Written questions by Opher.

Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to launch a further consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework to reduce the cost and complexity for community-led housing providers aiming to build small numbers of affordable homes in rural communities.

The government recognises that community-led housing delivers a wide range of benefits, including additional housing supply, empowering communities, achieving high quality design and strengthening the co-operative economy. We are committed to making it easier for community-led developers to develop new affordable homes and to improving the quality of life for people living and working in rural areas.I am committed to working with representatives of the community-led housing sector to consider how the government may support the growth of community led housing over the long term and I recently met with the Chief Executive of the Community Land Trust Network and other stakeholders to that end.Our revised National Planning Policy Framework, published on 12 December, strengthened provisions to support community-led housing, providing extra clarity and flexibility on the groups that may bring forward community-led housing and on the size of community-led exception sites.We intend to give further consideration to how policy can better promote rural affordable housing as part of our work to produce a set of national policies for decision making in 2025.

What the age profile is of the NHS midwifery workforce in (a) the most recent month for which figures are available and (b) the same month in each year since 2015.

The tables attached show the age profile of the National Health Service midwifery workforce in the most recent month for which figures are available, and in the same month in each year since 2015.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment her Department has made of the consistency in EPC ratings provided by different assessors; and whether she plans to improve that consistency through changes to (a) methodology, (b) training and (c) regulation.

The Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations 2012 place a duty on accreditation schemes to ensure that Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are produced in a consistent and accurate manner and the energy assessors are suitably qualified and experienced to carry out their duties. Government regularly audits accreditation schemes to assess whether they are fulfilling their duties and takes action to address any issues found.

What the age profile is of the NHS midwifery workforce for each Agenda for Change pay band in each region of England in the most recent month for which figures are available.

The table attached shows the age profile of the National Health Service midwifery workforce for each Agenda for Change pay band, in each region of England.

Whether his Department plans to introduce (a) exemptions and (b) alternative pathways for landlords unable to meet the EPC C rating requirement due to structural limitation.

Government will consult shortly on increasing minimum energy efficiency standards in the domestic private rented sector. The consultation will include proposals for rented homes to achieve Energy Performance Certificate C or equivalent by 2030. In this consultation, we will set out proposals on the exemptions regime for properties that cannot meet the proposed increased standard. We encourage landlords and other key stakeholders to feed into this consultation when it is published.

What support is available for landlords of traditional pre-1919 buildings to (a) conduct detailed retrofit assessments and (b) ensure compliance with EPC requirements.

Support is available to landlords to improve their properties. An eligibility tool is available on our ‘Help for Households’ GOV.UK page that will help landlords find the support available to them. Guidance for how to comply with EPC requirements can be found on gov.uk via the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/energy-performance-certificates and https://www.gov.uk/guidance/domestic-private-rented-property-minimum-energy-efficiency-standard-landlord-guidance.

With reference to page 12 of the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025, what steps he plans to take to implement shared decision-making.

The Elective Reform Plan, published on 6 January 2025, sets out the reform and productivity efforts needed to ensure that patients are seen on time and have the best possible experience during their care. Shared decision making is an important part of good patient experience, ensuring that patients have greater empowerment, autonomy, and control over their care. Shared decision making is not a new concept but is a key component of universal personalised care that we are committed to delivering and expanding. Improving digital tools will be essential, and changes to the NHS App will help to improve communication and shared decision making between patients and clinicians. We have committed to ensuring that at least 85% of acute trusts will be able to provide information about their elective appointments to patients on the NHS App by the end of March 2025. We will also make more types of content about patients’ treatment available on the NHS App, such as discharge letters, by December 2025. We will also support all trusts to adopt digital patient engagement portals (PEPs) which enable patients and their healthcare team to send messages and share documents. We understand, though, that digital options do not work for everyone and we will continue to provide high quality, non-digital options for those who want and need them. Providing customer-care training to patient facing non-clinical staff will form another key part of supporting patients to make informed decisions about their care. The plan outlines that we will be expanding opportunities for self-management and remote monitoring which will empower patients to manage long-term conditions in ways which are more convenient for their lives. The National Health Service will use digital questionnaires through PEPs and the NHS App to make remote monitoring a standard offer to patients with long-term conditions, following agreement with their healthcare team. Shared decision making between patients and clinicians is a cornerstone of supporting more patient initiated follow-ups (PIFU), helping patients to be seen quickly when required, whilst avoiding the inconvenience of appointments they do not need. We have set out the aim of increasing PIFU uptake to at least 5% of all outpatient appointments by March 2029.

