Written questions by Vickers.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of ambulance response times in rural and semi-urban areas.

We acknowledge that ambulance performance has not consistently met expectations in recent years, and we are taking serious steps to improve performance across the country including rural and semi-urban areas. That is why we published our Urgent and Emergency Care Plan for 2025/26, backed by almost £450 million of capital investment, which commits to reducing ambulance response times for Category 2 incidents to 30 minutes on average this year. The National Health Service constitutional standards for ambulance response time metrics are measured with an average figure as well as a 90th centile standard which means that trusts are held to account for the response times they provide to all patients, improving the performance management of the ‘long tail’ of delayed ambulance responses that we know can particularly affect rural and semi-urban areas. Recent NHS England figures show a 23-minute improvement in the Category 2 90th centile response time compared with last year. Local NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for service commissioning decisions in their local communities, including ambulance provision for rural and semi-urban communities. ICB funding allocations for ambulance services take account of rurality and patient density to cover the longer travel distances to incidents and greater time required to convey patients to hospitals.

What assessment he has made of trends in the level of regional cancer survival outcomes; and what steps he is taking to reduce regional disparities.

We know that more needs to be done to reduce the disparities in cancer survival. We remain committed to making improvements across different cancer types and reducing disparities in cancer survival. Early cancer diagnosis is also a specific priority within the National Health Service’s wider Core20Plus5 approach to reducing healthcare inequalities.The 10-Year Health Plan sets out how the Government will shift the focus from care from the hospital to care the community, which will make it easier for people to access cancer screening, diagnostic, and treatment services in their local areas, with more choice for people on how and where they access these services. Services will be backed by the latest technology to drive up this country’s cancer survival rates.The forthcoming National Cancer Plan, which we will publish in the new year, will look at targeted improvements needed across different cancer types to reduce disparities in cancer survival. The plan will seek to ensure that high-quality care and treatment is available to all patients across the country, no matter where they live. This will build on the current national cancer audits, which are seeking to promote best practice and aim to reduce inequalities in access to or the quality of treatment.The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway, seeking to improve every aspect of cancer care, to better the experience and outcomes for people with cancer. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years. To do this, we will focus on prevention, deliver targeted improvements, drive research and innovation, and ensure patients have access to the latest treatments and technology.

If he will visit Teesside to hear personally from leaders in the chemical industry on support for the industry.

Just last month [13th November]], I was delighted to accept invitations from the chemicals sector in Teesside, and met with over 15 firms from the sector and their supply chain. I was able to see first-hand some of the outstanding firms, facilities, projects and opportunities at Wilton International. I also held a roundtable convened by the North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) , where I had the chance to hear personally from leaders in the chemical industry. The Government continually assesses the impact of industrial and decarbonisation policies on the chemical industry and broader UK manufacturing sector. This includes through the Chemical Innovation Forum, which is a forum for gaining policy feedback, collaborating and understanding how best to support innovation in the industry to support growth and net zero goals. It is attended by senior-level stakeholders across the chemical industry, including companies active in the Tees Valley. Government is committed to supporting UK industry to decarbonise and protecting and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in regions across the UK. We are taking ambitious steps to lay the groundwork for further industry investment to reap the benefits of industrial decarbonisation. Building on engagement with industry, a refreshed Industrial Decarbonisation Plan will set the strategic direction for our approach to working with industry towards a competitive and low carbon industrial base in the UK, ensuring growth opportunities are captured in tandem with emissions reductions.

What assessment his Department has made on the potential impact of net zero policies on (a) the chemical industry on Teesside and (b) the existing industrial base.

Just last month [13th November]], I was delighted to accept invitations from the chemicals sector in Teesside, and met with over 15 firms from the sector and their supply chain. I was able to see first-hand some of the outstanding firms, facilities, projects and opportunities at Wilton International. I also held a roundtable convened by the North East of England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) , where I had the chance to hear personally from leaders in the chemical industry. The Government continually assesses the impact of industrial and decarbonisation policies on the chemical industry and broader UK manufacturing sector. This includes through the Chemical Innovation Forum, which is a forum for gaining policy feedback, collaborating and understanding how best to support innovation in the industry to support growth and net zero goals. It is attended by senior-level stakeholders across the chemical industry, including companies active in the Tees Valley. Government is committed to supporting UK industry to decarbonise and protecting and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in regions across the UK. We are taking ambitious steps to lay the groundwork for further industry investment to reap the benefits of industrial decarbonisation. Building on engagement with industry, a refreshed Industrial Decarbonisation Plan will set the strategic direction for our approach to working with industry towards a competitive and low carbon industrial base in the UK, ensuring growth opportunities are captured in tandem with emissions reductions.

