Every parliamentary written question tabled by Perran Moon this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 221–240 of 252 · this parliament
What plans she has for the provision of further information on the additional premium provided to claimants for the planned Universal Credit health element for the most severe, life-long health conditions.
We will ensure that those with the most severe, life-long health conditions, who will never be able to work, will see their incomes protected. We will also ensure this group face no future reassessment. We will set out further information on this in due course.
What estimate he has made of the number of adults with eating disorders that are waiting for treatment from community mental health services; and what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times.
NHS England recently published data on adult community mental health waiting times, which includes adult community eating disorder services. Services are working throughout 2024/25 to improve the data quality for these metrics, to be more accurate from 2025/26.At the end of January 2025, 206,603 referrals to community mental health services for adults and older adults with serious mental illness were waiting for a second contact. The median waiting time was 93 days, and the 90th percentile was 263 days.As part of our mission to build a National Health Service that is fit for the future and that is there when people need it, the Government will recruit 8,500 mental health workers to help ease pressure on busy mental health services.We are working with NHS England to consider options to deliver this commitment alongside the refresh of the Long Term Workforce Plan. This will focus on the three shifts to deliver our 10 Year Plan: moving care from hospitals to care in communities; making better use of technology in health and care; and focusing on preventing sickness, not just treating it.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of improving (a) the funding of and (b) support for NHS dentistry services in rural areas.
The National Health Service in England invests £3 billion in dentistry every year. NHS planning guidance is now published for 2025/26 and confirms that dental budgets are ringfenced. Planning guidance also confirms that improving access to urgent dental appointments is a key national priority. We are aware of the challenges faced in accessing a dentist, particularly in rural areas. The Government plans to tackle the challenges for patients trying to access NHS dental care with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas that need them most. To rebuild dentistry in the long term, we will reform the dental contract with the sector, with a shift to focus on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists.Integrated care boards (ICBs) have started to recruit posts through the Golden Hello scheme. This recruitment incentive will see up to 240 dentists receiving payments of £20,000 to work in those areas that need them most for three years.The responsibility for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to the ICBs across England. For the Camborne and Redruth constituency, this is the NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICB.
What steps his Department is taking to improve services for women with eating disorders.
Too many women with eating disorders are not getting the support or care they need, which is why we will fix the broken system to ensure we give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health, so that people can be confident in accessing high quality support when they need it.The Department continues to work closely with NHS England to ensure that people with an eating disorder get the care and treatment they need.NHS England is continuing to expand community-based eating disorder service capacity, including crisis care and intensive home treatment, to improve outcomes and recovery, reduce rates of relapse, prevent eating disorders continuing into adulthood, and reduce lengths of stay in urgent and emergency care.Funding for eating-disorder services has increased each year, from £46.7 million in 2017/18 to a planned spend of £101 million in 2024/25.
What assessment he has made of the adequacy of Car-Hill formula for funding to GPs in Camborne, Redruth and Hayle.
There has been no assessment made of the adequacy of the Carr-Hill formula for funding to general practices (GPs) in Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle.Plans to review this funding formula may be revisited in future. However, any changes would need careful planning to ensure they do not threaten stability or cause financial uncertainty for practices.We are committed to ensuring that primary medical services receive appropriate support and resources. We are investing an additional £889 million in GPs to reinforce the front door of the National Health Service, bringing total spend on the GP Contract to £13.2 billion in 2025/26. This is the biggest increase in over a decade.
Whether he plans to use the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund to accelerate the roll out of Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground loops.
The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund provides grant funding for social housing landlords to improve the energy performance of their properties. Ground Source Heat Pumps and Shared Ground Loops are both eligible measures under the scheme. They are supported by both the ‘On-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Incentive Offer’ and the ‘Off-Gas-Grid Low Carbon Heating Cost Cap Uplift’, which provide funding to support installations of low carbon heating technologies. All measures installed under the scheme must be lodged onto the TrustMark Retrofit Portal, adhere to requirements within Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2035, and be installed by an appropriately certified PAS or Microgeneration Certification Scheme installer which is TrustMark registered.
Whether the NHS 10-year health plan for England will include dentistry services.
The 10-Year Health Plan will deliver the three big shifts the National Health Service needs to be fit for the future: from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention. All three shifts are relevant to improving dental health in all parts of the country, and we expect dentistry services to benefit from the plan Delivering better joint working between services, and more preventative action like supervised toothbrushing programmes will all help people improve their dental health and access the dental services they need closer to home.
If he will make a comparative assessment between trends in levels of people hospitalised due to eating disorders in (a) England and (b) other European nations in 2024.
There are no plans to make a comparative assessment between trends in levels of people hospitalised due to eating disorders in England and other European nations in 2024.NHS England has commissioned the Royal College of Psychiatrists to deliver a national all-age eating disorders audit. This aims to drive improvement in the identification and appropriate management of eating disorders and the quality and consistency of services for all ages in England. This will help ensure that services across the country are safe, effective, patient centred, timely, efficient, and equitable.
What plans her Department has to promote training opportunities for (a) mineral processing, (b) metallurgical skills and (c) other critical minerals skills.
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth to the answer of 25 February 2025 to Question 30538.
What assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding for children with SEND in rural areas.
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life and we will set out plans for reforming the SEND system later this year. The mainstream schools’ national funding formula accounts for the particular challenges faced by small schools in rural areas through the lump sum and sparsity factors. These factors recognise that some smaller schools are remote, limiting their ability to grow or make efficiency savings. Such schools often play a significant role in the rural communities they serve, not least in their provision for pupils with SEND. Eligible primary schools attract up to £57,400, and all other schools up to £83,400, in sparsity funding in 2025/26. The government will also take the time needed to consider changes to the funding formulae used by the department to allocate funding for schools and for children and young people with complex SEND.
