Written questions by Niblett.

What progress his Department has made on granting retrospective pension arrangements to Gurkha veterans who served in the armed forces.

The Government greatly values the contribution that Gurkhas make in support of the UK’s security and defence and takes its responsibilities to our Gurkha veterans very seriously. The legal basis for Gurkha pensions has been upheld by three Judicial Reviews since 2003, including a case that went to the European Court of Human Rights in 2018. The Government maintains that the 1948 Gurkha Pension Scheme continues to provide a good income for our Gurkha veterans living in Nepal, in accordance with the original scheme design. The Government remains committed to supporting Gurkhas and their families during and after their service with the British Army, as demonstrated by the increase in funding via the Gurkha Welfare Trust, including a £24 million uplift to the medical and healthcare Grant-in-Aid already in place and an extension in principle to that Grant in Aid beyond 2029. We remain open to conversations about what more could be done to meet the welfare needs of Gurkhas, in both the UK and in Nepal. As the Minister for Veterans and People, I am looking forward to meeting the Nepali Ambassador in the coming weeks.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 February 2025 to Question 27349 on Vaccination, what steps his Department is taking to ensure contemporaneous vaccine delivery across all regions.

NHS England is responsible for the operational delivery of the vaccination programmes, including the respiratory syncytial virus programme, in line with recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), and considering local population needs.General practices (GPs) are commissioned as a component of essential services, with practices required to offer and provide vaccinations to eligible patients, including their registered patients residing in care homes. NHS England’s regional teams monitor operational data to ensure that all providers are vaccinating those eligible.Routine and seasonal vaccination programmes are commissioned in a nationally consistent way across all regions through inclusion in the GP Contract, GP and community pharmacy advanced and enhanced services, and National Health Service standard contracts. Regional commissioners are also able to stand up vaccination programmes in response to local pressures and outbreaks to supplement this core offer.

What assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of waiting times for mental health services in South Derbyshire constituency; and what steps he is taking to reduce those times.

Waiting times for those referred to mental health services are too high all across England, including in the South Derbyshire constituency.Too many people with mental health issues 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 and that people can be confident in accessing high quality mental health support when they need it.Nationally, we plan to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers across child and adult mental health services in England to reduce delays and provide faster treatment. We will also introduce access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and roll out Young Futures hubs in every community.In addition, people of all ages who are in crisis or who are concerned about a family or loved one can now call NHS 111, select the mental health option, and speak to a trained mental health professional. National Health Service staff can guide callers with next steps such as organising face-to-face community support or facilitating access to alternative services, like crisis cafés or safe havens, which provide a place for people to stay as an alternative to accident and emergency or a hospital admission.It is the responsibility of the integrated care boards to commission care to meet the needs of their local population.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) modernise NHS IT infrastructure and (b) ensure value for money in upgrading IT systems.

Through the Frontline Digitisation programme, we will work to level up National Health Service trusts to a baseline level of digital capability. Our investment in digitising the frontline will ensure value for money and that health and care staff have access to health-related information when and where it is needed, supporting them to deliver care efficiently, effectively, and safely, thereby reducing variation and improving outcomes. Currently 91%, or 187 out of 206, of Secondary Care Trusts have an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) in place, with work underway to provide tailored support to the remaining 19 trusts that do not yet have an EPR. Our ambition is for all trusts to meet our stated core digitisation standards, including having EPRs in place by March 2026. The programme is forecasting to achieve 96% EPR coverage by its end in March 2026, with the remaining 4% of trusts having advanced in their plans for an EPR.

What steps her Department is taking to reduce the time taken to process Education, Health and Care Plans for children in South Derbyshire constituency.

I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for South Derbyshire, to the answer of 5 February 2025 to Question 27930.

How much capital funding has been allocated to increase specialist school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities in South Derbyshire constituency.

Since 2022, Derbyshire has received over £27.6 million in high needs capital funding, which it can use to create new places in special schools and support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in a mainstream setting.The department has now announced £740 million of capital for high needs funding in the 2025/26 financial year. This can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools, as well as other specialist settings. It can also be used to improve the suitability and accessibility of existing buildings.We understand that local authorities will want certainty about the allocation of the high needs provision capital funding for the 2025/26 financial year as soon as possible in order to develop their approach to supporting children and young people with SEND, or who require alternative provisions in their area. We will confirm allocations for the £740 million funding later in the spring.

What steps she is taking to reduce the time taken to release death certificates.

Since the implementation of the death certification reforms in September 2024, the 5-day statutory time period for an informant to register a death commences when the registrar receives a completed Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) from a Medical Examiner, or notification from a Coroner.Monitoring by the General Register Office for England and Wales confirms that current appointment availability for the bereaved with registrars in Local Authorities to be available to register deaths is adequate, but the Government is continuing to work towards the electronic registration of deaths to minimise the burden on bereaved family members at a difficult time, as set out by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Whether his Department is taking steps to help support high street businesses to compete with online retailers in South Derbyshire constituency.

We intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including those on the high street, from 2026-27. This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants. Ahead of these changes being made, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier. We are also working with businesses to understand their barriers to growth and High Streets will be a key pillar of our forthcoming Small Business Strategy.

Whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to provide (a) funding and (b) advisory support to employers to help increase the (i) recruitment and (ii) retention of neurodivergent people.

Neurodivergent people bring many positive benefits to businesses but face particular barriers to employment, which is reflected in a poor overall employment rate. We understand the importance of encouraging employers to adopt neuro-inclusive working practices so that everyone can thrive at work. On 29th January, the Government launched an independent panel of academics with expertise and experiences of neurodiversity to advise us on boosting neurodiversity awareness and inclusion at work.In keeping with the Government’s pledge to bring disabled voices closer to decision-making, at least half of the panel are neurodiverse themselves. The panel will consider the reasons why neurodivergent people have poor experiences in the workplace, and a low overall employment rate. They will make recommendations in the Summer which consider likely mechanisms for change. In parallel, we are working with other areas of government to promote awareness of neurodiversity amongst employers, and we recently announced Keep Britain Working, a major independent review of the employer’s role in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help support people affected by flooding caused inadvertently by flood relief schemes.

When building flood defences there is a legal requirement that any development cannot increase the flood risk to communities either upstream or downstream, and if an increase in risk is identified, it must be mitigated.

If she will make an assessment of the reasons for delays in processing education, health and care plans in South Derbyshire constituency; and whether her Department is taking steps to provide additional support to the local authority to improve compliance with statutory timeframes.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. The department is committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to those with the most complex needs. We want to ensure people of all ages and backgrounds can undertake activities which provide them with the skills and learning they need to support them into work and offer excellent career development and progression opportunities.The department wants to ensure that, where required, education, health and care (EHC) plan assessments are progressed promptly and, if needed, plans are issued as quickly as possible so that children and young people can access the support they need.Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to assess whether children and young people have special educational needs that require an EHC plan. EHC plans must be issued within 20 weeks of the needs assessment commencing so that children and young people can access the support they need. In 2023, there were 138,200 initial requests for an EHC plan and 90,500 assessments took place. 50.3% of new EHC plans in 2023 were issued within 20 weeks.The department knows that local authorities have seen an increase in the number of assessment requests and that more needs to be done to ensure that local areas deliver effective and timely services. This includes better communication with schools and families.A joint local area SEND inspection in Derbyshire was undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in September 2024 under the new Area SEND Inspection framework. Ofsted/CQC found widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND which the local area partnership must address urgently. The report, published on 14 November, included six areas for priority action (APAs).As a result of this inspection, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector requires the local area partnership to prepare and submit a priority action plan (area SEND) to address the identified APAs.The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the APAs found by inspectors and the progress made by children and young people with SEND. The department has appointed a SEND Adviser to work collaboratively with an NHS England Adviser to challenge, support and work alongside Derbyshire County Council and the local area partnership.

What additional (a) funding and (b) other resources his Department plans to provide to primary care providers to support preventative healthcare in South Derbyshire constituency.

The 10-Year Health Plan will describe a shared vision for the health and care system in 2035, drawing directly from the extensive engagement underway with the public, patients, and staff. It will set out how the National Health Service will deliver the shift from sickness to prevention, which will be one of the central tenets of the plan. This includes a working group focused on the preventative healthcare model for the future.We have announced a proposed £889 million uplift for general practices (GPs) in 2025/26 and set out the proposed areas of reform which will help us to deliver on our commitments. This is the largest uplift to GP funding since the beginning of the five-year framework and means that we are reversing the recent trend, with a rising share of total NHS resources going to GPs.To shift care from sickness to prevention, the Government has also proposed providing financial incentives to reward GPs who go above and beyond to prevent the most common killers, like heart disease, for the next contract year. This is subject to the contract consultation currently underway with the General Practitioners Committee England.We have already started hiring an extra 1,000 GPs into the NHS and uplifted a monthly payment to practices by 7.4%. We will also be resuming our consultation with Community Pharmacy England regarding funding arrangements.The most common reason children aged five to nine are admitted to hospital is for tooth decay. We will work with local authorities and the NHS to introduce supervised tooth brushing for children aged between three and five years old in the most deprived communities. These programmes are proven to reduce tooth decay and to boost good practices at home.Integrated care boards have delegated responsibility for planning and commissioning healthcare services to meet the reasonable needs of the people for whom they are responsible. In South Derbyshire, our Regional Director of Public Health is working with local government and the Joined Up Care Derbyshire Integrated Care System to support the shift to prevention.

