Written questions by Platt.

Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking the tackle the number of vacant properties on high streets.

This government is taking action to revitalise our high streets, including tackling vacancy through High Street Rental Auctions, which empower local authorities to bring long-term vacant commercial properties back into use. This is complemented by place-based regeneration funding, including up to £5.8 billion through the Pride in Place programme, supporting 284 places, including Leigh.The government will also bring forward a High Streets Strategy, backed by at least £150 million, to revive some of the most struggling high streets.

If his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of including cardiovascular disease in the Government's Women's Health Strategy.

The Government is committed to prioritising women’s health as we reform the National Health Service, and women’s equality will be at the heart of our mission. We know that women deserve better, which is why we are delivering our commitment that women’s health will never be neglected again. Strong progress has already been made in turning the commitments in the 2022 Women's Health Strategy into tangible action.The renewed strategy will update on the delivery of the 2022 Women’s Health Strategy and set out how the Government is taking further steps to improve women’s health as we deliver the 10-Year Health Plan. It will also address gaps from the 2022 strategy and drive further change on enduring challenges such as creating a system that listens to women, and that tackles health inequalities. We are currently considering evidence from experts to inform the contents of the renewed strategy.

What steps his Department is taking to improve support housing-with-care for older people.

The Government is committed to enhancing provision and choice for older people in the housing market. The Department of Health and Social Care continues to work closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to consider the recommendations from the Older People’s Housing Taskforce report.Both departments are also working together on the development of the Government’s forthcoming long-term housing strategy.More broadly, at the Spending Review, the Government announced £39 billion for a new Social and Affordable Homes Programme over ten years from 2026/27 to 2035/36. The programme has been designed to be flexible to support the greater diversity of supply needed in the housing market, including supported housing for older people.

If the Department can outline the length and mechanism for delivery of the new mandatory safeguarding learning programme for the NHS workforce.

Mandatory safeguarding training in NHS England is a strict, contractual obligation for all staff. The current Statutory and Mandatory Training e-learning programme has been developed to align with the UK Core Skills Training Framework which sets out 11 statutory and mandatory training topics for all staff working in health and social care settings.NHS England is collaborating with national and local subject matter experts to create a new approach and some revised content to the mandatory and statutory learning for all National Health Service staff, which includes all statutory safeguarding duties and programs for NHS Providers. We expect this to be rolled out to the NHS later this year.

If his Department will consider Tourette's in its Independent Review into Mental Health Conditions, ADHD and Autism.

This review focuses on mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder and therefore it will be at the Chair's discretion as to how far the review considers Tourette's with this in mind.

Whether his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of making injury-related pension enhancement and compensation elements protected within divorce settlements.

People may be able to access a workplace or private pension earlier than the scheme’s normal minimum pension age due to ill health, subject to the rules of the individual scheme. These rules vary, and it is for schemes to determine the conditions under which benefits can be paid before the normal pension age and/or on enhanced terms. Where an ill health pension is paid from an arrangement that meets the legal definition of an occupational pension scheme, it is generally a shareable asset in the event of a divorce. This applies even where the pension has been brought into payment early for ill health reasons. There is a specific exception in legislation for benefits that arise solely due to disablement, or death resulting from an accident suffered by a person that occurs during their pensionable service. These rights are not shareable on divorce. The division of assets in divorce proceedings is a matter for family courts, which make decisions based on the law of the country in which the divorce takes place. In England and Wales, this falls under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, for which responsibility rests with the Ministry of Justice.

If his Department will consider recognising Long Covid as an occupational disease.

The Department is advised by the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), an independent scientific body, on the changes to the list of occupational diseases for which Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit can be paid.IIAC has published Command Papers on COVID-19 and its occupational impacts. The Department is considering the recommendations in these documents which can be accessed here: COVID-19 and Occupational Impacts - GOV.UK and Occupational Impact of COVID-19 in the Transport and Education Sectors - GOV.UK

In response to Question tabled on 15 December 2025, UIN 99871, if the Government can outline what steps are being taken to ensure the needs of people with severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are adequacy met.

