Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that the experiences of children and young people with dyslexia are captured when measuring attainment at the end of secondary school.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to ensuring the exams system is equitable for all students, and that students with disabilities, including dyslexia, can access exams and assessments without disadvantage.
Ofqual, the independent regulator of exams and assessments in England, has a statutory duty to ensure that assessments are a fair representation of a student’s knowledge and requires awarding organisations to put processes in place to ensure that all students can access assessments appropriately.
The Equality Act 2010 also requires awarding organisations to make reasonable adjustments where assessment arrangements could place a student, who is disabled within the meaning of the Act, at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to someone who is not disabled.
These adjustments can include, but are not limited to, extra time to complete assessments or assistance via a reader or a scribe, depending on the individual needs of the student.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department gathers on the educational outcomes of children with dyslexia and other literacy challenges in the Key Stage 1 phonics screening check.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department holds information on pupils’ special educational needs and their attainment by 14 types of primary need. Dyslexia is usually included in the wider category of primary need ‘specific learning difficulty’. In 2025, 33% of pupils with ‘specific learning difficulty’ recorded as their primary need met the expected standard in the phonics screening check in year 1. The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress. ‘Reading Ambition for All’, developed with input from the British Dyslexia Association, is a continuous professional development programme to support schools help struggling readers, delivered by our 34 English Hubs, reaching more than 600 schools this academic year.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he expects to publish draft regulations on the ban on high-caffeine energy drink sales to under 16s; what lead in time she considers appropriate for vending operators; and whether the Government plans a staged implementation or any pilot programme for new enforcement technologies.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has explored the use of existing contactless or mobile payment infrastructure as part of a potential age restriction mechanism for vending machines, rather than requiring new hardware.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what engagement his Department has had with Trading Standards on enforcement capacity for vending machine restrictions; and how enforcement would be considered relative to retail and online sales.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has modelled compliance expectations for unmanned 24 hour vending machines in (a) workplaces and (b) leisure settings.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, whether his Department has assessed the potential implications for his Department's policies of the Vending and Automated Retail Association's estimate that over 80% of vending machines operate in closed environments without routine access for under 16s; whether his Department has assessed the proportion of vending machines that operate in closed environments without routine access for under 16 year olds; and what assessment he has made of the proportionality of applying a blanket ban of the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks through vending machines in closed settings where under 16 year olds do not have access.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, what steps his Department is taking to tackle access to high-caffeine energy drinks by children under 16 years at home or through friends; what assessment he has made of the potential impact of banning vending machine sales of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years on the level of overall consumption; and what plans his Department has to take further regulatory steps towards a wider ban of such drinks.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department’s Impact Assessment entitled Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under the age of 16 years, published on 23 June 2025, what assessment his Department has made of (a) the proportion of high-caffeine energy drinks sold to children under 16 years by (i) vending machines (ii) corner shops and convenience stores and (b) the primary sources of high-caffeine energy drinks sold to children under 16 years.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to undertake trials or pilots of restrictions on high-caffeine energy drink sales through vending machines prior to national implementation, including to improve the evidence base and inform future policy decisions.
Answered by Sharon Hodgson - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government has a commitment to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children under 16 years old. We ran a 12-week consultation on our proposals for the ban from 3 September 2025 to 26 November 2025. This included proposals on:
- the minimum age of sale for high-caffeine energy drinks;
- the products and businesses in scope of the ban;
- how the ban will apply in vending machines;
- the length of time that businesses and enforcement authorities need to implement the ban; and
- how the ban would be enforced.
We are now carefully considering the consultation responses. We will publish the Government response in due course, setting out the consultation outcome and next steps.
The accompanying impact assessment published on 3 September 2025 estimates the impact of our proposals. The Department engaged with relevant stakeholders, including representatives for the vending sector and enforcement, to inform this. If additional information or evidence provided through the consultation or published online becomes available, we will update our final impact assessment.