Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what information her Department holds on how many homes were retrofitted for energy efficiency in the (a) social and (b) private sector in each of the last five years.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department publishes information on the number of homes retrofitted for energy efficiency in the last five years through the following government schemes: Energy Company Obligation (ECO), Great British Insulation Scheme (GBIS), Green Homes Grant Vouchers Scheme, Local Authority Delivery, Home Upgrade Grant, and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
SHDF retrofits social housing only. A breakdown of the number of homes retrofitted in the social and private sector can be found in the ECO and GBIS statistical releases.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to ensure that homes owned by private landlords achieve an energy performance certificate rating of C or above.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government will not raise Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) to EPC Band C for privately rented homes, but continues to encourage homeowners to improve the energy performance of their homes where they can.
We are spending £6bn this Parliament on making buildings cleaner and warmer. That is in addition to the £5bn that will be delivered through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO4) and the Great British Insulation Scheme up to March 2026. We have also announced a further £6bn worth of support up to 2028 to help around a million families cut their energy use.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will review the effectiveness of the Energy Company Obligation flex scheme.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Department monitors and is evaluating all aspects of ECO4, including ECO Flex.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department uses to assess the adequacy of funding for each school (a) nationally and (b) in York.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
This government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that.
Including the additional funding for teachers’ pay and pensions, funding for both mainstream schools and high needs is £2.9 billion higher in 2024/25, compared to 2023/24. The overall core school budget will total £60.7 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. This means school funding is set to have risen by £11 billion by 2024/25, compared to 2021/22.
Each year, the government publishes an assessment of schools’ costs and funding increases in the Schools’ Costs Technical Note. In the most recent publication, the department’s analysis shows mainstream school funding rising by 7.6% in 2023/24 compared to the previous year, while costs were estimated to have risen by 6.7% at the national level. This analysis reflects averages across all schools in England.
Through the Dedicated Schools Grant, York is receiving an extra £2.0 million for mainstream schools in 2024/25 compared to 2023/24, taking total school funding to over £125.5 million. This represents an increase of 2.0% per pupil compared to 2023/24, and an increase of 13.4% per pupil compared to 2021/22 (excluding growth funding). On top of this, all schools will receive additional funding through the Teachers’ Pay Additional Grant and Teachers' Pension Employer Contribution Grant.
The precise funding and cost increases that individual schools in York, and across the country, will face depend on each school’s unique circumstances and the decisions that it has made about how to deploy its funding. The national funding formula is designed to fund each school according to its relative needs, and is updated annually to reflect how those needs change over time.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the primary category of need for children in care aged (a) under one year, (b) one to four years, (c) five to nine years, (d) aged ten to 15 years and (e) 16 to 17 years in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The figures requested can be found in the attached table.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to provide support for children living in poverty who are at risk of being taken into the care system.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government published ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ in February 2023. ‘Stable Homes, Built on Love’ is an implementation strategy and consultation that sets out the department’s plans to reform children’s social care. It set out how the department will help families overcome challenges, keep children safe and make sure children in care have stable loving homes, long-term loving relationships and opportunities for a good life.
This government has announced over £1 billion for programmes to improve early help services, including delivering on Family Hubs and helping families facing multiple disadvantage through the Supporting Families programme and Holiday Activities and Food programme.
The Strengthening Families, Protecting Children programme is investing £84 million over five years between 2019 and 2024 to support 17 local authorities to adopt improvement approaches that have strong evidence of reducing the numbers of children requiring statutory support and entering care.
The department is also testing innovative new approaches to provide earlier help to families when they face challenges through the Families First for Children Pathfinder.
Over recent years, this government has demonstrated its commitment to supporting the most vulnerable with one of the largest support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022 to 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion, which is an average of £3,800 per UK household.
Through an extension of the Household Support Fund, local authorities in England will receive an additional £421 million to support those in need locally, including supporting vulnerable households with the cost of essentials such as food and utilities.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support (a) pre-school, (b) primary school and (c) secondary school-aged children living in poverty other than through the provision of free school meals.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Spreading opportunity and ensuring every child can reach their potential no matter their background or where they live remains a key priority for the department. The department has a range of support in place for pupils, families and schools.
Low-income families and children experiencing other forms of disadvantage can qualify for 15 hours free early education for 2 year olds, a year before all children become eligible for 15 hours at ages 3 and 4. These entitlements support children’s development and helps prepare them for school.
