Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 the potential (a) health and (b) economic impact of trained healthcare workers leaving their home country to work in the UK on nations in (i) Eastern Europe and (ii) the Global South.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We hugely value our health and social care workers from overseas who work tirelessly to provide the best possible care and enhance our health and care workforce with their valuable skills, experience and expertise. Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. This includes prohibiting active recruitment from red list countries to the National Health Service, social care, or independent sectors under our Code of Practice.
The Government also remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join the NHS. Following publication of our 10-Year Health Plan on 3 July 2025, we will produce a refreshed workforce plan, setting out how we will train and provide the staff that the NHS needs to care for patients across our communities and treat them on time again. As set out in our 10-Year Health Plan, we will work across Government to prioritise medical graduates from the United Kingdom for foundation training, and to prioritise UK medical graduates and other doctors who have worked in the NHS for a significant period for specialty training. The plan also outlines that we will now make it a requirement for newly qualified dentists to practice in the NHS for a minimum period. We intend this minimum period to be at least three years.
The Immigration White Paper also set out reforms to legal migration, so that we can restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth. The changes set out include a complete overhaul of the relationship between the immigration system, training and the labour market to support sustainable growth as well as a sustainable immigration system.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure adequate provision of apprenticeships in Ashfield constituency.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is transforming the apprenticeships offer into a new growth and skills offer, which will provide greater flexibility to employers and learners across the country, including in Ashfield, and support the industrial strategy.
From August, the department will be introducing seven new foundation apprenticeships for young people in targeted sectors, including construction and the built environment, digital, and health and social care. We are also reducing the apprenticeship minimum duration to eight months so that shorter apprenticeships are possible from August. These flexibilities will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work and fuel innovation in businesses across the country.
To support employers to access apprenticeships, the government pays £1,000 to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18 years old, and for apprentices aged 19 to 24 years old who have an education, health and care plan or have been in local authority care. We will also provide £2,000 payments to employers for every foundation apprentice they take on and retain. Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to 25 when they earn less than £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the list of geographical areas in which her Department will encourage private landlords to house asylum seekers..
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave him on 23 June to Question 60155.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
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 reduce the regional differences in IVF provision.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Funding decisions for health services in England are made by integrated care boards (ICBs) and are based on the clinical needs of their local population. We expect these organisations to commission fertility services in line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, ensuring equal access to fertility treatment across England.
NICE is currently reviewing the fertility guidelines and will consider whether the current recommendations for access to National Health Service-funded treatment are still appropriate.
In the light of broader pressures on the NHS and on-going changes within NHS England, we have been looking again at achievable ambitions to improve access to fertility services and fairness for all affected couples.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the level of preparedness in the event of a coordinated cyber-attack on public service infrastructure.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of the public sector, which includes some of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). Cyber risks are kept under review, through the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), and the external facing version, the National Risk Register (NRR), to ensure that we effectively plan at the national and local levels. The NSRA assesses a number of cyber risks, including the impact of a cyber-attack against government systems on the delivery of public services.
We face a persistent and evolving threat landscape, the intent and capability of both state and non-state threat actors is increasing, and the pace of this change has accelerated considerably over the last 24 months. Public service infrastructure and systems remain an attractive target for our adversaries and criminals, with recent incidents clearly highlighting the risk posed by cyber attacks on both private and public sector organisations.
Responding to a cyber incident is a cross-government responsibility with roles and responsibilities identified in the National Cyber Incident Management Framework. As well as developing a more sophisticated understanding of cyber risk across UK CNI, the Government is focussed on ensuring that CNI operators are prepared to respond to and recover from incidents through better planning and regular exercises across Government and as part of the National Exercising Programme. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) also works with partners to help public and private CNI operators detect and respond to attacks.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment he has made of the potential risk of a coordinated cyber-attack on public service infrastructure.
Answered by Feryal Clark - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is working tirelessly to improve the cyber resilience of the public sector, which includes some of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). Cyber risks are kept under review, through the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA), and the external facing version, the National Risk Register (NRR), to ensure that we effectively plan at the national and local levels. The NSRA assesses a number of cyber risks, including the impact of a cyber-attack against government systems on the delivery of public services.
