Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve working conditions for parents working in primary and secondary education settings.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is taking a range of steps to improve working conditions for parents working in schools.
The Employment Rights Act 2025 provides for the establishment of the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB). This will be a new statutory body with a remit to negotiate pay, terms and conditions, and advise on training and career progression for school support staff.
We have committed to fund improvements to maternity pay for school and college teachers, leaders and support staff. From the academic year 2027/28, schoolteachers and leaders will see their period of full maternity pay doubled from four weeks to eight weeks. We will also enable the SSSNB to prioritise maternity pay in its first year of operation to negotiate an equivalent improvement for support staff.
Wider government reforms which will also apply to schools over time, include the introduction of new requirements on pay gap reporting and workforce action plans, alongside changes to flexible working. We are also developing a new workforce retention programme to launch this autumn to reduce workload, improve wellbeing and diversity and increase availability of flexible working.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the parity of GCSE English Language and IGCSE English Language on the coursework route qualifications.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
GCSE English Language and IGCSE English Language are distinct qualifications, which are assessed and regulated in different ways.
GCSE English Language qualifications in England are regulated by Ofqual, with subject content set by the Department. These GCSEs are assessed through examinations only, with no coursework contributing to the final grade.
IGCSE English Language is a different qualification that is not regulated by Ofqual and includes a coursework component as part of its assessment.
The UK National Information Centre assesses the comparability of overseas qualifications with UK qualifications, including those in English.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what assessment her Department has made of whether X continues to qualify for protection as a platform rather than a publisher under UK law.
Answered by Kanishka Narayan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Online Safety Act imposes a range of duties on user-to-user service providers, including X, requiring them to proactively identify, mitigate and manage risks to users, and to be accountable for the safety of their platforms.
Service providers must proactively mitigate risk of use for illegal activity and must address illegal content when it appears. They must also prevent children from encountering the most harmful content and must implement age-appropriate measures to protect children from other kinds of harmful content.
Ofcom, the independent regulator, has powers to take robust enforcement action where service providers do not comply with Act duties.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what consideration his Department has given to reviewing NHS optical voucher values for children with complex visual needs, particularly those with conditions such as Albanism.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government recognises the importance of ensuring that children, including those with complex visual needs such as albinism, can access appropriate optical care and appliances.
National Health Service optical vouchers are designed to support eligible groups, including children, with the cost of clinically necessary glasses or contact lenses. Voucher values range from £42.40 to £233.56, with individuals with more complex prescriptions receiving the high voucher values. There are no plans for a review of NHS optical vouchers.
Children and young people with significant or complex vision impairment may also be supported through NHS low vision services. These services provide specialist assessment and, where appropriate, low vision aids to help maximise functional vision and independence.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's consultation document entitled Assistive software funded through Disabled Students’ Allowance, published on 26 March 2026, what steps she is taking to ensure that any restrictions to access to specialist software will not be detrimental to student learning.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department’s consultation on assistive software funded through Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) seeks to gather evidence on how best to modernise the support provided to take into account the huge advances in technology over recent years. As part of this, the consultation explores how the widespread availability of built‑in and free-to-access accessibility tools can meet some students’ needs without the use of specific specialist software products funded through DSA. The proposals in the consultation envisage that assistive software will continue to be funded through DSA where there is an additional disability-related need for it that cannot be met by any other software available to the student free of charge.
No policy decisions have yet been made. The consultation remains live until 18 June, and responses will inform final policy decisions following the consultation.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to Answer of 2 June 2025 on Question 56485 on the limited capability for work and work-related activity element of Universal Credit, what progress has been made in reviewing the Child Maintenance calculation.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is conducting a review of the child maintenance calculation to make sure it is fit for purpose. This includes updating the underlying research and ensuring it is fair for both parents and encourages willing and able compliance.
The outcome of the review and next steps will be announced in due course.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that migration from legacy benefits to Universal Credit does not affect a benefit claimant's eligibility for Council Tax Reduction, including the level of reduction they are entitled to; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that local authorities treat the Universal Credit transitional element as a regular part of a Universal Credit award for the purposes of determining Council Tax Reduction eligibility.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not have any control over council tax schemes, and overarching responsibility for Local Council Tax Reduction lies with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). As a result, Council Tax Reduction entitlement may differ from the support customers previously received under legacy benefits.
We recognise that this can be difficult for customers, particularly where there has been no change in their overall household income following migration to Universal Credit. Transitional protection is designed to protect customers’ benefit entitlement levels when they move to Universal Credit. It does not provide cover for schemes that are administered by local authorities, including Council Tax Reduction, which are assessed separately from benefit entitlement.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of including maintenance loans as part of a student loan on students from lower income backgrounds.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We have future-proofed our maintenance offer by confirming that we will increase maintenance loans in line with forecast inflation every academic year. This will provide students with long-term financial certainty on the support they will receive while studying and ensure that students from the lowest income families receive the largest year-on-year cash increases in support. Maximum loans for living costs for undergraduate students will increase by 2.71% for the 2026/27 academic year.
From 2028/29, maintenance grants will support full-time students from low-income households studying courses aligned with the government’s missions. The grants will provide disadvantaged full-time students with up to £1,000 extra per year on top of existing maintenance loans, increasing cash for students without increasing their debt.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of implementing a proportionate regulatory framework for day care services for older and disabled adults, including dementia day care services.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the independent regulator for health and social care in England. The CQC monitors, inspects, and regulates adult social care services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety. Where concerns on quality or safety are identified, the CQC uses its regulatory and enforcement powers available and will take action to ensure the safety of people drawing on care and support.
Day care services are operated by local authorities, the National Health Service, or voluntary/private organisations. These services operate in the premises in which social, recreational, and care services may be provided to people who need them, due to old age, illness, or disability. Currently, day care services for older and disabled adults, including dementia day care, in which no personal care is provided, are not regulated by the CQC. For day care services to be brought into scope of the CQC’s regulatory remit would require a change in legislation.
These regulations are not currently under review. Any amendments to the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 would be subject to the usual Parliamentary process which would include a public consultation, and thus an opportunity to consider the merits of further regulation of social care providers.
Asked by: Anna Dixon (Labour - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a national standardised water social tariff with clear eligibility and consistent discount levels.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is working with industry to keep support schemes under review to ensure that vulnerable customers are supported. We are working with water companies to ensure vulnerable customers across the country receive support. This includes improving the guidance for companies to design the best social tariffs for their customers.
Over the next five years, water companies will have more than doubled the number of customers that will receive help with their bills through social tariffs from 4% in 2025 to 9% in 2030. We expect companies to hold themselves accountable for their commitment to end Water Poverty by 2030 and will work with the sector to ensure appropriate measures are taken to this end.