Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what estimate he has made of the number of people who will benefit from the Warm Homes Plan in (a) Central Bedfordshire, (b) the East of England and (c) England.
Answered by Martin McCluskey - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
We have invested £15 billion in the Warm Homes Plan, making it the biggest investment in home upgrades ever. We will reach 5 million homes by 2030, through direct support for those on low incomes and in fuel poverty, and innovative low-interest finance available to all. The Warm Homes Plan will help lift up to one million households out of fuel poverty by 2030 through public investment and new minimum energy standards for private landlords.
The Department will publish monitoring statistics and evaluation of policies announced in the Warm Homes Plan. DESNZ currently publishes statistics covering the uptake and impacts of energy efficiency measures here.
Asked by: Shivani Raja (Conservative - Leicester East)
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 help improve influenza vaccination uptake in (a) Leicester and (b) the East Midlands.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department works closely with the UK Health Security Agency and NHS England to improve vaccination uptake. In Leicester, NHS England has advised that flu vaccination uptake has increased compared with last winter, with notable improvement in school‑age flu vaccination.
Across the East Midlands, NHS England has advised that there has been an increase in uptake compared to this time last year for most cohorts, notably within two and three year olds and frontline healthcare worker cohorts, though lower uptake has been seen in over 65 year olds and care home cohorts.
This year, NHS England has introduced, for the first time, an expansion to the two to three-year-old flu offer with appointments available via community pharmacy sites to support easier access.
NHS England has been working closely with local integrated care boards (ICBs) and wider partners including acute and community hospitals, community pharmacies, and general practices, to take an integrated approach to improving influenza vaccination uptake across all eligible groups.
Local ICBs are working together with community leaders and local partners to ensure that information is shared within communities about how, when, and where people can get vaccinated.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding has been allocated to cancer care infrastructure in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency in the next three financial years.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.
The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.
Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.
The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
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 improve diagnostic services for cancer in Buckingham and Bletchley constituency.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Improving cancer services, including diagnostic capacity and treatment infrastructure, is a priority for the Government.
The Government is committed to meeting all three National Health Service cancer waiting time standards across England. We are committed to transforming diagnostic services and will support the NHS to meet demand through investment in new capacity, including magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. As of December 2025, community diagnostic centres are now delivering additional tests and checks on 170 sites across the country.
The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will set out further details as to how patients across England, including in Buckingham and Bletchley, will benefit from improved diagnostic services and cancer care infrastructure.
Funding for cancer pathways is multi-layered. The integrated care board uses the core Government allocation to commission services from providers, including cancer-related activity. Specialised commissioning directs funding towards specialist areas of healthcare, such as paediatric oncology and chemotherapy.
The East of England Cancer Alliance has been allocated approximately £16 million of revenue funds for 2026/27 which will support targeted programmes of work. The process to allocate these funds is currently live. System priorities have been identified and funding requests have been submitted for consideration.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to mental health services to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme funds drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support for people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. It aims to improve access to treatment, including for those with co-occurring mental health needs. For 2025/26, the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme has provided £419,394 to East Sussex County Council. From 2026/27 to 2028/29, we have committed £185 million to the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme overall and East Sussex will continue to receive funding.
As set out in A National Plan to End Homelessness, we recognise the need for specialist mental health support for individuals who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless. The NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping programme is supporting better access to specialist homelessness mental health support. Across the country, 37 multi-agency teams have developed services that have significantly reduced mental health crisis admissions to emergency departments as well as the length of stay in hospital.
The independent evaluation of the NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping Programme will be published shortly and we will engage with local system leaders to share the full findings. It is the responsibility of local systems to commission mental health services for their population based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to addiction support services to support people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme funds drug and alcohol treatment and wraparound support for people sleeping rough or at risk of sleeping rough. It aims to improve access to treatment, including for those with co-occurring mental health needs. For 2025/26, the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme has provided £419,394 to East Sussex County Council. From 2026/27 to 2028/29, we have committed £185 million to the Rough Sleeping Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programme overall and East Sussex will continue to receive funding.
As set out in A National Plan to End Homelessness, we recognise the need for specialist mental health support for individuals who are, or are at risk of becoming, homeless. The NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping programme is supporting better access to specialist homelessness mental health support. Across the country, 37 multi-agency teams have developed services that have significantly reduced mental health crisis admissions to emergency departments as well as the length of stay in hospital.
The independent evaluation of the NHS England Mental Health Rough Sleeping Programme will be published shortly and we will engage with local system leaders to share the full findings. It is the responsibility of local systems to commission mental health services for their population based on their assessment of local need.
Asked by: Josh Babarinde (Liberal Democrat - Eastbourne)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many out of area placements there are in (a) Eastbourne, (b) East Sussex, (c) the South East and (d) England.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Councils should, wherever possible, seek to place homeless households within their own area, except where there are clear benefits for the person seeking assistance (for example, in cases of domestic abuse).
The National Plan to End Homelessness sets out the government’s intention to engage with councils to address poor practice – to clarify what is suitable and make expectations on sending and receiving councils clear. Authorities receiving out of area placements must be notified in accordance with the law – this should involve engagement with the receiving authority to minimise disruption to health services, education and vital support networks.
This work will form part of the action plan to deliver the Plan.
We have published new data on out-of-area placements, setting out which areas have received placements, the composition of households placed out of area and the type of accommodation they are placed into. You can find this data on gov.uk here.
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: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help reduce avoidable ambulance demand in the East of England.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is taking a comprehensive approach to reducing avoidable ambulance demand across the country including in the East of England. Our Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) Plan for 2025/26 aims to improve UEC performance with a focus on reducing ambulance handover delays by introducing a maximum 45-minute standard, freeing up ambulances to get back on the road.
The plan also commits to increasing the number of patients receiving urgent care in the community by expanding services such as urgent community response, neighbourhood multidisciplinary teams, and increasing the use of virtual wards. By boosting the capacity and accessibility of these services, people can receive the care they need closer to home, reducing the need to call an ambulance or attend accident and emergency.
NHS 111 continues to play a crucial role in managing demand by providing clinical advice and triage over the phone or online, ensuring patients are directed to the most appropriate service for their needs. This includes supporting more ‘hear and treat’ and ‘see and treat’ responses, where patients receive advice or treatment without the need for an ambulance to convey them to hospital.
Asked by: Michelle Welsh (Labour - Sherwood Forest)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to ensure local authorities fix potholes in Nottinghamshire.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Government is committed to tackling the poor state of our roads which is why it has confirmed a record £7.3 billion investment into local highways maintenance over the next four years. This new, four-year funding settlement is in addition to the Government’s investment of £1.6 billion this year, a £500 million increase compared to last year.
Nottinghamshire sits within East Midlands Combined County Authority, who will receive highways maintenance funding consolidated within a £2,038 million Transport for City Regions settlement. This settlement provides longer term funding certainty for local transport improvements to 2031/32. In 2026/27, they will also be eligible to receive an additional £20.8 million in highways maintenance incentive funding.
Furthermore, the Department published a new traffic light rating system on 11 January. Under this system, all local highway authorities in England received a red, amber or green rating based on the condition of their roads, how much they spend to maintain their roads, and whether they do so using best practice. The Department has also published an interactive map which means residents can see how their authority is performing and allow the Government to target support to those who need extra help. Nottinghamshire received an overall amber rating, with individual scorecards showing amber for condition, green for spend and amber for best practice.