Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of AI-based auto contouring on radiotherapy waiting times.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made. However, the Department supports the National Health Service in reviewing opportunities to utilise artificial intelligence to transform performance, bring down waiting times, and support staff with their workload. We expect that radiotherapy treatment centres will use all appropriate technology for treating patients, to ensure that they receive the best possible care. This includes the use of artificial intelligence where available.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a Government-backed zero per cent interest loan scheme to support the rollout of solar panels on homes.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Private finance can play a key role in helping us achieve our decarbonisation ambitions. As part of the Government’s ambitious Warm Homes Plan, officials are exploring the role of incentives and private finance for households to support homeowners with the upfront costs of energy efficiency upgrades and low carbon energy technology. This includes engaging with the finance sector on the potential for low-interest loans.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 waiting times for radiotherapy.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is committed to improving cancer care and reducing waiting times for treatment. To ensure the most advanced radiotherapy treatment is available to patients, we are investing £70 million in 28 new radiotherapy machines. The Department is committed to improving waiting times for cancer treatment across England and aims to ensure that no one is waiting longer than they should for lifesaving treatment. As a first step to achieving this, we will deliver an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week, helping to ensure earlier diagnoses and faster treatment for those who need it most.
The National Cancer Plan will include further details on how we will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as reducing waiting times for diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the Metropolitan Police on the policing at the Quaker meeting house in Westminster on 27 March 2025.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Metropolitan Police are operationally independent of the government. It is for the police to make decisions about how to respond to specific incidents based on their professional judgement and the circumstances at hand.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of funding for councils in the East Midlands to provide (a) accessible and (b) integrated family support services for children in the first 1,001 days of life.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government’s Plan for Change sets out a commitment to give children the best start in life, measured by a record 75% of children starting school ready to learn and measured by the number hitting the early learning goals at the end of reception. Delivering this will require strengthening and joining up family services to improve support through pregnancy and early childhood. This includes continuing to invest in and build up Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes. In the 2025/26 financial year, the government is providing a £126 million boost for Family Hubs and Start for Life services to give every child the best start in life and to deliver on the Plan for Change. More information on this funding can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/families-to-receive-126-million-in-early-years-support.
Five local authorities in the East Midlands currently receive funding for Family Hubs and Start for Life services: Derby, Lincolnshire, Nottingham, North Northamptonshire and Leicester. Leicestershire, the upper-tier authority for the council, separately receives funding for Family Hubs only, as part of the Family Hubs Transformation Fund. On 3 April, participating local authorities received confirmation of their funding allocations for the 2025/26 financial year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will make caste-based discrimination illegal.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
No one should suffer prejudice or discrimination on any grounds, including any perception of their caste.
The judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in Tirkey v. Chandhok shows that someone claiming caste discrimination may rely on existing statutory remedies in the Equality Act 2010 where they can show that their ‘caste’ is related to their ethnic origin, which is itself an aspect of 'race' under the 2010 Act.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps she has taken to ensure that those operating under disguised employment models in the hairdressing industry do not receive tax advantages compared to traditional employers since the Minister for Employment Rights, Competition and Markets met with representatives from the personal care sector in November 2024.
Answered by James Murray - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
HMRC is committed to ensuring the tax system operates fairly and efficiently, creating a level playing field for all compliant businesses. Most businesses pay what they owe, but a minority fail to register or only declare a portion of their earnings for tax. This minority deprives our vital public services of funding, affects fair competition between businesses, and places unfair burdens on everyone else.
The ‘rent-a-chair’ model is a legitimate business model widely used in the hair and beauty sector and, where applied correctly, can result in individuals being classed as self-employed for employment purposes. Whether an individual is employed or self-employed is not a matter of choice but is determined by the actual terms and conditions under which they work. This is underlined by an agreement between HMRC and the National Hair and Beauty Federation, which clarifies standard practices in the industry for VAT purposes.
The agreement advises that salon owners and their contractors should have an agreement in writing that clearly and accurately reflects their working practices. Both parties can use HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool to check the employment status of an engagement. HMRC will stand by the self-employed or employed determination that the CEST tool provides, so long as the information given is accurate.
If a business chooses to operate the ‘rent-a-chair’ business model this could result in individuals being classed as self-employed for tax purposes. In all such cases HMRC would expect businesses to meet their legal obligations regarding paying the right taxes and National Insurance contributions.
HMRC are committed to tackling false self-employment and will investigate evidence that suggests businesses have misclassified individuals for tax purposes. HMRC will challenge businesses that either artificially separate to avoid exceeding the VAT registration threshold or design schemes to reduce the amount of VAT they owe and will take steps to ensure that they pay the right amount of tax.
HMRC’s approach to tax compliance includes a range of activities that aim to both detect and tackle current non-compliance and change future behaviours. HMRC aims to help and support customers to understand their tax obligations and promoting compliance by simplifying policies and procedures, providing clear guidance to make it easy for them to get things right, providing accessible digital services to make it easier to register to pay the appropriate taxes, providing targeted support and guidance, and intervening early to reduce mistakes. However, HMRC will not hesitate to use stronger sanctions against those who deliberately choose not to comply, including potential criminal prosecutions for the most serious cases involving tax evasion.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has had discussions with his Nicaraguan counterpart on the detention of (a) Carmen María Sáenz Martinez and (b) Lesbia del Socorro Gutiérrez Poveda.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We share widespread international concern about the relentless suppression of human rights in Nicaragua. We continue to urge the Nicaraguan authorities to re-establish democratic freedoms in our engagements with the Nicaraguan Embassy and in Managua, as well as through our public statements in international fora. Most recently, on 28 February at the 58th session of the UN Human Rights Council, we raised our grave human rights concerns, including relating to freedom of religion and belief, and arbitrary detentions. Nicaragua's declaration on 27 February that it is leaving the UN Human Rights Council does not change the need to hold the authorities accountable for the suppression of human rights in Nicaragua.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support apprenticeships in the hairdressing industry.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships are a great way for individuals to begin or progress a successful career in the hair and beauty industry. Employers in the sector have developed several apprenticeships, including the level 2 hairdressing professional standard, to help them develop their workforce.
The department continues to promote apprenticeships to young people, adults and employers through the Skills for Life campaign.
Employers can benefit from £1,000 payments when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or apprentices aged 19 to 24 who have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or have been in local authority care. To support smaller employers access apprenticeships, the government pays full training costs for young apprentices aged 16 to 21, and for apprentices aged 22 to 24 who have an EHC plan, or have been in local authority care.
Employers also benefit from not being required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 where they earn less than £967 a week, or £50,270 a year.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
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 the (a) recruitment of nurses and (b) availability of jobs for newly qualified nurses.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about the employment of newly qualified nurses are a matter for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level ensuring they have the right number of staff in place, with the right skill mix, to deliver safe and effective care.
We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to ensure the NHS has the right people, in the right places, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need.