Written questions by Gilmour.

If he will ensure women's health services are included in the Neighbourhood Health Service.

The 10-Year Health Plan set out our ambition for high autonomy to be the norm across every part of the country. Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning services that meet the healthcare needs of their local population and which have the freedom to do so, and this includes women's health hubs and delivering the direction of the Women's Health Strategy. The Government is backing ICBs to do this through significant funding, with the Spending Review 2025 prioritising health and increasing investment across the health and social care system. The Government is encouraging ICBs to further expand the coverage of women’s health hubs and supporting them to use the learning from the women’s health hub pilots to improve local delivery of services to women and girls.We have announced our commitment to deliver 250 Neighbourhood Health Centres through the NHS Neighbourhood Rebuild Programme, with 120 delivered by 2030, and with rollout starting in the areas of greatest need where healthy life expectancy is lowest.We expect neighbourhood teams and services to be designed in a way that reflects the specific needs of local populations, which may include women’s health services. While the focus on personalised, coordinated care will be consistent, that will mean the service will look different in different places across the country.

What steps his Department is taking to reduce levels of burnout of NHS staff.

The health and wellbeing of all National Health Service staff is a top priority.  NHS organisations have a responsibility to create supportive working environments for staff, ensuring they have the conditions they need to thrive, including access to high quality health and wellbeing support.At a national level, NHS staff have access to the SHOUT helpline for crisis support alongside the Practitioner Health service for more complex mental health and wellbeing support, including trauma and addiction.The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan which will have a focus on supporting our hardworking and dedicated healthcare professionals. This includes the development of a new set of staff standards for modern employment and the roll-out of Staff Treatment Hubs that will ensure staff have access to high quality support for occupational health, including support for mental health and back conditions.

Communities and Local Government, what progress he has made on the long-term housing strategy; and when he plans to publish that strategy.

The government is making good progress on a long-term housing strategy and will publish it shortly.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to financially support upland farmers in areas such as Exmoor.

Defra is working with Dr Hilary Cottam to develop a place-based approach for what uplands communities need, co-designing solutions to specific problems. The Government recently announced the extension of the Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) programme until March 2029. This supports farmers and land managers in England’s National Parks and National Landscapes, including upland farmers in Exmoor National Park, to deliver projects that achieve climate, nature, people and place outcomes. The Sustainable Farming Incentive will be reformed to make it simpler and fairer. To ensure as many farmers as possible can benefit from SFI, we will begin by opening an initial window from June for small farms, and also those without existing Environmental Land Management agreements. This will be followed by a second window opening from September for all other farmers. The Farming Roadmap and the government response to Baroness Batters’ Farming Profitability Review will be published later this year, setting out wider plans to boost profitability and long-term viability. Information about agricultural scheme payments made to farmers and land managers in the Exmoor area can be found at the Find farm and land payment website.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of an increase in urgent care Units of Dental Activity on trends in the level of the provision of routine and preventative NHS dental care.

We recognise that urgent, routine, and preventative dental care is important and we are taking steps to address this.We are committed to delivering fundamental reform of the dental contract before the end of this Parliament. As a first step, on 16 December we published the Government’s response to the public consultation on quality and payment reforms to the National Health Service dental contract. The changes will be introduced from April 2026, and an impact assessment will be published. The proposals are intended to make it easier for those who need dental care and treatment by requiring all dental practices to provide an agreed amount of urgent and unscheduled care which is accessible to all who need it, irrespective of whether they have been to the practice before. Further information is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reforms/outcome/government-response-to-consultation-on-nhs-dentistry-contract-quality-and-payment-reformsWe have invested £11 million in 147 local authorities in 2025/26, alongside an innovative partnership with Colgate-Palmolive, to rollout a national targeted supervised toothbrushing programme for three to five-year-olds. This will reach up to 600,000 children targeted in the 20% most deprived areas of England to reduce inequalities.

Communities and Local Government, what support and encouragement the Government is giving to local authorities to fast-track planning applications for developments on brownfield sites.

The National Planning Policy Framework makes clear that substantial weight should be given to the value of using suitable brownfield land within settlements to meet the need for homes and other uses. The revised Framework published on 12 December 2024 broadened the definition of brownfield land, set a strengthened expectation that applications on brownfield land will be approved, and made clear that plans should promote an uplift in density in urban areas. The definition in question can be found in the NPPF glossary on gov.uk here. The government is currently consulting on a new National Planning Policy Framework that includes clearer, ‘rules based’ policies for decision-making and plan-making. For further details about the proposed changes to national planning policy and wider funding and support, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 16 December 2025 (HCWS1187). The consultation can be found on gov.uk here and will remain open for responses until 10 March 2026.