What assessment he has made of the potential merits of exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from blowout prevention permitting requirements in Mining Remediation Authority Areas.
The Mining Remediation Authority are responsible for safely managing the effects of past coal mining and will request a risk assessment as part of the permit to drill phase and the heat access agreement application for projects with groundworks in or near to coal (including mine workings) to help ensure works are undertaken safely. Guidance on managing the risk of hazardous gases when drilling or piling near coal can be found on GOV.UK. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is not currently exploring exempting Ground Source Heat Pumps from coal mining risk assessments.
Whether he has considered implementing a licencing regime similar to the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence to help clarify the (a) rights and (b) responsibilities of developers of geothermal energy.
The Government is considering various indirect support measures for the development of geothermal energy including regulatory approaches. However, a specific licensing regime like the Petroleum Exploration and Development Licence has not been established in the UK, and at this time the Government is not currently considering implementing a licencing regime for geothermal energy.
What assessment she has made of the potential impact of not continuing the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund beyond March 2025 on eligible adoptive families and special guardianship order families.
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Camborne and Redruth, to the answer of 12 March 2025 to Question 35389.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to direct funding from fees through the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme towards recycling (a) infrastructure and (b) awareness campaigns.
pEPR makes packaging producers responsible for the costs incurred by UK Local Authorities in managing household packaging waste, including the fees they pay to recycling facilities. This will provide around 1.5 billion pounds of new funding in the UK in 2025-26, including 1.1 billion in England. This funding will underpin the Simpler Recycling reforms in England and stimulate investment in associated recycling infrastructure. The scheme administrator, PackUK, is also obliged to provide information to the public and to businesses concerning packaging re-use, recycling, recovery, and disposal, as well as the prevention of packaging litter. The cost of providing this information is covered by producer fees.
What steps she is taking to increase the (a) transparency and (b) accountability of animal testing facilities.
The Government publishes a detailed Operational Guidance document on how the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is administered and enforced and also a Code of Practice for care and accommodation requirements.An annual statistics publication provides full details on the number of licensed procedures carried out, the species of animals and the purposes for which the procedures have been undertaken.The Animals in Science Regulator publishes an annual report which contains information on licensing, the audit programme, and management of non-compliance.
What recent discussions he has had with OFGEM on funding for shared ground loops under the Energy Company Obligation Scheme.
There is provision within the rules of ECO4 for shared ground loops to be delivered. ECO4 is not funded by government. Rather, the government requires energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency measures to eligible households. The energy suppliers fund those measures and recoup the costs from their customers’ energy bills.
What steps his Department is taking to help increase the production of cathode active materials for use in the (a) critical minerals and (b) battery supply chain.
Our vision is to achieve a domestic battery supply chain by 2030 by accelerating the growth of domestic capabilities, collaborating with international partners, and enhancing international markets. The UK National Wealth Fund (NWF) announced in January an investment of £28m in Cornish Metals. This recognises the crucial role of a domestic supply of raw materials for electric vehicles and other technologies in the nation's transition to net zero.We are also working on regulatory levers to incentivise reuse, repurposing, and recycling infrastructure for all battery chemistry types, including lithium-based technologies.
If he will make an assessment of the potential merits of approving Givinostat for use to treat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy in (a) Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust and (b) other NHS trusts.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) makes recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new licensed medicines should be routinely funded by the NHS independently based on an assessment of their costs and benefits. The NHS in England is legally required to fund medicines recommended by NICE, normally within three months of the publication of final guidance. NICE is currently evaluating givinostat for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and its Appraisal Committee will meet to consider its recommendations in May 2025.Ahead of NICE’s evaluation, ITF Pharma UK, the United Kingdom’s marketing authorisation holder for givinostat, is providing access to givinostat through a type of compassionate use scheme called an Early Access Programme (EAP). Under the EAP, givinostat is free to both patients taking part in it and to the NHS, but the trusts must still cover the cost of administering it to patients. Only Duchenne muscular dystrophy clinicians can make requests for givinostat for their patients. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis for individual named patients aligned to eligibility criteria.
What estimate she has made of the future level of skills needed to attract and train young people in the responsible extraction and recycling of critical minerals in the UK.
In February, the Critical Minerals Association, in partnership with the Department for Business and Trade, will host a workshop focusing on the challenges and opportunities in developing skills for critical mineral domestic midstream and recycling capabilities. The workshop will bring together stakeholders from across the UK critical minerals value chain to identify actionable recommendations for how the government can best support skills and development.Skills England refers to critical minerals in its September 2024 report ‘Driving growth and widening opportunities’, where it highlights the need for physical scientists and engineers to support the UK’s clean energy sectors. In the report, Skills England also commits to providing an authoritative assessment of skills needs, gathering insights from sector stakeholders including employers, sector-owning departments, and unions. This will inform priorities for technical education funding and decision-making. In November, Skills England undertook extensive engagement with over 700 stakeholders including employers in manufacturing and clean energy industries.There is a range of skills products which help meet the skills needs of critical minerals industries, including apprenticeships and higher education courses. These include, for instance, degree apprenticeships in mine management and geoscience, as well as the level 2 material processing plant operator apprenticeship, which can be used for mining activities. The Camborne School of Mining also offers the UK’s only Bachelor of Engineering in mining engineering.
If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a scrappage scheme for older higher polluting vehicles.
The Government is committed to cleaning up our air and protecting the public from the harms of pollution. We review the various policy levers available to us on an ongoing basis.