Written questions by Collier.

Whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) adequacy of the eligibility criteria for (i) free covid-19 vaccinations and (ii) access to covid-19 antiviral treatments for people with lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and (b) consistency of eligibility criteria used by general practices, community pharmacies and NHS 111 in England.

The Government is committed to protecting those most vulnerable to COVID-19 through vaccination, as guided by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The primary aim of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme remains the prevention of serious illness, resulting in hospitalisations and deaths, arising from COVID-19.The JCVI has advised that population immunity to COVID-19 has been increasing due to a combination of naturally acquired immunity following recovery from infection and vaccine-derived immunity. COVID-19 is now a relatively mild disease for most people, though it can still be unpleasant, with rates of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19 having reduced significantly since COVID-19 first emerged.The focus of the JCVI’s advised programme has therefore moved towards targeted vaccination of the two groups who continue to be at higher risk of serious disease, including mortality. These are the oldest adults and individuals who are immunosuppressed. The Government has accepted the JCVI’s advice for autumn 2025 and in line with the advice, a COVID-19 vaccination is being offered to the following groups:adults aged 75 years old and over;residents in care homes for older adults; andindividuals aged six months old and over who are immunosuppressed.The COVID-19 chapter of the UK Health Security Agency Green Book on immunisation against infectious disease sets out guidance on the eligibility criteria above. This is signposted to all providers to ensure consistency. As for all vaccines, the JCVI keeps the evidence under regular review.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has published guidance that recommends several antivirals for the treatment of COVID-19, both in the community and for patients in hospital. This guidance sets out the eligibility criteria and ensures that patients who are at the highest risk of developing severe disease from COVID-19 have access to clinically- and cost-effective treatments.

With reference to her Department's joint press notice entitled Mirror, signal, manoeuvres: Military driving examiners mobilised to cut test backlog, published on 12 November 2025, which areas the military driving examiners will be deployed to.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has accepted the resource of Defence Driving Examiners (DDEs), to be based at the driving test centres with the highest demand near their MOD base or home location.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of restricting the resale of driving tests on (a) levels of access to and (b) the cost of driving tests.

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) understands the impact, including the financial implications, the reselling of practical driving tests is having on learner drivers.On 28 May, DVSA launched a public consultation on improving the rules for booking car driving tests. The consultation closed on 23 July. DVSA is reviewing the feedback given and will announce the next steps as soon as possible. Further information on the consultation can be found at:www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules/improving-car-driving-test-booking-rules. The consultation is about changing the rules on how car driving tests can be booked and managed. It looks at how to make test booking fairer, including the possibility of stopping people charging extra fees to book tests and simplifying the system for learners and approved driving instructors. Any additional measures will only be introduced if it is considered appropriate to do so to support the continued delivery of the driver testing service and following public consultation. All available driving test appointments are shown on DVSA’s live booking system, and as well as releasing tests on a rolling 24-week basis on a Monday, additional appointments are released throughout the week. As new test appointments appear on the booking service at different times of the day and through the week, DVSA advises candidates to continue to check for earlier appointments. DVSA encourages learner drivers to only use the official GOV.UK website to book and manage their driving test. DVSA has published advice aimed at learner drivers warning them of the risks of using third party services/apps to book a practical driving test. Further information can be found on GOV.UK at: www.gov.uk/government/news/learner-drivers-warned-about-the-risks-of-driving-test-cancellation-finders.

What recent discussions she has had with local authorities on their use of her Department's connectivity tool in (a) plan-making and (b) decision-taking.

The Connectivity Tool was launched on 26 June and is free to use by all local authorities via the gov.uk website. The tool is jointly badged with the MHCLG and has been explicitly designed in collaboration with local authorities to help inform their plans, strategies and decisions. This landmark platform will serve as the new national metric of connectivity, transforming how we plan for new development and the transport infrastructure needed to support it.

What estimate she has made of the cost to businesses of implementing the proposed EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations.

Awaiting answer.

What estimate she has made of the cost to Great British Railways of implementing the proposed EHRC Code of Practice for Services, Public Functions and Associations.

Work is underway to design the form and functions of Great British Railways. Set up costs and future budgets will be confirmed in due course.

What assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Restart Scheme.

The Department undertook a mixed-method, multi-strand evaluation of the Restart Scheme, delivered by external research providers Learning and Work Institute (L&W) and Ipsos. The research comprised three strands: a longitudinal cohort study, a survey of Restart Scheme providers, and case study research of 12 geographic areas. The report was published in May 2024 and can found on gov.uk here The Evaluation of the Restart Scheme - GOV.UK. Official Statistics on the Restart Scheme are published bi-annually and can be found on gov.uk here Restart Scheme statistics - GOV.UK.

Whether people not in receipt of the Personal Independence Payment daily living component will lose their entitlement to the health element of Universal Credit after the abolition of the work capability assessment.

