Written questions by Eccles.

What steps she is taking to reduce pay inequalities between Further Education staff and staff in schools and academised sixth form colleges.

Awaiting answer.

What steps the department is taking to establish a universally commissioned emergency eye care pathway to end the postcode lottery of these service in England.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary and secondary eye care services to meet local need. This can include community minor and urgent eye care services, with decisions on provision made locally to reflect population need and existing service capacity.Optometrists are required to follow local protocols for referring patients into secondary care including for emergency and urgent cases. These pathways will take into account National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance where appropriate.

What steps the NHS takes to provide healthcare to pupils with medical conditions in schools.

Awaiting answer.

What steps the NHS takes to support pupils with medical conditions in schools.

Awaiting answer.

How many young people aged 16-24 are claiming the Universal Credit health element while in full-time non-advanced education under Universal Credit rules.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

What steps he is taking to ensure that reforms to energy efficiency standards in the private rented sector drives heat demand reduction via insulation.

Reformed Energy Performance Certificates will assess properties’ energy performance against several metrics, one of which is fabric performance. The new minimum energy efficiency standards will require private rented homes to first meet a ‘C’ rating for fabric performance unless a relevant exemption is in place. The prioritisation of fabric measures will help ensure a reduction in heat demand, delivering bill savings for tenants and lifting households out of fuel poverty.

Communities and Local Government, what steps is the government taking to include charitable housing providers within the definition of affordable housing in the National Planning Policy Framework.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 123092 on 31 March 2026.

What steps he is taking to help ensure that referral services for women and girls impacted by violence and abuse will be evidence-based.

As part of the cross-Government Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, the Department has committed to roll-out a domestic abuse and sexual violence referral service, “Steps to Safety” across all integrated care boards by 2029.This will ensure that all clinical and non-clinical staff in general practices in every area of England can connect victims and survivors with specialist services. The programme builds on innovative, evidence-based approaches already operating in England, and will include evaluation of the services in order to continue building a strong evidence base for what works to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Food and Rural Affairs, what action the Government is taking to address harmful cat breeding practices, including the breeding of wildcat hybrids.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Stourbridge on 24 March 2026 PQ UIN 121217.

If he will take steps to help ensure the new owners of Royal Mail honour agreements made with the Communication Workers Union and his Department.

The Secretary of State met Dave Ward, General Secretary of the CWU, and Daniel Křetínský, the owner of EP Group, on 16 February and again on 19 March 2026, to understand the progress on continued discussions on the CWU Agreement. The undertakings agreed between the Secretary of State and EP Group include provisions that require an independently assessed review of EP Group’s compliance with the Deed of Undertaking.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many recorded sewage spills and leaks into (a) rivers, (b) coastal waters and (c) other inland waterways there have been in England in the last 12 months; and what assessment his Department has made of trends in the number of such incidents.

Sewage spills can enter water bodies from a number of sources and pathways. One mechanism is via storm overflows, designed to spill into water bodies when the sewer system is under strain from rainfall or snowmelt. Storm overflows are tracked through Event Duration Monitors in near real time.

If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of a 36-hour week for full time NHS staff at no loss of pay.

This specific assessment has not been made.National Health Service staff covered by the Agenda for Change (AfC) pay system in England work 37.5 hours per week in line with the terms set out in Section 10 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (TCS), also referred to as the AfC terms and conditions. The NHS Staff Council is responsible for maintaining the handbook. There are no current discussions between Government and the NHS Staff Council about reducing the number of hours full time AfC staff work in England.The number of full-time hours for medical staff in England as stipulated in their respective TCS is 40 hours. Less than full time options are available to all staff. A flat allowance of £1,000 is received by any less than full time resident doctor, which recognises the relative increased costs of training that doctors training less than full time face as a result of being less than full time.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help address harmful cat breeding practices, including the breeding of wildcat hybrids.

As part of the Animal Welfare Strategy, which was published on 22 December 2025, the Government will take steps to improve our understanding of the size, scale and current management practices related to cat breeding, drawing on expertise from the sector, and consider any further steps which may improve welfare practices in the cat breeding sector. The keeping of dangerous wild animals is regulated by the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. Keepers of dangerous wild animals listed in the Schedule to the 1976 Act must get a Dangerous Wild Animals licence from their local authority. All cats are listed in the Schedule to the Act, although several species, such as the domestic cat, are exempted. Cat hybrids having a domestic cat, or other exempted species, as one parent and a non-exempted cat, such as a wildcat, as the other parent would require a Dangerous Wild Animals licence.