What assessment he has made of the effectiveness of community diagnostic centres in reducing pressure on hospitals.

As set out in the Elective Reform Plan and the 10-Year Health Plan, community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are key to delivering on the Government’s ambition to move more planned care from hospitals to the community, reducing pressure on hospitals and delivering more convenient care close to home.CDCs deliver additional, digitally connected, diagnostic capacity, providing patients with a co-ordinated set of diagnostic checks in the community in as few visits as possible, enabling an accurate and fast diagnosis on a range of clinical pathways.Under the Government, CDCs have delivered over 9.4 million tests and scans since July 2024, supporting patients to access vital tests, scans, and checks around their busy working lives.In August 2025, the Government confirmed that 100 CDCs across the country are now offering out of hours services by opening for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning patients can access vital tests, scans, and checks around their busy working lives. We are committed to increasing this number further.

What steps are being taken to improve transport accessibility for people with disabilities in smaller stations.

Whenever the rail industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure, this needs to comply with current accessibility standards. We have also continued to fund the Access for All programme, which has delivered more than 270 accessible routes at stations and smaller improvements at around 1500 stations, including many smaller and rural stations. We have also installed platform edge tactile paving at all stations across Britain, to aid visually impaired passengers.

What recent progress he has made on reducing waits for elective procedures.

As set out in the Plan for Change, we are committed to returning by March 2029 to the National Health Service constitutional standard that 92% of patients wait no longer than 18 weeks from referral to consultant-led treatment, to help ensure patients get timely access to the procedures they need.We promised change, and we’ve delivered early, with a reduction in the waiting list of over 230,000 since the Government came into office, despite over 26.4 million referrals onto the list in that period.We also 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 progress has been made through setting ambitious targets, investing in modernisation, reforming and simplifying pathways, increasing surgical and diagnostic capacity, and empowering patients with faster and more convenient access to care.

What support is available to expand training and retention of allied health professionals.

We are expanding routes into clinical professions, including allied health professions, through apprenticeships. Apprenticeships provide new routes into professional work, help boost retention, and give existing staff new ways to progress in their career, as well as widening access to opportunities for people from all backgrounds and in underserved areas.To remove financial barriers to training, the NHS Learning Support Fund provides all eligible allied health profession students with a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year in addition to student loans.For the training of current staff, it is the responsibility of individual employers to invest in the future of their workforce and ensure appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development to ensure they continue to provide safe and effective care.As set out in the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government is committed to making the NHS the best place to work, by supporting and retaining our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals. To support this ambition, the Government will introduce a new set of standards for modern employment in April 2026. The new standards will reaffirm our commitment to improving retention by tackling the issues that matter to staff.

What steps he is taking to expand preventative health programmes in communities with high chronic-disease prevalence.

Our mission is to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between rich and poor, through the 10-Year Health Plan. Our 10-Year Health Plan sets out how a shift to prevention will deliver healthier, more prosperous lives for all, but particularly for those suffering the consequences of widening levels of health inequality. We are committed to taking action to tackle both the chronic diseases themselves and the modifiable risk factors that contribute to them, including:doubling the number of patients able to access the NHS Digital Weight Management Programme and expanding access to obesity medicines by working closely with industry and local systems to test new models of care and identify innovative ways to do this. Investing £70 million in 2025/26 to support local authority-led Stop Smoking Services will ensure that there is a comprehensive offer across local authorities in England, while providing additional weighted funding to local authorities with the highest smoking rates. The national Swap to Stop scheme and Smoke-free Pregnancy Incentives Scheme are also continuing. We are also working to ensure that all hospitals integrate ‘opt-out’ smoking cessation interventions into routine care, making every clinical consultation count;continuing to deliver the NHS Health Check, a core component of England’s cardiovascular disease prevention programme, which aims to detect those at risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and kidney disease and who are aged between 40 and 74 years old. To improve access to the programme we are piloting an online NHS Health Check so that people can undertake a check at a time and place that is convenient to them.investing in hypertension case-finding for those over 40 years old in community pharmacies, with nearly 4.2 million people having received a free blood pressure check through the service; anddeveloping other extensive digital prevention programmes to help people live healthier lives for longer and reduce inequalities. These ‘always-on’ and free at the point of use resources were used by nearly 20 million people in the last 12 months, offering support for the priority preventable conditions, with, for example, one in four users of our NHS Quit Smoking app reaching 28 days smoke free, which in turn makes them five times more likely to stop smoking for good, and with those who complete the 12-week weight loss plan losing on average 5.6 kilograms.