Within schools, the department has consistently taken steps to help economically disadvantaged pupils, including improving the quality of teaching and curriculum resources, strengthening the school system and providing targeted support where needed. Underpinning this is pupil premium, worth over £2.9 billion this year. In 2024/25, the department has targeted a greater proportion of schools National Funding Formula towards disadvantaged pupils than ever before; 10.2% (over £4.4 billion) of the formula has been allocated according to deprivation in 2024/25.
To offer children from low-income families a free nutritious breakfast, the department is investing up to £35 million in the National School Breakfast Programme until the end of July 2025. This funding is reaching up to 2,700 primary and secondary schools in disadvantaged areas to better support attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.
Since 2021, the department has also provided more than £200 million of funding every year to local authorities across England for holiday provision for school-aged children from reception to year 11 (inclusive) who receive benefits-related free school meals and other families that most need it. The department has also published statutory guidance on the cost of school uniform to ensure uniform is affordable for all families.
Family hubs are a one stop shop for families to get the help they need. They provide services for children of all ages, or between 0 to 19 or 0 to 25 for families with children who have special educational needs and disabilities, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.
To support families with the cost of living in recent years, the government has provided one of the most generous support packages in Europe. The total support over 2022 to 2025 to help households and individuals with higher bills amounts to £108 billion, which is on average £3,800 per UK household.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that family hubs have adequate funding to help support all children that require their services.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is investing around £300 million in 75 local authorities to transform their family support services to family hubs. Funding has been targeted to the most deprived local authorities to ensure that families get the support they need. This will fund a network of family hubs and specific support within those hubs for parent–infant mental health, infant feeding services, parenting support, home learning environment, and to establish parent-carer panels. In addition, all 75 local authorities will publish their Start for Life offer and the department is providing funding for trials of innovative workforce models to a smaller number of local authorities.
Family hubs provide services for children of all ages, and from 0 to 19 for families who have children with SEND, with a great Start for Life offer at their core.
In allocating funding to each local authority, the department has balanced the variable costs that local authorities face due to different population sizes, such as greater service demand resulting from a bigger population, against the fact that some costs will be similar regardless of these differences, for example the costs of establishing a parent carer panel. Each local authority’s total funding allocation therefore consists of two elements. The first is a fixed amount for each of the programme’s strands. The second element is a variable amount for each strand based on each local authority’s relative population size.
As outlined in the 'Family Hubs and Start for Life programme: local authority guide' each element of the programme focuses on a specific age range. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-hubs-and-start-for-life-programme-local-authority-guide. The variable amounts were, therefore, based on the most relevant population age ranges for the objectives of each programme strand.
For further information please see the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62ed30f98fa8f5033275fce8/Family_Hubs_and_Start_for_Life_programme_-_methodology_for_allocating_funding_to_local_authorities.pdf.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help ensure the availability of childcare (a) before and (b) after school.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government is investing £289 million in a new wraparound childcare programme to support local authorities in England to work with primary schools and providers to set up and deliver more wraparound childcare before and after school in the term time. The government’s ambition is for all parents of primary school children who need it to be able to access childcare in their local area from 8am to 6pm by September 2026. This will help to ensure that parents have enough childcare to work full time, more hours and with flexible hours.
In October 2023, the department published guidance for local authorities on their role to support the expansion of wraparound childcare along with local authority funding allocations. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wraparound-childcare-guidance-for-local-authorities. In February 2024, the department also published guidance for schools and trusts setting out the expectations of schools in supporting parents to access wraparound childcare. This guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wraparound-childcare-guidance-for-schools/responding-to-requests-for-wraparound-childcare.
This month, the local authorities of Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire, Kensington and Chelsea, Norfolk and Westminster will be rolling out expanded wraparound provision, five months ahead of the national programme launch in September. These local authorities are forming part of a test and learn phase as ‘early adopters’ to strengthen the delivery of the full rollout.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to develop vaping cessation programmes.
Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Vaping can be an effective tool for adult smokers to quit smoking. However, the health advice is clear, if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. We are concerned about the worrying rise in vaping among children, with youth vaping tripling in the last three years, and one in five children having now used a vape.
Whilst anyone smoking should focus on giving up cigarettes before giving up vaping, giving up vaping is an important step in overcoming nicotine dependence. We are working with the NHS Better Health website to provide advice for people who want to quit vaping. The National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training has produced guidance for local Stop Smoking Service staff on how best to support vapers to quit. We are also exploring further ways to support people to quit vaping, as part of the national Swap to Stop programme.