Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools in (a) Newcastle-under-Lyme constituency and (b) Staffordshire are able to offer high quality music education through (i) the national curriculum and (ii) in music education.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
As part of the government’s Opportunity Mission, the department wants to widen access to music education.
Music Hubs continue to play a vital role across England, with grant funding of £76 million for the 2025/26 academic year. This includes nearly £2.2 million for the Hub partnership led by The Music Partnership, covering Shropshire, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Telford and Wrekin, and includes support for schools in Newcastle-under-Lyme and wider Staffordshire.
The department is also investing £2 million to support the Music Opportunities Pilot over four years, helping disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and disabilities learn to play instruments or sing to a high standard in schools across 12 pilot areas. This includes Sir Thomas Boughey Academy in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The government established the Curriculum and Assessment Review to seek to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum, including music. The final report and government response will be published this autumn. Following this, we will legislate so that academies will teach the reformed national curriculum, alongside maintained schools. This will ensure music is an entitlement for pupils in every state-funded school.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to ensure that Homes England will take a strategic approach to affordable rural housing delivery by embedding the needs of the countryside at all levels of the agency.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Members to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 2 July (HCWS771).
We are giving further consideration to how policy can better promote rural affordable housing as part of our work to produce a set of national policies for decision making this year.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of removing the Universal Credit health element on claimants under the age of 22.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of the Pathways to Work Green Paper consultation, the Government invited views on the proposal to raise the minimum age for accessing the Universal Credit (UC) health element to 22. The consultation closed on 30 June, and we are now considering responses.
No final decisions have been made.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with mental health conditions are not disproportionately disadvantaged by the proposed reforms to PIP.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As I set out in the House of Commons on 1 July 2025, the Government has listened to the concerns raised by Members from across the House about the proposed changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Clause 5 of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill would have amended the legal framework underpinning PIP assessments, specifically by implementing a new requirement that claimants must score a minimum of four points in at least one daily living activity to be eligible for the daily living component of PIP.
In light of the concerns raised, I confirmed during the debate that clause 5 would be removed from the Bill in Committee.
(Hansard, 1 July, col 219)
Any changes to PIP eligibility will come after a comprehensive review of the benefit, which I shall lead, co-produced with disabled people, the organisations that represent them, clinicians, experts, MPs and other stakeholders, so a wide range of views and voices are heard. This review aims to ensure that the PIP assessment is fair and fit for the future.