The final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), published in July 2025, includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for severe ME/CFS. Officials from the Department have commenced discussions with NHS England on how best to take forward this action.The third and final session in NHS England’s newly-developed ME/CFS e-learning series, Managing Severe ME/CFS, is now live on the NHS Learning Hub. This session provides practical, evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals to support people living with severe and very severe ME/CFS.Additionally, as set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning to the NHS constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment by March 2029. We exceeded our pledge to deliver an extra two million appointments, tests, and operations in our first year of government, having delivered 5.2 million additional appointments between July 2024 and June 2025. This will help people with severe ME/CFS to get support sooner.The 10-Year Health Plan sets out a transformed vision for elective care by 2035, where most interactions no longer take place in a hospital building, instead happening virtually or via neighbourhood services. We will empower patients by giving them greater choice and control and establishing expected standards for making their experience of planned NHS care as smooth, supportive and convenient as possible, including for people with severe ME/CFS.

What his policy is on the treatment of injury related Armed Forces payments, including the AFPS 05 injury enhancement, in divorce and financial remedy proceedings in England and Wales.

The Armed Forces do not have separate divorce procedures applying solely to Service personnel. Any injury-related payments are valued and shared between the parties in accordance with the relevant scheme rules and general divorce law.

If she will make it her policy to prevent (a) AFPS 05 injury enhancements and (b) other injury related Armed Forces payments from being treated as divisible marital assets in (i) divorce and (ii) financial remedy proceedings.

Injury-related payments are not currently excluded from the division of assets by the court. Instead, the court’s approach to whether such payments are treated as ‘matrimonial’ or ‘non-matrimonial’ will depend on the circumstances of the case.As part of its 2024 scoping report on financial remedies, the Law Commission considered the court’s wide discretion in dividing assets in financial remedy proceedings, including the treatment of matrimonial and non-matrimonial property.By Spring, the Government will be consulting on the challenges raised by the Law Commission in its report on financial remedies. The Government will carefully consider these issues as it prepares for consultation.

Whether she plans to review the police funding formula before the next comprehensive spending review.

The Home Secretary considers the distribution of funding each year to ensure decisions promote police efficiency, effectiveness and support the Government’s wider programme of reform.Further details regarding police funding for 2026-27 will be set out in the upcoming Final Police Funding Settlement.

What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of consolidating the specific grant for the Police Uplift Programme into the core policing grant.

The 2026-27 provisional police funding settlement (18 December) published that total funding to Territorial Police Forces will be up to £18.3 billion, an increase of up to £746 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.2% cash increase and a 2.0% real terms increase for the policing system. On 16th January, forces received a letter inviting views on the delivery of Neighbourhood Policing model.The Government has listened to policing’s concerns about the Officer Maintenance Grant and its requirement to achieve a specified officer headcount target. This funding mechanism has in some instances led to forces placing more officers in back-office roles which is not helpful in supporting visible policing and prevents forces from building a workforce with the mix of skills necessary to tackle crime.The Government’s position is that people want to see neighbourhood police on the streets. We recognise the need to improve trust and confidence in policing – strengthening neighbourhood policing is a way of achieving that goal.Final force level funding allocations for 2026-27 will be published at a Final Police Funding Settlement by the end of January.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the definition of assault of a retail worker to include workers in other high street outlets serving customers.

Through our Crime and Policing Bill, this Government has introduced a new specific standalone offence of assaulting a retail worker to help tackle the epidemic of shop theft and violence towards shop workers that we have seen in recent years, and protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores.For the purposes of this new offence, our definition of a ‘retail worker’ is intentionally narrow given the vital need to provide legal clarity and ensure there is no ambiguity for courts in identifying whether an individual is a retail worker, and the assault took place in the course of their work.

Further to the Answer to Question UIN 79041 on 20 October 2025, if he will provide an update on the Department’s investigation into the decline in road adoption rates across England; and when he expects the findings of that investigation to be published.

The Department is currently investigating the decline in road adoption rates through an ongoing research project. This project seeks to develop a clearer understanding of the road adoption landscape in England and identify ways to improve the process to reverse the declining trend. We will aim to publish the findings of the project as soon as possible this year.

Communities and Local Government, what plans his Department has to provide more flood resilient new homes in Leigh and Atherton constituency.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) makes clear that inappropriate development in areas at risk of flooding should be avoided by directing development away from areas at highest risk (whether existing or in the future). Where development is necessary in such areas, the development should be made safe for its lifetime without increasing flood risk elsewhere. The government is consulting on changes to the NPPF, including a dedicated chapter on planning for flood risk and coastal change. The consultation is open for responses until 10 March 2026 and can be found on gov.uk here. If it is found to be necessary to build homes in areas of flood risk, statutory guidance accompanying the Building Regulations promotes flood resilient building work in flood-prone areas, through Approved Document C which can be found on gov.uk here. This may include adequate sub-soil drainage; use of non-return valves and anti-flooding devices on sewers and drains; water resistant construction; and provision for inspection and clearance of sub-floor voids.

