Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress she has made on improving rail accessibility in Luton North constituency.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This Government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the significant social and economic benefits that enhanced accessibility brings to communities.
On 15 January, we confirmed that accessibility upgrades will not progress at Leagrave station in the Hon. Member’s constituency at this time. The absence of third-party funding contributions to the project was the crucial factor in this decision. In contrast, all 30 of the 50 shortlisted projects which included a third-party funding contribution will now be progressing.
Nearby Luton Airport Parkway station already has step-free access to all platforms. Delivery is beginning on step-free upgrades at Luton station.
In the meantime, where step-free access is not available, train operators are required to provide alternative accessible transport at no additional cost to the passenger.
In addition to the Access for All programme, whenever the rail industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure, this work must comply with current accessibility standards, with enforcement action taken by the Office of Rail and Road where those standards are not met.
Should sources of funding be identified locally, for example through section 106 contributions, this would provide an opportunity to bring forward accessibility improvements at Leagrave station.
The Rail Minister would be pleased to meet with the Hon. Member, at her earliest convenience, to discuss accessibility at Leagrave station further.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether stations with more than one million yearly journeys will be prioritised in future rounds of Access for All funding.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.
Funding for a future round of Access for All may be made available as part of the next Spending Review, which would present an opportunity to deliver full or partial accessibility upgrades at additional stations across Britain.
As part of the establishment of Great British Railways, we will further reform the programme, shaped through engagement with disabled people and local transport bodies, to ensure future investment is targeted where it delivers the greatest benefit.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that the maintenance of Local Housing Allowance at current levels is not having a disproportionately negative impact on people from black, asian or minority ethnic groups.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Secretary of State reviewed Local Housing Allowance rates for 2026/27 at Autumn Budget and a decision was made to maintain LHA rates at their current 2024/25 levels for 2026/27. A range of factors were considered, including rent levels across Great Britain, the wider fiscal context and welfare priorities.
Ministers also considered the equality impacts, including by ethnicity, in line with the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty when taking decisions about policy.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 7 January to Question 100439, on Luton Airport: Railways, what discussions she has had with Network Rail on the provision of step free access for passengers at Leagrave station travelling to and from London Luton Airport.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
In May 2024, the previous government selected 50 stations for initial feasibility work for potential upgrades as part of the Access for All programme, before delivery funding was secured. We will make an announcement on which stations will progress in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to provide an update on whether Leagrave station will progress to the development phase under the Access for All programme.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
This government is committed to improving the accessibility of the railway and recognises the social and economic benefits this brings to communities.
In May 2024, the previous government selected 50 stations for initial feasibility work for potential upgrades as part of our Access for All programme, before delivery funding was secured. This included Leagrave railway station and an update on those projects progressing to the next stage will be provided shortly.
Given the acute funding pressures on capital investments, any sources of funding that can be identified locally, for example from s106 monies, would also be a way of bringing accessibility at this station further forward.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Planning Inspectorate's press release entitled London Luton Airport Expansion development consent decision announced, published on 3 April 2025, what discussions she has had with Network Rail on the provision of step free access for passengers from the north of Luton travelling to and from London Luton Airport.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Luton Airport Parkway already has step free access and lifts are already due to be installed at Luton station under the Access for All programme. The Department will also expect any new transport infrastructure to meet current accessibility standards.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many women in the UK have received Allergan breast implants.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) breast implants and (b) PIP breast implants have ruptured and had to be removed in the last 10 years; and how many of those ruptured implants were not listed on the breast and cosmetic implant registry when implanted.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR), set up in 2016, collects all implant data, and explant data where possible.
Practically, it is always difficult and often impossible to identify a model and product code on an explant. If explanted devices, or patients undergoing explant, cannot be linked to data collected at time of implant, then this often reduces explant data to 'patient, surgeon, location, date'. This in turn makes it impossible to monitor trends in explant/failure.
NHS England is in the process of clarifying and mandating the detail required in the BCIR and other device-related collections.
This will place a greater responsibility on trusts to either identify a device at the point of explant, or to identify the device from internal trust records created during the same patient's implant procedure. This will only be possible if the implant and explant are performed at the same trust. It is then the intention of NHS England to provide the same matching service for implant/explant where the trusts differ.
This solution will, when implemented, give a full, proactive picture of device longevity/risk, for the purposes of research and surveillance, alongside the existing ability to identify patients affected by a device recall notice.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what humanitarian support her Department is helping to provide for displaced families in Gaza affected by severe weather.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Hon Member is right to raise concerns about the impact of worsening weather conditions on the already appalling humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the UK Government is doing all that we can alongside our international and civil society partners to alleviate that crisis.
Earlier this month, the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) launched a new appeal to help support vulnerable families over the winter months, and warned of a dire shortage of shelter and essential items that means children are facing cold nighttime temperatures without warm clothes or blankets, a situation exacerbated by severe flooding in many areas of Gaza, and the increased risk of waterborne diseases due to severely damaged water and sewage infrastructure.
The UK Government has agreed to match donations to the DEC appeal up to £3 million, with the Foreign Secretary stating in her announcement that: "The situation in Gaza remains critical, with winter weather taking conditions from bad to worse. Innocent families are facing icy winds and biting rain, forced to live in exposed conditions. We must act now to get vital winter aid to those that need it."
Earlier this month UK-funded tents entered Gaza after months stuck at the border, to provide urgent shelter for families which are desperately needed now that winter has arrived. We are continuing to urge the Israeli authorities to open all crossings and routes, and lift all restrictions so that the UN and other humanitarian relief agencies can get supplies of shelter kits, medicine, food, and other essentials into Gaza at the volume and pace required to meet the scale and urgency of this crisis.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many reports of BIA-ALCL there have been in the UK; and which manufacturers of breast implants those reports have been associated with.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
As has been previously shared in evidence submitted to the Women and Equalities Select Committee in July 2025, with further information in the document attached, the Medicines and Healthcare product Regulatory Agency (MHRA) closely monitors Breast Implant Associated- Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (BIA-ALCL), a cancer of the immune system, not a breast cancer, and publishes the output from this monitoring on the GOV.UK webpage, at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/breast-implants-and-anaplastic-large-cell-lymphoma-alcl
The MHRA has developed, with advice from independent expert advisory group, a follow up strategy to collect further data on adverse incidents reporting BIA-ALCL. This has informed the information that is published on the MHRA webpage relating to BIA-ALCL which includes the most up to date number of confirmed reports of BIA-ALCL made to the MHRA, and the breakdown of the number of confirmed reports of primary BIA-ALCL cases by manufacturer of breast implant.
Please note that the data on the GOV.UK webpage should be interpreted in the context of the ‘Notes and limitations to the data’ section also provided on the webpage.