Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support young people into employment, education or training.

Answered by Pat McFadden - Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

The government is investing £820m to help young people earn or learn through the Youth Guarantee. This includes a Jobs Guarantee where eligible 18–21-year-olds, who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months, will be guaranteed six-months paid work. We are also investing £725m for the Growth and Skills Levy will help support apprenticeships for young people, alongside reforms that will simplify the apprenticeship system.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to review UK National Archive material relating to Britain’s administration of the Mandate in Palestine between 1917 and 1948.

Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

Available materials from the era in question can be accessed by any member of the public who wishes to do so via the National Archives.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, when she plans to enact the socioeconomic measures in the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

The Government will set out its timeline for commencement of the socio-economic duty in due course. We are currently drafting statutory guidance that will clarify how the duty can be applied effectively. As part of this process, public bodies will have the opportunity to engage on the guidance to make certain that we understand how to best implement the duty.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve public confidence in performing CPR on women experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

NHS England runs training sessions on first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and the use of defibrillators both in the community and in schools, under the Restart a Heart programme. This training should help to increase confidence in performing CPR on women. NHS England has trained over 35,800 adults and children in CPR and defibrillation in the last 13 years, and 2,134 this year so far. NHS England delivers the sessions via their resuscitation team and via their community first responders.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the lack of female-form CPR mannequins on survival rates for women experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is continuing to take action to increase cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) awareness and training, including NHS England leading sessions on first aid, CPR, and the use of defibrillators both in the community and in schools, under the Restart a Heart programme. This training should help to increase confidence in performing CPR on women.

NHS England has trained over 35,800 adults and children in CPR and defibrillation in the last 13 years, and 2,134 this year so far. NHS England delivers the sessions via their resuscitation team and via their community first responders.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of consulting on reforms to Smoke Control Areas.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

We continuously review the evidence around emissions and the most effective way to tackle smoke controlled areas.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environmental Improvement Plan, when her Department plans to publish the consultation on measures that cut emissions from domestic wood combustion.

Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is currently developing proposals for measures to tackle emissions from Domestic Combustion.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to introduce (a) free and (b) subsidised meal provision in (i) private, (ii) voluntary and (iii) independent early years settings for children from low-income households.

Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have introduced the Best Start in Life strategy, and the Child Poverty strategy was published on 5 December 2025.

The department is extending free school meals to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026.

This significant extension of support will also apply to children attending school-based nurseries and maintained nursery schools.

Whilst children attending a private nursery do not currently receive free school meals, the department has tightened statutory guidance to make clear that while providers can charge parents who are accessing entitlement hours for certain optional extras, including food, these charges must not be mandatory or a condition of accessing their entitlements. If parents do not wish to purchase these from their provider, they should discuss with their provider what alternative options are available, including potentially supplying their own food and consumables.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 47655 on Sexual Harassment, what progress she has made on implementation of the Protection from Sex-based Harassment in Public Act 2023.

Answered by Jess Phillips - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for this Government and we have committed to an unprecedented ambition to halve VAWG within a decade.

Public sexual harassment is a crime that often leaves victims, who are disproportionately likely to be women, feeling very unsafe. That is why tackling it is an integral part of our mission on VAWG.

The VAWG Strategy will set out the strategic direction and concrete actions to deliver on the Government’s VAWG ambition, including action to tackle public sexual harassment.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to help ensure that respiratory research challenges funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research will help tackle respiratory disease in adults.

Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year on research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). In the last five financial years it has invested £152 million directly into research funding on respiratory health conditions in adults. In addition, investment through NIHR infrastructure also supports the country’s leading experts to develop and deliver high-quality early translational, clinical, and applied health research across a range of research areas. The NIHR Respiratory Translational Research Collaboration is a network of leading universities, National Health Service trusts, and research centres in the United Kingdom who carry out early translational respiratory research. It works with life sciences companies, charities, and other funders to design and deliver complex, multicentre studies that accelerate research to benefit patients. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/about-us/what-we-do/infrastructure/translational-research-collaborations/respiratory

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration she has given to designating the Trans Pennine Trail a National Trail.

Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government is committed to increasing access to nature and leaving a lasting benefit for future generations.

Although we do not currently plan to designate the Trans Pennine Trail as a National Trail, we remain committed to improving safe and appropriate access to green and blue spaces. In 2026 we expect to launch both the 2,700-mile King Charles III England Coast Path and Wainwright’s Coast to Coast route across the north of England as a National Trail. We are also progressing plans to deliver nine new National River Walks across England, one in each region and will share further details in due course.

Found: Liverpool (Chair); Juliet Campbell; Lord Dholakia; Tom Gordon; Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws; Afzal Khan

Found: Liverpool (Chair); Juliet Campbell; Lord Dholakia; Tom Gordon; Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws; Afzal Khan

Found: Commons Juliet Campbell (Labour; Broxtowe) Tom Gordon (Liberal Democrat; Harrogate and Knaresborough) Afzal Khan

Found: Members present: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Chair); Lord Dholakia; Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws; Afzal Khan