Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of community-owned renewable energy to energy security.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Community owned renewable energy will strengthen our energy security by increasing local clean power, reducing exposure to fossil fuel markets and improving the resilience of our energy system.
Government is driving a major expansion of community-owned energy, backed by the Local Power Plan and delivered in partnership with GBE. By 2030, GBE will support over 1,000 local and community energy projects.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for an update on the progress of the Palliative and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is developing a Modern Service Framework (MSF) for Palliative Care and End-of-Life Care in England. The MSF is a clinically-led, evidence-based framework to support sustained improvements in outcomes for patients and carers, including by reducing unwarranted variation and addressing inequalities in access, experience, and outcomes. This will be aligned with the ambitions set out in last year’s 10-Year Health Plan.
We intend to publish the full MSF report in autumn 2026, with an interim update planned for publication shortly.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to help UK robotics and autonomous systems manufacturers to scale up their operations.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government measures to support British technology companies, including robotics firms, to scale up in the UK comprises crowding-in private sector investment via the British Business Bank and National Wealth Fund, both with expanded capitalisations and a mandate to support industrial strategy companies. Further support includes the Made Smarter programme which funds the development, commercialisation and adoption of robotics in manufacturing. The Government is also accelerating the adoption of robotics technologies through a new £52m Robotics Adoption Hubs programme to provide businesses with the expertise to understand and use these systems.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 potential implications for his policies of trends in the proportion of Phase II and Phrase III in commercial oncology clinical trials.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department holds data on commercial clinical trials by phase and therapeutic area, including oncology. However, we do not routinely assess trends in specific segments such as Phase II and Phase III oncology clinical trials.
We use this information alongside wider intelligence to inform policy and to support a competitive environment for clinical research across all phases and disease areas, underpinned by significant investment in National Institute for Health and Care Research delivery infrastructure.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
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 merits of setting up a database of genomic-enabled trials.
Answered by Preet Kaur Gill - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No specific assessment has been made. As set out in our Life Sciences Sector Plan, the Government will design and create a single searchable database of United Kingdom clinical trials by June 2026.
As we implement the UK clinical trials database, we will consider the benefits of including genomic-enabled clinical trials and keep this area under review.
We will put the National Health Service at the front of the global genomics revolution to deliver the 10-Year Health Plan for England.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people in England with epilepsy who experience tonic-clonic seizures and are not seizure-free despite treatment.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data the number of people in England with epilepsy who continue to experience tonic‑clonic seizures despite treatment. Detailed national data on seizure type, seizure frequency, and individual treatment response are not routinely collected centrally.
However, independent prevalence studies indicate that approximately one‑third of people with epilepsy have drug‑resistant epilepsy, meaning their seizures are not fully controlled despite appropriate treatment. For some of these individuals, seizures may include ongoing tonic‑clonic seizures, although the specific proportion varies depending on factors such as epilepsy type, underlying cause, and access to specialist care.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to develop the UK’s renewable energy sector in response to the current international oil crisis.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We are accelerating investment in homegrown clean power to boost energy security and cut exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets. We are bringing forward the next renewables auction to July, introducing low cost ‘plug-in solar’ for households, and applying the lessons of the Fingleton Review to speed up delivery of critical infrastructure, including renewables.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the role of Legal Aid in enabling consumers to hold water companies to account for overcharging and environmental damage.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The scope of legal aid is set out under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and applicants are subject to relevant means and merits tests. Legal aid is available in relation to injunctions for nuisance arising from prescribed types of pollution of the environment, and for public law challenges, such as judicial reviews of decisions concerning water regulation. This would cover challenges that would benefit the environment. Proceedings related to private consumer law are generally not in scope.
Where an issue falls outside the scope of legal aid, individuals can apply for Exceptional Case Funding (ECF), which will be granted where they can show that without legal aid, there is a risk that their human rights may be breached. ECF applications are considered by the Legal Aid Agency on an individual basis.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the Holiday Activities and Food Programme from returns submitted by local authorities following the end of each holiday period.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
For the holiday, activities and food (HAF) programme, the department collects data from local authorities after each delivery period, to support performance monitoring, inform policy development and support evaluation.
Data collection includes the number of children attending HAF provision, broken down by characteristics such as free school meal (FSM) eligibility, as well as the number of places available and how well providers meet the HAF framework of standards.
Since 2022, the HAF programme has provided 20.4 million HAF days to children and young people in this country, providing nutritious meals and enriching activities during school holidays, benefitting their health, wellbeing and readiness to learn. Over the three most recent winter, Easter and summer delivery periods, almost five million HAF days were provided. Over summer 2025, local authorities reported that over 624,000 children and young people attended the programme, of whom more than 513,000 were funded directly through HAF and over 434,000 were receiving benefits-related FSMs.
Asked by: Paul Davies (Labour - Colne Valley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the provision of data on employee health benefits to SME decision makers on levels of employee ill health.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) is working with the Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care on the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase, focused on tackling health-related economic inactivity and promoting healthy and inclusive workplaces. We are partnering with employers of all sectors and sizes, including SMEs, alongside employee health benefit providers, to test and identify what interventions are most effective in preventing and managing employee ill health. This will include exploring what support SMEs need to make informed decisions about accessing suitable health benefit provision.