Written questions by Sewards.

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of using (a) tax incentives and (b) other methods to encourage people to renovate older properties.

This Government is committed to improving the quality and sustainability of our housing stock, through improvements such as low carbon heating, insulation, solar panels, and batteries. As the first step of our Warm Homes Plan, at the Autumn Budget, the Government committed an initial £3.4 billion towards heat decarbonisation and household energy efficiency between 2025-2028.A reduced rate of VAT at five per cent applies to the renovation of properties that have been empty for two years or more prior to the renovation work. This incentivises the restoration of buildings to a state in which they can be occupied, thereby supporting the property market.Any assessment of further tax incentives to encourage people to renovate older properties would require a comprehensive evaluation of a variety of factors including, but not limited to, complexity, fairness, and simplicity for the taxpayer. The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the usual tax policy making process and welcomes representations to help inform future decisions on tax policy.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of recommending the inclusion of Attendance Allowance recipients to the Motability scheme.

Attendance Allowance is intended to help those with a severe disability who have long term care or supervision needs which arise after reaching State Pension age. It has never included a mobility component, and so cannot be used in payment for a leased Motability Scheme vehicle. Government mobility support is focused on people who are disabled earlier in life; developing mobility needs in older life is a normal consequence of ageing, which non-disabled younger people have had opportunity to plan and save for. There is no constraint on what an award of Attendance Allowance can be spent on, and a recipient may choose to use this benefit to fund mobility aids. There are no plans to review the Scheme’s qualifying benefits.

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that people with (a) fibromyalgia, (b) ADHD and (c) other invisible disabilities are supported back into work.

Backed by £240m investment, the Get Britain Working White Paper launched on 26 November will drive forward approaches to tackling economic inactivity and work toward the long-term ambition of an 80% employment rate. As a Government, we want to support all forms of neurodiversity in the workplace, and we are looking to build on the findings of the Buckland Review of Autism Employment by gathering expert evidence in line with this expanded focus. Appropriate work is generally good for health and wellbeing, so we want everyone to get work and get on in work, whoever they are and wherever they live. Disabled people and people with health conditions, including those with fibromyalgia, ADHD and other invisible conditions, are a diverse group so access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, is key. We therefore have a range of specialist initiatives to support individuals to stay in work and get back into work, including those that join up employment and health systems. Measures include support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants, as well as joining up health and employment support around the individual through Employment Advisors in NHS Talking Therapies and Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care. Employers play a key role in increasing employment opportunities and supporting disabled people and people with health conditions, to thrive as part of the workforce. Our support to employers includes increasing access to Occupational Health, a digital information service for employers and the Disability Confident scheme.

If she will take steps to ensure that childcare providers are not able to charge for childcare costs on days where they are unable to deliver the service.

It is the department’s ambition that all families have access to high quality, affordable and flexible early education and care, improving the life chances for every child and the work choices for every parent.Eligible children are entitled to 570 or 1140 hours of free early education and childcare per year. If parents are concerned that they are not receiving their child’s full entitlement, they should raise this with their local authority.The private paid hours delivered by childcare providers across the country are subject to private arrangements between providers and parents. Details of these services, including whether payment is required for days when the provider is unable to deliver services, are set out in each individual agreement. Where issues arise in relation to such agreements, parents and providers may want to consider guidance from the Competitions and Markets Authority on consumer law: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cma-consumer-enforcement-guidance.As part of the department’s regular review of the early years statutory guidance for local authorities, we have engaged with local authorities, providers and groups representing parents on the issue of charging. We will consider how to better support local authorities to protect parents from overcharging.

Whether she plans to review the Overseas Scale Rates.

As with all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps flat rate expenses, including Overseas Scale Rates, under review.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce waiting times for people with (a) Motor Neurone Disease and (b) other degenerative conditions.

Patients, including those with motor neurone disease (MND), have been let down for too long whilst they wait for the care they need. The Government is committed to putting patients first. This means making sure that patients are seen on time and ensuring ...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing sentences for offenders guilty of unlawful act manslaughter.

Parliament is responsible for setting the overall legal sentencing framework and the maximum penalty for unlawful act manslaughter is life imprisonment.However, sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to imp...

What steps his Department is taking to help ensure that people with additional communication needs are able to access (a) online appointment bookings and (b) other digital healthcare services.

All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers in England are required to meet the Accessible Information Standard to meet the communication needs of patients and carers with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss. ...

Whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential merits of implementing the recommendations of the briefing paper by Healthwatch Leeds entitled Communicating change, published in September

While there are no current plans for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to meet with Healthwatch Leeds, he does meet with stakeholders regularly about a range of issues.NHS England has carefully considered the points rai...

If he will hold discussions with Healthwatch Leeds on the potential merits of implementing their policy on communication, coordination and compassion in other parts of the country.

While there are no current plans for my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, to meet with Healthwatch Leeds, he does meet with stakeholders regularly about a range of issues.NHS England has carefully considered the points rai...

What steps his Department is taking to support people diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). The UK Rare Diseases Framework sets out four priorities collaboratively developed with the rare disease community. These include b...

If he will make an assessment with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of making tuition free for dental students; and what steps he is taking to ensure that dentists receive adequate fundin

The Government is determined to rebuild National Health Service dentistry, but it will take time and there are no quick fixes. Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions.The Government will make sure the NHS has the staff it needs to be there for...

If he will allow individuals with a history of anaphylaxis to receive Novavax Covid-19 booster vaccinations.

Novavax was not purchased for the Autumn 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme, as sufficient pre-procured COVID-19 doses of the Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) vaccines were available.The COVID-19 chapter of the publication Imm...

Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward regulations to ensure that solar panels fitted to new housing are (a) safe and (b) pose a low fire risk.

The Building Regulations apply to new building work and are intended to protect people’s safety, health and welfare. They may apply when somebody is putting up a new building, making material changes to a building, extending an existing building or alteri...

What steps her Department is taking to support economic growth across (a) Yorkshire and (b) northern Lincolnshire.

At Autumn Budget 24 the government set out the first major steps in our approach to regional growth, through devolution, investment and reform.The Government is investing in total over £2.5 billion over 30 years in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and York...

What steps her Department is taking to help support improvements to (a) local transport links and (b) networks across (i) Yorkshire and (ii) Northern Lincolnshire.

The Department is committed to improving local transport across the Yorkshire and Humber. The Chancellor announced in the Autumn Statement on 30 October a range of funding to support local transport, including funding that will provide for development of ...

What steps his Department is taking to help support business investment into (a) Yorkshire and (b) northern Lincolnshire.

The Department works across the UK, including Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire, to showcase strong commercial investment opportunities to potential investors and support business to grow, and provides extensive support to small businesses through the n...

Communities and Local Government, what steps Department is taking to help support economic growth across (a) Yorkshire and (b) northern Lincolnshire.

This Government is developing a modern industrial strategy to deliver the certainty and stability for business to invest and creating the National Wealth Fund to support its delivery and mobilise billions of pounds of investment in the UK’s growth industr...

If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to allow victims of crime to express impact statements to convicted people directly.

As set out in the Victims’ Code, victims and survivors have the right to make a Victim Personal Statement (VPS) to explain in their own words how a crime has affected them. The judge or magistrate will decide whether and what sections of a personal statem...

Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help increase the affordability of cat neutering services.

The Competition and Markets Authority, which is independent from Defra, is currently undertaking a market investigation into veterinary services, which includes the cost of veterinary care. Defra will review any recommendations that are made by the CMA wh...