Written questions by Stephenson.

If stations on East West Rail will have step-free access.

All new and refurbished stations as part of the East-West Rail (EWR) project will have step-free access for users once the full route between Oxford and Cambridge opens in the mid-2030s and will meet robust accessibility requirements set out by EWR Co’s inclusive design team. EWR Co also has an accessibility advisory panel, which is made up of people with a range of disabilities, who are consulted on EWR Co’s designs to ensure these promote accessible travel for all.

Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to ensure mobile network operators cannot invoke the all reasonable efforts clause to avoid penalties under the Shared Rural Network agreement in remote or total not-spot areas.

I refer the hon. Member for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, to the answer of 25 July 2025 to Question 68571: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

If she will publish a list of the named, contactable police officer in every neighbourhood in England and Wales.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is ensuring a more consistent standard of neighbourhood policing across England and Wales. This includes every neighbourhood in England and Wales now having named and contactable officers.Details of all named, contactable officers can be found on force websites, where the public are able to type in their postcode to find out about their neighbourhood policing area, local policing priorities and how to contact their neighbourhood teams.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61255 on Planning: Apprentices, if he will make it his policy to collect data on the number of planners with a Level 7 Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeship qualification that are employed by (a) local authorities and (b) developers.

My Department currently has no plans to collect data on the number of planners with a Level 7 Chartered Town Planner Apprenticeship qualification employed by local authorities or developers.

Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 61251 on Affordable Housing: Greater London, what level of affordable housing delivery in London he is targeting; and what progress his Department has made on this.

The GLA’s target range for the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme in London is 17,800-19,000.The GLA last published their affordable housing statistics in August 2025. From the beginning of the programme to June 2025, there have been 5,500 starts, and 997 completions.

With reference to page 27 of the Agenda Report entitled The formation of the Vauxhall Luton Taskforce of the Agenda for the Luton Borough Council Executive meeting on 23 June 2025, whether the Government has made its own assessment of the cost of the closure of the Stellantis plant on the Bedfordshire economy.

Despite extensive engagement from Ministers, Stellantis regrettably decided to close its Luton plant, with production ending in May 2025. While we do not have a formal assessment of the cost of the plant closure for the Bedfordshire economy, the Government along with Luton Borough Council and other partners worked closely to understand the likely impact of the closure. The Government also asked Luton Borough Council to form a locally led taskforce to co-ordinate the local response to the economic impact of the plant closure and provided ministerial and official support to the taskforce’s work.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of housing associations.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given Question UIN 76512 on 16 September 2025.

Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to allow local authorities to reject planning applications from developers on the basis of previous failures to (a) build and (b) maintain sustainable drainage infrastructure.

The government is committed to securing the delivery of high-quality sustainable drainage systems to help manage flood risk and adapt to the effects of climate change. The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that developments of all sizes should use sustainable drainage techniques where the development could have drainage impacts, and that appropriate maintenance arrangements should be in place to ensure an acceptable standard of operation for the lifetime of the development. By law, planning applications must be determined in accordance with the development plan for the area unless material considerations indicate otherwise. Each application is judged on its own individual merits and the weight given to these considerations is a matter for the local planning authority as the decision taker in the first instance. Local planning authorities should consider the use of conditions or planning obligations to make development acceptable, which may include flood mitigation works, and have a broad range of powers to take enforcement action against breaches of planning control.

If she will make an estimate of the number of people who (a) have indefinite leave to remain and (b) arrived in the UK on a skilled worker visa who work in an eligible profession.

The Home Office does not produce estimates of the total number of people who currently hold indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK, and of those, who arrived on a Skilled Worker visa and are working in an eligible profession.Migration Statistics do not provide estimates but instead publish official data on casework applications and decisions made under the UK immigration system. These data are available within the quarterly Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK publication.While Migration Statistics do not hold the total number of people with ILR, we do publish quarterly figures on the number of grants and refusals of settlement, and those made through the EU Settlement Scheme, both of which provide the overview of indefinite leave to remain in the UK.In addition, the Migrant journey - GOV.UK detailed dataset (table MJ_D02) provides information on the number of people granted settlement each year by their year of initial grant and category of leave. However, this dataset’s level of detail only extends to the broad category of “Worker”, which may include those initially granted a Skilled Worker visa, but not exclusively; it can also include other routes such as Health and Care Worker or related visa types.

Communities and Local Government, how many social houses have begun construction since 4 July 2024 in (a) England, (b) the East of England and (c) Bedfordshire.

Data on new social and affordable housing supply, including starts, for the period between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 has been pre-announced for publication in November/December 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here. The pre-announcement will be updated with the release date soon, according to the code of practice for Statistics.The subset of that data relating to the delivery in the aforementioned period by Homes England and the Greater London Authority is already available at England level in Live Table 1012, available on gov.uk here.Data on affordable housing supply, including starts for the period between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026 has been pre-announced for publication in November/December 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here. This pre-announcement will be updated with the release date in due course and according to the code of practice for Statistics.

How much funding she plans to allocate to direct rail links between the UK and Germany; and what proportion of that will be allocated in the UK.

The Government fully supports the growth of international rail passenger services, including potential new direct connections, and recognises the socio-economic benefits that these provide for UK citizens and businesses. The Government signed a joint declaration with Germany in August which formalises our joint commitment to exploring the potential for direct rail services in future and establishes a Taskforce to take this forward. This work is in the very early stages, and any services established will be operated on a commercial basis without Government funding, as is the case for all international rail passenger services from the UK.

