Written questions by Gordon.

What assessment he has made of the potential cost implications for the NHS of insulin-related harm arising from inadequate discharge planning and community support.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people with Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) receive support and care which meets their needs. NHS England will continue to work closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current T1DE pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.To reduce insulin related harm, the National Health Service’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards, with more information available at the following link:https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/supporting-hospital-teams-with-safe-inpatient-diabetes-care/ GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration. To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. The framework sets out how services must effectively assess, plan and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.

What steps he is taking to improve coordination between community mental health teams and specialist diabetes services.

The Government is committed to ensuring that people with Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) receive support and care which meets their needs. NHS England will continue to work closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to understand emerging areas for consideration in national guidance and has committed to share the current T1DE pilot site evaluation outcomes, when available, with NICE to ensure findings are considered in the development of future guidance.To reduce insulin related harm, the National Health Service’s Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme published guidance in April 2025 to support trusts to establish Diabetes Safety Boards, with more information available at the following link:https://gettingitrightfirsttime.co.uk/supporting-hospital-teams-with-safe-inpatient-diabetes-care/ GIRFT is also undertaking a pilot across 20 integrated care systems as part of a Community and District Nurse Insulin Programme which works to empower community diabetes nurses and district nursing teams to support patients at home requiring insulin administration. To further support services to provide high quality personalised care for all patients needing secondary mental health services, including those with diabetes, NHS England has shared new draft guidance with systems, the Mental Health Personalised Care Framework. The framework sets out how services must effectively assess, plan and manage people's care in collaboration with all relevant teams, including how they assess safety and risks of harm.

When the 10-Year NHS Workforce Plan will be published.

We will publish the 10 Year Workforce Plan in spring 2026.

Whether in person support will also be provided where necessary in addition to the digital first prehabilitation offer for people with cancer set out in the National Cancer Plan.

The National Cancer Plan sets out that we will deliver new quality standards for prehabilitation across the country in 2028 to help patients get healthier before treatment. The new standards will ensure access to prehabilitation services and that they fit around patients’ lives. This will include in person support where that is more appropriate for the patient and bringing services into the community and closer to patients’ homes.Part of that will include the roll out a national digital first prehabilitation offer through the NHS App and other digital channels. This will help support patients closer to home, where that is their preference.

Whether the 10 Year NHS Workforce Plan will include measures to (a) increase the clinical academic workforce and (b) ensure that all regions have access to a strong clinical academic base.

The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the National Health Service has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it. We are working through how the plan will articulate the changes for different professional groups.The Department, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is the United Kingdom’s largest funder of clinical academic training. The NIHR delivers a comprehensive research career pathway, from internships and predoctoral fellowships through to research professorships, for the full range of clinicians working across England, providing the skilled research workforce in universities and NHS trusts to lead research and help train future generations of clinicians. The NIHR invests over £220 million each year in research training programmes.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of targeted oncology training places announced in the National Cancer Plan for areas with higher vacancy rates on the expansion of the clinical academic workforce.

The recently published National Cancer Plan sets out that the National Health Service will use training places more directly as a lever to support improvements in operational performance. This includes prioritising training places in trusts, including in rural and coastal areas, where vacancy rates are higher and performance is lower.The Department and NHS England will work with the royal colleges to encourage resident doctors and internal medicine trainees to specialise in clinical and medical oncology, where possible, to address vacancy and performance pressures.In 2025, there were 157% more medical oncology training places than in 2015. Medical oncologists are a core component of the clinical academic workforce, contributing both to frontline patient care and to the development and delivery of cancer research.

If he will make it policy to extend funding for Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating pilot programmes to ensure (a) they do not collapse and (b) a national network of specialist treatment centres can be established.

Funding for the Type 1 Diabetes and Disordered Eating (T1DE) pilots was time-limited with the expectation that once the national funding expires, responsibility for considering the future provision of T1DE services would sit with the relevant integrated care board (ICB) who are responsible for planning and commissioning diabetes treatment and care.NHS England has previously extended the initial two-year funding term, which has enabled the sites to run for much longer than initially expected. NHS England is providing evaluation data to the ICBs to support local decision making. The pilot sites will receive confirmation in relation to any future national funding shortly.

If he will take steps to help ensure that Access to Work awards for blind and partially sighted customers are not reduced at renewal where there has been no change in job role or level of sight loss.

Access to Work provides support for individual needs within the workplace, above and beyond the employer’s reasonable adjustments.When an award is renewed, Access to Work case managers consider all relevant evidence and current guidance to ensure that the support offered continues to be appropriate for the customer to carry out their job.

What assessment he has made of the potential impact of reducing Access to Work support worker hours at renewal for blind and partially sighted customers on (a) job retention and (b) workplace safety.

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the current guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support.

When he plans to respond to the letters of 7 October 2025 and 8 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough with case reference TG09539.

The Department apologises for the significant delay in responding. We regret that this falls short of expected standards. A response was sent on 10 February.

When he intends to respond to the emails of 7 October 2025 and 5 January 2026 from the hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG10331, on a constituent's issue with their Bounce Back Loan.

The Department for Business and Trade aims to respond to correspondence within 15 working days, but in some instances it can take longer. A response to the correspondence of 5 January has now been sent to Tom Gordon MP. The department apologises for not responding to the original correspondence of 7 October.

What steps he is taking to ensure newly retired civil servants receive their pension on time.

