Written questions by Jones.

Pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 57594 on Urinary Tract Infections: Vaccination, whether the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (a) is reviewing and (b) plans to review available vaccines for Urinary Tract Infection for use in the UK.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has identified vaccines to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI). These are currently in development.During a sub-committee meeting of the JCVI held on 25 November 2024, the pipeline vaccine against recurrent UTIs, known as uromune-MV140, was presented by its manufacturer, Inmunotek. Therapeutic vaccines are considered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). The committee awaits advice on whether the NICE will review this product. The minutes of the JCVI’s subcommittee meeting have been published on the JCVI website, at the following link:https://app.box.com/s/wv2uxkv7v9bisuf8ml8mdb19iemnzmv8/file/1808036070368

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 55867 on Rolling stock, what her timetable is for making an estimate of the potential impact of the time taken to introduce Class 701 rolling stock on the Waterloo-Reading line on costs to the public purse.

My officials are currently considering the most appropriate way to approach this issue. Given the complexity of this task, we are unable to commit to a timetable of when this work will be completed.

When he plans to respond to Question 55918, tabled by the hon. Member for Wokingham on 28 May 2025.

A response to Question 55918 was provided on 11 June 2025: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament

Whether NICE (a) is reviewing and (b) plans to review available vaccines for Urinary Tract Infection for use in the UK.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is not currently reviewing vaccines for urinary tract infections.Prophylactic vaccinations are considered by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. However, therapeutic vaccinations, for example, for cancer or another condition, are considered by NICE.

What steps he is taking to ensure that projects delivered through the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund support net zero objectives.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that recognises the importance of strategic, value for money investments in capital projects, such as new facilities, significant upgrades, or other targeted capital investments, to ensure we have world class infrastructure across the entire National Health Service estate.The £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will deliver upgrades this financial year to more than a thousand general practice surgeries across England. The schemes will create additional clinical space within existing building footprints to enable practices to see more patients, boost productivity, and improve patient care.The NHS has set a clear target of 2040 for achieving Net Zero across the estate, and all capital investment is expected to work toward this ambition where possible. This is supported by a raft of documents and standards, including the Estates Net Zero Carbon Delivery Plan, and the NHS Net Zero Building Standard, which applies to all investments in new buildings and upgrades to existing facilities that are subject to HM Treasury business case approval processes.

What steps his Department is taking to help GPs decarbonise their physical estates.

The Government is supporting the decarbonisation of General Practitioners through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and Boiler Upgrade Grant (BUS). The PSDS supports the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037, compared to a 2017 baseline. The Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund provides grants for public sector bodies to put in place a heat decarbonisation plan, providing them with information they need to develop future applications to the PSDS. If eligible, the BUS offers grants of £7500 towards the cost of purchasing and installing heat pumps, and £5000 towards a biomass boiler, for properties looking to replace their existing fossil fuel heating.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 38918 on Cancer: Young People, what steps (a) his Department and (b) the National Institute for Health and Care Research has taken to (i) enrol 50 per cent of young people with cancer into clinical trials by March 2025 and (ii) publish data on this target.

To support the delivery of this ambition, the Department, through NHS England, has put in place new national service specifications, covering both Principal Treatment Centre and associated Teenage and Young Adult (TYA) Designated Hospital provision, and has established networks to oversee pathways of care, coordinate clinical trial access, and develop local strategies to increase clinical trial recruitment. Alongside this, NHS England has also introduced a metric to monitor trial participation within the TYA Cancer Quality Dashboard. The Department-funded National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure, which supports patients and the public to participate in high-quality research, including clinical research for teenagers and young adults with cancer. The Department does not hold data on the overall percentage of children and young people with cancer that are enrolled into clinical trials nationwide, but does collect data on general participation through NIHR funded research infrastructure. The Department reports on this data where it is appropriate to do so.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 38918 on Cancer: Young People, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of collating England-wide data on the participation of young adults in cancer clinical trials led by the National Institute of Health Research and funded by his Department.