We face a persistent and evolving threat landscape, the intent and capability of both state and non-state threat actors is increasing, and the pace of this change has accelerated considerably over the last 24 months. Public service infrastructure and systems remain an attractive target for our adversaries and criminals, with recent incidents clearly highlighting the risk posed by cyber attacks on both private and public sector organisations.
Responding to a cyber incident is a cross-government responsibility with roles and responsibilities identified in the National Cyber Incident Management Framework. As well as developing a more sophisticated understanding of cyber risk across UK CNI, the Government is focussed on ensuring that CNI operators are prepared to respond to and recover from incidents through better planning and regular exercises across Government and as part of the National Exercising Programme. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) also works with partners to help public and private CNI operators detect and respond to attacks.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing the bus fare cap to £2.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government has made no assessment of reducing the bus fare cap to £2.
The Government is committed to ensuring bus travel remains affordable, and stepped in to prevent a cliff-edge return to commercial fares by investing over £150 million to introduce a £3 cap on single bus fares in England outside London from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, replacing the £2 cap.
Under the plans of the previous administration, the £2 cap on bus fares had been due to expire on 31 December 2024, and prior to the Autumn 2024 Budget, there was no further funding available to maintain a cap on bus fares beyond this point. Maintaining the cap at £2 for the entirety of 2025 would have cost an estimated £444 million. The £3 cap represents a significant saving for taxpayers whilst ensuring bus services remain affordable.
The Government reaffirmed its commitment to investing in bus services in the Spending Review by confirming additional funding to extend the £3 cap by over a year until March 2027 as part of dedicated funding to maintain and improve bus services long-term.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect hedgehog populations.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Government-led action is focused on addressing the main known drivers of hedgehog decline including habitat loss and fragmentation due to removal of field margins, hedgerows and scrub; the use of herbicides and insecticide; and road traffic.
The Environment Act 2021 introduced several policies, such as Biodiversity Net Gain, Local Nature Recovery Strategies, and a strengthened biodiversity duty on public authorities, which will work together to support the creation and restoration of habitats which will support a range of species including hedgehogs and their prey species.
Natural England is co-funding the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme. The information gathered will produce insights into the factors causing hedgehog population decline, leading to the implementation of future practical conservation measures to address this challenge.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help encourage the building of wildlife-friendly neighbourhoods.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra is working closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to deliver planning reforms and unlock the housing this country urgently needs while improving outcomes for nature. We already expect local planning authorities to plan for development incorporating green infrastructure.
Biodiversity net gain ensures development has a measurably positive impact on biodiversity, compared to what was there before development, and became mandatory (under the Environment Act 2021) in England for most major developments and small sites in early 2024. This means protecting existing habitats and ensuring that lost or degraded habitats are compensated for by enhancing or creating habitats with a greater overall value to wildlife and people, and with rules incentivising delivery on development sites.
The revised National Planning Policy Framework we published in December also expects planning policies and decisions to minimise impacts on and provide gains for biodiversity, including through incorporating features that support priority or threatened species such as swifts, bats and hedgehogs.
As part of our work to develop a set of national policies for decision making, the Government has committed to consulting on changes which require swift bricks to be incorporated into new buildings unless there are compelling reasons which preclude their use, or which would make them ineffective. As an interim step ahead of the consultation the government have published updated Planning Practice Guidance setting out how swift bricks are expected to be used in new development.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory prison sentences for people operating unregulated care homes for children.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is clear that all providers of children’s social care accommodation such as children’s homes should register with Ofsted as per the Care Standards Act (CSA) 2000.
Ofsted has existing powers to prosecute persons carrying on a children’s home or supported accommodation (formally an unregulated placement) without registering.
Where a person is found guilty of running an unregistered children’s home or supported accommodation, the court can issue an unlimited fine, and for a second or subsequent conviction for the same offence, or where the person’s registration has been suspended and they continue to carry on the provision, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months and/or an unlimited fine.
The government is further strengthening Ofsted’s powers, via the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, to enable them to issue monetary penalties for breaches of the CSA, including an unlimited fine for operating a children’s home without being registered. This will allow Ofsted to take action at pace and act as a significant deterrent.
Taken together, the set of powers that will be in place after the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is passed will allow Ofsted and the courts to take the appropriate enforcement action according to each circumstance.