Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual budget was for the (a) Pensions Regulator and (b) Health and Safety Executive in each year since 2005.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Both the Health and Safety Executive and the Pensions Regulator are funded from a mix of sources. These include direct government funding, levies on industry (in the case of the Pensions Regulator) and from charging or cost recoveries.
The full spend, and financial breakdowns, for these bodies by year can be found in their respective Annual Report and Accounts. This information is available in the public domain via The Pensions Regulator and Health and Safety Executive respective ARAs. They can be found using the following links:
The Pensions Regulator (see Financial Review sections)
HSE Annual Reports and Accounts (see statement of Cashflows section)
[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Reports produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether (a) he, (b) his Ministers and (c) official in his Department have held discussions with their counterparts in (i) Wales, (ii) Scotland and (iii) Northern Ireland on pre-visit notifications.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, or mobile, sight tests are available for patients eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, and this includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advanced notification to integrated care boards of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test. Pre-visit notifications play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable groups.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England. NHS England and the Department are happy to engage with the primary eye care sector around the requirement for pre visit notifications to understand any concerns about pre-visit notifications.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Hinckley and Bosworth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to remove the requirement for optometrists to complete Pre-Visit Notifications.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
National Health Service funded domiciliary, or mobile, sight tests are available for patients eligible for free NHS sight tests and who are unable to leave home unaccompanied because of physical or mental illness or disability, and this includes individuals in residential care homes and nursing homes.
Domiciliary eye care providers are required to give advanced notification to integrated care boards of their intention to provide an NHS domiciliary sight test to a patient. This is referred to as a pre-visit notification and includes the details of the contractor, where the visit will take place, and the names and dates of birth of the patients booked to have a sight test. Pre-visit notifications play an important role in safeguarding vulnerable groups.
No discussions have taken place with the Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish administrations on removing the requirement for pre-visit notifications for domiciliary eye care services in England. NHS England and the Department are happy to engage with the primary eye care sector around the requirement for pre visit notifications to understand any concerns about pre-visit notifications.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the Arakan Army has committed human rights violations in northwestern Myanmar; and what steps they are taking bilaterally and through international mechanisms to ensure accountability for those abuses.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK remains deeply concerned by reports of human rights violations in western Myanmar. We are aware of allegations involving armed actors in the region and continue to push for accountability for such abuses, wherever they occur.
As penholder on Myanmar at the UN Security Council, we convened six Council meetings in 2024 and three so far in 2025 to spotlight the crisis, including the first open meeting in five years focused on the Rohingya. We also co-sponsored the UN Human Rights Council resolution in April (2025) on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, condemning ongoing violations particularly against ethnic minorities.
The UK has provided £900,000 to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar since 2021 to support the collection, verification, and preservation of evidence for future prosecution, and established the Myanmar Witness programme to verify open-source evidence of human rights violations.
Asked by: Baroness Pidgeon (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will publish the metrics of each of the four tests that proposed schemes to expand Heathrow Airport will have to meet, and if so, when.
Answered by Lord Hendy of Richmond Hill - Minister of State (Department for Transport)
On 22 October the Government formally commenced the review of the Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which provides the primary basis for decision-making on whether to grant development consent for a new runway at Heathrow. The review will reflect important changes in legislation, policy, and data and set the four tests that any proposed scheme must meet on economic growth, climate, air quality and noise.
As part of the review, the Government will develop analysis on the economic and environmental impacts of expansion at Heathrow, which will inform the four tests. We expect to publish any revisions to the ANPS for consultation by summer 2026, together with supporting assessments.
Asked by: Gill Furniss (Labour - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure councils implement the requirements of the Care Act 2014 on Individual Service Funds.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to local authorities on offering Individual Service Funds to patients.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
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 local authorities on the effectiveness of the implementation of Individual Service Funds under the Care Act 2014.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, everyone whose needs are met by the local authority (LA) must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The budget sets out how much of the cost of care will be met by the LA and how much will be met by the adult.
Individual Service Funds (ISFs) are one of the ways in which the personal budget can be deployed. It allows for a third-party provider to hold and manage the budget on behalf of the individual.
Guidance on ISFs is set out in the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) Guidance, issued under the Care Act 2014. The CASS guidance sets out that LAs should offer ISFs where possible and provide clear information on how they work. Where an ISF arrangement is not available locally, the LA should explore arrangements to develop this offer and should be receptive to requests to create arrangements with specified providers.
In addition, and supported by the Department, Think Local Act Personal has produced guidance for LAs on ISFs, which can be found on their website, at the following link:
The Care Quality Commission is assessing how well LAs in England are delivering adult social care by looking at how they are performing against their duties under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014. The assessments identify LAs strengths and areas for improvement, facilitating the sharing of good practice and helping us to target support where it is most needed.
The Department has not had discussions with LAs specifically on the effectiveness of the implementation of ISFs under the Care Act 2014.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with Lancashire County Council on care home provision in (a) Lancashire and (b) Fylde constituency.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities, in this case the Lancashire County Council, are required to shape their local markets, and to ensure that people have a range of high-quality, sustainable, and person-centred care and support options available to them, such that they can access services that best meet their needs.
This reflects the fact that local authorities are best placed to understand and plan for the care needs of their populations, and to make any assessment of proposals in relation to local market capacity.
Department officials maintain a range of engagement on a range of issues with directors of adult social services and their departments in local authorities across the country. Colleagues from the Lancashire County Council have been involved in these discussions.
I have agreed to meet with a number of local Members of Parliament to discuss the consultation the Lancashire County Council has launched on the future of 10 adult social care services, including the Milbanke care home.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
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 impact of migration from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit on care charges levied on disabled people by local authorities.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Under the Care Act 2014, the responsibility for interpreting and applying the law and the Care and Support Statutory (CASS) guidance rests with local authorities. Where local authorities decide to charge for the provision of care and support, they must follow the Care Act 2014 and the Care and Support (Charging and Assessment of Resources) Regulations 2014, and they must act under the CASS guidance.
We are aware of some concerns raised around the impact of migration from Employment Support Allowance to Universal Credit on care charges. We are actively looking into this potential impact. To date, no specific assessment has been made.