With reference to document entitled the Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025, what estimate he has made of the size of the workforce needed to implement the (a) perioperative care measures and (b) requirements for anaesthetists outlined in that plan.

The Elective Reform Plan sets out the reform and productivity efforts needed to ensure that patients are seen on time and have the best possible experience during their care. Improving perioperative care can increase productivity by reducing cancellations, reducing length of stay, and minimising postoperative complications.The Government will work closely with NHS England to develop a new long-term workforce plan for the National Health Service.

What assessment he has made of the potential (a) barriers and (b) costs for NHS trusts in implementing the perioperative care measures outlined in the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025.

The perioperative care measures outlined in the Elective Care Reform plan build on existing NHS England led work to improve perioperative care including guidance on Earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation for adult patients due to have inpatient care. The guidance is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/earlier-screening-risk-assessment-and-health-optimisation-in-perioperative-pathways-guide-for-providers-and-integrated-care-boardsNHS England has worked closely with systems and providers including through onsite visits and system level engagement to understand the key barriers to implementing the perioperative care measures outlined in the Elective Reform Plan.Whilst costings will vary between organisations, measures from this work alongside supporting improved patient experience and outcomes, will support the delivery of sustainable clinical pathways. This will lead to reduced waste in the National Health Service, for example by ensuring productivity in theatres is maximised.

With reference to the document entitled Reforming elective care for patients, published on 6 January 2025, which groups of patients will be offered the prehabilitation services outlined in that plan; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending those services to all patients referred for surgery.

The Elective Care Reform Plan identifies the importance of supporting all patients to take control of their health, for example through smoking cessation and weight loss programmes, as they prepare for their surgery. As well as improving patient outcomes, this can also enable patients to be treated in lower acuity settings, for example in day case settings enabling patients to go home the same day.The plan states that NHS England will work through Cancer Alliances to support improvements in prehabilitation for people about to undergo cancer treatment. The approach to this will be informed by the Macmillan Cancer Support/National Institute of Health and Care Research guidance for healthcare professionals, which is available at the following link:https://www.macmillan.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/news-and-resources/guides/principles-and-guidance-for-prehabilitationAn update on this guidance is expected in spring 2025, alongside existing good practice examples.Current NHS England guidance requires acute trusts in England to adopt earlier screening, risk assessment and health optimisation for adult patients waiting for inpatient surgery, with more information available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/earlier-screening-risk-assessment-and-health-optimisation-in-perioperative-pathways-guide-for-providers-and-integrated-care-boardsNHS England will continue to identify and work with areas of England that have programmes in place for different groups of patients waiting for surgery, including prehabilitation programmes to support patients having major surgery and waiting well programmes to support patients having all types of surgery, to learn from and share best practice.

Media and Sport, what her planned timetable is for the implementation of the National Youth strategy; what steps she is taking to involve youth sector organisations in the development of that strategy; and how her Department plans to consult young people on that strategy.

We are developing our plans for the new National Youth Strategy, in partnership with young people and with organisations within the youth sector, to bring power back to young people and rebuild a thriving and sustainable sector. We know there is excellent existing work across the sector to understand issues faced by young people, propose solutions, and promote youth voice in decision-making, and we are working with the youth sector to build on this to co-produce the strategy.We will be holding a series of youth-led roundtables, conducting a youth survey and setting up a youth advisory board to work alongside us. The Youth Advisory Group comprises young people with diverse lived experiences from across the country, with the first meeting scheduled for January 2025. The Secretary of State, Minister Peacock and officials have already met with a number of young people and youth sector organisations to hear their thoughts on the Strategy and we will continue to build on this work over the coming weeks and months.We plan to publish the Strategy in summer with an interim report planned for the spring.

Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to support the comedy industry.

