Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
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 enabling directors of children's services to commission CAMHS on the holistic provision for (a) children and (b) children with neurodiversity.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
No assessment has been made of the potential impact of enabling directors of children’s services to commission Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services on holistic provision for children, including those with neurodiversity.
The Government’s priority is to ensure that health and children’s social care work together effectively to provide timely, joined-up support for children and young people. This is being delivered through integrated care systems, which bring National Health Services and local authorities together to plan and deliver care collaboratively.
The Government recently announced a three-year pilot to improve mental health support for children in care by bringing together social workers and NHS professionals. Additionally, programmes such as ‘Early Language Support for Every Child’ and ‘Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools’ promote early intervention, alongside special educational needs and disabilities reforms in the forthcoming Schools White Paper.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential benefits of providing funding through councils' public health grants for public toilet provision.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to create and implement a duty on every council to develop a public toilet strategy.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
Asked by: Vikki Slade (Liberal Democrat - Mid Dorset and North Poole)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the level of public toilets on the public.
Answered by Miatta Fahnbulleh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
In keeping with our commitment to funding simplification, the Government has no current plans to introduce a statutory duty or ringfenced funding relating to toilet provision.
Local authorities are responsible for assessing and managing toilet provision and are best placed to do so due to their ability to account for local needs. However, we recognise the importance of toilet provision and have taken steps to support local leaders. At the 2025 Spending Review, we committed over £5 billion in new grant funding over the next three years for essential local services such as toilets. In addition, we continue to provide 100% mandatory business rates relief for separately assessed public toilets. No specific assessment on the level of provision of public toilets has been made.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
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 6 November 2025 to written question 79826, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Defence on the national security implications of the creation of a large database of genomic data.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Data is the driving force of modern economies and technology and is strategically important nationally and globally. However, we know this data can be exploited by those seeking to counter United Kingdom interests and we are taking action to secure our data and its supporting infrastructure to support the UK's long-term growth.
The UK has strong safeguards and world-leading investigation and enforcement to ensure that data is collected and handled responsibly and securely. I am engaging with my Cabinet Office colleagues to ensure our protocols adapt as technology develops to protect the UK’s national security.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent steps he has taken to support veterans families in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.
Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This Government is committed to ensuring that veterans and their families are easily able to access support in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire and across the country, when and where it is needed. Late last year we launched a new Veterans Strategy which recognises veterans as a national asset and resets the nation’s relationship with those who have served.
Alongside this, we launched the £50 million VALOUR programme, which will make it easier for veterans to access the care and support they deserve, and we confirmed £12 million for the continuation of the Reducing Veteran Homelessness Programme.
In addition, dedicated supported is available to veterans through Ops FORTITUDE, COURAGE, RESTORE, ASCEND and NOVA as well as through programmes such as the Career Transition Partnership.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what capital funding he has made available for (a) neighbourhood health services as part of the Ten Year Plan and (b) health and primary care facilities in (i) Witham constituency and (ii) Essex in each of the next five years.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
At the Autumn Budget, we announced our commitment to deliver 250 neighbourhood health centres (NHCs) through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme. This will deliver NHCs through a mixture of refurbishments to expand and improve sites over the next three years and new-build sites opening in the medium term. The first 120 NHCs are due to be operational by 2030, delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.
In September 2025, we launched the National Neighbourhood Health Implementation Programme (NNHIP) in 43 Places across England, including North East Essex. The NNHIP is a large-scale change programme for all partners involved in delivering neighbourhood health with a strong focus on co-production and working with the people and communities they serve.
Integrated care systems’ estates infrastructure strategies have been developed to create a long-term plan for future estate requirements and investment for each local area and its needs.
The Essex Integrated Care Board has submitted plans for local investment in health facilities other than Neighbourhood Health Services, based on indicative allocations, and will be informed of its multi-year capital budget on conclusion of the planning process.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress his Department has made on meeting the 18-week treatment targets set out in the Elective Reform Plan.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to returning, by March 2029, to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment (RTT).
NHS England’s Operational Planning Guidance for 2025/26 set a target that 65% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks by March 2026, with every trust expected to deliver a minimum 5% improvement on current performance over that period.
To achieve this interim March 2026 target, we expect the size of the total waiting list to reduce. We have already made significant progress on this. As of October 2025, the waiting list had reduced by over 225,000 since the Government came into office, and performance against the RTT standard has improved by 2.9%, reaching 61.8%.
This has been supported by the delivery of 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025 compared to the previous year, more than double the Government’s pledge of two million. This marks a vital First Step towards delivering the constitutional standard.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he has had recent discussions with Royal Mail on standards of service.
Answered by Blair McDougall - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
Ministers and officials have discussions with Royal Mail on a regular basis in its capacity as the universal service provider.
Last November, I met the CEOs of Royal Mail and International Distribution Services and raised concerns about Royal Mail’s performance. They reported continued targeted action to improve reliability. I will continue to raise concerns with Royal Mail if quality of service does not improve.
Ofcom, the independent regulator of postal services, sets and monitors Royal Mail’s regulated service standards and decides how to use its powers to investigate and take enforcement action should Royal Mail fail to achieve its obligations without sufficient justification.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
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 reduce elective care waiting times, including for joint replacement surgery.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 November 2025 to Question 89685.