Written questions by McMurdock.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the Hamburg Declaration on the number of people employed in offshore wind-related jobs in the UK.

The Department has not made specific projections of the number of offshore wind jobs attributable to the Hamburg Declaration. However, the UK is already leading the way in delivering the commitments set out in the Declaration. Contracts for Difference Allocation Round 7 secured 8.4GW of offshore wind – the biggest ever auction in European history – unlocking 7,000 jobs and driving £22 billion of private sector investment into UK factories and ports. The Government estimates that the offshore wind sector could support up to 100,000 direct and indirect jobs in Great Britain by 2030.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, what legal status the Hamburg Declaration has; and whether it creates binding obligations on the UK.

The Declaration and its annexes do not create any rights or obligations under national or international law.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, whether the Hamburg Declaration places financial obligations on the UK.

The Hamburg Declaration does not place financial obligations on the UK.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, how much of the 100 GW of jointly delivered offshore wind capacity agreed under the Hamburg Declaration is expected to be located in UK waters.

The Hamburg Declaration sets a collective ambition of 100 GW of offshore wind cooperation projects by 2050. National contributions were not specified. Future GB co-ordinated projects will be guided by domestic strategic energy planning conducted by our National Energy System Operator (NESO), which is due to be consulted on in Q1 2027.

What recent discussions he has had with the NHS in South Basildon and East Thurrock constituency on patient safety for people experiencing long waits in Accident and Emergency.

The Government recognises that urgent and emergency care performance has fallen short in recent years. We are committed to restoring accident and emergency waiting times to the National Health Service constitutional standard.Our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26 sets out clear actions to deliver improvements and make services better. The plan commits to reducing the number of patients waiting over 12 hours for admission or discharge to less than 10% of the time. This is supported by almost £450 million of capital investment for Same Day Emergency Care, Mental Health Crisis Assessment Centres, and new ambulances, avoiding unnecessary admissions to hospital and supporting the faster diagnosis, treatment, and discharge for patients.The NHS Medium-Term Planning Framework sets out a further trajectory to improve urgent and emergency care performance year-on-year toward the constitutional standard, reducing long waits and improving patient experience. The plan focuses on practical steps such as expanding urgent treatment centres, improving patient flow, and reducing 12-hour waits, to make emergency departments safer and more efficient.NHS England provides regional oversight to support local delivery of services and improvement. The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust’s One Team Improvement Plan has a focus on improving urgent and emergency care outcomes. The programme group looking at quality and patient safety has been focusing on reviewing processes and the fundamentals of care in wards and in the trust’s emergency departments. The trust has also introduced additional consultant cover during the weekends to increase the number of people discharged at the weekend. This helps to keep the emergency department safe as it allows for the movement of people who need to be admitted into the right beds.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, what is the planned timetable for delivering the 100 GW of joint offshore wind projects agreed at the North Sea Summit.

The Hamburg Declaration sets a collective ambition of 100 GW of offshore wind cooperation projects by 2050. Shorter term delivery targets will flow from strategic planning work such as NESO's Strategic Spatial Energy Plan due to be consulted on in Q1 2027.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to his letter to Councillor Kevin Bentley on 29 January 2026, if he will publish the email received from Cllr Kevin Bentley on 22 January 2026 referenced in the letter.

The Government has no plans to publish the representations received.

With reference to his Department’s press release entitled UK and Europe sign historic pact to drive clean energy future, published on 26 January 2026, what assessment his Department have made of the level of additional energy storage capacity required to accommodate the increase in electricity generated as a result of the agreement.

Coordinating with our neighbours can cut costs, strengthen energy security and help build a more flexible system. Any future hybrid projects, combining interconnection with offshore wind, will be guided by the Strategic Spatial Energy Plan (SSEP) conducted by our National Energy System Operator (NESO), which will be consulted on in Q1 2027. The SSEP will take a whole systems approach, co-optimising electricity generation, interconnection and storage across GB out to 2050. This will ensure that our international ambitions are coherent with domestic needs.

What proportion of GP trainees qualified as GPs in each of the last three years.

General practice (GP) speciality training has maintained a low rate of attrition over the last three years of approximately 1.3% to 1.5%, and the average length of time to complete GP training has remained at 3.8 years.A proportion of trainees achieving a Certificate of Completion of Training is difficult to provide as programme length can vary due to individual circumstances, such as changes in working hours, maternity/paternity leave, sick leave, and out of programme activities.

What steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of primary care estates to support workforce expansion.

It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards to ensure that the National Health Service estate is fit for purpose, in order to meet the needs of the local population.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 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital.The Government is providing £426 million over four years through the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, upgrading general practice (GP) estate and supporting delivery of 40 to 50 NHCs this Parliament through refurbishment of existing buildings.In Spring we will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan, which will set out the high-level vision for how we can prepare our workforce to deliver the three shifts set out in the 10-Year Health Plan.The Government has committed to training thousands more GPs, which will support the delivery of the left shift and focus more resources in the community. Our work on this has already started, with the number of available GP training places increasing by an additional 250 places to 4,250 for 2025/26 and again to 4,500 for 2026/27.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of A&E waiting times on post-discharge outcomes for older patients.

No assessment has been made of the impacts of accident and emergency waiting times on post-discharge outcomes. There have been studies on the impact of waiting times on clinical outcomes in general, which inform the targets the National Health Service sets for accident and emergency waiting times.

Whether he plans to publish data on cases where patients deteriorate or die in Accident and Emergency waiting rooms before being seen by a doctor.