What steps he is taking to improve local mental-health crisis support.

Nationally, progress has been achieved in building more robust crisis care pathways across all ages and in all regions, ensuring that people in a mental health crisis can receive the right care. This includes the introduction of the ‘mental health’ option for NHS 111 and the opening of new mental health crisis centres to provide accessible and responsive care for individuals in a mental health crisis.The 10-Year Health Plan sets out our ambitions to go further by developing up to 85 dedicated mental health emergency departments so that patients get fast, same-day access to specialist support in an appropriate setting. This expansion builds on a number of early implementer sites that have been established in recent years by local health systems to provide a dedicated therapeutic alternative to emergency departments for individuals in a mental health crisis.The plan also sets out our plans to transform mental health services to improve access and treatment, and to promote good mental health and wellbeing for the nation. This includes improving assertive outreach, investing in neighbourhood mental health centres, and increasing access to talking therapies and evidence-based digital interventions.

What steps he is taking to enhance digital interoperability between NHS services.

Digital interoperability between National Health Services will be supported through the use of information standards, published under section 250 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This has been amended by the Health and Care Act 2022, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, to make new information standards mandatory, including for regulated providers of health and adult social care, and including private providers, and their suppliers of IT services.Information standards set the requirements, including data structure, that must be followed when health and adult social care information is used, shared, or otherwise processed, allowing for information to flow between organisations that use different systems, in real time. NHS England is introducing mandatory information standards in a staged process.

If he will revoke the ban on North Sea Oil and Gas exploration.

On 26 November, the Government published its North Sea Future Plan.The plan implements the Government’s manifesto commitments to manage existing fields for the entirety of their lifespan, and to not issue new licences to explore new oil and gas fields.We are committed to accelerating the transition to the North Sea’s clean energy future to harness the power of the North Sea, boost Britain’s energy security and ensure good, long-term jobs.

What steps he is taking to support NHS Trusts with energy and estate maintenance costs.

The Government’s 10-Year Health Plan commits to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future, and we recognise the importance of supporting NHS trusts to manage and maintain their estates using operational capital allocations.The Government’s recently published 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy set out 10-year maintenance budgets for the public estate, confirming £6 billion per year for the maintenance and repair of the NHS estate up to 2034/35.Within this overall figure, the Government is providing over £4 billion in operational capital in 2025/26 and has now allocated a further £15.6 billion directly to providers over the following four years, from 2026/27 to 2029/30. Providers have also been given further five-year operational capital planning assumptions covering 2030/31 to 2034/35, allowing them to plan longer term with confidence and accelerate investment decisions aligned to local priorities, including repairs and maintenance.In addition to operational capital, the Estates Safety Fund, established in 2025/26, will continue, with £6.75 billion investment over the next nine years to target the most critical building repairs and ensure safe environments for healthcare delivery.We also continue to support trusts to drive down their energy bills and boost their resilience. Since 2020 the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has funded over £1 billion in NHS energy projects. This now being bolstered by the Department for Health and Social Care’s £130 million collaboration with Great British Energy. This is funding solar installations at approximately 260 NHS sites and is estimated to deliver lifetime energy bill savings for the NHS of up to £325 million, with the average NHS site estimated to save approximately £35,000 a year in energy bills.

What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of NHS dentistry, particularly in areas with significant waiting lists.

We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist and the Government is taking action to improve this. We have asked integrated care boards (ICBs) to commission extra urgent dental appointments across the country, with appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most.ICBs are recruiting posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in underserved areas for three years.The Government is also considering the outcomes of the consultation on immediate improvements to dental care and will publish a response shortly.It is a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to update their NHS website profiles at least every 90 days to ensure patients have up-to-date information on where they can access care. This includes information on whether they are accepting new patients. ICBs can review which practices in their area have not updated their profile in a 90-day period, and work with practices to ensure websites are up to date.We are committed to reforming the dental contract, with a focus on matching resources to need, improving access, promoting prevention, and rewarding dentists fairly, while enabling the whole dental team to work to the top of their capability. The Government is committed to achieving fundamental contract reform by the end of this Parliament.

What steps he is taking to modernise primary care estates.

