Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking the tackle the number of vacant properties on high streets.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
This government is taking action to revitalise our high streets, including tackling vacancy through High Street Rental Auctions, which empower local authorities to bring long-term vacant commercial properties back into use. This is complemented by place-based regeneration funding, including up to £5.8 billion through the Pride in Place programme, supporting 284 places, including Leigh.
The government will also bring forward a High Streets Strategy, backed by at least £150 million, to revive some of the most struggling high streets.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of disapplying VAT for the conversion of non-residential buildings into accommodation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
To support the delivery of new homes, conversions of buildings from a commercial to a residential use are subject to a reduced rate of VAT at 5%. The reduced 5% rate also applies to conversions of buildings from one residential use to another and to renovations of residential buildings that have been empty for at least two years.
Further information on VAT on building works can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve support housing-with-care for older people.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market. The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to consider the recommendations from the Older People’s Housing Taskforce report.
Both departments are also working together on the development of the Government’s forthcoming long-term housing strategy.
More broadly, at the Spending Review, the Government announced £39 billion for a new Social and Affordable Homes Programme over ten years from 2026/27 to 2035/36. The programme has been designed to be flexible to support the greater diversity of supply needed in the housing market, including supported housing for older people.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in response to Question tabled on 15 December 2025, UIN 99871, if the Government can outline what steps are being taken to ensure the needs of people with severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are adequacy met.
Answered by Ashley Dalton
The final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), published in July 2025, includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for severe ME/CFS. Officials from the Department have commenced discussions with NHS England on how best to take forward this action.
The third and final session in NHS England’s newly-developed ME/CFS e-learning series, Managing Severe ME/CFS, is now live on the NHS Learning Hub. This session provides practical, evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals to support people living with severe and very severe ME/CFS.
Additionally, as set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of government, having delivered 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This will help people with severe ME/CFS to get support sooner.
The 10-Year Health Plan sets out a transformed vision for elective care by 2035, where most interactions no longer take place in a hospital building, instead happening virtually or via neighbourhood services. We will empower patients by giving them greater choice and control and establishing expected standards for making their experience of planned NHS care as smooth, supportive and convenient as possible, including for people with severe ME/CFS.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will consider Tourette's in its Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This review focuses on mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder and therefore it will be at the Chair's discretion as to how far the review considers Tourette's with this in mind.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if the Department can outline the length and mechanism for delivery of the new mandatory safeguarding learning programme for the NHS workforce.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Mandatory safeguarding training in NHS England is a strict, contractual obligation for all staff. The current Statutory and Mandatory Training e-learning programme has been developed to align with the UK Core Skills Training Framework which sets out 11 statutory and mandatory training topics for all staff working in health and social care settings.
NHS England is collaborating with national and local subject matter experts to create a new approach and some revised content to the mandatory and statutory learning for all National Health Service staff, which includes all statutory safeguarding duties and programs for NHS Providers. We expect this to be rolled out to the NHS later this year.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making injury-related pension enhancement and compensation elements protected within divorce settlements.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
People may be able to access a workplace or private pension earlier than the scheme’s normal minimum pension age due to ill health, subject to the rules of the individual scheme. These rules vary, and it is for schemes to determine the conditions under which benefits can be paid before the normal pension age and/or on enhanced terms.
Where an ill health pension is paid from an arrangement that meets the legal definition of an occupational pension scheme, it is generally a shareable asset in the event of a divorce. This applies even where the pension has been brought into payment early for ill health reasons.
There is a specific exception in legislation for benefits that arise solely due to disablement, or death resulting from an accident suffered by a person that occurs during their pensionable service. These rights are not shareable on divorce.
The division of assets in divorce proceedings is a matter for family courts, which make decisions based on the law of the country in which the divorce takes place. In England and Wales, this falls under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, for which responsibility rests with the Ministry of Justice.