This data is not available in the format requested and there is no plan to publish this. Patients are reviewed at the front door and are seen by a clinical member of staff and streamed to the right service for them. If there is an incident around care processes, this is logged.The National Health Service and the Department have taken significant steps forward to improve patient safety, including by implementing significant programmes under the NHS Patient Safety Strategy from 2019.We are also introducing new clinical operational standards for the first 72 hours of care, setting clear expectations for timely reviews and specialist input, including guidance on monitoring patients with frailty. This supports the early identification of deterioration and helps ensure patients waiting in accident and emergency departments are appropriately monitored.

What assessment he has made of trends in the level of regional variations in the quality of GP specialty training.

Post-graduate medicine general practice specialty trainees consistently report high levels of satisfaction with their overall educational experience, according to the results of the National Education and Training Survey (NETS), 2022 to 2024.Alongside NETS reporting broadly consistent overall educational experience satisfaction rates across regions, this speciality programme has a low attrition rate nationally.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of capacity of NHS primary care premises in Thurrock on the recruitment of GPs.

No assessment has been made by the Department of the potential impact of National Health Service primary care premises in Thurrock on the recruitment of general practice (GP) doctors. It is the responsibility of the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) to ensure that the NHS estate in Thurrock is fit for purpose, in order to meet the needs of the local population. GP contractors are responsible for securing, managing, and maintaining suitable premises. The ICB has set up a new joint estates group with Thurrock Council to identify where void space can be used to enhance access to primary, community, and social care facilities.The ICB has a range of schemes to improve recruitment and retention of GPs, including GP partnership courses, portfolio development scheme, and fellowships for newly qualified GPs. Thurrock has seen an increase in the number of GPs with at least 82 full time equivalent GPs now working in Thurrock, the highest number recorded since March 2016.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 and will be delivered through public private partnerships and public capital. We are also providing £426 million over four years through the Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, upgrading GP estates, and supporting delivery of 40 to 50 NHCs this Parliament through refurbishment of existing buildings.

What proportion of outpatient activity was delivered outside hospital settings in Essex in the most recent period for which data is available.

The Department does not centrally hold data on outpatient activity delivered outside hospital settings in Essex.Approximately 80% of the waiting list is made up of people waiting for outpatient appointments. Modernisation of this important stage of planned care is a top priority for the Government. We have committed, in our Elective Reform Plan and 10-Year Health Plan, to modernise elective pathways to ensure that they are better for patients and more productive. This radical plan will end outpatient care as we know it by 2035.Face-to-face hospital appointments will become the exception, as two thirds of outpatient appointments will be replaced by digital advice, direct input from specialists, and patient-initiated follow ups as we introduce a new digital front door to the National Health Service via the NHS App by 2035, which is more responsive to patients’ needs. Patients will still have a choice in where they get their care.We will deliver this vision with a new model for planned care that is digital by default and local where possible, providing rapid access to patient-centred services.

What proportion of clinical negligence claims in each of the last three years were attributable to a) staffing levels, b) triage issues and c) delays in treatment.

NHS Resolution is the body that manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. They are unable to provide a full response to the questions in the format requested without commissioning work to review files manually, which would incur disproportionate cost. NHS Resolution has published a thematic review titled Learning from Emergency Medicine compensation claims - NHS Resolution, which may be helpful.

How many negligence claims arising from accident and emergency care cited delays in a) triage and b) admission as a contributing factor.

NHS Resolution is the body that manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. They are unable to provide a full response to the questions in the format requested without commissioning work to review files manually, which would incur disproportionate cost. NHS Resolution has published a thematic review titled Learning from Emergency Medicine compensation claims - NHS Resolution, which may be helpful.

What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the amount of imported steel used for British manufacturing projects.

In 2024, the UK produced 4 million tonnes of crude steel and imported 6.8 million tonnes of semi-finished and finished steel for a variety of uses, including manufacturing (1)(2). The Government knows how important the use of UK-made steel is to communities across the country and we recognise the need to create a competitive business environment for steel production here in the UK. We will publish a steel strategy this year which will set out our vision for a bright and sustainable future for steel in the UK.

With reference to the news story entitled UK-SA Trade Pact Unlocks Tariff Savings for Local Exporters, published on 26 January 2026, what estimate his Department has made of the value of tariff savings generated by the UK–South Africa Economic Partnership Agreement in each year since 2021.

On average, from 2022 to 2024, the agreement between the UK and SACUM members has resulted in over £2.3bn of imports entering the UK eligible for reduced duties each year, with £2.1bn benefitting from the lower duty rate afforded under the agreement. During this time, more than £2.0bn of goods benefitting from reduced duties originated from South Africa. The EPA has delivered tariff savings and lowered import costs for British consumers and businesses. As set out in the UK Trade Strategy, we have started a tariff review of the UK-SACUM EPA that will aim to further reduce tariff barriers under the Agreement. We will update Parliament once these discussions conclude.

With reference to the news story entitled UK-SA Trade Pact Unlocks Tariff Savings for Local Exporters, published on 26 January 2026, what assessment he has made of the impact of the UK–Southern Africa Economic Partnership Agreement on UK–South Africa trade.

On average, from 2022 to 2024, the agreement between the UK and SACUM members has resulted in over £2.3bn of imports entering the UK eligible for reduced duties each year, with £2.1bn benefitting from the lower duty rate afforded under the agreement. During this time, more than £2.0bn of goods benefitting from reduced duties originated from South Africa. The EPA has delivered tariff savings and lowered import costs for British consumers and businesses. As set out in the UK Trade Strategy, we have started a tariff review of the UK-SACUM EPA that will aim to further reduce tariff barriers under the Agreement. We will update Parliament once these discussions conclude.