In May, we announced schemes which will benefit from the £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund (UMF) to deliver upgrades to a thousand general practice surgeries across England this financial year. The NHS Capital Planning Guidance and capital allocations, which set operational budgets for the next four years, have recently been published and include further details on multi-year funding for the UMF.As part of the 10-Year Health Plan, the Government has committed to deliver a Neighbourhood Health Centre (NHC) in every community across the country over the course of the 10-Year Health Plan. We announced our commitment at the Autumn Budget to deliver 250 NHCs through an 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.Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning, which includes planning, securing, and monitoring, general practice services within their health systems through delegated responsibility from NHS England. Both ICBs and local health systems will be responsible for determining the most appropriate locations for NHCs.

What steps he is taking to support social-care providers to increase workforce numbers.

English local authorities have responsibility under the Care Act 2014 to meet social care needs and statutory guidance directs them to ensure there is sufficient workforce in adult social care (ASC).The Government recognises the scale of the reforms needed to make the ASC sector attractive, to support sustainable workforce growth and improve the recruitment and retention of the domestic workforce.We are committed to transforming ASC and supporting ASC workers, turning the page on decades of low pay and insecurity. That is why we plan to introduce the first ever Fair Pay Agreement in 2028, backed by £500 million funding to improve pay and conditions for the ASC workforce. Ensuring that staff have the skills and training needed to work in social care is also essential, both to attract people to join and remain in the workforce, and for the provision of high-quality care and support. That is why we have developed the Care Workforce Pathway, the first national career framework for ASC, and we are investing £12 million in learning and development through the Learning and Development Support Scheme, to enable eligible staff to complete eligible courses and qualifications.We have also launched the 2025/26 ASC recruitment campaign, which is running throughout October and January with advertising appearing on television, social media, radio, and online, showcasing authentic moments in care careers and driving people with the right skills and values to apply for paid vacancies in the sector.

What steps he is taking to improve GP appointment availability in regions with rising demand.

We have invested an additional £1.1 billion in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, the largest increase in over a decade. Of this, £160 million has been directed to employ more GPs via the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme which has given additional flexibilities to recruit 2,500 new GPs into primary care networks across England. Additionally, the new £102 million Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund will create additional clinical space within over 1,000 GPs across England to deliver 8.3 million more appointments each year.In the twelve months leading up to September 2025, our efforts have resulted in 10.6 million more appointments compared to the previous year, a clear demonstration of our commitment to enhancing access for patients and supporting the future of GPs.The review of the GP funding formula, the Carr-Hill formula, is being conducted by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The purpose of the review is to ensure that funding for GPs is distributed equitably and is targeted towards areas that need it most. The review will consider unavoidable costs based on geographical areas.

What discussions have taken place with local leaders on improving bus services in areas affected by recent operator withdrawals.

Buses in England outside London were deregulated by the Transport Act 1985 and are largely run on a commercial basis where the operator decides on routes and provision. However, the Department for Transport regularly engages with local authority representatives to discuss local bus services, including in instances where operators withdraw services. Where operators take decisions to withdraw services, we expect them to work with local authorities to minimise disruption to passengers. We are taking action to give local leaders the powers they need to deliver better bus services for passengers, including through the Bus Services Act 2025, and through investing over £1 billion in 2025/26 to support and improve bus services in England outside London, of which £7.2 million has been allocated to the Tees Valley Combined Authority. Funding allocated to local authorities to improve services can be used in whichever way they wish to deliver better services for passengers, this could include expanding services and improving reliability, which are currently significant obstacles for too many people. Local authorities can also choose to subsidise certain services where commercial provision is not sufficient to meet the needs of local communities and where it represents value for money.

What plans there are to improve safety measures on rural A-roads with higher-than-average collision rates.

The Government recognises that the majority of road fatalities (according to the latest statistics) occurred on rural roads (60%) with fewer fatalities on urban roads (35%) and motorways (5%). Too many people are killed and seriously injured in road traffic collisions, and this Government is working hard to prevent these tragedies for all road users. The Road Safety Strategy is under development and will include a broad range of policies which will have national reach. More details will be set out in due course.

What steps she is taking to help increase driver numbers in the logistics sector.

The Government is committed to supporting the logistics sector in developing the skilled workforces it needs. The Government has confirmed £136 million for Skills Bootcamps in 2025-26 to support more than 40,000 learners. Skills Bootcamps will remain an important part of skills provision and are now funded through Mayoral Strategic Authorities and local areas directly, empowering local leaders with greater control over skills development. Local leaders are considering what occupations, including HGV driving, to prioritise. The Government also continues to support the sector with skills training through the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) driver apprenticeships, and through Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs) via Jobcentre Plus.