The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) does collect data on participation in clinical trials through NIHR funded research infrastructure, including the participation of young adults. The Department reports on this data where it is appropriate to do so.This data provides insights into the volume and demographics of participants, the types of studies being conducted, and the levels of engagement across different regions and specialties. This includes information gathered via the Research Delivery Network, Biomedical Research Centres, and other NIHR-supported facilities.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of an (a) centralised and (b) nationwide case-finding programme to identify people at high risk of (i) developing and (ii) inheriting less survivable cancers.

The National Disease Registration Service (NDRS) has committed to developing a National Inherited Cancer Predisposition Register (NICPR) as part of its 2024 to 2027 strategy, building on the work to establish the National Lynch Registry. The NICPR will launch on 30 June, and will look at a wider range of cancers for which there is an increased inherited risk, including for less survivable cancers. It will identify high-risk individuals who are eligible for targeted screening and surveillance, and will act as an electronic referral route into national screening programmes where these exist, for instance Lynch syndrome and bowel screening.The NICPR is also a key commitment in the Rare Disease Action Plan for England, with NDRS in NHS England as the lead delivery partner, further highlighting its relevance to improving care for people with rare inherited cancer risk.NHS England is also working on case-finding approaches for less survivable cancers, where the evidence suggests this is appropriate. It is currently developing a public-facing Family History Checker, which enables people and their families affected by pancreatic cancer to self-assess if they may inherit risk. Individuals identified as being at risk are referred directly to the European Registry of Hereditary Pancreatic Diseases research trial, which aims to understand inherited conditions of the pancreas. Referrals to the trial can be made by any healthcare professional across all health sectors or by individuals via self-referral, contributing to a centralised approach to case-finding.As part of our National Cancer Plan, we have been working with members of the Less Survivable Cancers Taskforce, a group of charities focusing on cancers with poor survival rates, to identify how we can improve diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes for less survivable cancers.

Whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of implementing awareness campaigns on the (a) signs and (b) symptoms of cancer in (i) teenagers and (ii) young adults.

NHS England and other National Health Service organisations, nationally and locally, publish information on the signs and symptoms of many different types of cancer, including those that are most common in teenagers and young adults. Further information on cancer signs and symptoms is available at the following link:www.nhs.uk/conditions/cancer/NHS England runs Help Us Help You campaigns to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms and address the barriers to acting on them, to encourage people to come forward as soon as possible to see their general practitioner. The campaigns focus on a range of symptoms as well as encouraging body awareness to help people spot symptoms across a wide range of cancers at an earlier point.On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for young cancer patients. The work of the taskforce is ongoing, and officials are exploring opportunities for improvement across a range of areas, including detection and diagnosis, genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, and patient experience. The taskforce will also ensure that the unique needs of children and young people, including teenagers and young adults with cancer, are carefully considered as part of the National Cancer Plan.For these reasons, the Department has not made a formal specific assessment of the potential merits of implementing awareness campaigns on the signs and symptoms of cancer in teenagers and young adults.

What the membership is of the Patient Voice Panel as a part of the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce; and what meetings it has held in the last 12 months.

The Government is committed to including the voices of young cancer patients in the work of the taskforce and the National Cancer Plan. That’s why the Department has worked with taskforce members to assemble a Patient Experience Panel of people with lived experience of cancer. The panel is made up of a diverse group, including parents of children with cancer, young adults who were diagnosed with cancer as teenagers, and those who were diagnosed as children.The panel has met three times so far, and will continue to feed directly into the work of the taskforce.

What steps his Department is taking to support professional training for GPs in the use of integrated clinical decision tools to better identify (a) vague or (b) non-specific symptoms of less survivable cancers.