What estimate he has made of the cost of non-healthcare professionals in his plans for the NHS; and how this compares to the current figure.

No specific assessment has been made of the future cost of non-healthcare professionals. The NHS England 2025/26 Priorities and Operational Planning Guidance though states that integrated care boards and providers should review their workforce and spending to identify savings, including on non-frontline staff, in order to prioritise frontline care. The guidance requires systems to conduct a robust review of establishment growth and return spend on support functions to April 2022 levels. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/PRN01625-25-26-priorities-and-operational-planning-guidance-january-2025.pdfThe Department estimates that expenditure on total paybill for substantive staff employed in National Health Service infrastructure support roles was around £14.4 billion in the 2024-25 financial year. For context, the total paybill for NHS staff in 2024-25 was around £86.6 billion, meaning infrastructure support staff account for around 17% of the total paybill which has been essentially unchanged since 2010-11.NHS infrastructure support roles includes staff working in central functions such as human resources and finance, staff working in property and estates roles and also NHS managers. This paybill figure includes the cost of basic pay, additional earnings, employer national insurance contributions and employer pensions contributions. It covers staff employed by NHS trusts, integrated care boards and also central NHS bodies and support organisations.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of providing ongoing access to therapy for people with complex mental health needs.

We recognise the importance of providing ongoing access to therapy for people with complex mental health needs. The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our vision for a Neighbourhood Health Service and the three big shifts needed in the system – analogue to digital, sickness to prevention and hospital to community.As part of this, we are piloting neighbourhood mental health centres. These pilots aim to provide open access holistic care for anyone with a severe mental illness or complex mental health needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, bringing together a range of community mental health services and other forms of relevant support under one roof, including crisis services and short-stay beds.NHS England is also developing a Modern Service Framework which will focus on services for people with severe and enduring mental illness and services for people with complex emotional needs.

How many people have dependent visas associated with a holder of a charity worker visa.

In total, 3,971 Charity Worker visas have been issued from 2023 to the end of June 2025.Data on charity worker visas issued is published as part of the Immigration system statistics data tables regular releases on the Gov.uk website at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

If he will make an assessment of the causes of the resident doctor strikes in 2025.

On 9 April, The British Medical Association resident doctors committee (BMA RDC) entered into dispute in relation to the timing of the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration report and subsequently ran a statutory ballot, which closed on 8 July, in response to the report and the 2025/26 pay award. They have since run another statutory ballot exclusively for their foundation year 1 members in relation to lack of training places.Following these ballots the BMA RDC currently holds two live mandates for strike action. One is in relation to pay, which applies to all the resident doctor membership, and one is in relation to pay and training places, which applies to their foundation year 1 membership only.They took five days of strike action from 25 to 30 July under their mandate over pay.My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, has regular engagement with resident doctors and is aware of the issues that they are experiencing as they work and train in the National Health Service. My Rt. Hon. Friend intends to continue to work with the BMA RDC to resolve their disputes and improve working conditions. This Government has already made significant improvements on the issues which impact doctors most through NHS England’s 10 Point Plan to improve resident doctors’ working lives.

How many people have a charity worker visa.

In total, 3,971 Charity Worker visas have been issued from 2023 to the end of June 2025.Data on charity worker visas issued is published as part of the Immigration system statistics data tables regular releases on the Gov.uk website at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK

With reference to his Department's press release entitled £75 million boost for hospices to transform end-of-life care, published on 20 July 2025, whether he has made an assessment of the revenue implications for hospices of this investment.

Hospices do incredible work by supporting people and families when they need it most, and we recognise the incredibly tough pressures they are facing.Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB) must commission. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations.Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding from their respective ICBs for providing National Health Services.The £75 million capital funding boost for hospices was intended to help them to provide the best end of life care to patients and their families in a supportive and dignified physical environment by, for example, funding refurbishments, overhauling IT systems, and improving facilities for patients and visitors. The impact this may have had on revenue has not been assessed.Additionally, we are providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, as known as the Children’s Hospice Grant.I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next spending review period, 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see circa £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

With reference to page 73 of his Department's 10 Year Health Plan, published on 3 July 2025, whether patients will be able to opt out of viewing their risk of major conditions.

The National Health Service’s 10-Year Health Plan included a commitment that the NHS will develop a Unified Genomic Record, integrating genomic data with relevant clinical and diagnostic data. This will be linked to the NHS Single Patient Record. Patients will be able to view a complete account of their risk of major conditions and manage their personal health risks through the NHS App.The information that a patient chooses to receive from the Unified Genomic Record via the NHS App will be tailored to individual preferences.Clinicians will be able to view the patient’s risk of major conditions and can work with individual patients to manage that risk and mitigate the risk of the condition developing.

Communities and Local Government, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of housing asylum seekers in military bases on his Department’s policies to build more houses on disused public land.

The government is committed to close all asylum hotels, and to achieve this the Home Office is looking at a range of more appropriate sites including disused accommodation, industrial and ex-military sites to reduce the impact on communities. These efforts will not compromise general housing delivery. Decisions on the use of alternative asylum accommodation sites will be made on a site-by site basis, and the Home Office will continue to work closely with local authorities and in compliance with published policy.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 September 2025 to Question 73359 on Visas: Migrant Workers, on how many occasions her Department received such a notification by visa type since 4 July 2024; and how many and what proportion of those notifications resulted in a migrant (a) leaving the UK, (b) transferring to a new visa type and (c) being subsequently sponsored by a new employer.

The information requested is not available from published statistics and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.