Patricia Ferguson MP: written questions 2025
70 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Resident Doctors: TrainingDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 2 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 56480More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to ensure there are adequate clinical fellowships available for junior doctors.
Answer: Decisions about recruitment are matters for individual National Health Service trusts. NHS trusts manage their recruitment at a local level, ensuring they have the right number of staff, including clinical fellows, in place, with the right skill mix, to d...
Answered 12 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordResident Doctors: TrainingDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 2 Jun 2025AnsweredUIN 56478More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that adequate training places are available for junior doctors.
Answer: We are committed to training the staff we need to ensure that patients are cared for by the right professional, when and where they need it.We will ensure that the number of medical specialty training places meets the demands of the National Health Servic...
Answered 10 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: MetersDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 56004More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department is taking to help protect consumers whose radio teleswitch service meters are not switched to smart meters by 30 June 2025.
Answer: The Government has made clear to industry that suppliers must fulfil their obligations to customers and must drive up the rate of Radio Teleswitch (RTS) meter replacements. As part of the RTS Taskforce we are doing all that we can to protect consumers fro...
Answered 9 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: MetersDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 55802More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information his Department holds on the number of households that needed to switch from Radio Teleswitch Service meters to smart meters in Glasgow West constituency on 30 May 2025.
Answer: The latest data on the number of remaining RTS meters is held by the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). However, Ofgem does not collect constituency level data on RTS meters from suppliers.
Answered 9 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: MetersDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 55801More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps his Department plans to take to protect consumers if their Radio Teleswitch Service meters are not switched to smart meters by 30 June 2025.
Answer: The Government has made clear to industry that suppliers must fulfil their obligations to customers and must drive up the rate of Radio Teleswitch (RTS) meter replacements. As part of the RTS Taskforce we are doing all that we can to protect consumers fro...
Answered 9 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordEnergy: MetersDepartment for Energy Security and Net ZeroTabled 30 May 2025AnsweredUIN 55800More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress his Department has made on switching consumers from Radio Teleswitch Service to smart meters.
Answer: The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS), and the activity to replace it, is industry owned and led. Government and Ofgem have been working closely with the RTS Taskforce in recent months to urgently increase the rate of replacements.I am meeting with Energy UK...
Answered 9 Jun 2025
Original Parliament recordPensions Ombudsman: StandardsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 15 May 2025AnsweredUIN 52758More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Pensions Ombudsman on the adequacy of the time taken for complaints to be resolved.
Answer: I recently met with the Pensions Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer to discuss performance of the organisation and significant increases in requests for The Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) services. The time taken by TPO to resolve cases is dependent on sever...
Answered 21 May 2025
Original Parliament recordPensions Ombudsman: StandardsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 15 May 2025AnsweredUIN 52757More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with the Pensions Ombudsman on the adequacy of the time taken for a complaint to be allocated to an adjudicator.
Answer: I met with the Pensions Ombudsman and Chief Operating Officer to discuss the significant increase over a period of several years in complaints received; a trend that is continuing. This increase has impacted on waiting times for cases to be allocated to a...
Answered 20 May 2025
Original Parliament recordChristmas Island: Royal Fleet AuxiliaryMinistry of DefenceTabled 6 May 2025AnsweredUIN 50321More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service present at the nuclear test on Christmas Island are entitled to a pension of compensation.
Answer: Members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) are civilians and may receive pensions for their Service under the terms of any civilian pension scheme to which they belonged. The Ministry of Defence does have a scheme to provide compensation to members of the...
Answered 14 May 2025
Original Parliament recordGrenfell Tower: FiresMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 8 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45288More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether each person impacted by the Grenfell Tower fire has been permanently rehoused.
Answer: 200 of the 201 households from Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk have been permanently rehoused.One household is currently living in a high quality temporary home within the borough. We continue to work closely with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chel...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSyria: Minority GroupsForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 8 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45287More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assistance his Department has provided to Alawite civilians living in Syria.
Answer: In all our engagement with the Syrian Government we consistently emphasise the need to protect the rights of all Syrians. I discussed these points in my meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on 17 March and the UK Special Representative f...
Answered 8 May 2025
Original Parliament recordAbsent Voting: EmailMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 8 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45286More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will consider amending legislation to allow overseas voters to receive ballots for elections by secure email.
Answer: I refer the hon Member to the answer given to Question UIN 40375 on 27 March 2025.
Answered 22 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordPublic Expenditure: ScotlandTreasuryTabled 8 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45285More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much funding the Scottish Government will receive through Barnett consequentials as a result of highway maintenance funding being provided to England and Wales.
Answer: At Phase 1 of the 2025 Spending Review, the UK Government allocated an additional £500 million to the Department for Transport for local highways maintenance in 2025-26. The Barnett formula was applied in the usual way to changes in the Department for Tra...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAccess to Work Programme: ApplicationsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 26 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 41749More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken for Access to Work applications to be allocated to a case manager; and what steps she is taking to help reduce this waiting time.
Answer: We are committed to reducing waiting times for Access to Work and are considering the best way to deliver that for customers. We have increased the number of staff processing Access to Work claims and applications from customers who are about to start a j...
Answered 3 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordInfected Blood Compensation SchemeDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39375More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Infected Blood Compensation Authority on the proposed timetable for payments to family members of those affected.
Answer: The delivery of compensation is a matter for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, an independent arms-length body. The Cabinet Office is the sponsor department for the authority. My Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care h...
Answered 28 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial Security BenefitsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 18 Mar 2025AnsweredUIN 39372More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the time taken for cases to be allocated to a case manager.
Answer: The department administers a wide range of benefits, and as such the information you have requested is not held centrally and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.
Answered 26 Mar 2025
Original Parliament recordDemocratic Republic of Congo: MineralsForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30867More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the risk of conflict minerals from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (a) being traded on the London Bullion Market and (b) appeari
Answer: We are deeply concerned by reports from the UN Group of Experts that M23 and Rwanda are illegally extracting critical minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and are clear that such activity must stop immediately.We are committed to addressin...
Answered 26 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordDemocratic Republic of Congo: MineralsForeign, Commonwealth and Development OfficeTabled 11 Feb 2025AnsweredUIN 30866More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of (a) trends in the level of (i) gold, (ii) coltan and (iii) other conflict minerals being exported from eastern Democratic Republic of Con
Answer: We are deeply concerned by reports from the UN Group of Experts that M23 and Rwanda are illegally extracting critical minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and are clear that such activity must stop immediately.We are committed to addressing...
Answered 21 Feb 2025
Original Parliament recordTravel: Tax AllowancesTreasuryTabled 22 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 25876More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will (a) review and (b) update the Overseas Scale Rates.
Answer: As with all taxes and allowances, the Government keeps flat rates expenses, including Overseas Scale Rates, under review.Any decisions on future changes in this area will be taken in the context of the wider public finances.
Answered 29 Jan 2025
Original Parliament recordInheritance TaxTreasuryTabled 3 Jan 2025AnsweredUIN 21817More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance her Department will issue to non-agricultural businesses on the changes to Inheritance Tax announced in the Autumn Budget 2024.
Answer: The Government published information about the reforms to agricultural property relief and business property relief at www.gov.uk/government/publications/agricultural-property-relief-and-business-property-relief-reforms. As with other tax changes, HM Reve...
Answered 9 Jan 2025
Original Parliament record
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