Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with NHS England on access to fezolinetant within Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published guidance on 31 March 2026 recommending fezolinetant as an option for treating moderate to severe menopause-related hot flushes and night sweats when hormone replacement therapy is unsuitable. The National Health Service in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, usually within three months of final guidance. This means integrated care boards (ICBs) are now required to fund fezolinetant in line with NICE’s recommendation. It remains for clinicians to decide whether it is the right treatment for an individual patient.
The Department has not assessed whether access to fezolinetant varies between the regions of England. It has also not had discussions with NHS England about access to fezolinetant in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB.
NHS England has not issued separate national guidance to ICBs on prescribing fezolinetant.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to support the national rollout of the Leukaemia Best Practice Timed Pathway.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson
NHS England is supporting development of a suspected haematology cancer timed diagnostic pathway, which is being developed by Leukaemia UK, Lymphoma Action, and Myeloma UK.
Publication of this pathway document is expected later this year.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the press notice entitled 50,000 more young people to benefit from apprenticeships as Government unveils new skills reforms to get Britain working, published in December 2025, if he will take steps to ensure comparable investment within non-mayoral strategic authorities for linking young people with employers for apprenticeship opportunities.
Answered by Andrew Western - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is investing £140 million over the current spending review period, to pilot, with Mayoral Strategic Authorities, new approaches to better connect young people aged 16-24, including those who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), to local apprenticeship opportunities. Funding beyond this is subject to future spending review processes.
The new Mayoral Strategic Authority (MSA) brokerage service pilots will enable us to test and learn from different local approaches as we build the evidence base for what works. MSAs are best placed to deliver these pilots due to their strategic oversight of local skills systems, established relationships with employers and training providers, and ability to operate at scale across functional economic areas.
We will announce further details about the pilots in due course, including which areas will take part. We expect the pilots to launch later this year, and we will share learning and best practise widely throughout the pilot.
More widely, to support our ambition of 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, from August we are fully funding apprenticeship training for 16-24-year-olds with non-levy paying employers (typically SMEs), and from October we are introducing a new hiring payment of £2,000 for non-levy payers which take on 16-24 year old apprentices as new employees. This funding support is available to eligible employers across England.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to WPQ 12787 answered on 11 November 2024 on Marriage: Relatives, what recent progress he has made on considering [i] marriage law and [ii] placing restrictions on marriages between first cousins.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson
The Government has announced that it intends to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows.
The reforms are intended to make weddings law fairer, simpler and more modern, whilst protecting the dignity and significance of marriage. The aim is to launch a consultation before summer recess, which begins on 16 July 2026. It will focus on how people get married, rather than who is legally permitted to marry.
As set out in the answer of 11 November 2024, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes sexual activity with certain family members a criminal offence, but this does not include first cousins. Placing restrictions on first cousin marriage would require changes to the Marriage Act 1949 and could potentially require changes to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
While the evidence is limited, it does suggest that there may be an increased risk of congenital birth defects to children whose parents are first cousins. We welcome evidence suggesting that the number of first cousins choosing to marry in England is declining.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to WPQ 12787 answered on 11 November 2024 about Marriage, Relatives, whether he has commissioned advice on whether placing restrictions on first cousin marriage would require changes to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Answered by Catherine Atkinson
The Government has announced that it intends to reform weddings law when parliamentary time allows.
The reforms are intended to make weddings law fairer, simpler and more modern, whilst protecting the dignity and significance of marriage. The aim is to launch a consultation before summer recess, which begins on 16 July 2026. It will focus on how people get married, rather than who is legally permitted to marry.
As set out in the answer of 11 November 2024, the Sexual Offences Act 2003 makes sexual activity with certain family members a criminal offence, but this does not include first cousins. Placing restrictions on first cousin marriage would require changes to the Marriage Act 1949 and could potentially require changes to the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
While the evidence is limited, it does suggest that there may be an increased risk of congenital birth defects to children whose parents are first cousins. We welcome evidence suggesting that the number of first cousins choosing to marry in England is declining.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with (a) local and national health bodies, (b) academics and (c) the Men's Health Strategy Stakeholder Group on the issues surrounding Anabolic Steroids, IPEDs and SARMS.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Secretary of State for Wales
We are committed to working in partnership with men, academics, stakeholders, research funders, employers, service providers, and important sectors such as media and sport to implement the Men’s Health Strategy. This includes our Men’s Health Academic Network and Stakeholder Group.
We are scoping the work on media literacy and will consider the inclusion of issues surrounding anabolic steroids, image and performance enhancing drugs, and selective androgen receptor modulators.