If he will make an assessment of the potential impact of State Pension age changes for 1950s-born women on woman in Tiverton and Minehead constituency.

All women born since 6 April 1950 have been affected by changes to State Pension age. Estimates can be made using ONS 2021 Census Data on how many women born in the 1950s resided in each constituency in that year.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to schools who wish to decarbonise their buildings but who currently do not have the means to do so.

The department recognises that decarbonising the school estate is an important part of meeting the government’s net zero commitments.The Great British Energy Solar Partnership (GBESP) programme is supporting 250 schools and colleges to decarbonise by investing £100 million on solar panels and other energy efficiency and net zero interventions including LED lighting and electric vehicle chargers.We are providing support for all schools and colleges to start on their journey towards net zero through our Sustainability Support Programme, which includes an online platform of guidance, tools and resources to help schools plan and deliver climate action available here: https://www.sustainabilitysupportforeducation.org.uk/.The publicly available Department for Energy Security and Net Zero commissioned schools decarbonisation guidance, along with tools and checklists developed by Energy Systems Catapult can be found here: https://es.catapult.org.uk/tools-and-labs/public-sector-decarbonisation-guidance/developing-your-strategy/schools-resource-hub/. We will be issuing guidance to school settings in spring 2026 to help schools plan future retrofit and adaptation strategies to support decarbonisation and good education outcomes using their estates effectively.

What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme.

The Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals programme, with up to £150 million expected to be allocated to, or aligned with it, aims to speed up the development of new treatments for dementia and neurodegenerative conditions by accelerating innovations in biomarkers, clinical trials, and implementation. This is co-chaired by Hilary Evans-Newton CBE and Professor Nadeem Sarwar.So far, the programme has invested approximately £100 million into biomarker innovation projects, experimental medicine studies, and clinical trial infrastructure. This covers a broad range of biomarker technologies and studies to help researchers, patients, and industry partners work together to better understand how dementia begins and progresses. This amount also supports the Medical Research Council’s Dementia Trials Accelerator which aims to embed more innovation in how clinical trials are designed and delivered in order to increase the speed and quality, while driving down the cost of large-scale trials, as well as the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s UK Dementia Trials Network which seeks to speed up early-stage clinical trials.The programme is now setting up the Neurodegeneration Initiative, which will be a globally unique, not-for-profit, industry led, public-private partnership with charitable status, that will work together across the Government, industry, academia, the National Health Service, and third sector, and will deliver the programme’s remaining objectives.

Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish the latest data on the ecological status of rivers across the UK.

The Environment Agency (EA) is preparing the next update of water body classifications which underpin river basin management plans and guide investment decisions.

If he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the removal of the right of appeal escalatory route from the Family Court judges to the High Court on judicial oversight accountability.

The Government has no plans to remove any rights of appeal route from family court judges to the High Court, nor has it made an assessment of the potential impact of such a change on judicial oversight and accountability.

What steps his Department is taking to improve early cancer diagnosis rates.

Early cancer diagnosis is a key priority for the Government, as the chances of survival are higher if cancer is diagnosed at an early stage.The Department recognises that cancer patients are often waiting too long for referral and treatment. As the first step to ensuring early diagnosis and treatment, NHS England has delivered an extra 100,000 operations, scans, and appointments each week since the start of this administration. This is supported by an increase in capacity to meet the demand for diagnostic services through investment in new magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scanners. The Government is investing an extra £26 billion in the National Health Service and is opening up community diagnostic centres at evening and weekends, to help diagnose cancer earlier.In the new year we will publish a National Cancer Plan. The plan will include further details on how the Government will improve outcomes for cancer patients, as well as speeding up diagnosis and treatment, ensuring patients have access to the latest treatments and technology and ultimately driving up this country’s cancer survival rates.

Innovation and Technology, if she will commit to introducing Herbie's Law.

The UK’s legal framework already requires that animals are only used in science where no validated alternatives exist, and we are accelerating efforts to develop and adopt these alternatives. The Government’s new strategy sets out a long-term vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated except in exceptional circumstances. This will be achieved by creating a research and innovation system that drives the development and validation of alternative methods.

Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to promote the awareness and use of sustainable palm oil.

The Government is committed to supporting sustainable production, trade, and use of palm oil. Leading by example, the Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services require in-scope public sector procurers to ensure that all palm oil(including palm kernel oil and products derived from palm oil) used for cooking and as an ingredient in food must be sustainably produced.

What steps his department is taking to help ensure trusts have sufficient access to operational capital funding to repair buildings, replace old equipment, and provide a suitable environment for patients.

The Government is committed to delivering a National Health Service that is fit for the future through our 10-Year Health Plan, 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, maintenance, and ensuring suitable patient environments.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.

Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the (a) adequacy of funding for leisure and health centres and (b) potential impact of those funding levels on fitness and wellbeing.

The Government recognises the importance of ensuring public access to sports facilities, including leisure centres, which are vital spaces for people of all ages to stay fit and healthy, and which play an important role within communities across the country. Our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, has estimated that a social value of £3.6 billion was generated by public leisure sites in England in 2024/5, largely from improved wellbeing and health outcomes.The ongoing responsibility of providing access to public leisure facilities lies at local authority level, and the Government encourages local authorities to make investments which offer the right opportunities and facilities for the communities they serve. The Department for Health and Social Care has responsibility for health centres.The Government has committed another £400 million to transform grassroots sports facilities across the whole of the UK over the next four years, supporting the Government's Plan for Change. We will ensure that this funding promotes health and wellbeing, and helps to remove the barriers to physical activity for under-represented groups. We are working closely with sporting bodies and local leaders to establish what communities need, before setting out further plans on how future funding will be allocated across the UK. This funding is on top of the £250 million that Sport England invests every year in grassroots sport in England.

Innovation and Technology, further to the research and analysis entitled Rapid Technology Assessment: Humanoids, published on 10 March 2025, whether her Department plans to introduce a regulatory framework or minimum safety and cybersecurity standards for consumer-grade humanoid robots.

The UK Government are taking robust action to ensure new and existing technologies in the UK are Secure by Design. The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act requires manufacturers, importers and retailers to ensure consumer IoT products meet minimum security requirements. We have also published Codes of Practice for Software, Apps and AI cyber security for companies to follow to support this, and the NCSC provides guidance on other security requirements.NCSC, as the National Technical Authority for cyber security, is in the process of assessing what if any guidance for robotics manufacturers would be valuable.

If he will make an assessment of the adequacy of (a) Health and Safety Executive regulations on the interaction between walkers and cattle and (b) how those regulations are communicated to (i) farmers and (ii) the public.

Health and safety legislation places a duty on farmers to manage the risk to the public from cattle as far as it is reasonable to do so. The nature of modern health and safety legislation is largely goalsetting, rather than prescriptive. This is important for workplaces such as farms where measures that may be reasonable to control risk from cattle on one farm, may not be reasonable on another farm for a variety of reasons. The legal duty on the farmer under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) is to manage their cattle herd so the animals within it present a low level of risk to members of the public using fields with public access. Farmers should take all measures that are reasonably practicable to control or reduce risk. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides free published guidance to assist farmers in their duties. Guidance sheets AIS17EW (and AIS17S in Scotland) set out the hierarchy of control measures that farmers are expected to consider and, where possible implement. HSE works closely with key industry stakeholders such as Britain’s Farm Safety Partnerships in a variety of ways to raise awareness within the farming community of their legal duties when considering keeping cattle in fields with public access. As part of its work to communicate the legal requirements on farmers to members of the public, it has in a number of its media communications and press releases regarding cattle, also drawn attention to The Countryside Code - GOV.UK. This guidance produced by Natural England is aimed at members of the public and provides them with information on how to stay safe in the countryside.

What steps her Department is taking to help tackle delays in processing re-applications to the DVLA following the voluntarily surrender of driving licences on medical grounds.

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) aims to process all applications as quickly as possible. Driving licence applications where a medical condition(s) must be investigated before a licence can be issued can take longer. This is because the DVLA is often reliant on receiving information from third parties, including medical professionals, before a licence can be issued. The DVLA continues to make improvements to the services provided to drivers with medical conditions and is currently rolling out a new casework system. This is expected to deliver significant improvements to the handling of medical cases, support growing customer demand and helping to reduce processing times. To help reduce the time taken to deal with medical applications, the DVLA has introduced a simplified licence renewal process for some medical conditions. This has reduced the need for further information from medical professionals, enabling more licensing decisions to be made based on the information provided by the driver. Those applying for a driving licence after previously surrendering it voluntarily may be able to drive while their application is being processed, providing they can meet specific criteria. More information on this can be found online at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1180997/inf1886-can-i-drive-while-my-application-is-with-dvla.pdf.

What assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending VAT exemption to include essential (a) day care and (b) respite services for people with (i) dementia and (ii) other permanent disabilities.

Supplies of welfare services, including the provision of care for people with permanent disabilities and dementia, are exempt from VAT if they are supplied by eligible bodies, such as public bodies or charities. When developing policy, including on VAT on welfare services, the Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing any of the nine protected characteristics, including disability, age, sex and race, in line with its statutory obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty set out in the Equality Act 2010. More generally, VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. VAT is the UK’s second largest tax, forecast to raise £180 billion in 2025/26. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited and balanced against affordability considerations.