The previous government awarded the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme to Capita in November 2023. The administration transferred to Capita on 1 December 2025 and the first payroll ran successfully in the same month.We recognise that a number of pension scheme members have experienced delays in receiving their pension payments. The Cabinet Office is meeting regularly with Capita to review their performance, identify priorities, and agree actions to improve the overall processing and service. We continue to work with our administrator, Capita, to increase the processing of retirement quotes. Alongside this, Capita is increasing staffing in key areas, such as the contact centre, to increase the level of support for members.

Innovation and Technology, when she intends to respond to the letters of 1 August 2025, 23 September 2025, and 18 December 2025 from the Hon. Mem. for Harrogate and Knaresborough, case reference TG09406, on the Online Safety Act.

I wrote to the Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough on 16 January. The Department sincerely apologises for the exceptional delay in responding on this occasion, and we regret that this fell short of expected standards.

With reference to the 2024 National NHS Staff Survey Results, if he will publish data on staff wellbeing indicators for (a) clinical radiology and (b) clinical oncology, including the data by specialty for (i) q10b on additional paid hours worked, (ii) q10c on additional unpaid hours worked, (iii) q11c on work related stress and (iv) q12b on burnout.

The Department does not hold this data nor are there any plans to collect NHS Staff Survey data from any additional occupational groups.As reported in the 2024 NHS Staff Survey, 30.24% of respondents reported having felt burnout because of their work. Data taken from the NHS Staff Survey cannot however be used to identity trends in specialities.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2025 to Question 78154 on Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, what assessment her Department has been made of the potential economic impact of funding additional therapies beyond the fair access limit on local authorities; and if her Department holds data on how many families require therapy beyond the fair access limit.

The department continues to monitor and assess the impact of the changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) and is engaging with stakeholders. Decisions to fund additional therapy beyond the fair access limit rest with individual local authorities.This financial year, we have invested £50 million in the ASGSF, giving adopted and kinship children access to therapeutic services that stabilise placements and address complex needs.The government has introduced the Families First Partnership programme, with an extra £547 million, bringing total funding to £2.4 billion over the next three years. We are also investing nearly £1.5 billion to improve family services and early years education, including £500 million for Best Start Family Hubs between 2026 and 2029. Local authorities should decide how best to use these resources to support adoptive and kinship families.The department does not collect data on how many families require therapy beyond the fair access limit.

What assessment her Department has made of local authorities' ability to deal with increased levels of demand for therapy above the Adoption Support and Special Guardianship Support Fund fair access limit.

The department continues to monitor and assess the impact of the changes to the adoption and special guardianship support fund (ASGSF) and is engaging with stakeholders. In the current financial year, the department has invested £50 million in the ASGSF, ensuring that adopted and kinship children may have access to therapeutic services designed to stabilise placements and address complex needs. The government has launched the Families First Partnership programme, providing an additional £547 million, and bringing total funding to £2.4 billion over the next three years. We are also investing nearly £1.5 billion to strengthen family services and early years education, including £500 million for Best Start Family Hubs between 2026 and 2029. Local authorities are responsible for determining how best to deploy these resources to meet increased demand for therapeutic support beyond the fair access limit.

What assessment her Department made of the potential impacts of removing the ability for driving instructors to book driving tests on behalf of learners on test availability.

To ensure fairness for everyone wanting to book a practical driving test, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) continues to work hard to combat the unscrupulous practice of reselling tests across the country.The measures the Secretary of State for Transport announced on 12 November are designed to make the practical driving test booking process fairer, providing all learners with equal access to the booking system and ensuring that everyone pays the prescribed fee. The decision follows a call for evidence and a public consultation that sought views from the driver training industry, learner drivers and other interested parties. In reaching this decision, impacts were fully considered. Further detail on the rationale, which will set out the detailed analysis, will be provided in the consultation report which will be published in due course.

Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the value for money of parish polls.

The government acknowledges that a significant time has passed since the coalition government consulted on proposals to modernise the parish polls.The government has no immediate plans to amend the parish poll regulations.

Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made in implementing the conclusion of the 2014 consultation on modernising parish poll rules; and if he will take legislative steps to (a) strengthen trigger thresholds and (b) prevent the misuse of parish polls.

The government acknowledges that a significant time has passed since the coalition government consulted on proposals to modernise the parish polls.The government has no immediate plans to amend the parish poll regulations.

What recent assessment her Department has made of trends in freight-related crime; and what measures her Department are implementing in collaboration with (a) police forces and (b) industry to reduce theft from commercial vehicles and logistics facilities.

We fully recognise the serious and growing threat that freight crime poses to businesses, drivers, and the wider economy. This Government is determined to crack down on it. The incidence of cargo theft, where criminals rip the sides of lorries and take the goods inside, is frightening for those dedicated HGV drivers across the UK, and the perception this crime is low risk and high reward is unacceptable.Freight crimes are not currently separately identifiable in the centrally held police recorded crime data. Crimes involving the theft of freight are recorded by the police within broader vehicle-related theft categories. In order to monitor trends, we are piloting the use of a flag on police crime recording systems which officers can use to indicate that the crime they are investigating is freight crime. Set against police priorities and the need to ensure burdens on the police are proportionate, we will keep the need for a separate freight crime recording code under review.We are working closely with Opal, the police’s national intelligence unit focused on serious organised acquisitive crime, which has multiple thematic desks, including a vehicle crime intelligence desk which covers freight crime. We have regular discussions with key partners, including Opal, about tackling organised freight crime.