Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of reviewing the financial limit for the disabled facilities grant.
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.
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. Following an internal review of the upper limit, we have been working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local government to consider possible next steps.
We have confirmed £723 million for the DFG in 2026/27. The DFG budget across 2025/26 and 2026/27 is £150 million more than the total budget across the previous two years, 2023/24 and 2024/25. This represents an 11% increase that exceeds inflation.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
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 secure access to supplies of the rabies vaccination for those travelling to countries where rabies is present; and when he expects supplies of the rabies vaccination to become widely available to British people travelling to countries where rabies is present.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
Pre-exposure rabies vaccines for travellers are made available to the public through private travel health services, including general practices, pharmacies, and specialist travel clinics. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) does not centrally procure rabies vaccines for routine travel purposes.
However, UKHSA currently holds a contract awarded in January 2026, for the provision of rabies vaccine to support post-exposure and urgent treatment. This ensures that vaccines are available to protect individuals who may have been exposed to rabies, where timely access is critical. Details of the contract can be found via the notices at the following two links:
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/085071-2025
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/004936-2026
There has been no availability issue raised by the UKHSA supplier of rabies vaccines.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of broadband provision in historic town centres.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
We want everyone in the UK to have access to secure, resilient and high-quality digital infrastructure and are committed to 99% gigabit coverage by 2032.
88% of UK premises already have gigabit broadband access, improving to 92% in urban areas.
Rollout is led commercially, with Government funding through Project Gigabit focussed on areas where commercial deployment is unlikely. This includes urban areas and historic town centres if there are additional costs to delivery in these areas.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme's timeline is to contact people eligible for payments.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds
The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) The IBCA Framework Document, published in March 2025, sets out the timelines agreed between IBCA and Cabinet Office; namely for the bulk of infected people to be paid no later than the end of next year and the bulk of affected people to be paid no later than the end of 2029. Infected claims include the estates of infected people who have sadly passed away.
The Government has been clear these dates should not be viewed as targets for delivery, but rather ‘backstops’. These timescales have been agreed with IBCA, to ensure that the door is kept open for those who have not yet identified themselves as being infected or affected.
IBCA has now opened the service for the first claims from infected people who were never compensated, for deceased infected people, and for living affected people. As with the first cohort of people making a claim, IBCA must now build a service for each of these cohorts which allows them to confirm an infection before a claim begins, check the identity of each person claiming, and ensure all the necessary legal and financial support is in place for anyone who wishes to use it. This approach means that the numbers will initially be lower, but the Government expects that, as with the first group, those numbers will rise exponentially as progress is made.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether there are plans to allow the electronic transfer of GP records when people move from Wales to England.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
The Government's 10-Year Health Plan includes the objective of delivering a Single Patient Record. This will allow health and care providers, wherever they deliver care in England, to access the key information they need from an individual’s medical records. Mandatory information standards, which all providers must follow, will ensure the interoperability of systems within the National Health Service.
We will consult with the devolved administrations and Crown Dependencies, on areas of mutual interest, such as the Single Patient Record, which can improve cross-border healthcare and the safe exchange of information where possible to improve healthcare, and minimise risk to patients.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps her Department is taking under GBR to increase cross border rail connections, such as the Wrexham-Shropshire-Midlands Railway.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department intends to bring section 42 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 into force.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to addressing the longstanding issues with private sewerage. Government recognises that current arrangements of sewer adoption need review.
We have recently consulted on the adoption of shared amenities, including SuDS and sewers, and are now considering next steps. As part of this, we will consider whether section 42 of the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 should be brought into force.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, of the £21 billion of new local transport funding announced across the Comprehensive Spending Review period, how much funding is allocated to (a) Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities, (b) Mayoral Strategic Authorities, and (c) local councils not within a combined authority.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities will receive c£7.7bn of transport funding through their integrated settlement over the Spending Review period from 2026/27 to 2029/30 (to 2028/29 for Resource Funding).
Mayoral Strategic Authorities with a mayor in place will receive c£4bn of transport funding through the Mayoral Transport Fund over the same period.
All other local transport authorities will receive c£9.6bn of local transport funding over the Spending Review period, via the Integrated Transport Fund and Bus Services Fund. This includes c£1.2bn for Foundation Strategic Authorities (combined authorities without an elected mayor) and c£2.9bn for local authorities that are part of the Devolution Priority Programme and are due to be established as Mayoral Transport Authorities.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how competition regulations on state aid are applied by the Office of Rail and Road when assessing applications for Open Access rail services; and what changes are expected following the ORR's move into her Department.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Under the current framework, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is responsible for making access decisions in line with its statutory duties. Moving forward, this will change as Great British Railways takes over responsibility for managing access to the network and ORR takes on a new role to hold GBR to account and ensure fairness and transparency for all operators. ORR will not, however, become part of the Department for Transport – it will remain independent.
All public bodies, including ORR and the future GBR, are obliged to comply with subsidy control and competition legislation across all of their activities, and this will remain the case.
Asked by: Julia Buckley (Labour - Shrewsbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, which English counties do not have a direct train link to London; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the lack of such links on those counties.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The only English county that does not have a direct train service from London is Shropshire.
The department requires its operators to plan services and rail timetables that are designed to meet expected passenger demand and provide value for money for the taxpayer. Looking ahead to GBR, this offers us the opportunity to go further with optimising train services and driving up utilisation. Through GBR’s directing mind function, services and timetables will be developed in a coherent fashion that drives up network performance and improves the journey experience.