Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has raised the detention of Bita Shafiei on 13 November 2025 with her Iranian counterparts.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We are aware of Bita Shafiei's case and continue to raise the rights of women and girls and human rights defenders with the Iranian Government in multilateral fora. The UK co-sponsored an Iran Human Rights Resolution, adopted by the UN Third Committee on 19 November, which condemned the targeted repression of women and girls and called on Iran to release women human rights defenders imprisoned for exercising their rights. We delivered a statement at the Committee, which highlighted Iran's bolstering of surveillance capabilities to monitor and target women and girls, and we will continue to work with international partners to hold Iran to account.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of moving disabled military veterans from Employment and Support Allowance to Universal Credit on their eligibility for local council tax support schemes.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Support for working age households, including the treatment of benefits, is designed by councils in consultation with their residents, taking into account the needs and circumstances of their local communities. Each year, councils must consider whether to revise or replace their scheme. This review may include the provision for those migrating between benefits. For pension age households, councils administer a centrally prescribed LCTS scheme, which is reviewed annually.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 (i) support, and (ii) access to treatments, for people with (a) Multiple System Atrophy, and (b) Parkinson’s.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the national level, there are several initiatives supporting service improvement and better care for patients with Parkinson’s and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), including the RightCare Progressive Neurological Conditions Toolkit and the Getting It Right First Time Programme for Neurology. NHS England has also established a Neurology Transformation Programme, a multi-year, clinically led programme, which has developed a new model of integrated care for neurology services, to support integrated care boards to deliver the right service, at the right time for all neurology patients, including those with Parkinson’s and MSA. NICE has also published guidelines on Parkinson’s disease, namely NG71, covering the diagnosis and management in people aged 18 years old and over.
Under the UK Rare Diseases Framework, the Government is working to improve access to specialist care, treatments, and drugs across all rare conditions such as MSA. In February 2025, we published the fourth England action plan reporting on progress.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department have made on the impact of participation in (a) gyms, (b) swimming pools, and (c) leisure centres on men’s (i) mental and (ii) physical health.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government knows that addressing physical inactivity and getting people moving more is important for improving health outcomes, well-being, reducing demand on the National Health Service, and supporting economic growth.
Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambition to break down barriers and take a cross-sector approach to building movement back into everyday lives. This requires a collective effort and there is an important role for the leisure and fitness sector through providing facilities and opportunities to get people active and reap the associated health benefits.
On 19 November, to coincide with International Men’s Day, we published England’s first ever Men’s Health Strategy. The strategy includes actions to improve access to healthcare, provide the right support to enable men to make healthier choices, develop healthy living and working conditions, foster strong social, community, and family networks, address societal norms, and tackle the biggest health problems affecting men. The strategy recognises the importance of meeting men where they are and includes investment in community-based health and suicide prevention programmes and a new partnership with the Premier League to ensure men know where to go for mental health support.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 adequacy of waiting times for children and young people accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
We know too many children and young people are waiting too long for mental health support, and through our Plan for Change, we’re determined to give children and young people the best start in life.
The Government is expanding access to mental health support teams in all schools and colleges to reach all pupils by 2029, ensuring that every pupil has access to early support services. This expansion will ensure that up to 900,000 more children and young people will have access to support from trained education mental health practitioners in 2025/26.
More widely, we are, rolling out young futures hubs. The Government’s first 50 young futures hubs will bring together services at a local level to support children and young people, helping to ensure that young people can access early advice and wellbeing intervention. We will work to ensure there is no wrong door for young people who need support with their mental health.
We have also committed to hiring 8,500 more mental health staff to reduce waiting times. Thus far, we have hired almost 7,000 extra mental health workers since July 2024.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure early intervention for pupils with special educational needs.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Leeds South West and Morley, to the answer of 12 November 2025 to Question 86204.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of powers available to local authorities to (a) maintain and (b) intervene on land where ownership is (i) unknown and (ii) unregistered.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry (HMLR) are responsible for registering the ownership of land.
Approximately 11% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered.
My Department is working with HMLR to widen and deepen transparency of land ownership and control.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 to support local authorities in identifying ownership of land that has remained unregistered since 1974.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
HM Land Registry (HMLR) are responsible for registering the ownership of land.
Approximately 11% of land in England and Wales remains unregistered.
My Department is working with HMLR to widen and deepen transparency of land ownership and control.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 access to NHS dental services for (a) carers and (b) frontline care workers.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a National Health Service dentist including for carers and front-line workers. We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments from 1 April 2025.
ICBs are also recruiting dentists through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.
We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform before the end of this Parliament.
We recently held a full public consultation on a package of changes to improve access to, and the quality of NHS dentistry, which will deliver better care for the diverse oral health needs of people across England. The consultation closed on 19 August 2025. The Government is considering the outcomes of the consultation and will publish a response in due course.
Asked by: Mark Sewards (Labour - Leeds South West and Morley)
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 ensure that people in full-time employment who have caring responsibilities can access GP appointments.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is expanding capacity in general practice which will help deliver more appointments to patients, ensuring everyone, including those in full-time employment and with caring responsibilities, can access care.
General practitioner (GP) core hours are between 8am and 6:30pm Monday to Friday, extending beyond the usual working day and usual school day to allow easier access for those in employment, or with caring responsibilities.
In October 2024, we invested £82 million into the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme to support the recruitment of over 2,000 additional GPs into primary care networks (PCNs) across England, helping to increase appointment availability. In addition, practices are now required to provide access to online services throughout core operating hours, reducing the 8am scramble and increasing flexibility for patients.
PCNs must also offer appointments outside of core hours, including on weekends, which can be more convenient for people in full-time employment, or with caring responsibilities.