General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.All United Kingdom registered doctors are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. The RCGP provides a number of resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.Improving diagnosis rates and access to treatment are key priorities for the Government for all cancer types, including rare and less common cancers.We are improving public awareness of cancer signs and symptoms, streamlining referral routes, and increasing the availability of diagnostic capacity through the roll-out of more community diagnostic centres. We are also investing an additional £889 million in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.We are committed to ensuring that GPs have the right training and systems to identify cancer. Use of specific clinical decision support tools are agreed at a local level.The recently announced National Cancer Plan, which will complement the 10-Year Health Plan and support delivery of the Government’s Health Mission, will set out further actions to improve diagnosis, including for rare and less common cancers. The plan will also provide further details on how we will ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology, ultimately bringing this country’s cancer survival rates back up to the standards of the best in the world.

What steps the NHS plans to take to improve (a) awareness and (b) training for (i) GPs and (ii) frontline healthcare professionals to help (A) recognise and (B) refer suspected cases of cancer in teenagers and young adults.

The Department is committed to getting the National Health Service diagnosing cancer earlier and treating it faster to improve survival rates, including for children and young people. To achieve this, the NHS has delivered an extra 40,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week as the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and faster treatment.General practitioners (GPs) are responsible for ensuring their own clinical knowledge remains up-to-date and for identifying learning needs as part of their continuing professional development.All registered doctors in the United Kingdom are also expected to meet the professional standards set by the General Medical Council (GMC). In 2012, the GMC introduced revalidation, which supports doctors in regularly reflecting on how they can develop or improve their practice.The training curricula for postgraduate trainee doctors is set by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and has to meet the standards set by the GMC. The RCGP provides several resources on cancer prevention, diagnosis, and care for GPs, relevant for the primary care setting.On 4 February 2025, the Department relaunched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce to identify tangible ways to improve outcomes and experiences for children and young people with cancer. The taskforce is exploring opportunities for improvement across genomic testing and treatment, research and innovation, patient experience, and early detection and diagnosis.The forthcoming National Cancer Plan will include further details on improving outcomes for cancer patients, including for children and young people with cancer, and will highlight how the Department will support the NHS to improve diagnosis rates for people in all parts of England.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2025 to Question 54187 on Electric Vehicles: Charging Points, how much of the £200 million allocated in the Autumn Budget 2024 has been spent in each month to date.

The £200m to accelerate EV chargepoint roll out announced at Autumn Budget 2024 will be invested in the financial year 2025/26 (April 2025 to March 2026) to support local, en-route and home and workplace charging. At the end of May 2025 no payments had yet been made.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of China's rare earth export restrictions on the defence sector's supply chain.

The (Ministry of Defence) MOD is actively engaged in de-risking critical defence supply chain vulnerabilities, working collaboratively across Government, with industry and our international partners, including NATO, to mitigate risks. The Department recognises China's influence in global Rare Earth Element (REE) supply chains and the wide-ranging applications of REEs in the defence supply chain. MOD's initial assessment is that China's REE export restrictions pose a low risk to defence outputs at present. But we will keep this under constant review.

What discussions he has had with the automotive sector on the potential impact of China's rare earth export restrictions.

The Department for Business and Trade has been regularly engaging with businesses, across multiple sectors, that are affected by the recent export controls of rare earth elements, primarily with Automotive companies and Trade Associations. HMG is committed to supporting UK businesses affected by these export controls and ensuring barriers to trade causing additional monetary and time costs are removed.

Whether he has had recent discussions with the life science sector on the potential impact of China's imposition of rare earth export restrictions on that sector.

The Department for Business and Trade has been regularly engaging with businesses, across multiple sectors, that are affected by the recent export controls of rare earth elements, including with Life-sciences companies and Trade Associations. HMG is committed to supporting UK businesses affected by these export controls and ensuring barriers to trade causing additional monetary and time costs are removed.

When he plans to respond to Question 51208, tabled by the hon. Member for Wokingham on 9 May 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 2 June 2025 to Questions 51207, 51208 and 51210.

When he plans to respond to Question 51210, tabled by the hon. Member for Wokingham on 9 May 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 2 June 2025 to Questions 51207, 51208 and 51210.

When he plans to respond to Question 51207 tabled by the hon. Member for Wokingham on 9 May 2025.

I refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave on 2 June 2025 to Questions 51207, 51208 and 51210.