What plans his Department has to ensure that the needs of patients with severe and very severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis are fully addressed within future NHS service provision.

Most of the actions included in the final delivery plan on myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), which we published in July, will benefit all patients with ME/CFS, irrespective of condition severity. However, we are taking specific steps to ensure that patients with severe and very severe ME/CFS are not overlooked. For instance, the ME/CFS final delivery plan includes an action for the Department and NHS England to explore whether a specialised service should be prescribed by my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for very severe ME/CFS. Officials from the Department have commenced discussions with NHS England on how best to take forward this action.To support healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and management of ME/CFS, the Department has worked with NHS England to develop an e-learning programme on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes. All three sessions of the e-learning programme are now available at the following link:https://learninghub.nhs.uk/catalogue/mecfselearning?nodeId=7288The 10-Year Health Plan for the National Health Service also sets out a plan to shift healthcare from hospitals to the community, enabling people to feel supported managing their long-term conditions, including ME/CFS, closer to home. The Neighbourhood Health Service, delivered by new multidisciplinary teams of professionals, will support more services being delivered in the community, helping to create capacity within secondary services for those patients that need it. This will aim to help ensure that those who suffer from ME/CFS are able to live as independently as possible.

Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that tenure reform supports continued long-term investment in housing-with-care schemes.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 87630 on 11 November 2025.

What steps he is taking to ensure that the findings and recommendations of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry are incorporated into future pandemic planning and preparedness exercises.

Ensuring the United Kingdom is prepared for a future pandemic is a top priority for the Government, and we are embedding lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic within our pandemic preparedness. We aim to have flexible, adaptable, and scalable capabilities that can respond to any infectious disease or other threat, along all routes of transmission, rather than relying on plans for specific threats.The Government is committed to learning the lessons from the United Kingdom COVID-19 Inquiry to protect and prepare us for the future. On 16 January 2025, the Government published its response to the inquiry’s module one report on resilience and preparedness. The Department has committed, as part of this response, to publishing a new pandemic preparedness strategy that will show how we are embedding our new approach to pandemic preparedness. The response is published online and is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report-htmlIn Autumn 2025, the Department and the UK Health Security Agency conducted Exercise PEGASUS, a national exercise on the UK’s preparedness for a pandemic, which concluded live participation on 5 November. It aimed to test our ability to respond to a pandemic, involving all regions and nations of the UK, as well as thousands of participants. The exercise has provided valuable experience which is being used to inform our strategy and planning.Exercises like this are an essential and valuable tool to test our preparedness, capabilities, and response arrangements in the context of a pandemic. Future domestic and international exercises to test our preparedness and defences to biological threats, including pandemics, should factor in findings and lessons from a variety of sources to inform their design. This was an important part of the design of Exercise PEGASUS, the tier one pandemic preparedness exercise, where a variety of lessons, including from previous pandemic exercises such as Exercise CYGNUS, as well as recommendations from the COVID-19 Inquiry, were factored into the exercise’s design and planning.

What assessment he has made of the implications for his Department’s policies of the reports by the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

The Government welcomes the inquiry’s investigations, including the recent Module 2 report. The Government thanks Baroness Hallett and her team for their thorough work on these serious issues. We will consider the findings and recommendations in detail and respond in due course. The Government remains committed to learning the lessons needed from the COVID-19 Inquiry to protect and prepare us for the future.The Government will also provide regular progress updates on commitments made following reports. The first progress update, on the Inquiry’s Module 1 report on resilience and preparedness, was published 8 July 2025, and is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-government-response-to-the-covid-19-inquiry-module-1-report/uk-government-uk-covid-19-inquiry-response-module-1-implementation-updateIt included an update on the Department’s commitments, such as the intention to publish a health and care pandemic preparedness strategy. The next update is scheduled for January 2026.

Whether she will consider extending the proposed alignment of the personal allowance for pensioners with the new State Pension rate.

As announced at the Budget, the government will ease the administrative burden for pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments so that they do not have to pay small amounts of tax via Simple Assessment from 2027-28.