Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of business rates on soft play centres in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

At the Budget, the VOA announced updated property values from the 2026 revaluation. This revaluation is the first since the pandemic, which has led to significant increases in rateable values for some properties as they recover from the pandemic.

In recognition of the impact of the revaluation on bills, the Government introduced a support package worth £4.3 billion, to protect against ratepayers seeing large overnight increases in bills.

As a result, over half of ratepayers will see no bill increases. This also means most properties seeing increases will see them capped at 15% or less next year, or £800 for the smallest.

The Government is also introducing new permanently lower tax rates for eligible retail, hospitality and leisure properties, including soft play centres. These new tax rates are worth nearly £1 billion per year, and will benefit over 750,000 properties.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of business rates on soft play centres in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

I refer you to my previous answer to PQ 111499.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Institute for Health and Care Research's news story entitled NIHR launches £13.7 million investment into brain tumour research, published on 19 December 2025, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of funding the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium and Brain Tumour Research Centres of Excellence on the level of patient access to tumour tissue freezing within routine NHS neuro-oncology pathways, including access for patients treated outside specialist centres to sequencing, research, and clinical trials.

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

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR).

In January 2026, the NIHR announced increased investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing lives lost to cancer. Its activities will include:

• enrolling patients to a ‘Real World’ study tracking their progress in everyday medical settings, before matching them to new clinical trials based on their cancer subtype;
• developing pioneering new clinical trials, including platform trials, to test medicines and radiotherapy technologies, immunotherapies, and novel gene therapies. This includes targeted precision medicine; and
• developing new training programmes for those working in brain cancer research to build capacity and increase skills among the next generation of researchers.

It is anticipated that this funding will include costs associated with freezer capacity to house frozen tissue and liquid biopsy samples specifically to support the consortium’s activities. The consortium will also engage with partners on the standardised pathways for tissue storage and whole genome sequencing for all patients for stratification into clinical trials.

In addition, the NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support National Health Service trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the National Institute for Health and Care Research's news story entitled NIHR launches £13.7 million investment into brain tumour research, published on 19 December 2025, whether the funding allocated to brain tumour research through the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium includes specific funding to increase tissue freezing capacity and standardise access to tumour storage across NHS trusts and health boards to allow all eligible brain cancer patients to have genomic sequencing, clinical trials, and advanced diagnostics.

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

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR).

In January 2026, the NIHR announced increased investment of over £25 million in the NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium. The world-leading consortium aims to transform outcomes for adults and children and their families who are living with brain tumours, ultimately reducing lives lost to cancer. Its activities will include:

• enrolling patients to a ‘Real World’ study tracking their progress in everyday medical settings, before matching them to new clinical trials based on their cancer subtype;
• developing pioneering new clinical trials, including platform trials, to test medicines and radiotherapy technologies, immunotherapies, and novel gene therapies. This includes targeted precision medicine; and
• developing new training programmes for those working in brain cancer research to build capacity and increase skills among the next generation of researchers.

It is anticipated that this funding will include costs associated with freezer capacity to house frozen tissue and liquid biopsy samples specifically to support the consortium’s activities. The consortium will also engage with partners on the standardised pathways for tissue storage and whole genome sequencing for all patients for stratification into clinical trials.

In addition, the NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support National Health Service trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help support people with endometriosis in the workplace in Harpenden and Berkhamsted constituency.

Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Good work is good for health, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Backed by £240 million investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched in November 2024 is driving forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity.

Disabled people and people with health conditions are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. The Government is committed to supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, including women with endometriosis, with their employment journey.

We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Existing measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies, Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care and WorkWell. WorkWell is part of Pathways to Work and will be rolled out across all of England backed by up to £259 million investment over three years. We are also rolling out Connect to Work, our supported employment programme for anyone who is disabled, has a health condition or is experiencing more complex barriers to work.

In November 2025, Sir Charlie Mayfield reported his Keep Britain Working Review, setting out recommendations to support employers to create healthier and more inclusive workplaces and radically reshape the way Government works with employers to improve outcomes. Following publication we have entered the Vanguard phase and, as part of this, we are partnering with Vanguard employers to test how we can better support good health in work, with a focus on women's health as part of this. Women’s health directly impacts economic participation, with health issues being the leading cause of lost working time for women. We have been inputting into the Women’s Health Strategy renewal to ensure women being in work is a positive health outcome. This includes a commitment to adopting a women’s health across the life course lens as part of the partnership with Vanguard employers in the Keep Britain Working Vanguard Phase.

The 10 Year Health Plan, published in July, builds on existing work to better integrate health with employment support and incentivise greater cross-system collaboration, recognising good work is good for health. The Plan states our intention to break down barriers to opportunity by delivering the holistic support that people need to access and thrive in employment by ensuring a better health service for everyone, regardless of condition or service area. It outlines how the neighbourhood health service will join up support from across the work, health and skills systems to help address the multiple complex challenges that often stop people finding and staying in work.

Individuals unable to work due to endometriosis may be eligible to receive Statutory Sick Pay from their employer which, from April becomes payable from the first full day of sickness absence.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to increase access to GP appointments.

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

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank

International Women's Day 2026 and women’s inclusion in placemaking

Conduct of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

Cardiac risk in the young

Dual nationals without British passports

High street bank closures

New US sanctions on Cuba

90th anniversary of the Spitfire

Role of the House of Lords in scrutinising legislation

Dolphin hunting in the Faroe Islands

Health and Care Worker visas

Review of the student loan system

Palantir and the NHS

Securing the Ukraine Permission Extension scheme

The Chilterns National Landscape boundary review

Chalk stream river protection