Written questions by Rosindell.

What steps he has taken to improve state funded physiotherapy.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for the commissioning the majority of health and care services, including physiotherapy, in England. ICBs arrange healthcare services to meet the needs of their local population, within available resources.NHS England is supporting ICBs to make informed decisions about the provision of physiotherapy services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60427 on Tobacco: Excise Duties, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of falling cigarette and hand rolling tobacco receipts on the size of the illicit tobacco market.

HMRC recently published an updated version of their Measuring Tax Gaps publication which now includes tax gap estimates up to 2023/24. The illicit market volume for cigarettes is shown in Table 3.13 and the total consumption volume is shown in Table 3.12. The illicit market for hand rolling tobacco is shown in Table 3.17 and the total consumption volume is shown in Table 3.16. The Department continues to investigate how the illicit tobacco market is evolving, including through its compliance activity, and the extent to which that may affect overall tax receipts seen.

What steps she is taking to support faith-selective educational institutions.

Faith schools, both state-funded and independent, have played a long-standing role in the provision of education in England and remain an important element of our education system. The department engages with the full range of faith school providers and is committed to working in partnership with all types of schools to remove barriers to opportunity and raise standards.

What steps she is taking to help improve the mental health of police officers.

This Government is committed to supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of all our police.This includes providing ongoing funding to the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), which provides evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources which can be accessed by forces. This helps Chief Constables in their duty to ensure the wellbeing of their workforce. In particular, the Service is helping forces to identify where there is most risk of impacts on mental health, and developing work around building resilience, as well as putting in place support for those who need it in response to traumatic events.The Police Covenant has already helped deliver pre-deployment mental health training for new recruits and improved occupational health standards for officers in service.A new National Police Health and Wellbeing Strategy was launched in June 2025 by NPWS. Workforce Prioritisation Guidance has been published alongside this, which provides clarity and guidance to forces on how to implement and invest in evidence-based and scalable health and wellbeing solutions locally.

What steps he has taken to improve health outcomes for homeless people.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 17 July 2025 to Question 66125.

What steps she is taking to support grammar schools.

I refer the hon. member for Romford to the answer of 22 May 2025 to Question 52218.

Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to work with local authorities to help improve the insulation of social housing.

The Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3 is providing £1.29 billion of grant funding to improve the energy performance of social housing, including through improvements to insulation. Additional funding will be set out in the Warm Homes Plan, to be published in October.The government is also consulting on introducing a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard at EPC C or equivalent by 2030, with the proposed approach prioritising fabric improvements to properties, such as loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and double glazing. The consultation is open until 10 September 2025 and can be found on gov.uk here.

Communities and Local Government, with reference to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of 7 July 2025, Official Report, column 1125, which (a) representatives of the insurance sector and (b) other stakeholders her Department held discussions with prior to the introduction of the amendments.

The government has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders during the passage of the Renters’ Rights Bill, including the Association of British Insurers and the British Insurance Brokers Association.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54690 on Tobacco: Excise Duties, if she will make a comparative assessment of the rate of decline in smoking rates as illustrated in the ONS: Adult Smoking habits in the UK data for (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023 and the rate of the decline in HMRC’s tobacco duty receipts in the Tobacco Bulletin.

Table 1 below shows adult smoking prevalence in the UK and tobacco duty receipts between 2021 and 2023. The prevalence figures are taken from the ON’S “Adult Smoking habits in the UK” dataset. The receipts figures are taken from HMRC’s Tobacco Bulletin which includes figures up to April 2025. Table 1: Adult Smoking Prevalence and Tobacco Duty Receipts 2021-2023YearUK Adult Smoking Prevalence Tobacco Duty Receipts (£ million)202113.3%10,360202212.9%10,208202311.9%8,706 The ONS smoking prevalence data shows the percentage of adults in the UK who smoke cigarettes but does not give any indication of how much or how often these adults smoke. The Office for Budget Responsibility discusses drivers of tobacco duty receipts in relation to the tobacco duty forecast on their Tobacco duties webpage. Receipts are driven by inflation (CPI and RPI), real household consumption and underlying trends in tobacco consumption. The downward trend in tobacco consumption has accelerated in recent years, partly reflecting changing attitudes and the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes.

What recent steps she has taken with local authorities to help improve special educational and disability needs provision in (a) England and (b) Romford.

The government’s ambition for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is that they will achieve and thrive, and lead happy, healthy and productive lives. The department is working closely with experts on SEND reforms.The department and NHS England have been supporting local areas, including Havering, to improve their SEND service delivery for several years. This includes a monitoring, support and challenge relationship following an inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Where a local authority does not meet its duties, we can take action that prioritises children’s needs and supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement.Ofsted and the CQC undertook a joint local area SEND inspection of Havering in March 2018 and received a positive outcome (the local area was not required to produce a written statement of action).

Communities and Local Government, whether her Department has considered the potential merits of embedding a clear design vision within its spatial development strategies to support the delivery of high-quality development.

The Planning and Infrastructure Bill allows for strategic planning authorities to include policies on design in their Spatial Development Strategies (SDS’) providing they are of strategic importance to the area. The government intends to set out expectations on the content of SDS’ through national policy and guidance.

What steps he is taking to improve the health outcomes of veterans.

As well as being able to access all national health services across the United Kingdom, NHS England has also introduced several bespoke services to improve healthcare support available to veterans. These are: Op RESTORE which supports veterans with service-related physical health problems; Op COURAGE which supports veterans with a mental health pathway; and Op NOVA which supports veterans in the justice system.In addition, the veteran-aware trust and the veteran-friendly accreditation schemes raise awareness amongst healthcare professionals of the specific needs of veterans. These schemes provide support to ensure appropriate signposting and referrals to relevant veteran and wider services within the National Health Service.In May 2025, a national training and education plan was announced to help veterans benefit from improved and targeted healthcare. NHS staff across England will receive dedicated training to help them identify and support patients with military backgrounds. This will be rolled out across the NHS from 1 October 2025.

