Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department plans to consult on the revised citizenship programmes of study.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We are revising the national curriculum following the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review. We will make citizenship compulsory in key stages 1 and 2 so that primary aged children are introduced to key content on media literacy, financial literacy, law and rights, democracy and government, and climate education. We will publicly consult on all national curriculum programmes of study from summer 2026 and fully implement the new full national curriculum for first teaching from September 2028.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what measures are being taken to ensure that the withdrawal of 3G services does not leave gaps in mobile coverage, and how the Government is accelerating the availability of 5G to address these gaps.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All 3G networks in the UK have now been switched off. EE and Vodafone switched off 3G in February 2024, Three in November 2025, and VMO2 in February 2026. Ofcom’s expectation of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) was that they would provide broadly equivalent levels of coverage after switching off 3G. As reported in its 2025 Connected Nations report, Ofcom has received very few complaints from customers about the 3G switch-off. The mobile industry has not reported to Ofcom any significant disruption.
The 3G switch-off released spectrum to be reallocated to improve the newer and more efficient 4G and 5G networks.
The MNOs have committed significant investment which aligns with the Government's ambition of all populated areas being able to access higher quality standalone 5G by 2030. We continue to work with network operators to ensure this investment translates into benefits for communities right across the UK. In parallel, we are continuing work to identify and address barriers to deployment where it is practical to do so.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the sustainability of fire and rescue services in England over the next three years; and what steps he plans to take to address budget deficits facing fire and rescue authorities.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The 2026/27 Local Government Finance Settlement will make available almost £1.95 billion in core spending power (CSP) for standalone fire and rescue authorities (excluding York & North Yorkshire and Greater Manchester). This was the first multi-year funding Settlement in 10 years, giving services the certainty to plan and invest for the long term.
In 2026/27, all standalone services will see an above inflation increase in CSP, with services seeing CSP increases between 3.8% and 7.7% compared to 2025/26. By the end of the multi-year period, we will have provided a 12.75% increase in CSP compared to 2025/26.
Decisions on how resources are best deployed to meet their core functions are a matter for each fire and rescue authority.
The Ministry will continue to work closely with stakeholders across the sector to ensure that fire and rescue services have the resources they need to protect communities.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure (a) pay progression and (b) career development opportunities for the lowest-paid NHS staff.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Section 1 of the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service, also referred to as Agenda for Change (AfC), sets out the principles for pay progression in the National Health Service in England. It states that pay progression for all AfC pay points, within each pay band, is conditional upon employees demonstrating that they have the requisite knowledge and skills and competencies for their role and that they have demonstrated the required level of performance and delivery during the review period.
The Government accepted the NHS Pay Review Body recommendations for 2024/25 and 2025/26 in full, which included a recommendation to provide the NHS Staff Council with a funded mandate to make improvements to the AfC pay structure.
Improvements to the AfC pay structure, including any band progression for the lowest paid NHS staff, will be for the NHS Staff Council to agree. The NHS Staff Council is a partnership body made up of trade unions and employers and has overall responsibility for maintaining the AfC pay system and associated terms and conditions of service.
The Department intends to issue this mandate as soon as possible. Once the mandate is confirmed, the Department will work closely with the NHS Staff Council to agree reforms to the pay structure which will be backdated to 1 April 2026.
It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure career development opportunities for their lowest paid staff through investing in the future of their workforce and ensuring appropriate ongoing training and continuing professional development.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing MPs with formal opportunity to scrutinise the annual changes to pension thresholds for eligible pensions that live overseas.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Social Security Benefits up-rating Regulations 2026 are consequential on the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2026.
The regulations are subject to the negative procedure. They were laid on 6 March 2026 and will come into force on the same date as the Up-rating Order on 6 April 2026. This is a convention that has been in place for a number of years including under the Lib Dem coalition.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has been made of the impact of proposed changes to the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain on international nursing staff; and what steps the Department is taking to ensure the UK can retain the nursing workforce.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The consultation for the earned settlement model, as proposed in ‘A Fairer Pathway to Settlement’, was open to the public between 20 November 2025 and 12 February 2026.
As part of this consultation, we sought views on the potential impact of the proposed changes, including the impact on international nursing staff.
We are now reviewing and analysing all responses received. This analysis will help inform the development of the final earned settlement model, including consideration of any transitional measures for those already on a pathway to settlement.
Once the final model has been decided, the Government will communicate the outcome publicly. As with all significant policy changes, the proposals will be subject to both economic and equality impact assessments.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of including clear information on the signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes in the Personal Child Health Record.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
While the Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) does not currently contain a dedicated section on diabetes, it includes signposting to National Health Service online information on serious childhood illness, including symptoms of diabetes.
NHS England is working with clinical experts, royal colleges, and wider stakeholders to review whether further opportunities exist to improve awareness of the key signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes among both healthcare professionals and the public. This includes, as I set out in the Westminster Hall debate on this issue last week, looking carefully to see what further improvements might be made to the red book.
Asked by: Alex Brewer (Liberal Democrat - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of job evaluation scores for pharmacy assistants.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This specific assessment has not been made.
Agenda for Change pay is underpinned by the Job Evaluation Scheme (JES). This scheme was developed through collaboration between National Health Service leaders, NHS trade unions, and independent job evaluation experts. The JES is a structured method of comparing job demands and seeks to ensure that staff receive equal pay for work of equal value.
The JES focuses on the demands of the role as set out in the job documentation, for example the job description and person specification, and not the skills and knowledge an individual has. The requirements, as set out in the job documentation, are then analysed using the JES to determine the relative job demand, or weight, of the role which in turn determines which pay band the role sits in. This model of weighting has been legally tested and proven to be robust.
All local employing organisations are responsible for correctly and consistently implementing the JES to ensure staff are paid correctly for the work they are asked to deliver.
The NHS Staff Council’s Job Evaluation Group is responsible for maintaining the national role profiles that are used to support job evaluation practice.