, due to be established by September 2026, and through continued investment in Music Hubs. To increase access to enrichment opportunities across culture, sport, and wider youth sectors for disadvantaged young people, the Every Child Can programme, backed by £132.5 million in dormant assets through the National Lottery Community Fund, will fund activities within school and in communities at weekends and in the holidays, ensuring enrichment is a common entitlement for all.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure adequate opportunities for under 16s to engage in joint social activities with other young people.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

We’re working closely across government to expand access to real‑world activities as we know that strong offline connections between young people are essential to supporting their wellbeing and their development.

In December 2025, DCMS published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’. This strategy will ensure every young person across the country, including those under 16, has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is funded by over £500 million from DCMS, which includes funding for youth spaces where young people can come together, for enriching opportunities across the country where they can meet others, as well as for social action projects which young people can deliver in their communities.

Local Authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of youth services in their area. We will explore reviewing this duty as part of a wider review of local statutory duties.

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 whether funding provided to local authorities for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) is adequate for them to meet the cost of adaptations, in the context of increases in construction and labour costs; and what estimate he has made of the aggregate funding required by local authorities for delivering DFGs.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales

In England, we continue to fund the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) which is delivered by local authorities. This grant helps eligible older and disabled people on low incomes to adapt their homes to make them safe and suitable for their needs.

We have confirmed £723 million of funding for the DFG in 2026/27. We continue to keep funding levels under review to ensure the DFG supports those who can benefit most. Following consultation, we introduced a new approach to allocating DFG funding to local authorities in England from 2026/27 to ensure funding for the grant is better aligned with local needs. Transitional protection means no local authority received less than they did in June 2025. The response to the consultation can be found at the following link:

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changing-the-way-government-allocates-disabled-facilities-grant-funding-to-local-authorities-in-england/outcome/changing-the-way-government-allocates-disabled-facilities-grant-funding-to-local-authorities-in-england-consultation-response

The upper limit for DFG awards is currently set at £30,000, however, local authorities have a high degree of flexibility to fund adaptations above this amount where they judge it is appropriate.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the letter of 2nd June 2026 from the Hon. Member for Henley and Thame.

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

I replied to the Hon. Member’s correspondence of 2 June about the NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board on 9 July 2026.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to Question 7286 answered on 15 June 2026, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the metric used to assess the £450,000 Lifetime Isa limit for first time buyers; and whether she has made an estimate of the number of first time buyers leaving areas of high house prices to buy property.

Answered by Rachel Blake

The UK House Price Index is an official statistic produced jointly by HM Land Registry, the Office for National Statistics and other government departments. Information on the methodology used to calculate house prices and averages is available at: About the UK House Price Index.

Published UK House Price Index data shows that the cap remains above the average price paid by first-time buyers in all regions of the UK except London, where average prices are influenced by boroughs with particularly high property values.

The Government does not hold data on the estimated number of first-time buyers leaving areas of high house prices to purchase property elsewhere.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plan to respond to the petition entitled Jason's Law delivered to 10 Downing Street on 25 February 2026.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Government has received the petition and it will be considered in the usual way.

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 that park home residents are consulted during the consideration of potential change to the 10% commission payable to site owners on sale of a park home.

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

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 10581 on 25 June 2026.

100th anniversary of the Campaign to Protect Rural England

Retirement of Godfrey Asare and Margaret Labulo from the Members' Tea Room

Royal Mail delivery standards

Essential energy guarantee

Torbay RNLI 160th anniversary

Military housing

Defence Investment Plan

Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

Commencement of section 106 of the Equality Act 2010

Childhood dementia awareness and support

Improving access to elected office for disabled candidates

A new growth and defence partnership with Europe

Armed Forces Week

Russian sanctions

International Court of Justice's July 2024 Advisory Opinion on the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Found: Declarations of interests Freddie van Mierlo declared his interests, in accordance with the Resolution

Found: Q13 Freddie van Mierlo: I need to declare an interest.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Chi Onwurah (Chair); George Freeman; Kit Malthouse; Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Dame Chi Onwurah (Chair); George Freeman; Kit Malthouse; Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Malthouse (Conservative; North West Hampshire) Samantha Niblett (Labour; South Derbyshire) Freddie van Mierlo

Found: 55 (72.7%) Daniel Zeichner (Labour, Cambridge) (added 27 Oct 2025) 20 of 20 (100.0%) Freddie van Mierlo

Found: Letter dated 20/07/2026 from Ian Murray MP to Freddie van Mierlo MP regarding a point of order concerning