What steps he is taking to (a) improve mental health services and (b) reduce the rate of suicide in (i) England and (ii) Romford constituency.

NHS North East London Integrated Care Board is responsible for commissioning services to meet the mental health needs of people in Romford.Nationally, the Government is investing an extra £688 million this year to transform mental health services by hiring more staff, delivering more early interventions and talking therapies and getting waiting lists down.We are delivering on our commitment to recruit an additional 8,500 staff across children and adult mental health services by the end of the Parliament and 6,700 of these extra workers have been recruited since July 2024. And our Mental Health Bill, which has completed its committee stage in this House, will modernise the Mental Health Act and make it fit for the 21st century.The 10-Year Health Plan sets out ambitious plans to boost mental health support across the country so that the right people get the right support at the right time. We are transforming mental health services into neighbourhood mental health centres that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, improving assertive outreach and giving patients better access to round-the-clock support directly through the NHS App, including self-referral for talking therapies.

What steps he has taken to improve health outcomes for homeless people.

The Government is committed to building a fairer Britain by tackling the structural inequalities that contribute to poor health, particularly for disadvantaged groups, including those experiencing homelessness. We recognise the importance of reducing barriers to healthcare services for those experiencing homelessness. This is why we supported the development and implementation of National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance, code NG214, which provides recommendations on ways to improve access to, and engagement with, health and social care services for people experiencing homelessness. This guidance is available at the following link:https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng214The Department has recently published a progressive 10-Year Health Plan. We are committed to reducing the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest, an ambitious commitment that shows that the Government is serious about tackling health inequalities and addressing the social determinants of health.

Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timeline is for decisions on the future of Darwin Plus funding.

In November 2024, Minister Doughty and Minister McCarthy met with the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. The UK Government confirmed that it would continue to work in partnership with the Territories to support the protection of their unique environments and to help address biodiversity loss and noted their strong support for the continuation of Darwin Plus. As set out in our previous answers to UIN 61101 and UIN 63667, Defra will be finalising plans to fund new Darwin Plus projects with applicants this summer. Whilst decisions have yet to be made on the totality of future funding available to Darwin Plus following the department’s multi-year funding commitment from HM Treasury, the department will engage closely with stakeholders to ensure transparency and support continuity wherever possible. The department will provide updates in the usual way as soon as they are available.

Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to maintain funding for the Darwin Plus programme.

In November 2024, Minister Doughty and Minister McCarthy met with the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. The UK Government confirmed that it would continue to work in partnership with the Territories to support the protection of their unique environments and to help address biodiversity loss and noted their strong support for the continuation of Darwin Plus. As set out in our previous answers to UIN 61101 and UIN 63667, Defra will be finalising plans to fund new Darwin Plus projects with applicants this summer. Whilst decisions have yet to be made on the totality of future funding available to Darwin Plus following the department’s multi-year funding commitment from HM Treasury, the department will engage closely with stakeholders to ensure transparency and support continuity wherever possible. The department will provide updates in the usual way as soon as they are available.

What steps her Department is taking to tackle the use of cloned vehicle registration plates.

The Government understands how distressing this criminal activity can be for innocent motorists. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other government departments to improve the identification and enforcement of number plate crime, including the use of cloned number plates. The law requires that anyone who supplies number plates for road use in the UK must be registered with the DVLA. It is a legal requirement for suppliers to carry out checks to ensure that number plates are only sold to those who can prove they are entitled to the registration number. Number plate suppliers must also keep records of the plates they have supplied. The DVLA assists the police and Trading Standards in their enforcement against number plate suppliers who trade illegally. When notified, the DVLA will investigate and pass on intelligence to the police who are responsible for investigating this criminal matter.

Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Overseas Territories on the Darwin Plus programme.

In November 2024, Minister Doughty and Minister McCarthy met with the elected leaders and representatives of the Overseas Territories at the UK Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council. The UK Government confirmed that it would continue to work in partnership with the Territories to support the protection of their unique environments and to help address biodiversity loss and noted their strong support for the continuation of Darwin Plus. As set out in our previous answers to UIN 61101 and UIN 63667, Defra will be finalising plans to fund new Darwin Plus projects with applicants this summer. Whilst decisions have yet to be made on the totality of future funding available to Darwin Plus following the department’s multi-year funding commitment from HM Treasury, the department will engage closely with stakeholders to ensure transparency and support continuity wherever possible. The department will provide updates in the usual way as soon as they are available.

What steps his Department is taking to (a) support and (b) develop tidal power technology within the British Channel Islands.

According to a study led by the University of Plymouth, the UK and the British Channel Islands has one of the world’s best tidal resources, estimated to be a potential capacity of around 11.5GW. The Channel Islands, as Crown Dependencies, are self-governing jurisdictions that are not part of the UK, and so the UK Government is not responsible for energy policy there. DESNZ engages with the CDs on energy matters, including renewable energy policy, under the British-Irish Council Energy Work sector.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of funding English-language BBC World Service (a) content through the licence fee and (b) language services through direct Government grant-in-aid.

The World Service English service is part funded by BBC Licence Fee and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Grant-in-Aid. Any changes to that funding model will be explored through the Charter Review process, led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Ahead of this the Government will keep an open mind about the future of the licence fee and how the World Service is funded. The Charter Review is the right moment to look at potential future World Service funding mechanisms for the longer-term.