Our Pathways to Work Green Paper set out why we are scrapping the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). We want to end the binary categorisation of groups and labelling as either ‘can or can’t work’. Instead, any extra financial support for health conditions in UC will be assessed via a single assessment – the PIP assessment – and be based on the impact of disability on daily living, not on capacity to work. This will de-couple access to the health element in UC (current LCWRA rate referred to as UC health throughout) from work status, so people can be confident that the act of taking steps towards and into employment will not put their benefit entitlement at risk. We are considering how any change of this kind could affect individuals who currently meet limited capability for work and work-related activity (LCWRA) criteria due to non-functional special circumstances; for example, those affected by cancer treatment, people with short term conditions that get better, women with a high-risk pregnancy and those currently classed as having substantial risk. Individuals in these categories may not be eligible for PIP, and therefore the UC health element, in the reformed system. In the reformed system these groups will still be eligible for UC and for the proposed new higher rate Unemployment Insurance if they meet relevant eligibility criteria. Individuals who are nearing the end of their life with 12 months or less to live will continue to be able to access PIP through the existing fast track route (Special Rules for End of Life (SREL) to ensure we protect those who are nearing the end of their life, irrespective of the duration of their illness. Further details on these changes will be set out in a White Paper in the Autumn.

What information her Department holds on how many and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants under the age of 25 (a) live outside of their family home and (b) do not receive financial support from their families.

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

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help build more affordable accommodation for young people living in supported housing.

I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to Question UIN 11383 on 31 October 2024.

Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to gather accurate data on the number of people sofa surfing.

The English Housing Survey does not collect data on the number of sofa surfers, but does collect data on households who hosted someone in the previous 12 months who would have otherwise been homeless, and publishes these statistics annually.The total number of households that hosted someone homeless in the past 12 months was 521,000 (2% of households).By tenure, 3% of private renters (122,000 households) and 3% of social renters (120,000 households) hosted someone homeless in the past 12 months. This proportion was higher than for owner occupiers (2%, 279,000 households).See The EHS 2022-23 rented sector report, Annex Table 3.21.

Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) economic and (b) social impact of loneliness.

There are multiple sources of evidence on loneliness including research on the economic and social impact of loneliness.The economic impact of lonelinessDCMS research estimates that the costs associated with loneliness based on the impact on subjective we...

What data her Department holds on the maintenance schedule for Branston Bridge in Staffordshire.

Asset management and safety, including information on maintenance schedules, is the responsibility of the owner of the infrastructure in question, which for this bridge is Staffordshire County Council.

What steps his Department is taking to support people with long covid.

I know firsthand how complex and debilitating long COVID can be, and I am committed to improving support for people affected.Since 2020, specialist long COVID services have been made available. This includes setting up over 100 long COVID services across ...

What steps she is taking to support SEND children and their parents in Burton and Uttoxeter constituency.

The department has positive and open engagement with the local authority, Staffordshire County Council, through its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Lead and wider partners. The local authority has been approached to participate in the education, health and care (EHC) plan template pilot, which is led by the Change Partnership Programme.The department continues to prioritise:Implementing the improvements identified in the Accelerated Progress Plan.Monitoring progress and improvements made through the Enhanced Assess, Plan, Do, Review Programme, and through the Staffordshire Enhanced District Inclusion Support (SEDIS) Model.Monitoring 20-week timeliness on an ongoing basis.Providing support to improve EHC plan quality through the Research and Improvement for SEND Excellence (RISE) consortium.Continuing to meet regularly with the wider SEND partnership along with monthly meetings with the local authority, children’s social care and schools.

Whether she plans to provide funding for the A50/A500 corridor upgrade.

Study work led by National Highways to improve the Uttoxeter section of the A50/A500 corridor is at an early stage of development. These proposals continue to be worked on as part of the pipeline of possible future enhancements to the strategic road network; and to be considered for funding in a future Road Investment Strategy.

What steps she will take to help alleviate child poverty in Burton and Uttoxeter constituency.

Tackling child poverty, everywhere, is at the heart of breaking down barriers to opportunity and improving the life chances for every child. For too many children, living in poverty robs them of the opportunity to learn and to prosper. Child poverty has gone up by 700,000 since 2010, with over four million children now growing up in a low-income family. This not only harms children’s lives now, but it also damages their future prospects, and holds back our economic potential as a country. On 17 July 2024, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced the appointment of the Secretary of State for Work and Pension and the Secretary of State for Education to be the joint leads of a new ministerial taskforce to begin work on a Child Poverty Strategy. The government is committed to delivering an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start at life. The proposed Children’s Wellbeing Bill will ensure education and children’s social care systems transform life chances for millions of children and young people in England. The department will remove barriers to opportunity to ensure the school system is fair for every child. Every primary school, including those in Burton and Uttoxeter, will be required to provide free breakfast clubs. To ensure that every child, no matter their background, is well prepared for the school day, the department will limit the number of branded uniform items that a school can require.In addition to free school meals and the over £2.9 billion pupil premium funding, the department has also provided over £200 million of funding this year to all local authorities across England to deliver the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme in their area. This is to ensure that over summer holidays children from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families are able to take up free childcare spaces, which offer healthy meals and enriching activities, benefiting their health, wellbeing and learning. This summer, the department anticipates that over 3 million HAF places will be provided young people in this country.

What steps he plans to take to improve NHS dental provision in Burton and Uttoxeter constituency.

The Government plans to tackle the challenges patients face when trying to access National Health Service dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments, and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term and increase access to NHS dental care, we will reform the dental contract, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population was delegated to all integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. NHS dentists are required to keep their profiles on the NHS.UK website up to date so that patients can find a dentist more easily. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. In circumstances where patients are unable to access an urgent dental appointment directly through an NHS dental practice, they should contact NHS111.