Comedy is a serious business. It is a vital performing art and contributes to the mental health and wellbeing of people, not just in the UK, but around the world. It forms part of our cultural landscape, enriching lives, shaping our collective identity and often providing a necessary corrective to political pomposity.Arts Council England funds numerous organisations and venues that support comedy. For the purposes of ACE funding, comedy is considered under the broad term of ‘theatre.’ This means that as long as a performer, club or promoter meets the eligibility criteria for specific programmes, then ACE welcomes funding applications. Between the financial years covering 2010/11 to 2024/25 ACE has awarded £12,296,254 in funding where an applicant name, project title or subclassifier contains the word “comedy”.Venues such as theatres also benefit from tax relief. The government believes tax relief is essential to help incentivise investment in productions, and to contribute to innovation and economic growth, enabling arts organisations to continue to produce new content which is vital in keeping them competitive on an international stage.

What steps his Department is taking to ensure sufficient recycling facilities are available to process end-of-life electric vehicle batteries.

The UK has the opportunity to boost its midstream processing and recycling of critical minerals, building on world-leading innovation and technical expertise in our chemicals and metals sectors. We continue to work with industry via the Automotive Transformation Fund to support the creation of an internationally competitive electric vehicle supply chain in the UK including battery recycling. We will ensure continuity in HMG support, building on the announcement in the Budget of £2bn for zero emission vehicles manufacturing and their supply chains.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart about Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.

We are concerned by the reports of the IDF operation at Kamal Adwan hospital, and the reported detention of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya and others. In recent weeks, I have raised this case with both Israel's Ambassador to the UK, and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Haskel. Israel must allow medical staff to carry out their work unimpeded, and to travel around Gaza as needed. On 27 December I underlined to Israel's government that the situation in Northern Gaza cannot continue and raised our serious concern about repeated strikes on Kamal Adwan hospital, and the safety of civilians and medical workers there.

Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to develop recycling technologies for end-of-life wind turbine blades and solar panels.

This Government is committed to transition to a circular economy. We are developing a Circular Economy Strategy for England including a series of road maps detailing the interventions that the Government will make on a sector-by-sector basis, supporting Government’s Missions to kickstart economic growth and make Britain a clean energy superpower. In our manifesto we also committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviours to ensure we can all take pride in our communities. With regard to solar panels, they are electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). This is regulated to reduce the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) incinerated or sent to landfill sites. The WEEE Regulations 2013 require the producers of electrical equipment, including solar panels, to take financial responsibility for products they place on the market when they become waste.

What assessment he has made of the role of energy storage and back-up systems in managing the intermittency of wind and solar power generation.

The Government recognises the vital role of energy storage and back-up systems in delivering clean power. As set out in our Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, we are committed to developing a flexible energy system that ensures security of supply through long term storage technologies which could include pumped hydro storage, CCUS, hydrogen to power, or liquid air energy storage.

What steps her Department is taking to speed up the delivery of planned electric vehicle charging stations.

The Government is taking several steps to speed up the delivery of both private and public electric vehicle chargepoints. In December, the Government announced that it will make changes to planning legislation to facilitate off-street chargepoint installations and to allow the use of street works permits for quicker charger deployment. As well as this, the Government published guidance to help local authorities with cross-pavement charging solutions and to address common issues around EV infrastructure and grid connections. In November, DESNZ and Ofgem also published a joint letter, setting out plans to reform the grid connections process. Government also supports local authorities through the Local EV Infrastructure Fund to install tens of thousands of chargepoints and continues to offer electric vehicle chargepoint grants to flat owners, renters, small businesses, schools and charities to speed up rollout.

Communities and Local Government, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to change the voting system to Supplementary Vote for mayoral elections.

I refer my hon Friend to the answer given to Question UIN 20691 on 19 December 2024.

Whether hubs that provide open access mental health services for children and young people in every community will be delivered only through the Young Futures programme.

The Government is committed to improving mental health support for children and young people, as demonstrated by our pledge to roll out a network of Young Futures Hubs in every community to provide open access mental health support. We are currently working across Government to deliver Young Futures Hubs, to bring together services, including mental health support, to improve how young people access opportunities and support at community level.We will also improve mental health support for children and young people by providing access to a specialist mental health professional in every school and recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers to help cut waiting lists across the country.

What steps his Department plans to take to deliver 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments each year.

The Government is committed to tackling the challenges for patients trying to access National Health Service dental care. We are working to ensure that patients can start to access 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments as soon as possible, targeti...