Alison Bennett

There is a robust regulatory framework that addresses the health and safety risks associated with grid-scale battery storage. Specifically, the Health and Safety at Work Act and secondary legislation places legal duties on employers to manage risks to employees and anyone else who may be affected. It is the policy of the Health and Safety Executive to continue to review its regulatory framework to make sure it works in a time of innovation.

The government is not responsible for setting or making recommendations about teacher pay in further education (FE) colleges, including sixth form colleges which unlike 16-19 academies are part of the statutory FE sector.

The Autumn Budget 2024 set out the government’s commitment to skills, by providing an additional £300 million revenue funding for FE to ensure young people are developing the skills this country needs. The department recognises the vital role that FE teachers and providers play in equipping learners with the opportunities and skills they need to succeed in their education. The department will set out in due course how this funding will be distributed.

This builds on our investment to extend targeted retention incentive payments of up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career FE teachers in key subject areas, including in sixth form colleges. The department is also delivering funding to support those young people who do not pass mathematics and English GCSE at 16, who are predominantly studying in FE.

The department has continued to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. For the 2024/2025 academic year, training bursaries are worth up to £30,000 each, tax free, with further information about schemes for future years in due course. Additionally, we are supporting industry professionals to enter the teaching workforce through our Taking Teaching Further programme.

We want new mothers to be able to take time away from work in the later stages of their pregnancy and in the months following childbirth, in the interests of their own and their baby’s health and wellbeing. Maternity pay is paid for each pregnancy, not in respect of each child. For paternity pay, it is also paid at the statutory rate, even if you have more than one child, for example twins.

Parental pay is reviewed annually at the discretion of the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. From April 2025, the rate will increase by September 2024's CPI figure of 1.7%, subject to parliamentary approval, from £184.03 to £187.18 per week.

Parental pay is only one element of the support available for parents. Depending on individual circumstances, additional financial support, for example, Universal Credit, Child Benefit and the Sure Start Maternity Grant (a lump sum payment of £500) may also be available.

The Sure Start Maternity Grant is a grant of £500 to provide help with the costs associated with the expenses of a baby (or babies in the event of a multiple birth) expected, born, adopted, or the subject of a parental or residence order or other similar arrangements if there are no other children under the age of 16 in the claimant’s family. You might be entitled to more than one payment in the event of a multiple birth.

We recognise that autistic people face particular barriers to employment, which is reflected in a poor overall employment rate. In our plan to make work pay, we committed to raising awareness of neurodiversity in the workplace.

Our forthcoming employment White Paper considers how to improve employment outcomes and experiences for disabled people and people with health conditions. We are exploring how we can build on the earlier, independent, Buckland Review which was focused more narrowly on autism and employment, to improve understanding and support for all neurodivergent people at work.

We also have a range of specialist initiatives which can provide support to neurodivergent people to get back into work and stay in work, including support from Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisers in Jobcentres and Access to Work grants.

Employers will also be a large part of our success in this work. Our current support to employers includes a digital information service for employers, and the Disability Confident scheme. We will be considering how to enhance our work with employers in the months ahead.

No assessment has been made, as health is a devolved matter and decisions on the availability of medicines in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are a matter for their own administrations.

Decisions on whether new medicines should be routinely funded by the National Health Service in England are made on the basis of recommendations from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), following an evaluation of a treatment’s costs and benefits. These are very difficult decisions to make, and it is important that they are made independently and on the basis of the available evidence.

NICE published guidance in July 2024 on the use of Enhertu for the treatment of HER-2 low metastatic and unresectable breast cancer and was unfortunately unable to recommend it for routine NHS funding. I understand that NICE and NHS England have sought to apply as much flexibility as they can in their considerations of Enhertu for HER2-low breast cancer, and have made it clear to the companies that their pricing of the drug remains the only obstacle to access.

Ministers met with the manufacturers of Enhertu, AstraZeneca, and Daiichi Sankyo in November 2024, to encourage them to re-engage in commercial discussions with NHS England. Despite NICE and NHS England offering unprecedented flexibilities, the companies were unable to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price. NICE’s guidance, published in July 2024, will therefore remain unchanged. Although the deadline for a rapid review has now passed, NICE has reassured me that the door remains open for the companies to enter into a new NICE appraisal if they are willing to offer Enhertu at a cost-effective price.

We are committed to improving care and support for people with myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). We recognise how devastating the symptoms can be, and the significant impact they can have on patients and their families.

The Department has reconvened the ME/CFS Task and Finish Group, including senior Department and cross-Government officials, ME/CFS specialists and representatives from NHS England, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the devolved administrations, and ME/CFS charities and organisations. With stakeholder engagement via the ME/CFS Task and Finish Group, we are developing the final delivery plan for ME/CFS, which we aim to publish by the end of March. The plan will focus on boosting research, improving attitudes and education, and bettering the lives of people with this debilitating disease.

The Department is also working with NHS England to develop an e-learning programme on ME/CFS for healthcare professionals, with the aim of supporting staff to be able to provide better care and improve patient outcomes. Sessions one and two of the e-learning programme are now available. The third session will become available later in 2025.

The Medical Schools Council will promote the NHS England e-learning programme on ME/CFS to all United Kingdom medical schools, and encourage those medical schools to provide undergraduates with direct patient experience of ME/CFS. The General Medical Council (GMC) is the regulator of medical schools, and it is important that education is reenforced at different stages of medical training. Royal colleges play an important role in this. The GMC has included ME/CFS in the content map for the new national exam, so all medical schools will need to teach it as a subject.

NHS England is currently undertaking a stocktake, commissioned in September 2024 and due at the end of January 2025, that will provide a more accurate, in-depth overview of the position of post-COVID-19 services across England. The scope of this commission has been extended to include ME/CFS services.

The Government and NHS England support the clinical case for services which help to prevent fragility fractures and support the patients who sustain them. According to the Fracture Liaison Service Database 2022, at least 60 trusts in England had access to a Fracture Liaison Service. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care is committed to rolling out fracture liaison services across every part of the country by 2030.

Department officials regularly discuss a range of topics with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), including progress with specific appraisals, such as for sipavibart.

The NICE started its appraisal of the medicine sipavibart for preventing COVID-19, ahead of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) decision on whether it should be licensed in the United Kingdom, with the aim of publishing guidance as soon as possible, if a licence was granted. At present, the NICE appraisal is suspended as AstraZeneca has been unable to provide an evidence submission as planned. The NICE is currently awaiting notification from AstraZeneca on when it can make a submission, and will update stakeholders in due course.

If sipavibart is recommended as clinically and cost effective by the NICE, the National Health Service in England will be legally required to fund sipavibart for eligible patients in line with the NICE’s recommendations, normally within three months of final guidance being published.

Ensuring that the United Kingdom is prepared for a future pandemic is a top priority for the Government, and we are embedding lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic within our approach to pandemic preparedness.

Whilst we cannot predict the exact timing or characteristics of a future pandemic, the Department acknowledges the disproportionate impact of pandemics on particular groups, including the immunocompromised and those who are otherwise clinically vulnerable.

The Department’s new strategic approach to pandemic preparedness recognises that pandemic planning needs to take account of all health inequalities.

COVID-19 tests and treatments are a National Health Service role at the present time. The UK Health Security Agency and NHS partners have met recently to discuss system wide communications on the testing and treatment pathways for COVID-19, to ensure that those who are eligible can access these without delay.

There are currently no discussions planned with representatives of Forgotten Lives UK.