Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he has taken to support young people in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) Milton Keynes into employment, education or training.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This Government is investing in young people’s futures. At the Budget, we announced more than £1.5 billion of investment over the next three years, funding £820 million for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn, and an additional £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy.
Through the expanded Youth Guarantee, young people aged 16-24 across Great Britain are set to benefit from further support into employment and learning, including:
The Growth and Skills Levy’s £725 million investment will deliver more apprenticeships for young people and help match skills training with local job opportunities. Young people will benefit from:
50,000 young people across the country will be better equipped for jobs of the future through a major investment to create more apprenticeships and training courses.
As this programme is across Great Britian, my hon. Friend will be assured that it will have an effect on his constituency.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the availability and duration of backup power supplies for radio broadcast transmission sites during prolonged power outages.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.
Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.
The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the sustainability of prosthetics and orthotics apprenticeship provision in England; and what steps she is taking to support its continuation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. We have worked with the health and care sector to design the Level 6 prosthetics and orthotics and Level 6 therapeutic radiography standards. These are approved for delivery and information about these standards, including funding bands, is published here and here.
Apprenticeship providers are independent bodies responsible for making their own decisions about which courses they deliver.
Asked by: Stuart Andrew (Conservative - Daventry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of therapeutic radiography apprenticeship provision; and what steps she is taking to support the long-term viability of those courses.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department works closely with the Department for Health and Social Care to support the availability of a diverse range of training routes into health and care careers. We have worked with the health and care sector to design the Level 6 prosthetics and orthotics and Level 6 therapeutic radiography standards. These are approved for delivery and information about these standards, including funding bands, is published here and here.
Apprenticeship providers are independent bodies responsible for making their own decisions about which courses they deliver.
Asked by: Jodie Gosling (Labour - Nuneaton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the planned timeline is for publishing the next iteration of the taxonomy being developed as part of the ongoing reforms to Drug Tariff Part IX.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The final draft, version 1.2, of the Part IX Drug Tariff (Med Tech in the community) Wave 1 categorisation was developed in collaboration with an Expert Reference Group and updated in line with stakeholder feedback over four iterations. The final version was published in October 2025 and can be found on the NHS Business Services Authority Website at the following link:
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/manufacturers-and-suppliers/drug-tariff-part-ix-information
The Department is currently recruiting Independent Assessment Panels (IAPs) for Wave 1 and has agreed to ask them to review late feedback received from a company on the eye drops category. This is due to take place in February 2026 and will not require further input from industry as it has already been circulated for comment by them.
The Department has also offered to review Drug Tariff Committee feedback regarding the categorisation of medical devices that fall into waves 2 to 4.
The categorisation for waves 2 and 3 is currently being reviewed, and the Department expects to share the updated versions in early 2026 well in advance of the projected launch of waves 2 and 3 in 2027 and 2028 respectively. There are no confirmed plans for reviewing wave 4 at this time. The earliest launch would be in January 2029. All dates are subject to the outcome of the review of wave one.
The Department recognises that the categorisation is not stagnant and may need further amendments as medical devices continue to evolve and the IAPs are stood up. Companies can suggest further amendments when they apply to Part IX of the Drug Tariff or through the Drug Tariff Committee.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October to Question 77603 on Brain: Tumours, what steps he plans to take to incentivise pharmaceutical companies involved in developing vaccines for brain tumours to approach the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad for funding and support.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through its research delivery arm, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the financial year 2024/25, the NIHR’s reported spend on cancer research was over £141.6 million through its research programmes and infrastructure, reflecting cancer’s high priority.
The Government is taking measures to boost research into brain tumours. In December 2025, the NIHR announced the pioneering Brain Tumour Research Consortium to accelerate research into new brain tumour treatments. NIHR is investing an initial £13.7 million with significant further funding due to be awarded in 2026.
We also support the Rare Cancers Private Members Bill. This bill aims to incentivise research and investment into treatment by introducing measures to streamline clinical trial recruitment, allow patients to be more easily contacted by researchers, and also mandates a review of orphan drug regulations.
The NIHR continues to welcome funding applications for research into any aspect of human health and care, including brain tumours. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
Asked by: Ben Goldsborough (Labour - South Norfolk)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) alter and (b) mitigate the National Institute for Care and Excellence's downgrading of terminal cancer to moderately severe.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not classified terminal cancer as moderately severe. The NICE is an independent body and is responsible for developing the methods and processes it uses to evaluate whether new medicines should be recommended for routine National Health Service funding.
In developing recommendations on whether medicines represent a clinically and cost effective use of NHS resources, NICE is able to apply a weighting that recognises the additional value that society places on treatments for severe conditions. The weighting that is applied is calculated for each appraisal based on information on the expected shortfall in life expectancy and quality of life of people with the condition taking into account existing treatment options. NICE has concluded for several appraisals of medicines for advanced cancer that a weighting should be applied based on the severity of the condition. The latest data for appraisals published up to September 2025, show that NICE has recommended 84.8% of treatments for advanced cancers since the severity modifier was introduced compared to 69.1% under its previous methods.
NICE is monitoring the impact of the changes made following the methods review and has committed to considering modular updates to its methods and processes in the future. NICE has also commissioned research to gather further evidence on societal preferences that will inform future methods reviews.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93580 on Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services, which external stakeholders his Department is engaging with in the development of the modern service framework for mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to publish the modern service framework for severe mental illness in the latter half of 2026.
Engagement on the modern service framework will involve a wide range of stakeholders, such as people with lived experience, clinicians, allied professionals, social workers, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, commissioners, and National Health Service Leaders. We have recruited a third Co-Chair for the Modern Service Framework, Jo Lomani, who is a national mental health co-production lead and expert by lived and living experience, to support the implementation of our lived-experience involvement and co-production strategy. This aims to ensure that people who use mental health services stay at the centre of everything we do.
Asked by: Cameron Thomas (Liberal Democrat - Tewkesbury)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2025 to Question 93580 on Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services, when the Government expects to publish the modern service framework for mental health.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government plans to publish the modern service framework for severe mental illness in the latter half of 2026.
Engagement on the modern service framework will involve a wide range of stakeholders, such as people with lived experience, clinicians, allied professionals, social workers, the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector, commissioners, and National Health Service Leaders. We have recruited a third Co-Chair for the Modern Service Framework, Jo Lomani, who is a national mental health co-production lead and expert by lived and living experience, to support the implementation of our lived-experience involvement and co-production strategy. This aims to ensure that people who use mental health services stay at the centre of everything we do.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) effectiveness of the role of BBC Radio 4 in national emergency communications and (b) the resilience of its transmission network to power loss.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The BBC has specific requirements under its Framework Agreement in relation to broadcast security and resilience, and works closely with DCMS in ensuring its networks are able to support emergency communications. DCMS has full oversight of these plans and works with Cabinet Office and other lead Government Departments to ensure BBC’s capabilities are integrated into wider resilience planning.
Detailed planning and preparations for a range of risks including power outages is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC has informed the Government that its plan for maintaining emergency communications to the public in an extended national power outage includes a detailed assessment of back up power generation capacity and capabilities at key BBC sites and transmitter sites operated by third-party providers. The plan for this risk is designed to maintain broadcasts of key BBC radio channels nationally to both urban and rural communities. The BBC regularly tests its plan and procedures including live tests of its broadcast systems.
The loss of broadcast coverage to a specific geographic area is an operational matter for the BBC. The BBC collects and holds detailed information about the disruption of its radio services from individual transmitters.