Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to cover costs to schools for Sports and PE funding between July 2025 and October 2025.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
The physical education (PE) and sport premium helps all eligible primary schools to make additional and sustainable improvements to the PE, sport and physical activity they provide. Schools can decide how to use it, in line with the conditions of the grant. It does not fund specific provision.
The government has provided £320 million of funding for the primary PE and sport premium in this academic year and has recently committed to continuing this level of funding for the 2025/26 academic year. As in previous years, the funding will be provided in two payments, in the autumn and spring terms.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NHS England is taking to ensure that NHS Trusts are able to deliver emerging treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy when they are needed by patients.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department understands the impact that Duchenne muscular dystrophy has on those living with it and their families, and the urgent need for new treatment options. If new therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy are approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), then appropriate commissioning plans will be put in place to enable equitable access to treatment through Specialised Neurology Services.
The delivery of timely and equitable access to new treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy under company-sponsored early access schemes is not the responsibility of NHS England. Individual pharmaceutical companies may put in place Early Access Programmes (EAPs) to allow early access to new medicines that do not yet have a marketing authorisation. Participation in EAPs is decided at an individual National Health Service trust level, and under these programmes, the cost of the drug is free to both patients taking part in it, and to the National Health Service, although NHS trusts must still cover administration costs and provide clinical resources to deliver the EAP.
There are no common clinical, data, or regulatory standards for company-sponsored EAPs, meaning each one demands a new protocol to be devised and delivered by each participating trust, which can create significant pressures on clinical and financial resources. Companies providing a sponsored EAP also reserve the right to limit or to close registration of new patients at any time, meaning that any financial and clinical investment made by trusts to establish an EAP could be undermined by a commercial decision that would most likely happen in the event of the treatment not being recommended following an appraisal by NICE.
NHS England has published guidance for integrated care systems (ICS) on free of charge (FoC) medicine schemes, including EAPs, providing advice on potential financial, resourcing, and clinical risks.
ICSs should use the guidance to help determine whether to implement any FoC scheme, including assessing suitability and any risks in the short, medium, and long term. The guidance is available at the following link:
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with steps NICE on ensuring greater (a) clarity and (b) transparency in relation to how carer quality of life is considered within its medicines appraisal framework.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) technology appraisal process allows its independent committees to take all health-related costs and benefits, including health-related quality-of-life for carers, and impacts on personal social services, into account. The NICE’s methods are set out in its published health technology evaluations manual, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/process/pmg36
Evaluations should consider all health effects for patients, and, when relevant, carers. When presenting health effects for carers, evidence should show when a condition is associated with a substantial effect on a carer’s health-related quality of life, and how the technology affects carers. This applies for all therapies, including therapies for rare diseases. NICE appraisals specifically consider health-related quality of life, for both patients and carers, rather than quality of life as a whole.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NICE on ensuring that the Single Technology Appraisal process takes into account the health-related quality-of-life impacts on carers for (a) all and (b) rare disease therapies.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) technology appraisal process allows its independent committees to take all health-related costs and benefits, including health-related quality-of-life for carers, and impacts on personal social services, into account. The NICE’s methods are set out in its published health technology evaluations manual, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/process/pmg36
Evaluations should consider all health effects for patients, and, when relevant, carers. When presenting health effects for carers, evidence should show when a condition is associated with a substantial effect on a carer’s health-related quality of life, and how the technology affects carers. This applies for all therapies, including therapies for rare diseases. NICE appraisals specifically consider health-related quality of life, for both patients and carers, rather than quality of life as a whole.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 increase early diagnosis of invasive lobular carcinoma.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster so that more patients, including those with lobular carcinoma, survive this horrible set of diseases. To achieve this, the NHS has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.
There are multiple NHS initiatives and funding streams across the NHS in England that support the early detection of breast cancer, and many organisations across the health service are involved.
The Department spends £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with cancer as the largest area of spend at more than £133 million in 2023/24. The NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group, reflecting its high priority. These investments in cancer, including lobular breast cancer, are pivotal to informing efforts to improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients, including those with invasive lobular carcinoma, and will highlight how the Department will support the NHS to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 904123 Gatwick Airport: Carbon Emissions, if she will list the organisations from which she has received carbon emissions projection data relating to Gatwick's proposed expansion.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
As this is live planning application that is yet to be decided, unfortunately I cannot comment in detail at this time. However, all information provided to the Secretary of State by the applicant, the Examining Authority, and any parties who chose to make written representations is available on the Planning Inspectorate website. This will include information on carbon emissions.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate she of the potential impact of changes to (a) PIP entitlement rules, (b) the Universal Credit health element and (c) the Universal Credit standard allowance and (d) all three measures on the number of (i) families, (ii) people and (iii) children who are (A) in and (B) not in relative poverty after housing costs pre-measures in 2029-30, using baselines in which the Autumn Statement 2023 Work Capability Assessment descriptor reforms are assumed to have (1) been implemented and (2) not been implemented.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An assessment of the potential impact of the planned changes to health and disability benefits is available here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.
This includes breakdowns for each change separately on levels of poverty. It also includes estimated impacts regarding the changes to the Work Capability Assessment descriptors proposed at Autumn Statement 2023, but which were subsequently reversed.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an estimate of the potential impact of changes to (a) PIP entitlement rules, (b) the Universal Credit health element, (c) Universal Credit standard allowance and (d) all three measures on the number of (i) people and (ii) children who will be in relative poverty after housing costs in 2029-30, using baselines in which the Autumn Statement 2023 Work Capability Assessment descriptor reforms are assumed to have (A) been implemented and (B) not been implemented.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An assessment of the potential impact of the planned changes to health and disability benefits is available here: Spring Statement 2025 health and disability benefit reforms – Impacts.
This includes breakdowns for each change separately on levels of poverty. It also includes estimated impacts regarding the changes to the Work Capability Assessment descriptors proposed at Autumn Statement 2023, but which were subsequently reversed.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of expanding Gatwick Airport on carbon emissions.
Answered by Mike Kane - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government has been clear that airport expansion proposals need to demonstrate they can be delivered in line with the UK’s climate change commitments.
Having received further information from Gatwick, the Secretary of State hopes to make a final decision in due course.
Asked by: John Milne (Liberal Democrat - Horsham)
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 issue new guidance on the provision of advanced community eye care services in (a) Horsham and (b) England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Integrated care boards are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services in their areas to meet patient needs, and this includes services to meet the needs of patients with glaucoma.
The Department worked with the eye care sector to develop a standard clinical specification for the commissioning of Community Minor and Urgent Eye Care Services, and this was published in February 2024. The specification is available at the following link:
https://locsu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1.-CUES-Service-specification-vs-1.43-Feb-2024.pdf