How many medical students graduated from UK universities in each of the last five years; and how many doctors completed foundation training in each of the last five years.

Data published by the General Medical Council (GMC) provides information on the number of doctors with a United Kingdom Primary Medical Qualification (PMQ) by year. The following table shows the number of doctors graduating from UK medical schools in each of the last five years who then registered with the GMC:PMQ YearTotal20207,38120217,35620227,81020238,27920249,26120259,734Source: General Medical Council, UK graduates summary data, with further information available at the following link: https://gde.gmc-uk.org/medical-schools/uk-graduates/uk-graduates-summary-data Note: total represents the total number of doctors with a UK Primary Medical Qualification in that year who went onto register with the GMC.Medical graduates complete a two-year Foundation Programme following graduation from medical school. Successful completion of the programme occurs at the end of Foundation Year Two (F2). Data on the number of doctors completing foundation training is published by the GMC through its Education Data Tool. Successful completion of foundation training is interpreted as completion of F2.The following table shows data published by the GMC on the number of doctors completing F2 in each of the last five years:Foundation Two YearNumber of F2 doctors20197,19520207,37920217,68620227,65520237,591Source: General Medical Council, Education Data Tool Progression Reports, with further information available at the following link: https://edt.gmc-uk.org/progression-reports/recruitment-from-f2

Communities and Local Government, if he will instruct Local Authorities to disregard the compensation and pensions of veterans as a form of council income.

Councils tax support for working-age people is locally designed. Councils must review their schemes each year and make any changes in consultation with their residents. Support for pensioners is prescribed in regulations which are updated by the department each year in line with changes to the wider benefit system. For 2026-27, the regulations include new capital disregards for the Armed Forces LGBT Financial Recognition Scheme and the Miscarriage of Justice Compensation Scheme.

With reference to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) economic; and (b) social impact on 1950s-born women in Stourbridge.

The Government carefully considered the findings of the Ombudsman’s report on the communication of changes to women’s State Pension age, and a detailed response including an Equality Analysis has been deposited in the House library.

What is the average processing time for Employment Support Allowance and Personal Independence Payments.

Information on average processing time for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) can be found on Stat-Xplore (https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/). The requested data can be found in the ‘Clearance Times for Initial Claims’ dataset. Stat-Xplore will automatically select the latest completed assessment date. However, you can use the ‘Completed Assessment Date’ filter to produce completed assessment for a time period of your choice. You can expand ‘Measures’ and then ‘Clearance Time Breakdowns for Initial Claims’ to produce a breakdown of different types of clearance times. For average processing time covering claim registration date to DWP decision date, we suggest choosing the ‘Median of End-to-end Process (weekdays)’ measure. You can log in or access Stat-Xplore as a guest user. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) clearance times are available as part of the PIP Official Statistics quarterly release. The latest release, with data available to October 2025, is available here (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/personal-independence-payment-statistics-april-2013-to-october-2025). Table 1A in the underlying Excel tables of this release shows median average clearance times for normal rules new claims.

Whether (a) guidance has been provided to Dudley Council on the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means-testing for Disabled Facilities Grants and (b) the Government’s commission on adult social care will consider reform to the treatment of Armed Forces compensation in means testing for the Disabled Facilities Grant.

In March 2022, the Government published Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) guidance for local authorities in England. It includes a section on the Armed Forces community and can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/disabled-facilities-grant-dfg-delivery-guidance-for-local-authorities-in-englandThe Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government funds Foundations, the national body for the Disabled Facilities Grant and Home Improvement Agencies, to work with local authorities on all aspects of delivery. We are not aware of any specific guidance provided to Dudley Council; however, local authorities have a considerable degree of discretion in how they deliver home adaptation grants. This includes the power to fully disregard all military compensation payments in the application of the means test.Baroness Casey, chair of the Independent Commission into adult social care, is looking at what fundamental reforms will be needed in adult social care. The Commission's Terms of Reference is sufficiently broad to enable Baroness Casey to define its remit to independently consider how to build a social care system fit for the future.

When he plans to publish the outcomes of the Extend medicines responsibilities for allied health professions consultation which closed in October 2025.

The Department is currently analysing the large number of respondents received, and a Government response detailing next steps will be published in due course.

If he will facilitate a vote on proposals for financial redress contained in the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman report on changes to women's State Pension age, published on 21 March 2024.

The Government has made its decision on this case based on due process and careful consideration of the body of evidence. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made a statement to the House of Commons and the detailed reasons for this decision have been placed in House library.