Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what has been the financial cost to his Department of litigation related to the WASPI campaign since December 2024.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Based on the information held, since December 2024, the recorded legal costs on litigations with WASPI including disbursements and VAT are £135,999.61.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Prime Minister has agreed a date to meet with victims of press abuse, following his remarks at the Liaison Committee on 15 December 2025.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Officials from the Prime Minister’s Office are in contact to arrange a meeting.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent changes there have been in funding for hospice services in (a) England, (b) the South East region and (c) Sussex.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
In December 2024, we announced that we were providing £100 million of capital funding for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England. I am pleased to say that we can now confirm we are providing a further £25 million in capital funding for hospices to spend in 2025/26. From this additional £25 million of capital funding, hospices in the South East region will receive over £5 million. The Southern Hospice Group in Sussex, which is formed of St Barnabas House, Chestnut House, and Martlets, will receive £500,000. Sussex Beacon in Brighton will receive £88,920.
We also recently announced that we are providing approximately £80 million of revenue funding for children and young people’s hospices in England over the next three financial years, from 2026/27 to 2028/29, giving them stability to plan ahead and focus on what matters most, caring for their patients. Chestnut Tree House Children’s Hospice in Sussex and a number of other children’s hospices in the wider South East region, including Demelza Children’s Hospice, Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice, Naomi House and Jacksplace Hospice, Helen and Douglas House, and Ellenor Hospice will all benefit from this funding.
The Sussex Integrated Care Board (ICB) is taking steps to support the long-term sustainability of hospices in its area. This includes 10-year grant agreements for adult hospices, providing financial certainty and strengthening their ability to maintain services during a period of rising demand.
The ICB is also funding a Sussex Hospice Alliance Programme Director to support collective planning, clinical integration, and workforce development. The ICB currently spends £13.3 million a year with hospices.
The Government is developing a Palliative Care and End of Life Care Modern Service Framework (MSF) for England. As part of the MSF, we will consider contracting and commissioning arrangements. We recognise that there is currently a mix of contracting models in the hospice sector. By supporting ICBs to commission more strategically, we can move away from grant and block contract models. In the long term, this will aid sustainability and help hospices’ ability to plan ahead.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to hold discussions with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on his comments of December 2025 on the treatment of hunger-striking prisoners.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
No discussions are planned. We are confident that the measures in place to ensure proper care for prisoners who refuse food are in accordance with the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to widen eligibility for hybrid closed loop (HCL) pump devices for people with diabetes; what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the progress of the rollout of HCL pumps to eligible groups; and what estimate he has made of the cost of expansion.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The eligibility criteria for hybrid closed loop (HCL) devices for people with diabetes are set in guidance published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) at the following link:
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta943
NICE is an independent body with their own processes for reviewing and updating their guidance, taking account of the best available evidence of both clinical and cost effectiveness.
As part of NHS England’s HCL implementation, HCL has been provided to over 600 pregnant women with type 1 diabetes. Further details on NHS England’s five-year national implementation strategy are published online, at the following link:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/long-read/hybrid-closed-loop-technologies-5-year-implementation-strategy/
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for which stop and search for items related to protest is used much more frequently by some police forces than others.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Public Order Act 2023 includes stop and search powers for police to search for and seize articles related to protest-related offences.
The Home Office publishes statistics on use of stop and search powers, the latest are at: Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK
While overall numbers are small, the figures show that protest related searches are more concentrated in the Metropolitan Police Service, Surrey and Sussex.
The management of protests is an operational matter for the police. It is for chief constables and their officers to make decisions about the use of stop and search powers in response to local needs.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 92325 on Access to Work Programme, how many Access to Work awards have been (a) decided, (b) reduced at renewal, (c) increased at renewal and (d) removed at renewal.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
A total of 20,852 Access to Work renewal awards have been decided since July 2024.
The Department does not hold information on the number of awards that have been (a) reduced, (b) increased, or (c) removed at the point of renewal. Determining these figures would require a manual review of individual cases, which would result in a disproportionate cost to the Department.
Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of remediation needed on large panel system (LPS) housing blocks on the finances of local authorities; and whether building safety financial support will cover more LPS buildings with delays in remediation.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The issues with Large Panel System (LPS) buildings are longstanding and well known. Building owners are responsible for managing safety and performance risks in their buildings, in a proportionate, risk- based and evidence-based way. We have made it clear they are therefore responsible for any maintenance or remedial works required on their LPS buildings, including any strengthening works or removal of mains gas supply. Guidance has long been made available to support building owners in taking the right steps and measures to mitigate risks in their LPS buildings. This includes the British Research Establishment Report: Handbook for the structural assessment of large panel system (LPS) dwelling blocks for accidental loading (BR 511)
Local authorities are responsible for managing their budgets to fulfil their duties. This includes keeping the housing conditions in their area under review with a view to identifying any actions that may need to be taken by them. Where remediation or maintenance works are required in LPS buildings, or any other issues, local authorities should do so within their budgets.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Written Statement HCWS1044 on 11 November 2025, which findings contained in the 2007 DWP evaluation of the effectiveness of automatic pension forecast letters were not provided to his predecessor.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Secretary of State announced in his oral statement of 11 November 2025 that we will retake the decision made in December 2024 as it relates to the communications on State Pension age.
This was because findings from a 2007 report had not been drawn to the attention of the previous Secretary of State as its potential relevance to the making of her decision was not evident at the time.
The process to retake the decision is underway and it is important that we give this full and proper consideration. We will update Parliament on the decision as soon as a conclusion is reached.
Asked by: Siân Berry (Green Party - Brighton Pavilion)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many GP practice (a) closures and (b) mergers there have been in (i) Brighton Pavilion constituency and (ii) the Brighton and Hove local authority area since 2016.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department does not hold data on the number of general practice closures and mergers that there have been in the Brighton Pavilion constituency and the Brighton and Hove local authority area since 2016. This data is held by the NHS Sussex Integrated Care Board.