What steps his Department is taking to shift towards a preventative healthcare model in South Derbyshire constituency; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of the preventative healthcare model on primary care providers nearby.

The Health Mission sets out our plan to shift the National Health Service away from a model geared towards late diagnosis and treatment, to one where the NHS focuses on prevention, and where more services are delivered in local communities. Our core objective is to shorten the amount of time spent in ill-health and prevent premature deaths, which will in turn reduce pressure on the NHS, boost the economy, and prevent the vicious cycle of ill health and poverty.We are taking action across the Government to tackle the biggest drivers of ill health, including legislation to make this country smoke-free and to protect future generations from the harms of addiction, as well as working closely with local government to address the underlying social determinants of health.Within the health and care system, the 10-Year Health Plan will describe a shared vision for the health and care system in 2035, drawing directly from the extensive engagement underway with the public, patients, and staff. It will set out how the NHS will deliver the shift from sickness to prevention, which will be one of the central tenets of the plan. This includes a working group focused on the preventative healthcare model for the future.To support the shift to prevention within primary care, we have proposed providing financial incentives to reward general practitioners who go above and beyond to prevent the most common killers, like heart disease, for the next contract year. This is subject to the contract consultation currently underway with the General Practitioners Committee England. NHS England has published NHS Planning Guidance for 2025/26, setting out the first steps for reform and the immediate actions we are asking systems to take to deliver, including on the shift from sickness to prevention. In South Derbyshire our Regional Director of Public Health is working with local government and the Joined Up Care Derbyshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to support the shift to prevention. The Joined Up Care Derbyshire ICB is responsible for considering the impact of its preventative healthcare model on local primary care providers.

What steps her Department is taking to improve public transport connections in (a) South Derbyshire constituency and (b) the East Midlands.

The government knows that a modern public transport network is vital to providing access to services and keeping communities connected. The government introduced the Bus Services (No.2) Bill on 17 December to put the power over local bus services back into the hands of local leaders. In addition, the government has confirmed £955 million for the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support and improve bus services in England outside London. East Midlands Combined County Authority have been allocated £40.5 million of this funding, helping to improve bus services across the area, including South Derbyshire. In total, Local Transport Authorities across the East Midlands have been allocated £81 million of this funding. The government also launched its plan to develop an Integrated National Transport Strategy which will set the long-term vision for transport in England to better serve all people who use it, including those in South Derbyshire and across the East Midlands.

What steps her Department is taking to (a) support disabled people seeking to enter or return to work and (b) ensure those unable to work continue to receive financial support.

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, 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. We are committed to reforming the system of health and disability benefits so that it promotes and enables employment among as many people as possible. The system must also work to reduce poverty for disabled people and people with health conditions and support disabled people to live independently. It is also vital to ensure that the system is financially sustainable in the long term. We are working to develop proposals for reform in the months ahead and will set them out in a Green Paper in spring. In the UK, there are over 1.9 million people who would like to work but are not participating in the labour market. Connect to Work is a new, voluntary Supported Employment programme, co-designed with Local Authorities and led by local areas, to help those disabled individuals, those with health conditions or complex barriers to employment, who want to work, to find sustainable jobs. 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. We have launched “Keep Britain Working”, a review into the role of UK employers in reducing health-related inactivity and to promote healthy and inclusive workplaces, led by the former Chair of John Lewis, Sir Charlie Mayfield. The Terms of Reference were published on 24 January. The intention is for this review to partner with business and employers on how best to meet workforce needs and increase productivity by supporting more inclusive workplaces and the wider labour market. We are fully committed to ensuring adequate support in the social security system for those who – through ill health or disability – are unable to work. Statutory sick pay is the statutory minimum that employers are required to pay employees when off work sick. Those who need additional further financial support while off sick are able to claim more help through the welfare system, for example Universal Credit and new style Employment and Support Allowance, depending on their individual circumstances.

What steps her Department is taking to increase specialist educational provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities in South Derbyshire constituency.

This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. We want more children and young people to receive the support they need to thrive in their local mainstream school, reducing the need for pupils to travel a long way to access a specialist placement. This is why we are committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, as well as ensuring special schools cater to children and young people with the most complex needs.Local authorities must ensure there are sufficient school places for all pupils, including those with SEND. The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to keep the provision for children and young people with SEND under review (including its sufficiency), working with parents, young people and providers.The department has announced an additional £740 million of capital funding in the 2025/26 financial year to support children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision. This new funding can be used to adapt classrooms to be more accessible for children with SEND and create specialist facilities within mainstream schools that can deliver more intensive support adapted to suit the pupils’ needs, alongside continuing to provide places to support pupils in special schools with the most complex needs.In addition, the department is providing local authorities’ an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for children and young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion.A joint local area SEND inspection in Derbyshire was undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in September 2024 under the new Area SEND Inspection framework. Ofsted and the CQC found widespread and / or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND which the local area partnership must address urgently. The report, published on 14 November, included six areas for priority action (APAs).As a result of this inspection, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector requires the local area partnership to prepare and submit a priority action plan (area SEND) to address the identified APAs.The department’s regional team has put in place systems to track outcomes against the APAs found by inspectors and the progress made by children and young people with SEND. The department has appointed a SEND Adviser to work collaboratively with an NHS England Adviser to challenge, support and work alongside Derbyshire County Council and the local area partnership.

What assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of extending pension entitlements to Army reservists who were excluded from the Armed Forces Pension Scheme between July 2000 and March 2015.

Following legal advice, the Ministry of Defence has lodged an appeal against the Milroy employment tribunal ruling. We are unable to comment further on the payment of military reservist pensions for pre-2015 service whilst the appeal is ongoing.

What steps he is taking to coordinate the roll out of (a) the Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine and (b) other vaccines across all English regions to maximise effectiveness.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination programmes for pregnant women, to protect newborns, and adults aged 75 to 79 years old began in England on 1 September 2024. The programmes are being delivered by general practices and commissioned maternity services, as well as a small number of community pharmacies in the East of England. General practices are responsible for proactively inviting aged-based eligible patients for vaccination, and for providing the vaccine to eligible patients from 28 weeks of pregnancy, either opportunistically or on request. RSV vaccinations are offered to eligible individuals year-round, rather than seasonally, though vaccination should be undertaken at the earliest opportunity to maximise protection against RSV.NHS England continues to focus on maximising vaccine uptake across both seasonal and routine vaccination programmes, including by improving access to vaccinations through outreach services, improving the National Booking Service, and working across the system to ensure coadministration of vaccines wherever possible and advisable. This approach supports the healthcare system to take every opportunity to vaccinate those who are eligible and to maximise the uptake of all vaccines.For older adults, whilst the RSV vaccine is not routinely given at the same appointment or on the same day as seasonal flu or COVID-19 vaccines, if the individual is unlikely to return for a second appointment or immediate protection is necessary then the RSV vaccine can be administered at the same time as the COVID-19 and/or flu vaccine. Older adults can get the RSV vaccine at the same time as the shingles and pneumococcal vaccines where eligible.The RSV and pertussis vaccines are not routinely scheduled at the same time during pregnancy. However, if a pertussis-containing vaccine has not been given to pregnant women by the time of attendance for an RSV vaccine, both vaccines can and should be given at the same appointment to ensure prompt development of immune response. The seasonal flu and COVID-19 vaccines can be given at any time in pregnancy when the campaigns are running, and at the same time as the pertussis and RSV vaccines.Healthcare professionals should take the opportunity to check immunisation status and offer or signpost vaccination where possible. Maternity services commissioned to deliver the maternal RSV programme are also encouraged to have vaccination discussions with pregnant women early in pregnancy.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made the adequacy of the number of local authority planning officers in South Derbyshire to help support the Government's wider planning reform ambitions.

While it is for individual local authorities to make their own assessments of their workforce, the government appreciate that planning departments across the country are experiencing challenges with recruitment, retention, and skills gaps and that in many cases these issues are having a negative impact on service delivery.At the Budget, the Chanceller announced a £46 million package of investment into the planning system as a one-year settlement for 2025-2026. A proportion of this funding will be used to support capacity and capability in local planning authorities, including the recruitment and training of 300 graduate and apprentice planners and developing the skills needed to implement reforms and unlock housing delivery.This will be further underpinned by increases in planning fees that will help improve the resourcing of planning application services, so that local planning authorities can fund the skills they need.More broadly, the Department’s established Planning Capacity and Capability programme is also developing a wider programme of support, working with partners across the planning sector, to ensure that local planning authorities have the skills and capacity they need, both now and in the future, to modernise local plans and speed up decision making, including through innovative use of digital planning data and software.

What assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of council run youth centres in tackling youth crime in South Derbyshire constituency.

This government recognises the vital role youth services play in reducing a young person’s likelihood of becoming involved in crime. This will be a vital element of our Young Futures Programme which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, to intervene earlier to ensure this cohort is identified and offered support in a more systematic way, as well as creating more opportunities for young people in their communities, through the provision of open access to mental health and careers support.In addition, in 2025/6 DCMS will launch the Local Youth Transformation pilot, which will support local authorities to build youth service capacity. They will also allocate over £85m of capital funding in 2025/26 to create fit-for-purpose, welcoming spaces for young people, including launching the new Better Youth Spaces fund, which will allocate at least £26m for youth clubs to buy new equipment and undertake renovations. This will also include completing the Youth Investment Fund projects.