Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of abolishing the two-child limit policy for (a) two-earner couple households and (b) two-earner couple households in which both earners are in full-time work.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such estimate has been made. This government is committed to tackling child poverty and the Child Poverty Taskforce is developing an ambitious Child Poverty Strategy which we will publish in the autumn.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many households affected by the two-child limit policy are (a) two-earner couple households and (b) two-earner couple households in which both earners are in full-time work.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Statistics about the policy that provides support for a maximum of 2 children in Universal Credit are published annually by a range of breakdowns and demographics. The latest figures, for April 2025, can be found here: Universal Credit claimants statistics on the two child limit policy, April 2025 - GOV.UK
Data on two-earner couple households in which both earners are in full-time work is not held.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate her Department has made of the number of new HGV drivers that would need to be trained annually to maintain workforce levels; and what steps her Department is taking to help support the industry to train HGV drivers.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department regularly monitors the HGV driver workforce and engages with the road haulage sector through the Freight Workforce Group and other regular stakeholder meetings. Industry need for HGV drivers can fluctuate depending on a number of economic factors.
The Government continues to support the sector with the skills training it needs through the Urban Driver and Large Goods Vehicle driver apprenticeships. Skills Bootcamps also remain an important part of government-funded skills provision. Their delivery has evolved with DfE funding Bootcamps through Mayor's Skills Academies and local areas directly. This supports the government’s commitment to empower local leaders with greater control over skills development.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department plans to introduce a strategy to help improve the (a) quality and (b) quantity of truck parking.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department for Transport published The National Survey of Lorry Parking on 29 September 2022, which highlighted what improvements to lorry parking facilities were most needed. The survey showed an average shortage of around 4,500 HGV parking spaces for the month of March 2022 and identified driver concerns with the quality of welfare facilities and security of lorry parks.
The Department and industry are significantly investing to upgrade truckstops across England – including helping to create up to 1500 additional parking spaces. This is on top of up to £26 million joint investment by National Highways and industry in lorry parking facilities along the strategic roads network.
A decision on future funding for HGV parking is subject to further departmental business planning.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which state schools took part in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme in the most recent financial year by (a) local authority and (b) constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
State schools that took part in the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools programme in the 2024/25 financial year by (a) local authority and (b) constituency is available in the attached table.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which state schools are taking part in the Early Language Support for Every Child Programme by (a) local authority and (b) constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
A list of state schools that have taken part in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme up to the end of June 2025 is provided. Please note that as this is a pupil-led and not school-led programme, a small number of schools may have engaged in the programme during the last few weeks of the 2024/25 academic year in July, and we are awaiting an updated list from one of the nine pathfinder areas, the East Midlands, which covers the Leicester City, Leicestershire and Rutland local authority areas. A further list will therefore be provided by the end of August 2025 capturing this information.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which state schools are taking part in the Music Opportunities Pilot by (a) local authority and (b) constituency.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
The state schools in the attached spreadsheet are taking part in the Music Opportunities Pilot.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of preventing scrap metal yards using prepaid credit cards to pay scrap metal dealers.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps (a) the police and (b) immigration enforcement are taking to prevent unlicensed scrap metal dealing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.
Asked by: Antonia Bance (Labour - Tipton and Wednesbury)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what action she is taking to stop unlicensed scrap metal dealing.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that metal theft can cause significant distress and disruption, not only in terms of financial loss to businesses but also to people’s sense of safety and security in their local communities. Police recorded metal theft offences have been falling since the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013. This legislation was introduced to reverse what was then a rising trend by strengthening regulation of the metal recycling sector and making it more difficult to dispose of stolen metal.
Whilst these reductions are welcome, the Government is determined to go further. We are driving work with the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership (NICRP), which brings together industry representatives, policing and law enforcement agencies to tackle metal theft. The NICRP promotes intelligence sharing, targeted enforcement, and the implementation of crime prevention strategies across forces. To date, the Partnership has delivered training to 2,000 police officers and facilitates the sharing of data and intelligence among partners to support efforts to identify and disrupt offenders.
There is close cooperation between police, Environment Agency and other enforcement bodies in dealing with facilities such as scrap yards, as there are significant overlaps between environmental, acquisitive, and other types of crime. The Environment Agency is increasingly looking at the financial aspects of offending.
The Government is also prioritising reducing the profitability of acquisitive crime. We will continue to work with the police to better understand the disposal routes used to sell stolen goods and the Home Office will continue to work with other Government departments and online sites such as eBay, Gumtree and Meta (Facebook) to inform what more can be done to tackle the stolen goods market.
Whilst Immigration Enforcement does not have any primary responsibility in the licencing of scrap metal dealing, or in tackling unlicenced scrap metal dealing, it discharges its duties in line with the law.