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 adequacy of training for GPs and emergency healthcare staff to understand chronic pain conditions.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Employers in the health system are responsible for ensuring that their staff are trained to the required standards to deliver appropriate treatment for patients.

General practitioners are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development. This activity should include taking account of new research and developments in guidance, such as that produced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to ensure that they can continue to provide high quality care to all patients.

All United Kingdom registered doctors are expected to meet the professional standards set out in the General Medical Council’s (GMC’s) Good Medical Practice. In 2012 the GMC introduced revalidation which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice, gives patients confidence doctors are up to date with their practice, and promotes improved quality of care by driving improvements in clinical governance.

To support healthcare professionals in the assessment and management of chronic pain, the NICE has published guidance on this topic, which can be found at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193

The guidance includes recommendations for healthcare professionals on how to carry out a person-centred assessment when an individual presents with chronic pain, how to develop a care and support plan for a patient with chronic pain, and how to manage flare-ups of chronic pain. The guidance also includes recommendations on both pharmacological and non-pharmacological management options for chronic pain.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the long-term housing strategy; and when he plans to publish that strategy.

Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The government is making good progress on a long-term housing strategy and will publish it shortly.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Science and Technology about the potential for a respiratory Modern Service Framework to strengthen the UK’s life sciences ecosystem by scaling up the adoption of new medicines and innovations for lung conditions.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care are working with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore innovation and policy prioritisation in respiratory health, including the cross‑Government alignment that may be required.

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 (a) the prevalence of respiratory disease and (b) the number of emergency hospital admissions for respiratory conditions in the Tiverton and Minehead constituency compared with national averages; and what steps he is taking to help ensure respiratory health is prioritised nationally, including through the introduction of a Modern Service Framework for respiratory care.

Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government will consider long-term conditions for future waves of modern service frameworks (MSFs), including respiratory conditions. The criteria for determining other conditions for future MSFs will be based on where there is potential for rapid and significant improvements in quality of care and productivity. After the initial wave of MSFs is complete, the National Quality Board will determine the conditions to prioritise for new MSFs as part of its work programme.

Data is available for emergency finished admission episodes where there was a primary diagnosis of 'respiratory conditions’. Data for Tiverton and Minehead is shown in the table.

Available data on trends in respiratory conditions can be found on the Department of Health and Social Care Fingertips website. Data is not available by parliamentary constituency, but is available at regional, county, unitary authority and integrated care board level. Information for Somerset is available at the following link:

https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/search/Respiratory#page/1/gid/1/pat/15/ati/502/are/E06000066/iid/40701/age/163/sex/4/cat/-1/ctp/-1/yrr/1/cid/4/tbm/1

The Government has committed to delivering three big shifts that our National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community; from analogue to digital; and from sickness to prevention. All of these are relevant to improving respiratory health in all parts of the country.

Through our community diagnostic centres (CDCs), we are building capacity for respiratory testing and enabling people to get diagnosed closer to home. 101 CDCs across the country now offer out-of-hours services, 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital diagnostic tests around busy working lives. This is alongside action being taken to expand capacity and improve the quality of pulmonary rehabilitation services to support patients living with respiratory conditions.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level of funding allocated for research into chronic pain disorders.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) including research into chronic pain disorders. Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, the NIHR invested £39.4 million in direct research funding in this area. Further information on that research can be seen at the following link:

https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/pages/homepage/

The NIHR provides an online service called Be Part of Research, which promotes participation in health and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register their interest. At the current time, there are 41 studies actively recruiting for participants on many aspects of chronic pain. Further information is available at the following link:

https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/results/search-results?query=chronic%20pain&location=

The NIHR’s infrastructure also provides support for the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality translational, clinical, and applied research that is funded by the NIHR’s research programmes, other public funders of research, charities, and the life sciences industry, including many aspects of chronic pain. Further information is available at the following link:

https://nihr.opendatasoft.com/explore/dataset/nihr-infrastructure-supported-projects/table/?q=Chronic+Pain&disjunctive.centre&disjunctive.pi_full_name&disjunctive.research_theme&disjunctive.financial_year&disjunctive.infrastructure_scheme

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will consider the merits of the development of an environmental quality standard for water for either Fipronil or Imidacloprid.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Environmental quality standards (EQS) are fundamental to the effective assessment and regulation of chemical impacts. This commitment has already been made in the roadmap produced by the Cross Governmental Pharmaceuticals in the Environment group.

The Government has set out its new vision for water through a White Paper published on 20 January 2026. The White Paper sets out once in a generation reforms that will transform the water system for good. It sets out how we will deliver on our promise to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas – not just for today, but for generations to come. We have committed to explore setting new ambitious overarching targets for the water environment. In the meantime, we continue to work towards our obligation to secure continuous improvement for the water environment.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the business rates model on rural pubs that have been rescued and are operated by volunteers in local communities; and what steps she is taking to ensure that non‑viable pubs, kept open because of the efforts of volunteers to preserve them, are not taxed for volunteering.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Government has announced a £4.3 billion business rates support package to protect ratepayers from large overnight increases in bills.

In addition, the Government is introducing permanently lower multipliers for eligible RHL properties. These are worth almost £1 billion per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

On top of this, pubs and live music venues will also benefit from 15% off their new business rates bills, ahead of their bills being frozen in real terms for a further two years. Three-quarters of pubs will see bills flat or falling in April. The new relief is worth £1,650 for the average pub next year. As a sector pubs will pay 8% less in business rates in 2029 than they do right now.

Pubs in rural areas may also benefit from either Rural Rate Relief or Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR). Rural Rate Relief aims to ensure that key amenities are available and community assets are protected in rural areas. It provides 100% rate relief for properties that are based in eligible rural areas with populations below 3,000. Around a third of properties in England pay no business rates because of SBRR.

The Government will also launch a review which will explore how pubs are valued for business rates.

Online abuse and exploitation of Ukrainian refugees

Funding for rural Britain

Outdoor learning

Heating oil prices

Fipronil and Imidacloprid Pesticides

Nuclear Regulatory Review and habitats regulations

Found: Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts (Labour; Sheffield South East) Anna Dixon (Labour; Shipley) Rachel Gilmour

Found: Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts (Labour; Sheffield South East) Anna Dixon (Labour; Shipley) Rachel Gilmour

Found: Cotswolds) (Chair) Mr Clive Betts (Labour; Sheffield South East) Anna Dixon (Labour; Shipley) Rachel Gilmour

Found: ) 79 of 82 (96.3%) Anna Dixon (Labour, Shipley) (added 28 Oct 2024) 49 of 83 (59.0%) Rachel Gilmour