Lord Jackson of Peterborough

Jonathan Ashworth has visited our London office in a personal capacity on two occasions since July 2024.

The department respects the work of yeshivas and other institutions in providing education to the Jewish community.

Parents are legally allowed to educate their children at home, providing this education is suitable. However, the department is aware of rising numbers of children not on a school roll due to them either being home educated, attending full-time non-school alternative provision or missing education completely, and we are concerned that some of these children may not be receiving a suitable education or known to the local authority at all.

As part of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the government will introduce compulsory Children Not in School registers in every local authority in England. These measures will help authorities to identify children that need support and to take prompt, appropriate action when needed.

The government’s proposal to require registration with the local authority will not interfere with parents’ right to educate their child in a way and with methods as they think best and appropriate, provided that the education being received by the child is suitable.

The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to reviewing the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review, before setting out next steps.

The department is currently reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance for schools and colleges on gender questioning children, in addition to reviewing the statutory guidance on relationships, sex and health education.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has been clear that children’s wellbeing must be at the heart of this guidance and, as such, the government is looking carefully at the consultation responses, discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review, before setting out next steps.

The European Union (EU) has raised a dispute that the UK’s decision to prohibit fishing for sandeel within UK waters is not compliant with the Trade and Cooperation agreement (TCA). The dispute proceedings are confidential therefore there is little more I can say at this time.

This Government committed in its manifesto to tackle the high costs of motor insurance. To deliver on this commitment, the UK Government has formed a cross-government Taskforce on motor insurance, co-chaired by the Department for Transport and His Majesty’s Treasury, which met for the first time on 16th October.

The Taskforce is comprised of ministers from relevant government departments and by the Financial Conduct Authority and Competition and Markets Authority. The Taskforce is supported by a separate Stakeholder Panel of industry experts representing the insurance, motor, and consumer sector.

This Taskforce has a strategic remit to set the direction for UK Government policy, identifying short- and long-term actions for departments that may contribute to stabilising or reducing premiums, while maintaining appropriate levels of cover. It will evaluate the impact of increased insurance costs on consumers and the insurance industry, including how this impacts different demographics, geographies, and communities.

Currently 7 National Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Networks are given pro rata time allocation to support respective network activity.

Time allocation

The National EDI Network Co-Chairs have a 25%-weekly time allocation and the Strand Lead/Board Member/Committee roles have a weekly 10%-time allocation. Each Network can recruit up to 10 Committee members (please note that not all Networks have up to 10 Committee members).

7 National EDI Networks with allocated time equates to:

1 x 25 % time allocation 37- hour week contract equates to 9.25 hours for each co-chair or 18.5 hours for both per week or 962 hours year for each of them

1x10% time allocation 37 – hour week contract equates to 3.7 per committee member, or for each committee member 10 x 10 % equates to 37 hours a week or 1,924 hours annually for all members of a Committee.

Across all 7 Networks:

• 70* people support network activity at 10% with 90% of their time focused on their contracted job role.
• 14 people spend 25% of their time on network activity, with 75% of their time focused on their contracted job role.

*note that not all Committee roles are filled.

Cross Civil Service Networks

Alongside DWP EDI Networks there a number of cross Civil Service Networks. DWP colleagues who take up the role of Co-Chair for a recognised cross government EDI Network can receive 5% time allocation to carry out their duties. Colleagues are welcome to be a member of any Staff Network but are only able to receive time allocation for one role on an EDI Network at any time.

The 2 chairs of the Civil Service LBGT+ Network both sit in DWP. They have 37-hour week contracts and 5% of this equates to 1.85 hours each a week – or 96.2 hours a year for each them.

No assessment has been made of the potential impact of changes in the levels of grants of Indefinite Leave to Remain on the National Health Service, and there are no current plans to undertake such an assessment.

Internationally educated staff remain an important part of the workforce, and our Code of Practice for International Recruitment ensures stringent ethical standards when recruiting health and social care staff from overseas. The Government remains committed to growing homegrown talent and giving opportunities to more people across the country to join our NHS.

We will publish a refreshed Long Term Workforce Plan to deliver the transformed health service we will build over the next decade, and treat patients on time again.

NHS England commissions gender services for children and young people in line with its interim service specification for children and young people with gender incongruence. These services do not make referrals for surgical interventions.

Children and young people are cared for holistically by specialist multi-disciplinary teams based in specialist children's hospitals. The multi-disciplinary team should include expertise in child and adolescent mental health, including family therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and neurodevelopmental conditions.

Following the publication of the Cass Review Final Report, NHS England assumed responsibility for progressing the data linkage study, which will help us learn from the experiences and outcomes of young adults who accessed previous models of National Health Service gender services care.

This work is being undertaken with oversight from the NHS England National Research Oversight Board and is progressing as intended.

The safety of children and young people is an overriding priority for the Government, and that is why we introduced an indefinite ban on the sale and supply of puberty supressing hormones from the European Economic Area and private providers in the United Kingdom.

We will monitor the impact of the ban and will not hesitate to go further if the evidence shows the indefinite ban is being circumnavigated.

Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department of Health and Social Care invests over £1.6 billion per year in research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £133 million in 2023/24. Cancer is a major area of NIHR spend, reflecting its high priority.

In the five years between 2018/19 and 2022/23, NIHR directly invested £11.3 million in research projects and programmes focused on brain tumours across 15 awards. In addition, our wider investments in NIHR research infrastructure, namely facilities, services and the research workforce, further allow us to leverage research funding from other donors and organisations. These investments are estimated to be £31.5 million, between 2018/19 and 2022/23, and have enabled 227 brain cancer research studies to take place in the same period. In total NIHR investments have enabled 8,500 people to participate in potentially life-changing research in the National Health Service over this time.

The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including brain cancer. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition.

In September 2024, the NIHR announced new research funding opportunities for brain cancer research, spanning both adult and paediatric populations. This includes a national NIHR Brain Tumour Research Consortium, to ensure the most promising research opportunities are made available to adult and child patients, and a new funding call to generate high quality evidence in brain tumour care, support, and rehabilitation. In partnership with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, in 2025 NIHR are also funding two brain tumour research fellowships.

The Department of Health and Social Care has also relaunched the Children and Young People’s Cancer Taskforce, which met on 4 March 2025. The taskforce will examine clinical and non-clinical ways to improve outcomes and patient experience for children and young people with cancer, including research. The taskforce will feed into wider Departmental work on the National Cancer Plan.

The Government recognises that a cancer-specific strategy is needed to improve outcomes for people living with cancer. The National Cancer Plan will work to address these challenges for cancer patients across the country, using a system-wide approach to improve cancer services from prevention and research, to access and treatment. The National Cancer Plan will have patients at its heart and will cover the entirety of the cancer pathway. Our goal is to reduce the number of lives lost to cancer over the next ten years and provide an NHS that is there when you need it.

The NIHR works closely with other government funders, including UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, UKRI delivers a substantial portfolio of researcher-led projects. This includes research on the fundamental and mechanistic biology of brain tumours and the development of new technology and medicines to treat brain tumours. Total UKRI spend in 2023/24 on brain tumour specific research was £7.08 million.